What am I doing wrong? Is it my program?

[SoyRichard]

Hi there,

I have been working out the past 8 months - on a 4-5 day/week scheme. I do notice some positive changes - (I used to be this beanstalk and I now feel more normal) -but needless to say - after seeing so many "1 year progression" videos I do feel a bit like a failure and it's making me feel like I'm doing something wrong.

I attached a picture that shows my progression. I hope you do notice some difference - but I also hope that you notice what I mean by feeling demotivated if I compare myself to these success "1 year progressions" stories. Especially since I believe I'm pretty committed.

I'm reaching out to you - dear reader- because I'd like to get a more experienced opinion on what I'm doing wrong. Or better- what I can improve. I'm going to be elaborate - I hope that's ok. I have spend countless hours of research beforehand - but I cannot pinpoint the problem myself.

Let me start by saying: I'm around 1.95m long "6.4 feet" and before I started I weighted 69kgs "153 lbs". I started by tracking my calorie intake and noticed that I wasn't eating enough. Since then I'm trying to eat around 2.8-3.3k kcal per day. This way I managed to get my weight to around 80kgs "176 lbs". The odd thing is that it's been stuck at 80kgs - it even seems like I'm losing a bit of kgs - for the past 2-4 months - while I'm still eating around 3.3kcal. Maybe it's in my head but I do feel like I'm getting more belly fat and fat on the sides - even though the scale says my weight stays the same - so I don't dare to increase the amount much more.

A typical day of food would be: 140g of oatmeal, 2 bananas, yoghurt, brown bread with some slices of cheese, 50g of peanut butter, nuts, meat+veggies+potatos/brown rice, 2 scoops of proteine whey + half a liter of milk + 60g of oatmeal. = this all sums up to around 2.8-3.3k kcal and according to myfitnesspal app the macros seem more or less ok.


My workouts seem to have 2 major issues: i'm not really progressing and my results vary a lot - it's not like linear growth and the past month it even feels like I'm losing progress.

My main pain point seems to be the bench press. When I started I could barely lift it. I believe I learned the "proper form" and managed to progressively overload it to 3x6x50kgs "110lbs" - this all happened in the first month. The issue is that the 7 months after that it barely increased. At this point I cannot even pinpoint what I'm currently able to handle. Most of the times 3x6x56kgs work "123lbs". Some days I manage to push it to 57 or 58, but I also have days where it's hard to achieve the 56kgs. I'm reading about people being able to progressive overload the weight by 1-2kgs on a weekly/2 weekly interval - but that's definitely not the case here. Those 6x56kgs are not a walk in the park for me and it really feels like my max at the moment. It's demotivating to see at what ease some people manage to do their bench press exercises - while for me those 6 reps are literally a fight haha. I expected to be able to lift more - especially after 8 months. Sometimes I blame the fact that I do have long arms - but still. Some days I try to do 5x58 - which often ends up to be 4x58, but that makes me wonder if I should just stick to 6x56.

My workout program at this point looks like the following. I show the weights that I currently use:

Day A: chest + arms
Bench press: 20x36 + 12x48 + 3x6x56kg + 2x12x48kg
dumbell incline press: 3x12x38kg
dumbell flies: 3x16x10kg
dumbell seated triceps press: 3x12x26kg
pull up:5x6
bench dip extended legs: 3x20
alternate biceps curls: 3x12x28kg

Day B: shoulders
military press: 5x6x40kg
dumbell reverse flies 3x12x18kg
dumbell shoulder press: 3x12x28kg
dumbell lateral raise: 3x12x8kg
shoulder shrug: 3x12x20kg
barbell bent over row: 3x6x50kg

Day C: legs
squats 10x70kg, 10x82kg, 3x10x92kg
once per week/2weeks I do deadlifts 3x10x90kg
barbell lunges 3x14x42kg
barbell single leg squat no weight 3x12
calf raises 3x30
chin ups: 5x6

Normally I apply the following schema where day A, B and C follow eachother. A restday is added after that and sometimes in between.

Now one of my issues is the fact that the weights and numbers shown in this program have been the same for the past couple of months. I did manage to increase my amount of pull ups/chin ups. But my bench, curls and military press seem to be stuck for months. Actually for example: those 5x6x40kg military presses are not always 40kgs, but some days I only manage to do 6x38, some day I'm able to do 5x41. But never consistently 6x41. Moreover, I initially started with 34kgs, improving 6kgs over 8 months seems not so much.


