Training HARD since Nov...only gained 7 lbs..HELP!

[VOcean724]

I am runnin out of ideas guys!

I'm not gonna go with steroids lol...so I need workout ideas from the people here on the forums. I have made a few posts here in the forums before on the difficulties I've had with adding size...I just cannot seem to find a program that is workin for me. I have tried so many programs..high weight/low reps, low weight/high reps, German volume training, Scivation's bulking for ectos, my own customized plans...nothing seems to be getting me the results I am lookin for.

I always thought that I was underweight/underdeveloped so 5 years ago I joined the gym on a quest to build muscle. It wasn't until this past Nov that I found this site and was inspired to take it to the next level and to seriously commit myself to bodybuilding. So I read, read, and read some more (and still do) and got all of the right things to eat and supplements to complement (no creatine for me, but I take whey, casein, opti-men and fish oil)..I eat a clean diet composed of about 50% carbs, 30% protein, and 20% healthy fats adding up to about 4,000 cals a day.

But even though I eat 8 meals a day, train hard in the gym (latest program is the GVT for over a month now), I just can't seem to put on the muscle much at all. I know that as I get older and my metabolism slows it will become easier, but when you have a greater goal that you're trying to achieve for as long as I have been trying, you want to see some legit results.

Seven pounds (so about 1 lb per month) is not acceptable to me. In reading countless stories of other people, many of those with physical characteristics similar to mine, I would think that I would have at least put on 2x as much as I have thus far. I currently weigh 155 lbs at 5'11'', and I would prob like to add 15-20 more lbs.

So, eating right, training hard (but obviously cant seem to find the right program), 7-8 hours of sleep a night, 2 days of full rest, light on the cardio...help me out here guys.

(Also, I don't see how I can eat much more than I do right now, due to my schedule. I pack tons of food with me to work so I am very strict about staying on top of the diet all day long, eating roughly every 1.5-2 hours).

Any words of wisdom are MUCH APPRECIATED!!

[IEatPowerRacks]

The only thing you can do is eat more... YOU DON'T NEED 8 MEALS A DAY. Meal frequency has little to no effect on metabolic rate or body composition. Just eat however meals is most convenient to you, and whenever is most convenient to you. What matters is getting enough calories. 7 lbs is good, but if you wanna speed it up, add 250 calories per day on top of what you're eating now and you should gain an extra 2 lbs each month on top of what you're already gaining. EAT EAT EAT. Training has nothing to do with weight gain, just influencing how many calories go to muscle gain. COUNT CALORIES.

[jgreystoke]

Are you training progressively?

ie, when you get ever rep in good form in scheduled sets, do you add 5 lbs next session?

If you are handling about the same poundage in your favorite moves, for about the same reps as last November, how can you expect to have more muscle?

Please briefly outline your program: days, fullbody/split, exercises, sets, reps etc. How much progress have you made since November? Only iron on the bar counts, for any rational rep range. EVERYTHING else is subjective, and pretty useless if you want muscle gains.

Gaining muscle does NOT get easier as you age, lol. Gaining FAT sure does! These are the best days of your life for gaining muscle. Don't waste them pissing around with fluff. Concentrate on the "BIG SIX" moves in your profile above your goals, or variations therof. Every other great move is secondary to these.

In your threads, you mention that one leg is a half inch shorter, and your doc said to avoid the best exercises!

Well you should read up about Doug Ivan Hepburn. His right lower leg was withered, his ankle fused by an op to correct his club foot. His other leg was at least an inch longer. But he determined to become the strongest man in the world, and beat the best in the Stockholm '53 World Weightlifting Championship. And that is in spite of not being appreciated in his native Canada, if anything, the WL authorities there were a serious hindrance.

If you think that such a slight imbalance should prevent you even contemplating squats, deads, rows, overhead presses ect, then think again.

I have a limp which is more or less noticable depending on my fatigue etc. Have chronic issues with knees, shoulders, left hip. Have no colon after an op. That leaves me constantly battling fatigue, since the function of the large intestine, apart from the obvious, is reabsorbtion of minerals and vitamins and water.

If you want something badly enough, you won't let little things like that stand in your way!

Best of luck, and never say die!

Btw, take the long term view. If you gain 1lb of real muscle per month, and keep it up for ages, that's 12lbs a year, 60lbs in five years! To do that you'll have to get vastly stronger.

[Hut*Hut]

I would bet my left testicle you're over training wildly by focusing too much on volume and variety and not enough on progression on the core lifts.

GVT for instance really isn't a beginner program. If you're squatting 160lb you don't need to be doing 10 sets, you need to be lifting 165lb, then 170lb, then 175lb. Frankly 3, 2 or even 1 set is all it takes to progress if you train with adequate intensity, focus & consistency. Once you're squatting 400x8 have another look at GVT & Volume training generally if you like.

Get on Rippetoe's SS or jump over to IronAddicts.com forum and soak up some wisdom over there. But whatever you do just bare this in mind if your looking for 'words of wisdom': progression is what gets you bigger, not variety or volume! Those are merely tools, progression is the goal and it's often best achieved by doing less not more.

Oh, and eat more protein. Whatever you're eating now add another 100 grams.

