Totally ripped now, but no weight gain in 7 months?

[kbellr]

Hi all, let me start by saying thanks for lending me some advice. I just copied and pasted from the stickies what info y'all would want. Like the title says, I am not putting on any weight anymore, but i am progressing in the amount of weight i can lift, number of reps, etc. Really weird. Let me know what you think about the pedigree info:

Age, bodyweight/fat - turn 31 this month. 5' 11", weight bounces between 160 and 163. Don't really know body fat. You can't see any abs sticking out without flexing - when flexing the top four can be seen clearly.

Training experience - have been working out consistently for 10 mths now. Had experience before these 10 mths, grad school killed my training program though so i just got back into it after finishing. I would still call myself an amateur though.

Goals - right now, get bigger.

Existing/previous injuries - i have runners knee in my left knee. Tore tendons in my right wrist last July. Doesn't really bother me anymore. Saw ortho, he cleared me to lift.

Supps - muscle milk. Just those little cartons that you can get. LIke 21 grams of protein. I drink it immediately after a workout. I was taking iso mass xtreme gainer for awhile. it worked AWESOME! Until I broke out with crazy bad acne. I have never had acne in my life, and then all of a sudden my cheeks looked like chernobyl. I stopped taking that stuff and it took about 3 months to clear up. I do not know for sure if isomass caused it or even what it could be in there that caused me to break out so bad. I tried it again when my acne was subsiding and i broke out again so i haven't touched it since. sad, i got up to 167 on it and looked really good. oh well. am not taking and have never taken steroids. note, i really have nothing against it though - i don't judge

diet - i added this one. being honest here, my diet has only recently become really good - like the last 3 months. I avoid soda (really any sugary drink) like the plague- I only drink water and occasionally iced tea. Avoid anything with bleached flour or basically any processed food. I'll cut this short here, i eat pretty damned healthy compared to the rest of usa. Here is what my day typically looks like for eating.

meal 1 - oatmeal (that quaker instant stuff) with 2 scrambled eggs (i keep the yoke in).
meal 2- piece of grilled chicken (seasoned, no sauce) with some type of carb to go with: spaghetti, vegetable soup, macaroni and egg bake, whatever.
meal 3- protein shake
snack - baked sweet potatoe (nothing added, eat the skin too)
meal 4 - same as meal 2
meal 5 - wife cooks dinner (not always too good for me, but I'm getting her to adjust
meal 6 - spinnach salad with: mushrooms, alph sprouts, cherry tomatoes, red peppers

These meals are spaced 2-3 hours apart. to be honest, i've never taken the time to count the calories, fats, carbs, protein.

Routine

Monday (leg day) - deep squats (hams to calves, then up), leg press, quad flies, ham flies
Tuesday (shoulders) - clean and jerks (bb type, start from standing position), pull ups (overhand), front and lateral raises, upright bb row, pull overs with plates
Wednesday (chest and biceps) - i really just added this day because my chest and bis are not as well developed like the rest of my body is. I mean, they look alright, but my back, shoulders, legs, arms are shredded and then my bis and chest are like, well not so much ---------- bench press with bbs and dbs, cable flies, dips, and preacher curls.
Thrusday - rest
friday (back) - behind the back shrugs, bent over bb rows, v-pull downs, single rows on the bench with dbs, lying t-bar rows, deadlifts
saturday - depends, maybe kettlebell circuits, just kinda do whatever i want that day
sunday -rest

Thanks for anyone still reading, let me know what yall think.

[pstacks]

Right off the bat, diet is the reason you aren't gaining weight. Your off to a good start with the spacing of your meals, but even at 160 you probably aren't eating enough to gain anything.

If you are serious about it then you need to do the calorie and macro counting.

It's hard to tell what aspects of your training really needs to be adjusted since you didn't include sets and reps, but it looks unbalanced. Right off the bat I can tell you that pullovers and pullups are not shoulder exercises. They should be done on back day. Also, I see you don't have a triceps day?

