To be as brief as possible, I've been lifting for maybe 6 months, (no prior training or experience) and only really squat about 200 pounds. This last month in particular I've made literally 0 progress with anything. I hurt my back and I took a week to rest because I heard it could help, but when I started again, I failed squatting 185, so idk how that makes any sense. I've gained weight without my lifts going up, so I don't see how I need to eat more. I also try to sleep 8 hours. I just don't know I"m doing wrong
Frustrated in general (with progress)
Liam Gonzalez
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Ryan Hall
another thing is, the damn workout is taking me forever, and its because of the rest time. If I push it to like 3-5 minutes between sets, I'll fail hard as fuck. I sometimes need 7, 8, 9 minutes to be able to do my next set. So the entire thing usually takes me like 1.5 hours which most people say is way too long
Jayden Long
take a step back and reassess your goals. fitness and lifting are clearly very important to you, so you should proceed as methodically as possible.
you seem like you’re second-guessing your pursuit of strength, and youre realizing the steep costs of a fucked up bulk. beyond specific injury recovery advice i assume that you know what you should do if you wanted to either get strong as fuck at all costs (eat big and lift big year round) or to look good (slow bulk/hard cut cycles). you’re getting to the point in your lifting career where you need to decide which one you’re gonna commit to, since you can do both, especially with your stalling-at-200lbs-squat genes. do some soul searching and make that decision.
John Allen
*since you can’t do both
oopsie poopsie we made a fucky wucky uwu
Brandon Gomez
I forgot to mention that I have included chins and dips, starting a couple months ago. This is like my first week not doing them.
I genuinely despise fat people, so what would you recommend if that were the case
Brandon Stewart
Work on feeling bad for them rather than hating them, and remind yourself that they're necessary for capitalism to give you the rewards you will receive.
Andrew Richardson
Start following a program
Stop training to failure (If you are training to failure att ALL excercises, its just gonna cause injury).
Drink 200 g of protein
Hunter Edwards
im doing 3x5 i don't just go to failure. Its just taking me forever to complete it, like 5 minutes between sets is nowhere near enough. Im eating around 3000 cals and probably close to 150- 200g protein honestly
Jose Rodriguez
Do 4x6-12 instead (lower for heavy compound, higher for isolation), and aim for 20-30 sets per bodypart per week
Wyatt Cooper
3 min rest at max, your rest periods are too long. Push yourself to do it and you will adapt over time.
I rest at max 3 min for heavy compound sets, 1-2 minute for isolation excercises
Easton Stewart
Should i drop the weight in order to do that?
Increase the reps and sets?
Jayden Cooper
>I hurt my back and I took a week to rest because I heard it could help, but when I started again, I failed squatting 185, so idk how that makes any sense.
This is most likely because as a beginner you lose training gains really fast, its called getting detrained. It happens to everyone.
Then lower the weights to the point where you can do 3x5 while resting for 3 minutes. You shouldn't be needing more then 5 min rest between sets.
Leo Scott
Dude, why are my muscles visibly getting bigger, but my weight is still the same? This is absolute bullshit.
I'm 5'10 127 and have been for over a year. My muscles are bigger and more defined than when I started
Juan James
Are you following an established strength program that you can enter numbers into a spreadsheet and progressively increase that weight?
When I follow a "vague" routine (like PPL) my progress is much slower than when I follow something that is really straightforward when it comes to progressive overload. Got back to lifting again in August with ~250 lb squat and now squat ~390 following 5/3/1 BBB the whole time
Luis Sanders
Are you doing SS? If so, you should switch programs if it's clearly not working for you anymore. Increasing rest times over 5 minutes is not worth it, and neither is getting fat just to lift a couple more lbs. You'll end up spending a lot of time getting that fat off and improving you shitty work capacity later if you continue down that path.