[VOcean724]

Originally Posted by jgreystoke

Are you training progressively?

ie, when you get ever rep in good form in scheduled sets, do you add 5 lbs next session?

If you are handling about the same poundage in your favorite moves, for about the same reps as last November, how can you expect to have more muscle?

Please briefly outline your program: days, fullbody/split, exercises, sets, reps etc. How much progress have you made since November? Only iron on the bar counts, for any rational rep range. EVERYTHING else is subjective, and pretty useless if you want muscle gains.

Gaining muscle does NOT get easier as you age, lol. Gaining FAT sure does! These are the best days of your life for gaining muscle. Don't waste them pissing around with fluff. Concentrate on the "BIG SIX" moves in your profile above your goals, or variations therof. Every other great move is secondary to these.

In your threads, you mention that one leg is a half inch shorter, and your doc said to avoid the best exercises!

Well you should read up about Doug Ivan Hepburn. His right lower leg was withered, his ankle fused by an op to correct his club foot. His other leg was at least an inch longer. But he determined to become the strongest man in the world, and beat the best in the Stockholm '53 World Weightlifting Championship. And that is in spite of not being appreciated in his native Canada, if anything, the WL authorities there were a serious hindrance.

If you think that such a slight imbalance should prevent you even contemplating squats, deads, rows, overhead presses ect, then think again.

I have a limp which is more or less noticable depending on my fatigue etc. Have chronic issues with knees, shoulders, left hip. Have no colon after an op. That leaves me constantly battling fatigue, since the function of the large intestine, apart from the obvious, is reabsorbtion of minerals and vitamins and water.

If you want something badly enough, you won't let little things like that stand in your way!

Best of luck, and never say die!

Btw, take the long term view. If you gain 1lb of real muscle per month, and keep it up for ages, that's 12lbs a year, 60lbs in five years! To do that you'll have to get vastly stronger.

I do progress the weight by about 5 lbs once I am able to complete the sets for that exercise well and with consistent rest intervals, as you mention. I am very good about tracking these numbers. I'm just not seeing in the mirror. Perhaps I am just building strength and it is not really showing? I would think that if the strength progressively improves, I would be able to see some of it in the mirror too...

Here's a sample workout day for chest/tris, I keep it pretty simple, but basic core moves are incorporated:

1) BB Bench press: 5x5 @ 135
2) BB Incline press: 4x8 @ 115
3) DB Decline flyes: 4x8 @ 45 DB
4) Cable crossover: 3x10 @ 50
5) Lying BB tri extensions: 3x10 @ 50

The latest weekly split: Mon=Legs/abs; Tue=Chest/Tris; Wed=Rest; Thu=Delts/Abs; Fri=Back/Traps/Bis; Sat=Chest/Extra calf work; Sun=Rest

Also, I will have to read up on Hepburn's case..sounds interesting. The main reason that I was told that I cannot perform certain exercises (BB squats, BB lunges, Leg press, etc) was that these put too much pressure on the spine as the weight is increased. So I use the hack squat machine for my squats since my spine is resting/supported on the pad. Lately I have thought of maybe starting to go for smith machine squats, since they are somewhat supported too and better mimic a standard BB squat as opposed to the hack machine..thoughts?

[VOcean724]

Originally Posted by Hut*Hut

I would bet my left testicle you're over training wildly by focusing too much on volume and variety and not enough on progression on the core lifts.

GVT for instance really isn't a beginner program. If you're squatting 160lb you don't need to be doing 10 sets, you need to be lifting 165lb, then 170lb, then 175lb. Frankly 3, 2 or even 1 set is all it takes to progress if you train with adequate intensity, focus & consistency. Once you're squatting 400x8 have another look at GVT & Volume training generally if you like.

Get on Rippetoe's SS or jump over to IronAddicts.com forum and soak up some wisdom over there. But whatever you do just bare this in mind if your looking for 'words of wisdom': progression is what gets you bigger, not variety or volume! Those are merely tools, progression is the goal and it's often best achieved by doing less not more.

Oh, and eat more protein. Whatever you're eating now add another 100 grams.

When I first began the GVT, I found 10 sets to be way too much. I could get through it, but I felt that the first few sets were just too light to be burning energy on and it was actually making my workouts boring...so I modified it about a week or two ago to a more standard 5x5, still keeping the accessory moves around 3 or 4 sets of 8-10 reps.

Thanks for the heads up on Rippetoe's stuff & IronAddicts...will have to read up.

Btw...I realize the importance of progression and do progess the weight consistently...see my above reply.

[nutsy54]

If you're not gaining weight, then you're not eating enough. Simple as that.

[jgrube]

DO GOMAD

http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-sq...n-gain-weight/

/thread

[TheSheepdog]

Originally Posted by nutsy54

If you're not gaining weight, then you're not eating enough. Simple as that.

basically

he's probably doing cardio too

[VOcean724]

Originally Posted by TheSheepdog

basically

he's probably doing cardio too

Forgot to mention the cardio...but not much to report there

Just a 5-10 min low-intensity cool down after the workout

[TheSheepdog]

Originally Posted by VOcean724

Forgot to mention the cardio...but not much to report there

Just a 5-10 min low-intensity cool down after the workout

why do that when you should be putting as much nutrients in your body as possible?

the best cool down is the ride home when you are drinking your supplements