My advice my man is to post up your diet in the diet section with all the macros listed out. If you can post more details of your workout here that would also be beneficial. I tend to do about 14-16 sets per each major bodypart. Maybe a litle more for shoulders and legs, and a little less for arms because I do them with chest and back.

[POPS]

Right off the bat, diet is the reason you aren't gaining weight. Your off to a good start with the spacing of your meals, but even at 160 you probably aren't eating enough to gain anything.

If you are serious about it then you need to do the calorie and macro counting. AMEN!!!
It's hard to tell what aspects of your training really needs to be adjusted since you didn't include sets and reps, but it looks unbalanced. Right off the bat I can tell you that pullovers and pullups are not shoulder exercises. They should be done on back day. Also, I see you don't have a triceps day?

My advice my man is to post up your diet in the diet section with all the macros listed out. If you can post more details of your workout here that would also be beneficial. I tend to do about 14-16 sets per each major bodypart. Maybe a litle more for shoulders and legs, and a little less for arms because I do them with chest and back.

You beat me to the punch, lol! Anyways, lets get that diet fixed first cause this is most imoprtant!!

[pstacks]

You beat me to the punch, lol! Anyways, lets get that diet fixed first cause this is most imoprtant!!

Haha at least you didn't write it all out and post it only to see that it was already there.

[kbellr]

sure, np

Monday
Squats - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 12, 10, 8 reps
leg press - 3 sets: weight starts high, then goes lower: 6-8, 10-12, 12-14
quad flies - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 20, 20, 20
ham flies - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 20, 20, 20

Tuesday
clean and jerks - 6 sets: this week started at 135lbs, 2 sets: 6 reps each. 115 lbs, 2 sets: 8 reps each. 95 lbs, 2 sets: 12 reps each
3 sets of: Pull ups (overhand) 12 reps, front raises (w/dbs) 10-12 reps, lateral raises (w/dbs) 10-12 reps
Upright bb row: 3-4 sets, start with more weight, then decrease: reps - 8, 10, 12
Pull overs with plates - use a 45 lb plate: 3 sets, 10-12 reps

Wednesday
Benchpress: weight stays the same: reps - 10, 10, 10
DB press: weight stays the same: reps - 10, 10, 10
Dips: 3 sets, 15 reps each
Standing cable press (not sure about name, i think you know what i mean though) - 3 sets, low weight, burnouts.
Preacher curls - 4-6 sets (start with high weight and go down): reps - 6, 8, 10, etc

Friday
behind the back shrugs - 3 sets, weight stays the same, 10-12 reps each
bent over bb rows - 3 sets, weight stays the same, 8-12 reps each
v-pull downs - 3-4 sets, start high weight then decrease: reps - 6, 8, 10, 12
single rows on the bench with dbs - 3 sets: start high weight then decrease: reps - 6, 8, 10
lying t-bar rows - 3 sets, weight stays the same - 10-12 reps
Deadlifts - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 15 reps

Saturday - usually will do the 300 workout with a 45lb kettlebell. 25 clean and jerks each arm, 50 burpees, 50 swings, 50 mountain climbers, 50 snatches, 50 pull overs. Best time so far was 14 minutes

So, thanks for replying. I know i'm all over the place. I really don't know what i'm doing for sure with the actual training. There is so much out there, it is overwhelming. Reading the stickies, I am well past the geting back in shape phase. I mean, i look real good now, but i just feel lost about what to do now. while getting in shape fat fell off me and weight increased (body weight and amount i could lift). now i've been stuck for awhile. i'll figure out my fats/carbs/protein and caloric intake and post over in the other forum. thanks for your help.

btw, i dunno why but some muscles in my body just explode without even targeting them. my quads, triceps, and forearms are excellent examples. that's why i don't work specifically on my tri's, they seem to come along real well with other exercises. thats why im focusing on bis too, my tricep is huge but my bi isn't quite symmetric. i hope that makes sense. so i don't really care for pullovers, i can dump those. i was just trying to do them to help hit my lats because they are a bit slow to develop too. the diet thing is annoying, i feel like i am constantly eating, one day i tracked all my calories and i barely had hit 2500. now, if i ate bk whoppers, i could hit 5000 no problem. all the damned good for you food is so low in calories and expensive! oh yeah, i am very serious about this. i've got a wife going to school and 4 kids, so my hobbies are exclusive to what can be done at the gym during lunch or in the garage thanks for your help again

