One Year Lifting Progress -- Looking for Feedback

Aaren_Augustine · 2016-12-10T21:42:50+00:00

Alan Thrall. Alan Thrall........Alan. Thrall.

He has a youtube channel for basics of weightlifting. POWER LIFTING. Hands down, the most badass explanations of weight lifting I have yet to come across.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83nEQAO_U9k

He specifically talks about guys at 150 lbs. So...yeah, watch.

Bet you don't have a strong core...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbwfwYTQpPc

bogeyd6 · 2016-12-10T21:29:42+00:00

Will agree that your progress is not even what I would have expected to see. I went and checked out that program on /r/fitness and can quickly see why. What you thought your goal was vs what the goal of the program are pretty much not the same. Also you followed a program on reddit, plus the program was not made for strictly strength progression. As you can see. You also pretty much skipped 1/3 of the program, so there is that.

Throw all the broscience away for a minute. At your weight there is a clear call for bulks and cuts. If your goal was to get stronger and bigger than you should have went strict 5x5, TTM, 5/3/1, or maybe even ICF. I am headed out to a gala tonight, but if you post somewhere on here about a clear goal. I will answer in the morning. I know the emotions you are going through after a wasted year, and my heart goes out to you.

screechhater · 2016-12-11T14:08:16+00:00

"I'm upper 40's and have neglected my body for most of my life. Maybe this is the best I can reasonably expect for a first year of effort."

Well, the year is gone Move forward. At least you got the movement

Compound lifts, compound lifts

Compounds Forever !!!

6x6 or 6x7- make damn sure 3 minutes per rep.

M- Squat with other leg work such as extension and curls, toe raises weighted, Incline bench with dumbbells

W- Dead lift. Row, Lats, Military Press

TH- Squat

F- Bench flat, Bench incline Dumbbells, Arms

That gives you 4 and 3 days for rest in squats. Squats are the #1 compound I am 50. I have squatted since 12 yrs old Every sports camp our boys go to, squats, squats, squats Why ? Works the entire body

Rest @ least 6 hours sleep Reps complete control and form

Quality foods protein 30 minutes before bed like chicken. (ya, I gotta dip it in bbq sauce in order to choke it down)

Diet, diet, diet

BobbyPeru · 2016-12-10T22:27:49+00:00

Next time you go get a physical, ask him to test your testosterone levels.

Two years ago my testosterone level was 325. I added zinc, vitamin D, and squatting – my testosterone level went up to 450. Sometimes testosterone therapy is necessary also though. Worth checking into

GargantuaBlarg29 · 2016-12-10T23:44:16+00:00

-How's your protein intake?

-Do you have some kind of feedback loop for constant improvement? ~~(IE I do 3x3x10s. Each and every time on set 3 I try to hit 12 instead of 10. If I hit 12, it's time to increase the weight. Do you have a way you are constantly checking and pushing for more weight?)~~ Edit after looking at 5x5 progression. Says you add 5lb if you hit the 5 reps. So are you constantly not hitting 5 reps? Or are you just not adding the weight?

-Don't make BS excuses about running taking away from lifting days. I run halves all year, and 2-4 10ks a week every week. Some days I'll lift in the morning then run at lunch...some times I'll lift in the morning, run at lunch, then lift after work. You get out what you put in.

innominating · 2016-12-10T21:49:49+00:00

First define your goal. Do you want to get leaner, or build more muscle. Based on your lifts, I would suggest building more muscle. If that is what you want to do here are some thoughts for the upcoming year.

You aren't lifting heavy enough. I know this because you are lifting 6 days a week. If you were lifting heavy, you would either have to be overtraining or on steroids, if you were on steroids, you would have gained more weight.

Similarly, you are lifting too frequently. Unless you are on steroids, you need a day to recover after lifting, if you are lifting heavy enough. That means the max you should lift is 3.5 days a week for maximum muscle/strength gain. Some can push this to 4 days a week and some will need to stick to 3. There is a genetic component to this.

So, lift heavier. Warm up then lift 90% of your 1rep max for five. Drop the weight 10% and lift for 6. Drop weight 10% and lift for 8. This is called reverse pyramid training, or RPT. There are many RPT routines you can find online. Some others like 5x5 or 5/3/1 and those would work much better for you as well.

