Plateau

[shawlaw67]

I started working out in April and saw some solid improvement in the first six months. Nothing crazy, but I noticed some gains in overall mass (keep in mind I had never had even the slightest pecs/biceps/quads/etc). I was doing a 'beginner routine' I found on here, mainly focusing on compound movements. Here are a couple of pics from those first six months.

April
i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah120/shawlaw67/555555555_zpsfbh7e8sg.png
September
i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah120/shawlaw67/5555_zpsf6mvgxtr.png

I went from 165 to 181 in those six months

Problem is, I have hit a serious plateau since then.
I'll post some pictures later, but I have gained zero muscle mass since ~Oct. I've added about 5 pounds, but it has all gone to my gut so i cut down my calorie intake to 2400 from 2700 over the past week while i figure out what to do.

I haven't been able to add any weight to my lifts, if anything I've lost some strength. My bench is down, my curls have stayed at the same spot, I haven't hit deadlifts/squats in 3 weeks because I got frustrated and thought taking a few weeks off from it would help somehow. I feel like I've wasted 2-3 months now.

I was wondering if this is normal after the first six months or so, and what I can do to get back to it.

[Kartiloco]

I started working out in April and saw some solid improvement in the first six months. Nothing crazy, but I noticed some gains in overall mass (keep in mind I had never had even the slightest pecs/biceps/quads/etc). I was doing a 'beginner routine' I found on here, mainly focusing on compound movements. Here are a couple of pics from those first six months.

April
i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah120/shawlaw67/555555555_zpsfbh7e8sg.png
September
i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah120/shawlaw67/5555_zpsf6mvgxtr.png

I went from 165 to 181 in those six months

Problem is, I have hit a serious plateau since then.
I'll post some pictures later, but I have gained zero muscle mass since ~Oct. I've added about 5 pounds, but it has all gone to my gut so i cut down my calorie intake to 2400 from 2700 over the past week while i figure out what to do.

I haven't been able to add any weight to my lifts, if anything I've lost some strength. My bench is down, my curls have stayed at the same spot, I haven't hit deadlifts/squats in 3 weeks because I got frustrated and thought taking a few weeks off from it would help somehow. I feel like I've wasted 2-3 months now.

I was wondering if this is normal after the first six months or so, and what I can do to get back to it.

Current lifts?

What does your routine look like exactly?

Taking 3 weeks off from training a lift (or from training a whole bodypart if for example Squats / Deads are your only lifts for legs) isn't going to help increase it, yeah a one week deload (training a lift with lighter weights / less volume for a week) can help to break through a plateau sometimes, but this is for more advanced lifters, beginners usually don't need that.
After more than a week of not hitting a body part, you pretty much begin to detrain and lose strength / size slowly...

[shawlaw67]

Current lifts?

What does your routine look like exactly?

Taking 3 weeks off from training a lift (or from training a whole bodypart if for example Squats / Deads are your only lifts for legs) isn't going to help increase it, yeah a one week deload (training a lift with lighter weights / less volume for a week) can help to break through a plateau sometimes, but this is for more advanced lifters, beginners usually don't need that.
After more than a week of not hitting a body part, you pretty much begin to detrain and lose strength / size slowly...

I've been doing: 3-4 sets, 6-10 reps of...
Day 1 - Chest/triceps/shoulders
db press (flat/incline), decline machine press, military press, side lateral raise, skull crushers, dips, and tricep cable pulldowns
Day 2 - Legs/abs
squats, bb lunges, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raise, variation of sit-ups
Day 3 - Back/biceps
deadlifts, lat pulldowns, plate loaded row machine, shrugs, preacher curls, hammer curls, reverse bb curls
Day 4 - Rest
Repeat

Sadly started at 95 on bench press. Got up to 175, switched to db's. Max'd out with 80's (70's for 6 reps), but I haven't been able to do more than 65's for 4+reps in the past two months.
Squats started at 95. Got up to 205 for 4 reps, but I had a problem with my hip flexor, dr told me to take some time off from squatting and I was getting frustrated with not being able to add weight so I was already thinking of taking 2-3 weeks off from it anyway.
Deadlifts started at 115. Got up to 165, but I could never go any heavier. Stuck since about mid-September... just can't keep back straight once I try to add to it so I'm scared i'll blow out my back if I really push it.

I honestly just haven't felt that pump in a good while, so I'm really thinking I should switch up my entire routine.
I've been keeping up with my meals so I think it all has to do with what I'm doing/not doing at the gym.

[Nyergk]

you should work two times a week each muscle, works often really better.
you do too much squat and deadlift take a look to 5/3/1 for a correct quote on theses exercices if you want to use them.
if you always stagne include in more of you training this:
6*10 30 secondes pause, without using weight at all, just doing the free mouvement by pick contracting the muscle 2 secondes(10 repetitions must take 30 sec)
you can use this technique only two times a week ,cause headhaches lol,in a fullbody (include it in a split training).must work.

[CragglePop]

Plateaus are normal and to be expected if you repeat the same routine over and over again. Your body will get used to it.

The key beating the dreaded plateau is muscle confusion. Mix it up! Variety is the spice of life. I will change my routine every month. I know that I have changed it up enough if I wake up sore the next day! I hope that helps.

[sooby]

Plateaus are normal and to be expected if you repeat the same routine over and over again. Your body will get used to it.

The key beating the dreaded plateau is muscle confusion. Mix it up! Variety is the spice of life. I will change my routine every month. I know that I have changed it up enough if I wake up sore the next day! I hope that helps.

I couldn't find any more fitness BS in two lines even if I tried. Please don't listen to this guy. Muscle confusion is a BS concept, changing your routine every month is horrible and soreness is a poor indicator of gaining muscle/strength.

There are several reasons why you may be plateauing and several ways to beat plateaus. Employ as you see fit.

#1: Increasing volume/frequency - Sometimes the best way to break a plateau is just to simply do a lift more often
#2: Eat more - Simple, the more you eat the stronger your lifts will become (generally)
#3: Change the rep scheme - Somewhat related to #1, but say you plateau on 3x5, perhaps try switching it up to 5x3's, 4x6, etc (do not confuse this with muscle confusion), take a slight deload if you need to (a 10% decrease in weight if you fail the same weight 3 times, and work your way back up).
#4: Identify the weaker portions of your lifts and do exercises that help strengthen that - If your shoulders are holding you back on your bench, consider exercises like OHP, overhead dumbbell presses, etc.
#5: Work on your form and technique - Working on form and technique can easily have you putting more weight on the bar

Of course as well, you need to sleep and have enough rest every day. Adding 5 lbs since october isn't a whole lot either. That's like 1.5 lbs a month, some of it probably water weight. So I'm not sure how you could have gained a significant amount of fat, something is not adding up here. 2700 calories doesn't seem like you would gain weight, especially for a 21 year old working out 6x a week. But like you said you haven't done squats and deadlifts for three weeks so of course those are not going to increase. But if you are benching more than you are deadlifting then something is probably seriously wrong with your deadlifting.