Am I pushing myself hard enough in the gym?

[ellie210]

Hey everyone. Here's my background story. I've been doing Starting Strength for about 7-8 months now (2 months I spent doing it wrong though). I've struggled with the program and started out very weak, but I have made substantial gains in strength. I also was bulking for 8 months as well. Now a couple of weeks ago, I posted my photos on BB.com and everyone said I just got fat and gained literally no muscles at all. They said that my diet was fine, but it was the training that I messed up on. Now I'm cutting down all that fat I've gained, but I'm still lifting and I probably can make gains because technically I'm still a newbie.

Apparently, I'm not pushing myself hard enough in the gym. One guy said I should be dreading the last set, pushing for that extra rep, and yelling just to get that weight up. Thing is, I do all three. I've put a ****load of effort into weight training to make it successful. Aside from getting sick, I never miss a workout. I do 5 reps of 3 sets and if I do less, I will do a back-off set to make sure I get a good workout for the day.

The only 2 things I can think of why I haven't gained any muscles is:

1) My lifts should be in the 200s and 300s by now, but because of form issues and getting sick at least once a month now, I keep having to deload and reset my lift numbers. Perhaps all the deloading is slowing down my progress.

2) I'm truly not pushing myself to get that extra rep in order to activate my body to build more muscles. I'm in denial.

Or then again, I just need to be patient. After all, my strength levels when I first started, were much lower than the exrx standards for an untrained male! So it may be taking me longer than the average joe to get to an even novice level of strength.

So my question is what defines pushing myself hard enough in the gym, and what isn't? Apparently I'm not pushing myself hard enough, so I want to get some clarification in order to set myself on the right path.

I have a video of me squatting today down below. You guys can judge if I'm putting my 100% or not. I know my form's not perfect, but I am grunting and trying hard to nail 5 reps on that squat. And you bet I was dreading to put that bar on my shoulders while I was resting between sets.

Appreciate any help I can get!

P.S. If it comes to show that I'm really not putting enough effort, then I'll hire a personal trainer to help me out. I'm switching gyms in May anyway, so I'll have an opportunity then.

[MichaelCJ]

"This video is unavailable."

So, where are your lifts at right now?

Exactly how consistent (or, okay, inconsistent...?) have you actually been. Like, how many days have you missed, and in what kind of pattern?

Why do you think you are getting sick all the time? Do you know? If not, might a doctor know, perchance? And what are these "form issues" you speak of?

As for how strong you start out, it makes virtually no difference. Trust me on this. Really damn hard work is the only metric worth anything, in the end.

[ellie210]

"This video is unavailable."

Sorry about that. YouTube's being a b**** right now. I will try to re-upload the video again.

There we go. Video now works!

So, where are your lifts at right now?

Squat

Starting - 65 lbs
5RM - 185 lbs

NOTE: Back problems have plagued my progress with squats. My legs can certainly handle more than 185 lbs, but my back cannot at this time.


Bench Press

Starting - 85 lbs
5RM - 135 lbs

Deadlift

Starting - 85 lbs
5RM - 205 lbs

Overhead Press

Starting - 45 lbs
5RM - 105 lbs

Pendlay rows

Starting - 65 lbs
5RM - 135 lbs

Again, nothing spectacular. I've stalled several times throughout the 6-8 months I've done SS. I say 6 months because I spent 2 months doing the lift with really bad form and on the 3rd month, I completely reset my numbers to relearn the exercises (and yes, I have Rippetoe's book now). But I'm happy that my lifts did actually go up with GOOD form. Still have lots of go, but I can only go up from here. And when I bulk again in 6 months, I'll already have the form and some strength already down.

Exactly how consistent (or, okay, inconsistent...?) have you actually been. Like, how many days have you missed, and in what kind of pattern?

Well generally, my pattern has been like this:

-Workout for 4 weeks, make some gains
-Get sick with a really bad cold for a week, miss a week of working out
-When I get back in the gym, my lifts have gone down and I have to start at a lower weight.

And I stall a lot too.

Why do you think you are getting sick all the time? Do you know? If not, might a doctor know, perchance?

I'm not really sure why. All of the time, it's colds. But they're really bad colds. I caught a bad one at the end of March. I was coughing my guts out and sidelined from the gym for 2 weeks. This week, I'm going to do a blood test to see if I have any issues that I'm unaware of.

And what are these "form issues" you speak of?