Also, your nutrition may be off point. Start by eating your weight in grams of protein. For you that would be the equivalent of five chicken breasts, or 3 medium steaks. Most people eat barely half of that per day. Balance fat and carbs to round out your daily calories and look to gain about .5 pounds a week. Measure by weighing every day in the morning after urinating before drinking anything and add a weeks worth and divide by 7 for a more accurate average.

Also, you ran two half marathons last year. Presumably, you trained for those as well. How many marathon runners do you see carrying a lot of weight in the chest, arms, and shoulders? Not many, because the body is good at optimizing where it develops mass and dedicates calories. If you want to gain upper body mass, stop strenuous cardio. Or, if you must, do HIIT or sprints.

This is a starting point. Google fuckarounditis and read that article ten times.

Terribledragon4Hire · 2016-12-10T23:21:02+00:00

If you bulked to 165 and thought you looked fat I would say your diet is shit.

What is your daily calorie intake and how is it roughly broken down macro-nutrient-wise?

Your training should be focussed on compound lifts and nothing else due to your body weight . Too many guys go into the gym and do flys, and curls, calf raises and all sorts of other ancillary bullshit exercises and could achieve so much more on a different workout.

sfstexan · 2016-12-11T13:46:51+00:00

I think that's pretty normal progress for the first year. Just keep going with it!

dandar4600 · 2016-12-12T13:32:36+00:00

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Early 40s, 5'9, 150 pounds, 30 inch waist and have been lifting for roughly a year and a half the first 6 months spent losing weight from 190 to 140. I then bulked to 160 started showing belly then cut down to 140 (losing some strength) and in the middle of bulking for second time. Starting lifts I stalled at 65 OHP, 95 Squat, current lifts similar. BP 135, OHP 90, SQ 195, DL 210 (1x5.)

My training is quite a bit different from yours though. I started with 5x5. Squatting 5x5 3X a week was too much for me. I was in pain after first set and not progressing. I switched to GSLP 3x5 with squatting twice a week. The rest is pretty much similar except it's 3x5 with last set AMRAP.

So I guess you're not the only one here with slow progress.

IASGame · 2016-12-12T13:55:15+00:00

Are you tracking macros? If not, try that and eat enough but focusing on protein. Lean meats are good, like the famous chicken breast.

In any case, progress is progress. Don't get discouraged and keep on lifting. If you stall on that program you can try to move to a different one, there were good posts about that.

When there are no weights around you can try bodyweight progressions. You should be almost able to do 1-leg squats, which are a decent replacement for the weight you are squatting. Push ups replace BP decently (there are versions to leverage and make it harder up to 1-arm push-ups). OHP there are vertical push-ups. DLs are harder to replace.

I don't think you are supposed to overexert so that you throw up.

djc_tech · 2016-12-12T16:04:00+00:00

Check your diet. I'm a weightlifter and there's guys in your weight class pulling 105 kg snatches and 140-150 kg C&Js in the masters divisions. A lot are on very good diets as they have to maintain weight for their weight class plus try to gain strength. My recommendation - RP diet. It's the best and most balanced diet with a good backing of people who designed it. There's the less strict ETP as well. I've used RP to great success to drop a weight class and gain strength. It's up to you.

Also sitting at a desk job hinders mobility and recovery, ensure you're at least trying mobility on days off. If you're looking at strength gains, cardio should be minimal and if you're diet is key you can get by without a lot.

BetaFeelz · 2016-12-13T00:03:10+00:00

Sounds like 6 days per week is not working with your schedule. There are good four day per week programs out there as well.

After one year you are ready for some serious volume. 5/3/1 BBB with joker sets, first set last, accessories and conditioning. GZCL Jacked and Tan 2.0. GZCL linear progression might work for you since you are both small and not yet strong.

Nutrition is huge. What were your macros on bulk? How fast were you gaining? What was the quality of your food (i.e McDonalds and beer or the bro-foods)?

LuckyOliver · 2016-12-14T06:45:10+00:00

Try the program Body Beast (the one that's in the infomercials). I am a hard gainer as well and did a 90 day round of it a while back. By the 2nd month, everyone who knew me was wondering where I gained all this upper body bulk. I'm 6ft tall and went from 160 to 170. I had never been able to get results before this.

Aechzen · 2016-12-15T07:22:10+00:00

Hey there, I have some things in common with you.

