Am I working out wrong? .... 22y/o - 5'8" - 147 Lb

[dawn16]

@mamajaiy

147 LB

There's your problem. I disagree with @ellamwebb, you can very well gain muscle with lower reps.

Of course I would recommend you get on a real program, like this one, or any other one that hits every muscle group twice a week such as these (1) ones (2). But even then. You should be eating way more and gaining more weight if you want to look like a [natural] bodybuilder. Unless you started at like 130lbs, 147lbs after 3 years mean you don't eat enough.

 

[mamajaiy]

@dawn16 when I started 3 years ago I was like 115-120. I hit puberty extremely late. I still feel like a baby sometimes compared to other kids I grew up with. I'm now starting to realize how important eating is and I make a conscious effort to get in all my macros everyday. I've been on point eating 3k calories day with proper macros the last 3 weeks or so which isn't very long but if I keep it up for 6 months I should start to look proper. Also not too focused on getting the bodybuilder look just yet. Want to make sure my form is good on all my lifts, get stronger, get my eating routine down, then I'll step it up to look like a bodybuilder. I've read the recommended base weight for someone my age and height is around 160 lb. So I got a bit of a ways to go just to hit "normal" weight, anything after that will be some solid gains. Also during those 3 years I've taken breaks for 6-8 weeks & didn't focus hard on my diet. But I always made sure I was at least going to the gym. Now that I'm in college and trying to get my body looking good, I'm focusing on all the points necessary to look big.

 

[5foldminister]

@dawn16 The routine you linked hits everything once a week. Isn’t twice better?

 

[dawn16]

@5foldminister Neither of the three routines I linked hit anything only once a week.

Edit: I was wrong, the 5/3/1 Bodybuilding variation seems to have a 1x/week frequency and you're right. I replaced the 5/3/1 routine with another one.

 

[5foldminister]

@dawn16 Indeed! I was talking about the 531 and bodybuilding template. Sorry that I didn’t be more specific. Isn’t that once a week per muscle?

 

[dawn16]

@5foldminister Yep. Just edited my comments. You were right. I linked to 5/3/1 Boring but Big instead (second version).

 

[5foldminister]

@dawn16 I was confused hence why I replied. I’m doing the Periodization Bible template of 531 by Dave Tate. Awesome volume although the 5x10 part gets boring after a month or two.

 

[aquariusnights]

@mamajaiy Some good comments so far. I just want to add Dumbbells will get you better chest contractions than barbell. For arms, I get killer pumps doing giant sets at 12-20 reps each. And if your goal weight is 160-170 eat at least that much in protein. Your carbs and fats are fine for weight gain. But also think about the source of your macros. Red meat and oatmeal should be daily staples.

 

[mamajaiy]

@aquariusnights Honestly, I've been trying to eat vegetarian since last New Year's. My mom and sister are full vegan and I figured I'd "try it out for a year." I've had meat a handful of times this year, but I've been getting my protein from other sources. It's hard and I might go back to eating meat next year. Should I swap dumb bell and bar bell exercises on some workouts? Is it that bad if I add an extra 3-4 sets to a plan?

 

[bukithed]

@mamajaiy Your program isn't optimal. You should be hitting each muscle group moderately hard at least 2x a week. You could do PPL/rest/PPL, upper lower, rest, upper lower, or even a fullbody 3-4x a week. Bro splits aren't very optimal. I personally recommend a full body or an upper lower for the stage you're at.

Also, there seems to be some excess "fluff" work in there. Stuff that serves no purpose except to beat the muscle up pointlessly. Depending on your split, you should have 2-4 compound lifts for heavy to moderate weight focussing on progressing every week, and a few isolations for proper balance. If youre interested, send me a PM and I'd be happy to help out.

 

[rickg12]

@mamajaiy How many g of protein are you eating ?

 

[dawn16]

@mamajaiy Do you really military press 155 and also flat barbell press 155 max?

 

[mamajaiy]

@dawn16 Dude I have no chest, If I do what everyone has recommended and switch to high volume, feelin the burn on every set I'll have a solid chest by this time next year. Yeah I could probably pump out 1 maybe 2 reps on a 155 military press.

 

[dawn16]

@mamajaiy It sounds like your shoulders are your primary muscles when moving the bar on bench/military press. Make sure you’re using proper form on bench press so that you are focusing on the chest more and not using so much of the shoulders.I would recommend this AthleanX video or something. To put things into perspective, someone who military presses 155lbs usually bench presses in the realm of 245lbs-ish. Your chest and triceps need to catch up to your shoulders. Wide grip, close grip and regular bench will help if using proper form.

 

[sean_00_]

@mamajaiy The problem I think is that you only hit chest for 6-10 sets every week, and it sounds like you’ve done the same 3 exercises for chest since you began working out.