When I first started, I had horrible form. I sit on the computer all day to get work done, so I have some back problems and anterior pelvic tilt. So my squat and deadlift form took a long time to get right. But for the most part, I've fixed these form issues. I use a foam roller for my back, I videotape myself every workout to make sure my form doesn't break down, and got feedback on my form several times since I've started SS.

As for how strong you start out, it makes virtually no difference. Trust me on this. Really damn hard work is the only metric worth anything, in the end.

I agree.

[MichaelCJ]

Eh. I've seen a lot worse progress for 8 months, than that. You've more than doubled all lifts bar one, f'rex. Credit where it's due, mate. If you just keep going at this rate, or even not quite at this rate, it won't be too long before you're looking at those "big" numbers (yeah, it's all relative, and pretty arbitrary, truth be told).

Squats didn't look too bad either, from a quick look. Maybe you could go a little deeper; nonetheless, once again, I've seen a lot worse.

Out of curiosity, what version of SS are you doing (i.e., from where)? I take it, that it's not any kind of book version...? If not, you might want to buy a copy of the third edition - there's lots of goodness in there, including some changes that usually would've happened with the program, by now.

Like chinups.

[ellie210]

Eh. I've seen a lot worse progress for 8 months, than that. You've more than doubled all lifts bar one, f'rex. Credit where it's due, mate. If you just keep going at this rate, or even not quite at this rate, it won't be too long before you're looking at those "big" numbers (yeah, it's all relative, and pretty arbitrary, truth be told).

Squats didn't look too bad either, from a quick look. Maybe you could go a little deeper; nonetheless, once again, I've seen a lot worse.

Point taken. Thanks man.

Out of curiosity, what version of SS are you doing (i.e., from where)? I take it, that it's not any kind of book version...? If not, you might want to buy a copy of the third edition - there's lots of goodness in there, including some changes that usually would've happened with the program, by now.

I have the second edition of the Starting Strength book. I'll see what the difference is between the 3rd edition and decide if I'll buy it or not. But in terms of SS, I do the one where you replace power cleans with pendlay rows.

Like chinups.

F***, I bought the 2nd edition book like a month before the 3rd one came out. Feelsbadman.

[Jasonk282]

Honestly...just keep plugging away, life happens and sometimes the gym has to take a back seat...whether it's being sick, vacations, working more, exams...this stuff just happens.

For example, this past week due to work I was only able to hit the gym 2 days and the same is gonna happen this week as well...All you can do is put your head down and keep moving forward.

BTW...squats look good.

[ThatOneLurker]

Yeah your squat form looks good man

Definitely better than mine lol


Only you can tell if you're pushing yourself hard enough.

Forget what other people are telling you, if you feel you're giving it your all then who are they to question you?

However, if you feel like you're not pushing yourself then just get into right mindset.

It's all on you.

[ellie210]

Honestly...just keep plugging away, life happens and sometimes the gym has to take a back seat...whether it's being sick, vacations, working more, exams...this stuff just happens.

For example, this past week due to work I was only able to hit the gym 2 days and the same is gonna happen this week as well...All you can do is put your head down and keep moving forward.

I will keep at it and not stop until I reach my fitness goals. And yeah, if life were a smooth road, everyone in this world would be fit. But you're right, you just got to work around life and continue to lift.

BTW...squats look good.

Thank you!

Yeah your squat form looks good man

Thanks man.

Definitely better than mine lol

No worries, especially if you just started. It took me a long ass time just to get to the form I have now. Lots of form check topics where people harshly criticized my form, lots of video watching and reading too. You'll probably get there faster if you don't have APT like I do.

Only you can tell if you're pushing yourself hard enough.

Forget what other people are telling you, if you feel you're giving it your all then who are they to question you?

However, if you feel like you're not pushing yourself then just get into right mindset.

It's all on you.

I definitely know that I am giving it my all when I'm inside that gym. In general, I put a ton of effort into weight training and trying to get it right. I just wanted a second opinion, since the guys a couple of weeks ago said I'm not trying hard enough (based on the photos they saw of me). But it seems like I'm on the right track, which is a good thing.

[Lackeos]

All of the bogus advice you repeated in your original post about not pushing hard enough and whatever, you can feel free to ignore that.

One reason you might be packing on more flab than muscle is that with all the deloads, getting sick, stalls, etc., you are basically bulking without sufficiently increasing your lifts, therefore less muscle gained than you're really supposed to gain, therefore... more fat. Keep bulking, get your lifts up, try to avoid setbacks, and you can cut when your weight exceeds your target weight.