At this point I'm 36, 6'0", 188 lbs, 10-11% body fat. I'm at almost a year of lifting. I'm also a runner. Two marathons this year, one official half, and about 1200 miles on the year.

You never mentioned once in your post anything about your calorie tracking. You just said "I gained and I cut". Maybe you're deliberately being vague.

Here's what I'm doing: SL 5x5, and I'm at 240 or 250 days of calorie tracking. I'm on a base 3000 calorie diet, I am strict about never going below 20% protein, and most days I'm 25% or higher. That means I'm eating 180, 200, sometimes 225 grams of protein in a day. I also eat plenty of fat. I track with myfitnesspal, which despite the lame name is a very good calorie tracker, with instant macronutrient pie charts as you load the food you ate for the day. Today I was 24% protein, 40% fat, 36% carbs.

If you're lifting as much as you say you are, you need to be downing the protein or you're not going to be building muscle. You'll be burning up the fat, and that's great, and congratulations. But you're not going to see the progressions people would expect for how many hours you're putting in.

Eat more protein. Eat more overall.

On days when I would do long runs, I'd eat 5000+ calories, while consuming 25% protein. That's a quart to a half-gallon of chocolate milk, a few cheeseburgers, a plate full of five jumbo scrambled eggs, a few scoops of protein powder with whole milk, a few greek yogurts, and then whatever you want for the rest.

Also, I lift about half of my days. I do SL 5x5, MWF, or THS, and just run or swim with no lifting on my days off from lifting. You might consider changing that up. With SL 5x5, every day is squat day, so you're hitting your legs all the time, and at this point, I'm squatting 230 and I need a day off in between.

Also, a lot of people recommend bulk/cut cycles. I've never done that. I've just started eating more, and been more controlled about it. I like my results: visible abs my wife says she can feel when we fuck, hypertrophied upper body, and very strong legs that led me to a half PR in November, which I negative split.

FistFullOfBitches · 2016-12-10T23:51:48+00:00

This sounds a little slow. I suspect your weight may have something to do with it. You can't lift heavy weight without acquiring some muscle mass. You sound tiny even compared to a couple of the "small" guys I work out with - guy # 1 is 165 can dead 335 1RM and guy #2 is 172 can dead 385 1RM and is pretty new. Also, without digging into the programming, I suspect you want to be doing a lot more than straight 5x5's - something with a lot more periodization, including volume as well as heavy triples, doubles too.

EDIT: Just entered your stats at http://symmetricstrength.com. You place squarely in the "novice" category in all lifts. Pretty sure I had broken into or was really close to intermediate after 1 year. 40's here as well.

SteelToeShitKicker · 2016-12-10T22:11:45+00:00

It's true, your lifts are much lower than what I'd expect after a year.

Get your T checked.

Life_advice_me · 2016-12-12T10:07:16+00:00

A post for comparison. I had the same starting body weight and did the same program (SS) for 6 months and then followed a SS like program of my own. Still 3 days a week. I am ten years younger though. Started with an empty bar. My 5 rep lifts are now; DL: 300, SQ: 210, OHP: 90. Don't do BP but bench two 65 DBs. Body weight is now 180. I know these are not amazing results but I'll keep at it. I'm not worried about abs at the moment as am focusing on getting all these numbers up. And my wife is loving the new feeling of strength anyway so she's happy and has even commented on how she likes the idea of me getting huge. If you're worried about your age slowing your progress, you should read up on Niagen. It's expensive but has shown interesting results in animal models where it reverses the age related changes in muscle.

playzwithrocks · 2016-12-12T17:49:11+00:00

Would suggest: 1) Powerlifting - continue with some type of split routine (e.g. PPL) and lifting to failure regularly. 5x5 and full-body routines are good for general health and newbs, but will not maximize gains/size.

2) You mentioned marathons. Endurance cardio/training drops T levels and necessary fats for building mass. If you want muscle mass, drop the distance and switch up to HIIT to maintain cardio health while building.

3) Eat.. protein/mass. Be willing to carry a few extra points while in a mass building cycle.

Title	One Year Lifting Progress -- Looking for Feedback
Author	ParadoxThatDrivesUs
Upvotes	17
Comments	56
Date	December 10, 2016 9:19 PM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MarriedRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/5hme9a/one_year_lifting_progress_looking_for_feedback/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MarriedRedPill/one-year-lifting-progress-looking-for-feedback.199280 https://theredarchive.com/post/199280

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