[pstacks]

sure, np

Monday
Squats - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 12, 10, 8 reps
leg press - 3 sets: weight starts high, then goes lower: 6-8, 10-12, 12-14
quad flies - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 20, 20, 20
ham flies - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 20, 20, 20 I am guessing you mean extensions and curls? 20 reps is a lot for these, you probably aren't getting much out of it in terms of strength or size. Also, no calves?

Tuesday
clean and jerks - 6 sets: this week started at 135lbs, 2 sets: 6 reps each. 115 lbs, 2 sets: 8 reps each. 95 lbs, 2 sets: 12 reps each
3 sets of: Pull ups (overhand) 12 reps, front raises (w/dbs) 10-12 reps, lateral raises (w/dbs) 10-12 reps Pull ups - you should either be increasing the reps weekly, or doing these weighted and adding weight weekly. Like I said, these are a back exercise. May work a bit of your rear delts, but do not do them on shoulder day.
Upright bb row: 3-4 sets, start with more weight, then decrease: reps - 8, 10, 12
Pull overs with plates - use a 45 lb plate: 3 sets, 10-12 reps These can be useful for either chest or back depending on how you do them, but if we are talking about the same thing they should not be included on shoulder day.

Wednesday
Benchpress: weight stays the same: reps - 10, 10, 10
DB press: weight stays the same: reps - 10, 10, 10
Dips: 3 sets, 15 reps each Same notes as pull ups, PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD!!
Standing cable press (not sure about name, i think you know what i mean though) - 3 sets, low weight, burnouts.Crossovers?
Preacher curls - 4-6 sets (start with high weight and go down): reps - 6, 8, 10, etc

Friday
behind the back shrugs - 3 sets, weight stays the same, 10-12 reps each
bent over bb rows - 3 sets, weight stays the same, 8-12 reps each
v-pull downs - 3-4 sets, start high weight then decrease: reps - 6, 8, 10, 12
single rows on the bench with dbs - 3 sets: start high weight then decrease: reps - 6, 8, 10
lying t-bar rows - 3 sets, weight stays the same - 10-12 reps
Deadlifts - 3 sets: weight stays the same: 15 reps

Saturday - usually will do the 300 workout with a 45lb kettlebell. 25 clean and jerks each arm, 50 burpees, 50 swings, 50 mountain climbers, 50 snatches, 50 pull overs. Best time so far was 14 minutes

So, thanks for replying. I know i'm all over the place. I really don't know what i'm doing for sure with the actual training. There is so much out there, it is overwhelming. Reading the stickies, I am well past the geting back in shape phase. I mean, i look real good now, but i just feel lost about what to do now. while getting in shape fat fell off me and weight increased (body weight and amount i could lift). now i've been stuck for awhile. i'll figure out my fats/carbs/protein and caloric intake and post over in the other forum. thanks for your help.

btw, i dunno why but some muscles in my body just explode without even targeting them. my quads, triceps, and forearms are excellent examples. that's why i don't work specifically on my tri's, they seem to come along real well with other exercises. thats why im focusing on bis too, my tricep is huge but my bi isn't quite symmetric. i hope that makes sense. so i don't really care for pullovers, i can dump those. i was just trying to do them to help hit my lats because they are a bit slow to develop too. the diet thing is annoying, i feel like i am constantly eating, one day i tracked all my calories and i barely had hit 2500. now, if i ate bk whoppers, i could hit 5000 no problem. all the damned good for you food is so low in calories and expensive! oh yeah, i am very serious about this. i've got a wife going to school and 4 kids, so my hobbies are exclusive to what can be done at the gym during lunch or in the garage thanks for your help again

You have the right idea with some of this stuff. You have a lot of compound moves, and include isolation moves as well. Look at the bolds for my thoughts on it. A couple other things to mention:

I personally don't know anything about the 300 workout, but I'm not sure that I would include it. It seems like its very high intensity training, and I'm sure it's tough. But if you are trying to build muscle, you shouldn't be working things more than once a week. It looks like you are essentially including a full body workout after you have already hit every muscle group that week, and this can hinder your progress and lead to overtraining. Muscles need rest to grow, and this probably delays their full recovery. Maybe a better idea would be to do some cardio on that day.

