Long story short, I am 29 years old. I have been involved in sports all my life, from a young age until I was 21-22, when I dropped out after five years of American football and became a couch potato. Seriously, I didn’t even walk until I turned 27. At that point, I had a serious talk with myself and decided to get back to the gym for real. I looked like crap, felt like crap, and lived like crap, so I decided to finally change it. Being a sports person, I knew that progress was going to be extremely slow, but I was determined to do it right.
When I went back to the gym, I felt extremely weak and could barely lift anything. I was doing bench presses with just the bar and two 5 kg weights, and I couldn't handle it. Four months in, with 4-5 workouts per week and a full-body split, I saw progress. I dedicated myself to learning from both science-based and non-science-based lifting. I studied a lot and came to understand my body and how to build muscle and strength, as I cared about both.
After the first four months, I made a personal oath to do five workouts per week, not drink alcohol, and stop smoking for a year. I did it, and let me tell you, progress was booming. I kept educating myself and learning more and more. After two years of working out, I grew bigger and extremely strong.
Now, I am here to ask the community of intermediate to advanced lifters for advice, as I have seriously hit plateaus on almost every exercise and lost about 15% of my strength on most lifts. My biggest strength is my lateral raise, doing 56 kg x 10 reps (28 kg per dumbbell). My deadlift max is 200 kg (with relatively poor form, but it was my goal since I started). My bench press max is around 140 kg (with a machine, not a barbell, as I simply can't stand it). My leg press max is around 280 kg x 8 reps.
I evolved my workout split to fit my personal goals and understanding of my body. I do a mixture of strength training (especially as the first exercise of every workout) and then focus on hypertrophy. Do not try to convince me that strength and hypertrophy do not work together, as I have personally tested doing them separately and found little to no difference, except probably at my current level of hitting plateaus where I need to concentrate on one or the other.
I eat really healthily, with a weekly cheat meal of a large pizza. Generally, I lift until past failure, as I feel like a wimp if I do not. I know it's not the best to always go to failure, and I am pretty sure I have hit overtraining.
This is my workout split, custom-made by me for me:
Monday at 18:30 (Chest | Shoulders | Triceps): https://hevy.com/routine/3mZfrbYvrA2
Tuesday at 18:30 (Heavy Back | Biceps): https://hevy.com/routine/GZG1YxFKaox
Thursday at 18:30 (Legs): https://hevy.com/routine/7liUupnSW92
Friday at 18:30 (Shoulders | Chest | Triceps): https://hevy.com/routine/EyFM3HfW92U
Saturday at 11:30 (Light Back | Biceps ): https://hevy.com/routine/20SMCUPGu7k
This is me playing around with 60 kg lateral raises (for fun, don't judge the form as it's not "perfect"):
I don't consider myself the most aesthetic or the biggest dude, but it's been 2 years since I started, and I’m really happy with my progress. Feel free to browse through my Instagram for physique updates.
My question is simple: what do you fellow lifters recommend I do after losing power and strength? Keep in mind that I am also cutting extremely slowly, at about 1-2 kg per month.
When I went back to the gym, I felt extremely weak and could barely lift anything. I was doing bench presses with just the bar and two 5 kg weights, and I couldn't handle it. Four months in, with 4-5 workouts per week and a full-body split, I saw progress. I dedicated myself to learning from both science-based and non-science-based lifting. I studied a lot and came to understand my body and how to build muscle and strength, as I cared about both.
After the first four months, I made a personal oath to do five workouts per week, not drink alcohol, and stop smoking for a year. I did it, and let me tell you, progress was booming. I kept educating myself and learning more and more. After two years of working out, I grew bigger and extremely strong.
Now, I am here to ask the community of intermediate to advanced lifters for advice, as I have seriously hit plateaus on almost every exercise and lost about 15% of my strength on most lifts. My biggest strength is my lateral raise, doing 56 kg x 10 reps (28 kg per dumbbell). My deadlift max is 200 kg (with relatively poor form, but it was my goal since I started). My bench press max is around 140 kg (with a machine, not a barbell, as I simply can't stand it). My leg press max is around 280 kg x 8 reps.
I evolved my workout split to fit my personal goals and understanding of my body. I do a mixture of strength training (especially as the first exercise of every workout) and then focus on hypertrophy. Do not try to convince me that strength and hypertrophy do not work together, as I have personally tested doing them separately and found little to no difference, except probably at my current level of hitting plateaus where I need to concentrate on one or the other.
I eat really healthily, with a weekly cheat meal of a large pizza. Generally, I lift until past failure, as I feel like a wimp if I do not. I know it's not the best to always go to failure, and I am pretty sure I have hit overtraining.
This is my workout split, custom-made by me for me:
Monday at 18:30 (Chest | Shoulders | Triceps): https://hevy.com/routine/3mZfrbYvrA2
Tuesday at 18:30 (Heavy Back | Biceps): https://hevy.com/routine/GZG1YxFKaox
Thursday at 18:30 (Legs): https://hevy.com/routine/7liUupnSW92
Friday at 18:30 (Shoulders | Chest | Triceps): https://hevy.com/routine/EyFM3HfW92U
Saturday at 11:30 (Light Back | Biceps ): https://hevy.com/routine/20SMCUPGu7k
This is me playing around with 60 kg lateral raises (for fun, don't judge the form as it's not "perfect"):
I don't consider myself the most aesthetic or the biggest dude, but it's been 2 years since I started, and I’m really happy with my progress. Feel free to browse through my Instagram for physique updates.
My question is simple: what do you fellow lifters recommend I do after losing power and strength? Keep in mind that I am also cutting extremely slowly, at about 1-2 kg per month.