Did I permanently screw myself over?

[toronto2000]

I don't know what's wrong with me, did I **** up all my chances of getting strength/muscle or something? Im 5'7 and last May I was overweight weighing about 200 lbs. From then till about November I ate at a huge deficit and crash dieted doing way too much cardio due to my lack of nutrional knowledge and being a dumb kid and ended up getting to about 127 lbs. At this point I realized how ****ing skinny I was and the importance of weight lifting soI got back on track and started a slow bulk at about 2500 cals and hit the gym running the beginner PPL. I started with the Empty bar but was feeling way too burned out so switched to GZCLP, a full body program and ive been running that every other day since January. I'm gaining about a pound a week and eat whole nutritious foods (potato, chicken breast, rice etc) and I hit about 180g of protein per day. I'm now 150 lbs and I feel like almost all the weight I gained was fat. Even then, my strength is BARELY progressing and I've gotten form checks and giving it all in my gym, it's so frsutrating.
My lifts(lbs): Bench 120x2, Squat 195x3, Deadlift 265x2, OHP 95x3
Guys I really don't know what to do, I see everyone else making way better strength progress and I've really done everything I can. Did I **** up all my chances of ever gaining muscle and strength from my drastic weight loss?

[gbullock32]

Simply slow rate of gain down a bit to ~2 pounds per month, focus on improving strength and take a deep breath because you did not mess anything up; your body is far more resilient than you are giving it credit for.

[toronto2000]

Thank you so much for the reply bro. The thing I'm worried about is will my strength even progress at all on a smaller surplus? I'm already struggling to add weight on a weekly basis on 2500 calories a day so im worried progress will be even slower on 2400 calories. I can't even bench 1 plate for 1 rep and its super demotivating, I give it my 100% in the gym but it just seems like my body isn't getting any stronger no matter how hard I push myself

[BHFK]

Thank you so much for the reply bro. The thing I'm worried about is will my strength even progress at all on a smaller surplus? I'm already struggling to add weight on a weekly basis on 2500 calories a day so im worried progress will be even slower on 2400 calories. I can't even bench 1 plate for 1 rep and its super demotivating, I give it my 100% in the gym but it just seems like my body isn't getting any stronger no matter how hard I push myself

You dont’t need to be eating to gain a pound a week. You’ll make the same gains in a 150-250 surplus without the fat. Also, try eating 150 grams of protein and upping your carb instake by 30 grams.

[toronto2000]

Alright thanks man, I'll try decreasing the calories by about 100. I hit at least 180g of protein per day and I usually get about 270-280g of carbs. But I'm still struggling to increase the weight on the bar and it just feels like I'm not gaining any strength. Any recommendations bro?

[jasonmilk]

Alright thanks man, I'll try decreasing the calories by about 100. I hit at least 180g of protein per day and I usually get about 270-280g of carbs. But I'm still struggling to increase the weight on the bar and it just feels like I'm not gaining any strength. Any recommendations bro?

I am just going to input my opinion as another teen lifter for about 1 and a half years but in no way am I credible to take advice from. So if some one calls me out on my crappy advice then proceed to ignore me. That being said what helped me in increasing strength was actually the bodybuilding aspect of lifting. Just get bigger for now by putting on lean muscle and then proceed that way. After a while then you will be able to start adding more weight and focus a little more on the strength aspect. Focusing too early on strength not only screwed my form but also my joints. My hip pops when i walk, my knees pop when i squat (it's getting better with my form), and my elbow pops when I flex my biceps. Also it is very hard to add weight every single week for every lift. There are times when I feel the same too but it is all slow progress. Another thing i did was train my core about 4-5 times a week but light to moderate intensity. It is still possible to put on lean muscle even on a relatively small caloric deficit as long as you have enough protein (ie lose fat gain muscle). I don't really know the program you're using very well so I won't really say much about that. So yeah, focus on building muscle through good mind-muscle connection and proper contraction. There are many videos on youtube you can look to for like form and exercises for isolation etc. Get big, then get strong. Good luck dude.

[toronto2000]

Hey bro thanks for taking the time to reply. So you would recommend on focusing on isolation and accessory work more rn? May I ask what program you were running and what isolation exercises you did that specifically helped in getting bigger and stronger? I run a full body and I usually add some extra bicep/tricep/chest work every other day but I figured I wouldn't really get "bigger" until my strength increased. Thanks again man

[sliszewski]

Hey, I'm a brand new to lifting in general but I've done a lot of research and you didn't mess up anything. Slow the bulk down, smaller caloric increase. I've been using jim stoppani's 12wk beginner to advanced bodybuilding (would post the link but under 50 posts) and on phase 2 I've had a lot of strength as well as decent size gains. My bench has gone from around 95lbs to 135lb, squat from 135lbs to 185lbs for reps. I just try and focus on following the program strictly as well as progressive overloading each set (add lbs to each set, overtime it will get easier with lighter weights and you will be getting stronger)

[jasonmilk]

Hey bro thanks for taking the time to reply. So you would recommend on focusing on isolation and accessory work more rn? May I ask what program you were running and what isolation exercises you did that specifically helped in getting bigger and stronger? I run a full body and I usually add some extra bicep/tricep/chest work every other day but I figured I wouldn't really get "bigger" until my strength increased. Thanks again man

You should probably add an isolation exercise or two into your workout if you aren't doing any at all. But don't ditch the main compound lifts either. what i consider accessory lifts may differ from person to person and i don't know much on what exercises provide more isolation than other but i would focus on how you perform the exercise. Like if you do a dumbbell bench press you can vary the tempo and grip width etc. (while making sure your shoulder blade is retracted and down as if you're doing a lat pulldown). Another example is instead of just doing barbell back squat, try the front squat or goblet squat and focus on the contraction. Don't aim for the perfect number of reps but rather the quality of it whether it be 1 rep or 50 reps. I didn't really follow a program and had no one to really help me start off which is why i got so screwed over in the beginning of my training. Right now i jst kind of follow my own routine i made up but i don't think it is suitable for you right now. Also i am guessing you train full body every time you work out when you say you run a full body. i'm not knowledgeable about that stuff and i have never followed that kind of routine. I focus on 2-3 parts at a time when i workout so like one day i do back and bicep and another i will do chest/shoulder/tricep. it might work for you if you do that kind of split training to focus on each body part a bit better but i'm not quite sure