I feel so weak. Is my progress good enough?

[prvych]

So, /fit/, I've been lifting weights for 3 months now, and after seeing other people's progress and after having lifted for this time I think it's time to talk about my progress so far. I'm 25 years old, male, and I currently weigh 87 kg.

When I first started in October, my muscles were so goddamn weak I could barely lift a 20 liter bottle (and my mom would never waste a chance of rubbing it on my face with OH MY GOD ANON I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE YOUNG AND STRONG AND YET YOU STRUGGLE WITH A SIMPLE WATER BOTTLE), and moving a 25 kg bag of dog food to the rooftop was the single heaviest chore I did on a regular basis. I think this was the reason why my instructor's routine didn't even include any bench pressing, because I had to prepare myself with other simpler, safer exercises in order to build up the strength to bench press even a small amount. One month into my workout, I started bench pressing. The first week was absolute ****ing hell, I could barely do 5 reps of 20 lb before flinching and I think it took me a good 30-40 minutes to finish a total of 120 bench press reps. The second week was slightly better, and by the time the third week rolled I could now do 30 reps before I started losing my strength.

Then winter vacations came, and the college gym started closing early. Doing my workout started to become incredibly difficult due to the gym closing early. Then the third week rolled, college went on vacations, and the gym was closed. I tried to do home gym but failed miserably. So I had no choice but to pay a third party gym which I joined on December 26th.

Nowadays I can bench press 20 lb with relative ease and 30 lb with a lot of suffering. I also did babby's first deadlifts yesterday and I maxed out at 40 lb. I can't tell how much I can do with other exercises though, because my previous instructor put me on a lot of machine-assisted weight and thus I had to readjust everything to my current gym's machines. Right now I'm also on a system where I start my exercises with a lot of weight, and then I start removing weight as I start losing my strength, this way the amount of effort I put remains more or less constant without necessarily veering into suffering and at the same time I don't have to take extremely long breaks between reps while I regain my strengths.

Now, as for my background...

Before I started going to the gym I did absolutely ZERO physical activity for 7 years. I used to go to karate when I was a kid, but I absolutely hated it and all I thought was it was for getting gratuitously winded. On middle and high school PE I was the kid who got winded at the drop of a hat. For a while I was on the school's track and field team, but my school was 30 km away from my home and it was at 7:00 AM and therefore it ended up becoming impossible to go. By that time I absolutely hated PE and anything that had something to do with physical activity, so the second I entered college I was like **** THAT **** I AIN'T DOING NOTHING for 2 years. This was later followed by a surgery I had in 2007 whose scar barred me from doing any kind of physical activity for another 2 years, and this was later followed by 3 years of me not having absolutely any time to go to the college gym due to the end of my major rolling in. So basically, it wasn't until I finally left college and joined the workforce that I finally had the time to hit the gym.

Though I also believe having ****ty genetics has something to do. I'm an assburger, I have ADD and thus I need to be permanently stimulated to do my office work (and for this reason I'm a GIGANTIC caffeine fiend), one of my legs is shorter by 2 cm, and I have a bad scoliosis that only got better once I started doing exercises for my lower back muscles so that they became strong enough to support my warped spine. I also started smoking around the end of my major to maintain my sanity due to so much school work, and since then I've been going through phases where my life is chill and I don't smoke, and phases where I smoke 2-3 daily cigarettes due to stress. Right now I'm trying my darndest to cut it to at most one and a half cigarettes a day.

[ktothewire]

First., 120 bench press reps? why so many?

What is your full work out routine? do you have one? do you log anything? do you give your muscles time to recover? do you take "rest" days?

Another few things, Stress is horrible for your body, it can actually be very toxic for your body + smoking; put those two together and well, you get the point right?

[Dizzie38]

All I read was "I'm a ****ing wimp".

Man the **** up. Stop making excuses for your lazy arse.

[prvych]

All I read was "I'm a ****ing wimp".

Man the **** up. Stop making excuses for your lazy arse.

Oh no, I'm returning to the gym with full spirit and all. I mean, I even paid a third party gym when the college gym is free and good enough. It's just that I'm not sure if my progress is fine.

[prvych]

First., 120 bench press reps? why so many?

What is your full work out routine? do you have one? do you log anything? do you give your muscles time to recover? do you take "rest" days?

Another few things, Stress is horrible for your body, it can actually be very toxic for your body + smoking; put those two together and well, you get the point right?

It's 4 sets of 10 with horizontal bench, inclined bench forward, and inclined bench backwards. Since my schedule is pretty irregular I usually end up involuntarily taking rest days, which is also why I usually try to cram a much workout as possible when I have the chance to go to the gym.

I have a routine the instructor from college gym gave me. One day I do chest and legs, another day I do bicep and back, another day I do shoulder and triceps. Core workout is every day.

[fridge011]

if this is a serious thread. look up starting strength. make sure youre eating enough and drink tons of milk. start with the bar and work your way up every workout. i dont know what to say about the lifts. if you weigh 87kg, which is 190 lbs, its hard to imagine youre benching less than the bar. my 100 pound wife who hasnt lifted a weight before can bench the bar. if your not trolling, then starting strength can definitely help you.

[Matsushime]

Oh no, I'm returning to the gym with full spirit and all. I mean, I even paid a third party gym when the college gym is free and good enough. It's just that I'm not sure if my progress is fine.

That's ridiculous and just means you're wasting money.