You could try something like The Bridge or The Montana Method next. Both are free and include some cardio, which you should start doing to improve your work capacity so you can shorten your rest times. You can follow the cardio/GPP prescription in The Bridge if you end up following The Montana Method.
barbellmedicine.com
docs.google.com
drive.google.com
Juan Harris
How exactly do I edit this doc? It won't let me make a copy
Ayden Perez
You should download it. If you want to keep it on google drive you could upload it to your own drive after downloading it.
If you're planning on doing The Bridge, I'd advice you to follow your own RPE instead of doing the load drop like the excel suggests. The guy who made the excel is a bit aggressive with the load drops and I found that I could keep the load the same on most of the RPE 8 sets.
Aiden Watson
I saved it as .xlsx but when I enter the weights in info, everything in week 1,2 etc stays 0
Landon James
Oh, I see. Yeah, it's not supposed to calculate the weights for you. It's just for comparison so you can see how your estimated 1 rep maxes changes throughout the program.
You can calculate a starting point based on the RPE chart that is included, so if your squat for 5 reps is 200 lbs, and let's say you had 1 good rep left in the tank ie. RPE 9, that would make your estimated 1 rep max 200/0,84=238 lbs.
Based on that you can determine your 5@6 based on the RPE chart. 238*0,75=180 lbs. You insert that and it calculates the other weights for you. Keep mind that this is just your starting point and you can adjust the weights as needed based on your RPE, and that this excel is a bit agressive with the load drops.
It's fine if your ability to judge RPE is not perfect, you'll get better at it with time.
John Fisher
Barbell Medicine's programming podcasts might be worth a listen for you. Part 2 is probably the most relevant for your current situation.
Part 1: youtu.be
Part 2: youtu.be
Part 3: youtu.be
Jacob Anderson
A lot of the advice so far in this thread is pretty sound. Basically, It sounds like you've run out of newbie gains, and you need to switch from your linear progression program to something tailored for new intermediate lifters.
You're going to need a well periodized plan, start working with percentages of your 1rm (or learn how to use RPE, but that'll take time and practice to learn what your body is telling you).
As others have suggested, Barbell Medicine's "The Bridge" Is a great place to start with RPE based training, or if you want to go with something stupid simple, Wendler's 5/3/1 Boring But Big variant is a great way to overcome that plateau you're stuck on.
Unfortunately, you're now at the point where instead of putting 5-10 pounds on your lifts per week just ain't gonna happen anymore, but just keep grinding my man.
I rode newbie gains/ SS to a ~225x5 squat in about 6 months, and it took another 6 months on 5/3/1 to increase that to 285x5 (albeit including time I was recovering from a knee injury.) Just stick with it and don't be afraid to reset every now and then if you're progress starts slowing down or gets stuck, it happens to all of us.
Caleb Smith
Breathe more
Jack Rogers
It's worth pointing out that RPE doesn't mean that you go in blind every workout and try to find your RPE 6, 7 and 8. You should go in with a plan based on your previous numbers, and then adjust as needed. Aim to add weight every week, but if it's not there don't be afraid to lower the weight, similarly, if you're having a good day and everything feels lighter than normal you can add more weight than you had planned.
Brandon Mitchell
Bro i was at the same point last week, been lifting for 7 months and I squat about the same and deadlift a bit more. I got so sick of constant back pains from putting weight on the bar every week and fucking grinding my joints honestly. Strength training did help me put mass on and zibdid get big but with no definiton. I changed now to a bro split now with hiit in the end 4 times a week. I feel way fucking better, you might want to take a break maybe for a bit is what ik trying to say
Evan Wood
Bro i was at the same point last week, been lifting for 7 months and I squat about the same and deadlift a bit more. I got so sick of constant back pains from putting weight on the bar every week and fucking grinding my joints honestly. Strength training did help me put mass on and zibdid get big but with no definiton. I changed now to a bro split now with hiit in the end 4 times a week. I feel way fucking better, you might want to take a break maybe for a bit is what ik trying to say