I saw this page http://www.steroid.com/workout.php linked in a different thread. It includes the basics of training that are essential to creating an anabolic environment, as well as a sample workout. The base of it is compound exercises, which are the best for adding size and muscle mass. The workout is actually very similar to what I do, although I do a little more sets than that recommends. It wouldn't be a bad idea to try that out for a little while to see what the consistency can do for you. Notice how the rep ranges are very similar throughout all of the exercises. You will need to tailor this to meet your needs, as you might respond better to higher or lower reps. Some exercises may need to be adjusted as well, as not all exercises are equally effective for all people. This will give you a good idea though of what is working, and it will be easy to make slight changes.

I have found it is extremely helpful to write down all the exercises, sets, reps etc. that I do. This way I can make sure I make progress every week. And if I am making slow or no progress in specific areas, I am able to identify and change what may not be working. Try this out if you can, I think it is something a lot of people would really benefit from.

Post that diet! Even if you perfect your workout, you still won't gain a pound without the right diet.

[kbellr]

- OK, thanks for the help. To answer your bolded questions, yes I meant extensions and curls. I usually push myself pretty hard with the squats and leg presses so the extensions and curls are just to burn out my hams and quads to failure. I do include cardio (not as much since it's winter) and have had to switch to the POSE running style because of my left knee. You basically run on the balls of your feet - because of this my calves are plenty worked out so I don't do it in the gym.
- Check on the pull overs, I'll just get rid of them.
- Check on the pull ups and dips too.
- Yes, cable cross overs is what i meant.
- I get what you're saying about the 300 workout. I had the same thoughts, i feel like I'm in some pretty good shape now and I knew I would have to dump a lot of the kettlebell circuits i was doing to start adding some mass.

I read the suggested workout link you posted too, I think I'm going to take a week to get my diet straight and put together a better workout regiment. There's another guy in the diet forum who posted his diet for me to emulate and adjust to my own needs. Yeah, my diet was not quite right, lol. I inserted a pic too of my upper body, maybe i'll come back in and post a 4 weeks of progress pic? You know, only if there has been any obvious progress right? One quick note, I absolutely love doing clean and jerks with the barbell. I don't know why, i just really enjoy that exercise. I'll have to find a way to include that in shoulder day. Again, thanks for your help, it is much appreciated.

[38jumper38]

Goals - right now, get bigger.
Sorry to say, your diet its really, really bad. Haven't see any thing like that before, you not going any where the way you eating (get bigger). You need to search in diet forum for one that's fit you, or pm (private message) one vet here, he is the guru of diet, maybe you got lucky he will see your post and jump in. In your pic you looks really good, lean and no fat areas at all, most of people will dream with a body like your's. good luck.

[kbellr]

Wow, thanks for the compliment. That pic is a couple months old, i have actually added some weight even with the crappy diet. Mostly in the legs though, i read that squats and deadlifts naturally boost test levels so i started going bigger with them. Over in the diet forum i posted about my diet as suggested here in the post:

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...with-Newb-Diet

there's a really helpful guy there with sn gbrice75 who kindly posted his diet for me to use. is "one vet" somebodies screen name or what? I'm a little confused by who you're saying i should contact. either way, i'll be gettting the program (diet and workout regiment) in order here soon. I think my goal will be to get up to 170 lbs in 8-12 weeks. Not sure if that's realistic or not. Thanks for everyone who is helping me out, y'all are great on this site. Keep up the good work

[38jumper38]

gbrice75 is the guy. just follow what he says.

[pstacks]

^^^^^^ very true. Good luck man, stick with it and you will start seeing good results soon.