48M kind of disappointed in 2-years' gym progress. Maybe I need some help

[999escape]

@nowhereman Lifting heavy and lifting for muscle growth are totally different goals. Which one is more important it you? If you want size, then training somewhere in the range of 8-15 reps depending on the exercise and really going to failure is what you need to be doing. Training lower rep sets (4-6 or lower) can get you strong, but it isn’t optimal for muscle growth.

Overall, and please don’t take this as an insult or a dig, your bf look to be high and not to have changed much over the 2 years. If you want to notice smaller changes, then being leaner will let things pop.

I would highly recommend focusing on what you want to achieve, building your weight/training regime around that, and dieting to match those goals.

 

[theist03]

@nowhereman Maybe you should switch up to a high rep high volume routine and see if you respond better to that.

 

[dawn16]

@nowhereman 39M. I’m far from the strongest or most aesthetic guy on here so take my advice for what you will BUT my job is slow and easy so I spend almost my entire work day listening to podcasts and watching/listening to YouTube channels so I consume a lot of fitness related content.

I was not too dissimilar to you a few years ago. Making little inconsistent progress with the weight and not changing much visibly. That’s when I started listening to podcasts and taking it more seriously and learning more overall. I then went hard and consistent. In about 4-5 months I gained almost 15 pounds when I started at about 150 and increased my main lifts by about 50-80%. This is exactly what I did:

Subscribe to barbell logic podcast. Go way back to the beginning and look through the first 50 or so episodes. They spend a ton of time going over the basics of the main lifts and how linear progress works and just cover really good foundational topics geared towards beginners. I got a belt, micro plates, straps, lifting shoes and knee sleeves.

Download the phraks grey skull LP app and follow the program. As /r/genz would say, you’re doing too much. Those programs you did are fine but they skew a little more towards intermediate. You still have yet to really unlock your beginner gains. You should be hitting legs, back, and an upper body press three days a week 3x5 and putting weight on each time. Right now, it’s really that simple.

Eat your body weight in grams of protein each day. Do that while eating good food overall and your calories will be fine for now. Drink a protein shake in the evening if you’re still hungry later after dinner.

That’s it. It’s boring and repetitive and you have to be disciplined but that’s all you have to do.

Do that hard for three months and report back on your progress. We expect to see improvement!

 

[dawn16]

Is 5x5 sets x reps? If so, isn’t low reps better for strength rather than muscle growth?

 

[dawn16]

Yes and yes. 5x5 is touching the lower end of reps for hypertrophy but the point of programs like that is to build a solid training foundation.

**Actually, I need to correct my prior statement. I double-checked Greyskull LP and it's actually 3x5 working sets.

Think of it like building a house. You start with the foundation: a slab of concrete. It's simple and strong. Then you layer on top with more advanced building techniques: framing walls, adding load bearing columns, ceiling joists, roof trusses, etc.

So, like the program I referenced above, you're doing squats, deadlifts, bench, overhead press, and rows. Doing combinations of those three times a week will really get your form and technique dialed in which will carry over to other variations of those movements as you eventually advance in your program.

He'll also have no problem recovering with a rest day between each work day so he will be getting in more total work in a week compared to something like 531 that only has you squatting once a week. He can handle doing that with much greater frequency.

There's also the rate at which he increases weight. 531 would have him adding 10 pounds on his squat in a month. With Greyskull he can be doing that basically on a weekly basis...adding 5 pounds to the squat for each following work day. Him only increasing his 1RMs by 20-28% in two years means whatever he's doing is really suboptimal for a beginner. It's a different story if he was an elite lifter and went from a 500lb squat to 600 in that time.

I see he posted his actual numbers since my reply: Bench from 165 to 200 OHP from 105 to 135 Squat from 235 to 275 Dead from 295 to 360

At 5'6" and about 150 pounds, I started with even lower beginning numbers (especially in squat and DL) and got to about those maxes over the time I did Greyskull in about a quarter of the time he trained.

 

[dawn16]

What an amazingly-detailed response. Thank you, good human.

