5 months gym but small gains. Why?

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Reply 80

username540512

Original post by iSMark

and some steroids.

What?

Reply 81

BKS

Original post by MancBoy

So how should I go about fixing my diet?

How does this sound?

Breakfast - Oats and 2 eggs (orange juice)
Mid-morning - Shake
Lunch - Tuna and jacket potato or Tuna sandwich
Afternoon snack - Shake
Dinner - Rice + chicken/Pasta + chicken
Evening snack - Shake

Haven't you just changed the order really? Less powder more food!

Have you told us how much you weigh? If you have I've lost it somewhere in the tangents. How much you is determines how much you're going to need to eat.

I'm 67kg, work out three times a week, walk 30-60mins 5-6days a week. I need 3000 calories to gain a lb a week. I'd put what you are suggesting at like 1500 calories and 160g of protein (assuming water in your shakes). That's **** all.

Loose two of the shakes, replace them with food. You want the food you have now then another 1000 calories which will include some healthy fats (like nuts) since you seem to eat almost none and the 50g protein to replace the shakes.

I'm guess since I don't know your exact portion sizes or weight but I'm probably not miles off.

(edited 12 years ago)

You eat F*** all.

Original post by MancBoy

I have been going to the gym 3 times a week with this routine -

Tues - Back + Biceps

Thurs - Chest + Triceps

Sat - Shoulders + Legs

With 3 exercises and 3 sets on each muscle. I have been lifting hard(ish) always getting doms the next morning. However I have only noticed little to no gains. I have to admit my diet has been a little off. The past 2 months I have only started having 3 protein shakes a day with 1-2 meals. Here's current eating schedule -

Morning - Oats + 2 eggs + orange juice
Pre-workout - Protein shake (1 scoop)
Post - Protein shake (1 scoop)
Dinner - Usually white rice and chicken/lamb curry (homemade)
Evening - Protein shake (1 scoop)
Evening snack - Cheese toast/crisps/sandwich/chocolate (bit naughty!)

Can anyone give me some pointers in how I can start seeing more gains?

no milk?

Reply 84

Jimbo1234

Original post by MancBoy

What happened to lunch? :confused:

'Cause it looks like you are miles off your ~ 3000 calories a day requirement for gains.

Reply 85

JordanR

OP: You're not eating enough. And possibly you're not sleeping enough. If you want to make big changes then you're gonna have to stop a bodybuilding split like the one you're on and do a routine designed for strength gains first, like SS or SL. Anything that involves heavy, compound movements will be good for you if you're trying to gain. Also, sort your diet out.

I've been doing a slight variant on SS (because I don't have all the equipment available) and I've made great gains in both strength and aesthetics in a reasonably short space of time.

Original post by Simplicity

Don't listen to the trolls that tell you to do SS

The second picture is particulalry relevent. He was tried personally by Rippletoe and he looks like crap.

If you want to do powerlifting, then do SS if not do something else. Hodgetwins are a good source of knowledge, should watch there videos. But, don't listen to these trolls.

HAHA. What? You're an idiot.

SS is "Starting Strength" and it's just exactly that. It's good for starting strength. Getting strength on your lifts so that you're able to move heavier weights. It's not "Starting Aesthetics." Rippletits has said that he doesn't give a crap about your aesthetics: it's purely a strength routine. It's a routine for beginners who want to get stronger. Not for someone who wants to look like Zyzz. Also, so you know, Zyzz was a huge fan of SS and the traditional compound lift movements. If you're not strong enough to move around decent amounts of weight then you're not going to be able to successfully induce hypertrophy when you're doing a bodybuilding split.

If you're citing /fit/ as your source for SS being bad then you need to realise that "SS is bad" is a meme. There's a reason SS is in the oft-quoted (and very useful) sticky there: it works. Most people aren't going to look aesthetic as hell after SS because they're focused on making huge strength gains in a short amount of time. They could eat less and watch their diet a bit more in order to keep BF percentages down and look a bit better, but their strength gains wouldn't be as high and it'd completely eliminate the point of the program.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 86

HoneyFlux

Original post by MancBoy

Personal Training? :nutcase:

Reply 87

sword

I like dat full body workout 3 days a week

Reply 88

Chrisateen

Original post by Dark Horse

Well that guy is a troll, lol, and I hope the OP doesn't dismiss Starting Strength based on that. When your bulking you're going to lose abs and definition and it doesn't really matter what programme you're on because it's the calorific excess is what does it.

I'm gonna lower my own kcal to stop myself becoming more and more blobbish.

And well done on losing all that weight. :smile:

That's exactly what I thought when he was saying that SS makes one fat. Also thanks for the weight loss comment :smile:

Reply 89

Idle

Original post by JordanR

SS is "Starting Strength" and it's just exactly that. It's good for starting strength. Getting strength on your lifts so that you're able to move heavier weights. It's not "Starting Aesthetics." Rippletits has said that he doesn't give a crap about your aesthetics: it's purely a strength routine. It's a routine for beginners who want to get stronger. Not for someone who wants to look like Zyzz. Also, so you know, Zyzz was a huge fan of SS and the traditional compound lift movements. If you're not strong enough to move around decent amounts of weight then you're not going to be able to successfully induce hypertrophy when you're doing a bodybuilding split.

