@mamajaiy Idk if you mentioned this or not but i didn’t see anything about your macros. 3100 cal should be fine at your weight but I’d shoot for 40% protein/ 40% carbs / 20% fat. Are you using any supplements? If not start taking a good multivitamin and use a whey protein shake directly after your workout. I’d say 60 grams of protein which is usually like 3 scoops. Also a preworkout can help push you a bit further during your workouts to stimulate more growth.
Also as many people mentioned you’re working in strength training rep ranges. Definitely need to be shooting for 8-12. You should be focusing on your form on every exercise. Even if you have to lower the weight make sure you’re executing full range of motion on every exercise. Are you lifting to failure? You should not be able to execute your last rep or so. Once you get to this point you can use methods like rest-pause or drop sets to push yourself even further. Also you should take a look at your recovery time. You grow outside the gym. If you’re not getting enough recovery time (or enough sleep) you won’t grow.
@andrew_htun Yeah I mentioned earlier somewhere in the post I'm intaking around 150g protein a day/ 360-400g carbs & 60-80g/fat. I've tried pre-workout before & it helps but whenever I stop taking it I feel super weak and tired all the time. I usually just load up on oatmeal and peanut butter in the morning and I get good energy from that. I use the app myfitnesspal to track my macros. Also is it true that the body only digest 20-40g of protein at a time? If I had 60g of protein in one sitting idk how much of it would go through me..
@mamajaiy I have my calories set to 3200 per day at a 40/40/20 split and my protein goal per day is 328g. Protein is your issue. Gonna need to stock up on chicken breast.
@andrew_htun I set it to gain 1 lb. per week and it set my carbs at 50% Protein 20% and fat 30% idk if that's good or not, but 328g is a lot of protein.
@mamajaiy From the numbers you gave you’re only hitting 2800Cal per day. The split you’re using may work for different people with different body types but you may want to consider upping your protein and dropping the carbs. Bare minimum you need 1g of protein per pound of body weight but if you want to gain mass you need to be more like 1.5-2g/lb. in my case i weigh 190 so if i went with 1.5 I’d still need 285g of protein per day.
@andrew_htun The rest of the calories are 38g of fiber and 119g of sugar which I never usually hit the sugar macro. I usually level it out on carbs or protein. 1.5-2g/day seems excessive, no? Do you have any articles on successful results with 2g/body pound of protein per day? Also I've been vegetarian for the last year to experiment, but I've been starting to eat a lot of fish recently for some extra protein. I might experiment upping my protein to 175g/day to start. See if I get some good results. However I am gaining around 1lb per week currently.
@dawn16 damn 1100+ big 3 is solid. It's funny because the other day I was thinking about hitting the 1000 pound club and realized I got a lot of work to do. I will check out the forum for sure. I always feel small at the gym compared to some of the other kids in my age group. Will definitely be goin hard these next 6 months to establish that starting strength and improve going forward. Done messing around. I need to fill out my shirts already
@mamajaiy My observation is your compound movements are not frequent enough and your routine is not intense. If your job is sedentary then that explains your gut with 3100 cals.
If I were you at your size, I would find and follow an intense routine (like 5/3/1 Building the Monolith) and eat more. For at least 12 weeks and dont get scared of a little gut, cut when the bulk is over.
@pentecostr Yeah I do a lot coding which all sitting down. I skate about 2-3 miles everyday though which helps and I stand up and walk around every hour or so. Definitely not worried about a little gut especially since winter time is approaching. But by next summer, I really wanna be beefy. around 170 pounds if I can.
@mamajaiy Keep up the work my dude. Plateaus are a bitch but it’s so much better than throwing in the towel. No matter what, I looked exactly the same and improved minimally on my arms and chest for over a year.
@mamajaiy Don’t mess with flat or decline bench at all, concentrate on incline as many exercises for chest as your can. Build the upper chest and you should see pretty good results. Start with some flys before you hit incline dumbbells to activate the pecs before you start and that should help as well. Dips are awesome for your whole body especially the chest .
@lightandlove Dips are awesome. I remember when I first started doing them I was blown away at the progress I was making. Might try do some weighted dips if I can find the belt for it at my gym