 

[lautze]

@nowhereman A lot of comments here are thinking that your protein is low, no idea why they're assuming that because unless you're a lot lower than the average american diet your protein is likely not limiting you much. Sure, maybe you could get 20% better results from going from 1.2g/kg to 1.6g/kg (made up numbers) but is that gonna be a gamechanger for how this dude looks?

Anyway, you have enough bodyfat that it's gonna be hard to see small differences, and for the average non-genetically-gifted/non-enhanced person, two years of lifting is going to be a small difference in terms of sheer muscle mass, particularly if you haven't been running a dedicated slow bulking diet of some kind.

 

[savedbygracethrufaith]

@lautze Obv everyone here is thinking OPs protein is low, because by his own account he is killing it in the gym and judging from his photos all that’s happened is a slight yellowish tint.
He should have grown A LOT more by now. He needs to track his macros and stop flying blind.

 

[nowhereman]

@savedbygracethrufaith I'd love to say I at least put on a tan over that time, but alas, it's just a change in lighting.

 

[savedbygracethrufaith]

@nowhereman Haha- don’t sweat it! Just get your protein, man. I finally dialed it in a 2g/kg of bodyweight. Was a game changer for me

 

[aaronmark]

@lautze 2 years of noob gains should absolutely be highly visible and obvious.

 

[kenniel]

@lautze He shouldn’t need to lose body fat to have some kind of visible chest gains, though. I would never guess that he’s done a bench press once let alone two years.

 

[nowhereman]

@kenniel Oof. Harsh.

 

[dhy_yhd]

@nowhereman First, a gain of 20-28% on your 1RM is significant! Be proud of that, and go look up Dr. Mike Israetel on YouTube. I've been learning a lot and getting growth in areas I didn't before thanks to his expertise on form, rep ranges, diet, etc.

I would also recommend calisthenics, pushups, pull ups, jumping squats, taking lunge breaks around the block during work... for some reason these things make my muscles bigger than heavy lifting. (In my experience.)

Edit: Aim for .7 grams of protein per pound of ideal bodyweight. So if you ideally want to weigh 160, then go for ~112 g of protein a day. Thats like 1.5 pounds of beef. A lot, but I don't hate it.

 

[nowhereman]

@dhy_yhd Thank you for that advice (and for the kudos). I’m sure the calisthenics work transfers to real life better than strict barbell stuff. I do some mountain biking and adventure racing, and it’d be nice to see some carryover.

 

[pralfred]

@nowhereman ‘I eat a balanced diet, but not super healthy’

I think we found the underlying issue

 

[obedientiarius]

@pralfred Came in to say the same thing. This starts in the kitchen.

 

[catb]

@nowhereman You NEED to count calories. MyFitnessPal or lose it are perfect apps.

Something that’s always helped me stay on track with lifting is making sure I completely fill up with a nutritious protein shake afterwards. It replaces my lunch. I’m usually so fucking hungry after a lift that I don’t mind how it tastes (though the one I make still tastes good). It also gets me like 50g of protein for the day.

1.5 cups of frozen berries
1.5 cup of raw spinach
1 scoop of whey
1.5 scoop of orgain vegan protein (WAY thicker)
2 tbsp hemp hearts
2 tbsp of pb fit (pb flour)
Enough water until it’s consistent

If I’m extra hungry I add a banana. It feels like a TON more but it’s only 100 calories.

I’d suggest playing around with smoothies/shakes until you find one you really enjoy. It makes a big difference being able to replace a meal with a shake

 

[nowhereman]

@catb I do a smoothie every day, either for breakfast or lunch. Almond milk, greek yogurt, oats, kale, blueberries, bananas, protein powder, creatine, and chia seeds. It's the other meals that aren't great.

I'm starting today to use LoseIt again. Thanks for the advice!

 

[becksblue]

@nowhereman It’s your diet. If you have no idea what’s going into you, you have no way of adjusting for your goals.

Download myfitnesspal and start tracking. Be honest about it and hit your macros each day.

Better than the average American leaves a bit to be desired.