originally posted on irongodz then here at the W/o Questine forum.

[Misery13]

here's my problem/questine...I've recently (1month ago) switched from my normal heavy routine to my light routine that pyramids me back down to my heavy routine again...I understand that training light is nothing like training heavy as far as size and strength goes but if I'm still shocking my muscles than why am I not making any forward progress? I still feel like I'm in a rut wether I go heavy or light. I'm not noticing any differences in my body. should I continue on my current path back to my heavy cycle? or should I revamp everything...if you need a copy of my training log let me know and I'll take the time to post it. any advice would be helpful please and thank you.

here's my breakdown to date:
week 1-2 2 sets at 20 reps
week 3-4 2 sets at 15 reps
week 5-6 3 sets at 12 reps
week 7-8 3 sets at 10 reps I'm here in my training cycle
week 9-10 4 sets at 8 reps
week 11-12 5 sets at 6 reps
week 13-14 5 sets at 5 reps
week 15-16 6 sets at 3 reps
week 17-18 8 sets at 2 reps
week 19-20 10 sets at 1 rep
then I go back to mt original w/o I came up with this w/o to give my body a break and ease my way back to training heavy again

my exercises include: (this is also my original w/o schedule) I just changed the sets and reps to get a break. I know I'm susposed to change up my exercises but these work great for me.
day 1 abs 2 exercises at 2x20
calves to failure
upright rows 3x12
d.b shrugs 2x10 with hold
seated rows 2x12
bent over rows 3x10
incline d.b curls 2x12
hammers barbell curl 8x8
chins 1xfailure

day 2
abs in the same manner but different exercises
calves to failure
squats 8x8 warmup then 6x6-2 working
leg curls 6x20
leg ext 6x20

day 3
abs lo mismo ( the same )
calves to failure
d.b lfyes 2x12
dips 3xfailure
incline d.b. 2x8
flat bench 2x5-3
tricep pushdowns 2xfailure
standing french press with d.b. 3x8
skull crushers 6x10
bench dips 2xfailure
sometimes I do military press but not often as my delts are to big anyways at least for my likeing

day 4
abs lo mismo
calves to failure
front squats 6x10
deadlifts 6x8 warmup then 8x5-3 working
goodmornings 8x8
cleans 5x6-4
pullthroughs 3x12 sometimes I do these sometimes I don't
110lb duffle bag carry 50 metersx3 runs

I don't really catagorize myself as anything
I love being big and being strong
I'm 66in tall and I roll around 190-200lbs
my main goal is to have huge legs...that far exceed my upper body to to be as strong as humanly possible.
now please keep in mind that right now I'm in Afghanistan and the gym I workout in here only has plates up to 375lbs which I can rock bottom squat around 25-30 times (the other day I did 2x15 at 275 no belt or wraps way below parallel) and the d.b.'s only go to 100lbs I can incline d.b. 120lbs for 5 reps...when I start to get heavier I'm going to have to hang d.b.s off the sides of the bar with some webbing for more weight. I'm slowly aquireing d.b.'s and plates from around other camps and friends as when I got here the d.b.'s only went up to 60lbs and plates equaled 285lbs.

any advice from you would be great...thank you for your time.

I'm over here until the beginning of November.

I train every other day...I'll post pics if need be.

today (27may07) I squated 295 for 12 for 3 sets I had to take a wider than normal stance because I was getting a shocking feeling in my left outer quad.

[Misery13]

wow ...nothing...

[Ajc330]

most likely your diet, also to answer your question some muscles respond better to just pushing heavier weight, other muscle groups like biceps and triceps can grow nicely with lower weight and really contracting the muscle

get your diet in check and try to eat more