Bodyweight Plateau

[takingoffstrong]

I have been stuck between 160 -165 for about 2-3 months. Currently I am at about 3200 calories and have tried between 4k - 5k for short bursts but didn't seem to gain any weight at all even at high calorie times. I train 5 days a week for about 1.5 hours and do cardio 2x a week for about 20-30 min. I want to get to about 180 and then cut down. Any advice or tips are appreciated.

[Rick1824]

I seem to make my biggest gains and see the biggest improvements when I come back from taking a break, and then they slow down as I get months into it.

Also...relax. People tend to put a lot of emphasis on the physical aspect of "what can I do, what should I do, what do I need to do" to make it work, and they totally overlook the mental portion of the equation. Stress, worry and anxiousness are no ones friend and can interfer with your progress greatly if you let it.

[WorldStrike]

Cut out one of your cardio sessions and see how your body responds.

[Ruz4life]

Why would you do cardio when you are trying to put on weight? Cardio burns calories making it harder to put on weight... Eat more and continue eating more until you see weight go up.





duh?

[BecomeLegendary]

I disagree, I think two light cardio sessions a week will be beneficial for overall health while bulking. It's going to keep your veins and arteries clean as well as keep your metabolism in really good shape. Your training, however, needs to be reduced. 1.5 hours of weight lifting 5 days a week is far too much, atleast I know it would be for me. I'd go an hour 5 times a week and try to keep total sets at about 30-40. 3200 calories is not enough for a bulk, especially in the later weeks because your metabolism as well as endocrine system will catch up to you and halt weight gain. Its called the set point theory. Your body naturally sits between two set values and anything under or over that is not natural for your body, hence the body uses unknown mechanisms to return your body to a normal range. This could be intense appetite stimulation (this happens to me when I go under 170) or simply a slew of unused and undigested calories.

In short, up the calories a couple hundred every 5-6 days or so and drop your training volume a little bit. Remember whne trying to bulk, your body needs plenty of recovery time so you can train even harder and hit higher levels of hypertrophy the next week.