I think I already provided a lot of information - maybe too much sorry - but let me know if I need to provide extra info.

My main question boils down to:
- what am I doing wrong with my workouts. Is my nutrition not good enough? Should I eat more, less? Why is my progress for example: bench press so slow compared to other stories that I read on the internet. Some people state - if you are not progressing in bench pressing - you need to increase your frequency and try to do it multiple times per week. I have tried that for a couple of weeks. But without much of success.


I see these success stories and awesome transformations online and I hope to be able to follow up to that.

Thanks already big time for your time

[air2fakie]

You've made decent progress so don't compare yourself with anyone else or esp online success stories, as you never know what anyone's taking.

If you haven't been progressing for the last 7 (of 8) months, get on a proper novice program which is better planned out and balanced - see examples in the stickies on this forum. And note that if you have a weak back and back side of your body altogether, all your lifts will suffer.

[TolerantLactose]

Your picture shows you've made very good progress.

As for your program, you may be having trouble progressing bench press because you not only have to recover from your last bench session, you have to recover from the incline db press, db flies, triceps extensions, dips and military press. And they all affect each other. I think a person needs a back day more than they need a shoulder day.

[paulinkansas]

Your body adapts to the stress of exercise. Looks like you hit everything twice in 7 or 8 days. If you can hit everything 3x in 7 or 8 days, you might see additional gains. 3x a week full body, or FB rest FB rest upper lower rest repeat. Like others have said, there are programs up there in the stickies.

[SoyRichard]

Your body adapts to the stress of exercise. Looks like you hit everything twice in 7 or 8 days. If you can hit everything 3x in 7 or 8 days, you might see additional gains. 3x a week full body, or FB rest FB rest upper lower rest repeat. Like others have said, there are programs up there in the stickies.

Someone once told me to look into Greyskull LP GSLP - it however seems to disagree with advice I read online - where they state if your bench press is bad - just do more benchpresses. It kinda matches with your statement where you mention hitting those muscles 3x in a week.

However with GSLP it will only be 1.2-2 times per week -according to an online GSLP scheme I found.

Moreover, my total volume will decrease significantly. Currently I'm doing 20x36 + 12x48 + 3x6x56kg + 2x12x48kg
this will be reduced to 2x5 + 1x5+. I might be able to increase the weight a tid bit. 5x58 might work now. I sincerely doubt 5x60.
But is this worth the decrease in total volume? I always thought total volume might have a bigger impact.

[Dydo]

I don't think you train your back enough compared to the volume you do for the pectoral muscles. Keep in mind that the back even needs to be trained harder than the pectoral muscles, as it is also a larger muscle. Failure to train your back muscles causes a serious imbalance in your body that may not even allow you to progress on the bench. There is a principle that states: if you want a strong bench, train your back. Maybe this is one of the reasons you can't increase your strength on the bench. Try to include rows of dumbbells.
Congratulations on the visual progress.

[dgoyena216]

I mean visually you've made progress. Program wise its could be a lot better. Its pretty unbalanced, everything is done on mostly the same intensity. There doesn't appear to be any sort of set progression scheme.

Don't compare yourself to others. There are a ton of variables you have to account for. Genes, programming, technique, goals, nutrition, substances being taken?, and well photoshop.

[paulinkansas]

The pictures you see of body transformations are the exceptions, not the norms. Not many people are going to post pics of their normal gains, but they do of the exceptional gains. Exceptions are probably 5% of the population. Norms are probably 90%.

You are no exception, you are a norm. 8 months is also a short time.

[CommitmentRulz]

OP, I've actually seen "before" and "after" photos taken 3 days apart. The DIFFERENCE was lighting, a pump from a workout (just completed) and a "fitness" photographer - again, with special lighting, taking the after pics. Don't believe these "transformations" trying to sell you ANYTHING.

[air2fakie]

But is this worth the decrease in total volume? I always thought total volume might have a bigger impact.

The bigger impact being no progress on your BP in 7 months and a minimal amount of posterior work?

[pondman]

About 70% of the muscle in your body is in your legs and back. Nothing wrong with whatever you want to do to stay fit. But it seem to be influenced by light weight and high volume. If you want mass you can limit your lifting to about 6 compound lifts. You can do it as a whole body, or a split. But you've got to be consistent with it.