Barely progressing despite doing everything right?

[majordadsage]

@purposelychosen86 Supplement with melatonin. Start with low dose (I think 1mg is available anywhere in the world) and increase in case you need more. Make sure you eat well, don't nap during the day and don't eat at least 2h before getting to sleep.

 

[purposelychosen86]

@majordadsage I’m 30 years old and have been dealing with this since I was 12 - melatonin does nothing. I took ambien at 16. My doctor told me it’s something I will unfortunately need to live with. No matter how much exercise. Melatonin. Nothing it doesn’t work.

 

[dawn16]

@purposelychosen86 Try listening to The Huberman Lab podcast on sleep, he has lots of info that may help you get more sleep. He actually advises against melatonin as it doesn’t help you stay asleep and testing amongst brands found all sorts of discrepancies in how much melatonin was in each, but instead recommends glycine as being helpful for more restful sleep.

 

[purposelychosen86]

@dawn16 Thank you for this response. I have not listened to that podcast - I’ll get on that today. Thanks again!

 

[dawn16]

@purposelychosen86 You’re welcome! His sleep ones are from 2021 I think. He also mentions deep rest mediations that have a lot of benefit. Be forewarned, he’s a scientist and professor so he gets really thorough, lol.

 

[bubbaw]

@purposelychosen86 Have you tried magnesium and/or GABA supplementation? I have bipolar disorder, and this combo has me out within 30 minutes when I take it.

 

[joey1234]

@shane658 What if you got a child? It's impossible for me to sleep.

 

[shane658]

@joey1234 OP never mentioned having a child. It's irrelevant. Your situation is different and you gotta do the best you can. Gains will slow down, but there's nothing to be done other than trying to work around your situation.

 

[deborah123]

@440281/

Going to the gym Tue and Fri, 2h each, alternating between upper/lower body days

This is the biggest issue.

1x a week with exercises you will stall very quickly.

Upper/lower is fine if you're doing each of them 2x per week such as MWFSat with upper on MF and lower on WSat.

185cm/6ft here

Taller means slower progress in general.

No clue on much more since you didn't provide your routine with sets, reps, and rest times. Can't really make a good critique without it.

 

[john0733]

@deborah123

Taller means slower progress in general.

How major is it? I've seen you mention a lot of the strength standards are for average height, 150 lbs( don't remember if you quoted a specific stature) I'm 183 cm, 80kgs(6 ft/175 lbs) and like especially the pushing skills simply take forever to progress

 

[deborah123]

@john0733

How major is it? I've seen you mention a lot of the strength standards are for average height, 150 lbs( don't remember if you quoted a specific stature) I'm 183 cm, 80kgs(6 ft/175 lbs) and like especially the pushing skills simply take forever to progress

Depends too much on other factors as well. There's people with elite genetics who at 6'0" can get stuff faster than someone at 5'0".

But in general comparing average genetics, same sleep, diet, etc across all factors then usually everything slow down by a level or two over similar periods of time. So if someone who was around average height 5'9" / 175 cm or so got to L8 in a few years then someone who is taller will be about L6-7.

 

[joshkuey]

@440281/ Prioritize protein! You have to eat a lot to gain muscle. Chicken, fish, tofu, beans and legumes, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and anywhere else you can find it.

 

[ggg17]

@440281/

e.g. during the last 4 months, my seated chest presses went from 30kg x 8reps x 3 sets to 35kg x 10reps x 3 sets (to muscle failure).

At this rate you would double your strength in 2 years.

I don't see that as "barely improving".

Just saying. /grin

Regarding pullups: between 0 and 1 can be a huge strength gap.

You need to do band or machine assisted pullups in 10-12 rep range to see exactly where your strength is by how much assistance you need to use.

Also one workout a week for entire upper body isn't enough.

 

[440281/]

@ggg17

At this rate in 2 years you would double your strength.

I don't think that's how it works

You need to band or machine assisted pullups in 10-12 rep range to see exactly where your strength is by knowing how much assistance you need to use.

It's actually part of my routine! I need about 30-35 kg of assist to get 12 reps in, and that has basically not changed since starting.

 

[ericcgregg]

@440281/ Well if you're doing everything right then that means there's nothing to change so you're good

 

[thesarabecker]

@440281/ You're doing maintenance exercise. In those two hours at the gym you might as well do full body workouts. I came across an article awhile back that said bare minimum is once every ten days to maintain for the avg person. I reduced this time frame to once a week as it's easier to remember. Which is why you're barely progressing as once a week is more than once every ten days.

You're simply not doing enough workouts to see the progress you're expecting. I'm lazyAF btw and when I got serious about improving I went from about 30 bw squats to 100 in a few months. One set to form failure twice a week. 40 pushups. Abs until fatigued.

You're doing every thing right except for the amount of exercise for the progress you want.

 

[dawn16]

@440281/ Obviously 2x a week isn't enough to see a ton of progress, and you are definitely not eating as much as you think you are

 

[aorewind]

@440281/ You’re doing everything right but not progressing? Interesting. You must be the sole unfound genetic outlier, never before discovered by scientists. I would keep quiet about this; before you know it the CIA is in your bedroom at night, then you wake up on a lab table getting probed. Not fun, trust me.

 

[farmer4christ]

@440281/ Well you said you’re doing everything right so you’re good. Keep it up.

I’m all seriousness, hit the gym more. Two days a week is not enough for your goals

 

[symph402nd]

@440281/ Did you say you train your upper body once a week? How many hours in that one session?