If you're citing /fit/ as your source for SS being bad then you need to realise that "SS is bad" is a meme. There's a reason SS is in the oft-quoted (and very useful) sticky there: it works. Most people aren't going to look aesthetic as hell after SS because they're focused on making huge strength gains in a short amount of time. They could eat less and watch their diet a bit more in order to keep BF percentages down and look a bit better, but their strength gains wouldn't be as high and it'd completely eliminate the point of the program.

Tbfh noobs should be able to make strength gains regardless, I don't really see why a noob should follow a strength program and get little hypertrophy when they could pretty much get similar strength gains and gain more mass with more volume. Unless getting strong is your sole purpose.

Reply 90

McHumpy92

IMO your diet seems fine as long as your meals are big. For training try something like this.

Train 3 days ABA BAB

Workout A

Squats 3x5
Strict press 3x5
Powercleans 5x3
Incline dumbbell press 3x8
Pull-ups 3x8

Workout B

Squats 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Dips 3x8
Pull-ups 3x8

You will get strong doing that and get your beloved T-shirt muscles also.

Now if you want to stay lean you will also need to add in extra training 3 days a week so this could be sprinting, rugby, swimming, football, a fighting sport, circuit training, rock climbing etc

3 days weights will grow you muscle but the other stuff will keep you lean and athletic and yes you will grow.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 91

sword

can people really gain on such low volume?

Reply 92

Arturo Bandini

Original post by JordanR

Why?

So why are you recommending it to somebody who wants to get bigger, rather than stronger, then?

Reply 93

redbuthotter

Is that Bro-sama? We all know he does a lot of curlz :P

Original post by mikestraws

Dumbest post ever. You think SS or SL makes people fat? The way you eat makes you fat. Here's someone else who only does compound lifts.

Funny how an entire argument changes when you select what pictures you use.

It is widely known that a strength training routine foucsing on compound lifts is perfect for beginners. You will build the most strength, and if you need to, burn way more fat than you would doing a 3 day split with 10kg dumbells.

Reply 94

tooosh

Original post by Arturo Bandini

Why?

So why are you recommending it to somebody who wants to get bigger, rather than stronger, then?

Someone who squats 100kg will find it a hell of a lot easier to get big than someone who squats 50kg.

Reply 95

Arturo Bandini

Original post by tooosh

Someone who squats 100kg will find it a hell of a lot easier to get big than someone who squats 50kg.

But a beginner can still pretty easily get to a 100kg squat on a bb routine if it's a sensible one with plenty of compound lifts

Reply 96

ch0c0h01ic

Original post by sword

can people really gain on such low volume?

The volume comes from hitting your core movements three times per week for 3 or 5 heavy sets of five. Compared to a bodybuilding split you might only be squatting once a week with moderate weights and a higher number of sets and reps (and lower overall volume) even though you may feel that you are working harder and getting a better workout.

On a side note...

Most people, beginners especially, benefit more from full body style routines (ie; high training frequency in the core lifts, high intensity, moderate volume) compared to bodybuilder style routines (ie; low training frequency in the core lifts, moderate/high intensity, high volume). Why? A significant proportion of the training adaptations in novices are neurogenic and skill based which respond better to lower volume, higher frequency and higher intensity work.

Also bear in mind that you don't get bigger and stronger simply from lifting heavy weights for reps. You get bigger and stronger by recovering from lifting heavy weights for reps. For that reason many people benefit from slightly lower volumes that they can recover from quicker to maintain a higher workout intensity and frequency.

Reply 97

TheGrandmaster

As someone has been doing SL5x5 since I started lifting seriously I would say it's a perfectly good routine for putting on size. If I was doing it again I would have thrown in a bicep and tricep isolation exercise from the start, because I would like dem t-shirt muscles.
I'm not convinced that the SS and SL vs. bodypart splits debate is really relevant here, as long as you're training hard and hitting all bodyparts in the course of the week I don't see why either wouldn't be an effective training method. Most bodypart splits I've seen contain most of the big compound movements anyway.
I believe that what separates the successful from the unsuccessful is nutrition. If you calculate your maintenance calories and consume 500cals above that, also getting enough protein (1g/per lb of lbm) I don't really see how you can fail to build muscle.

Reply 98

JordanR

Original post by Idle

Getting stronger will make hypertrophy easier when it comes to it.

Original post by Arturo Bandini

Why?

So why are you recommending it to somebody who wants to get bigger, rather than stronger, then?

Same reason as above. I'm not saying that isolation exercises are a bad move -- by all means incorporate curls into your workouts if you want. Important for aesthetics, I'd say. I just think it's important to base your workouts around heavy, compound lifts.