If I were you I would ditch the exclusively arms day workout in favor of two days a week where you hit chest, shoulders and tris. Work in DB Bench, DB incline, flat BB bench, Incline BB bench, dips, chest flies, pec deck, etc. just mix it up every few weeks.

To make it easy you could follow a PPL (push pull legs) that’s what I like to do and it’s helped me to put on size faster than I ever did before on a program strikingly similar to your current one actually. All that being said don’t discredit yourself because you look like you’re in great shape, keep it up!

 

[operagirl84]

@mamajaiy Your exercises in your training split are great but you need more volume (more sets or repetitions). If you’re gonna do 3-5 reps make sure to do a minimum of 5 sets with heavier weights of course and appropriate rest time (3-5 mins). If you perform higher reps like 10-15, you can get away with 3 or 4 sets with around 1-3 minutes rest in between. Like a lot of people are saying, add more protein. At least 30 more grams, if you work a manual labor job you and you lift you need more because of your high daily activity, which could be negating your gains in the gym because of lack of proper diet. Don’t be discouraged, keep being consistent that’s how we all have gotten results and you will too.

 

[nns]

@mamajaiy BW: 147 lbs, name: CoochieBuster

You sure about that one, man?

So my actual advice is going to be that you focus on the eccentric parts of the lift. I’ve made 15 lb dumbbells feel “heavy” this way. Also, increase the rep scheme. 3-5 isn’t optimal if you’re going for hypertrophy. I was coming off a stupid fracture in my radius, and the slow eccentrics really helped me get the lost muscle size back as well as strengthen the tissues around the elbow as a joint. If you’re still concerned about strength. I’d work in phases, plan 3 week cycles where you start with a focus on lots (10+) of slow, controlled eccentric lifts, with explosive concentrics, maybe adding only a rep per session if you can. Then do fewer reps (6-8) on the main lifts (bench/squat/deadlift) for a few weeks, 3-4 sets per exercise with accessory lifts still in sets of 10 reps or so. Then the final phase can be 3 weeks at 3-5 reps per main exercise with some heavyish (6-8 rep) accessories.

Sorry if that’s not really what you’re looking for, the slow eccentric thing’s been awesome for me, because of my injury, and actually improved my appearance quite a bit in a short amount of time. Good luck man, you’ll get there, you just gotta train hard!

 

[nns]

@mamajaiy Speaking as someone that’s taken a collegiate sports nutrition course, you don’t need that much protein for your muscles to grow, especially at your body weight. I wanna say my notes said even 1g/lb of bodyweight was more than sufficient, but naturally I couldn’t find my notes on my laptop.

From what I could find on google scholar, 1.2-1.8g per kg should be sufficient. Given that 1kg = 2.2lbs, 150g of protein each day would be more than enough. You’d just shit the excess that couldn’t be stored. Other notes I saved state 45-65% of your total energy intake should be carbs, and 1g/kg of fat. Of course, I’d need to have my textbook and get more details on your body comp and activity level, exercise stats like VO2 max etc. to give tailored recommendations for diet, and I’m way too rusty to do that lol.

Bottom line, if you’re looking to gain weight, log your calories and adjust what’s working/isn’t. If you’re gaining weight, but as you mentioned, not so much in the muscle dept, I’d step up your training. I was complacent in my lifting senior year of high school and had the same issue. I gained weight, but not much strength, surprise, wasn’t pushing myself hard enough.

 

[mamajaiy]

@nns I line myself up more with what you're saying. Personally eating over 200g's of protein a day just doesn't sound reasonable...more like a job. I've been using myfitnesspal for the last 3 weeks. I went from 144-149 in 3 weeks so I'll be monitoring my progress over the next month or two. Definitely stepped up my training. I've switched to a 6-day split PPL/PPL first 3 days i work in the range (8-12) and the other 3 days(3-6). This was the most recommended plan for me. I can already say after 1 day of push I already felt more activation in my chest so I think the next couple months will unlock some decent growth out of me. So i got the whole checklist done now. Training, nutrition & rest. We'll see how it goes. Glad it's winter time coming around too. During the summer where I live it's over 100 degrees for like 40-60 days straight. Eating a lot makes me so uncomfortable. In the winter it's easier to eat a lot more.

 

[nns]

@mamajaiy Oh I feel you on the heat! On the SW side of the country barring coastal SoCal, it gets miserable. I almost always lose weight in the summer because eating to bulk is damn near nauseating. I actually parroted that it’s easier to eat big in the winter. You’ve got the right idea! Keep working hard, know that if the weight on the bar’s going up, as is your BW, you’re doing something right. Also, don’t get discouraged, I thought I was getting fat, but Beltless squats have kept my belly looking leaner than usual. You’ll get there bro!