Barely progressing despite doing everything right?

[440281/]

@symph402nd Yeah, around 2 hours. A mix of machines and free weights. I try to get upper back, lower back, chest and arms in each session.

Sometimes I also add some minor upper body work on lower body days too.

 

[symph402nd]

@440281/ That’s very little volume. You should be happy about the solid gains you made. Expecting more is unreasonable, imo.

 

[mizm]

@440281/ 2 days a week is nothing. Go train say, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Sunday. Repeat every second day

 

[kc8vji]

@440281/ Read this: https://thefitness.wiki/muscle-building-101/

 

[ellygrace7]

@440281/ Do everything right harder.

 

[snamjan28]

@440281/ Considering you aren’t overweight a simple bodyweight program like convict conditionning would be enough to get to do a pullup in 4 months, suppose to be able to do it on prison food so not much mass increase, definitly your program

 

[quietthinker]

@440281/

In general, most beginners have been lifting for less than a year, intermediates for at least 1 year, and advanced trainees for at least 2 years.

The beginner phase should last as long as you continue to improve. Some people may plateau at around 6 months, whereas others may continue to see results for more than a year.

Day 1: Legs, shoulders, and abs

Day 2: Chest and back

Day 3: Arms and abs

After working hard in the gym for several months, it’s time to step your training up a notch to keep your gains coming.

At this point, you should have good exercise technique and be able to handle more weight on the bar.

Equipment required: fully equipped gym

Rest periods: 90–180 seconds for main movements, 60–90 seconds for accessories

Intensity: Select a weight that allows you to complete the prescribed reps while leaving about 2 solid reps in the tank.

Day 1: Full body

Day 2: Full body

Day 3: Full body

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.

.

.

Intermediate workout routine for men

This 4-day-per-week intermediate program increases reps and sets to stimulate new muscle growth. When they become too easy, you can gradually add more weight or more reps/sets.

If you do it correctly, you can follow this routine for several years until you reach an advanced level.

Equipment required: fully equipped gym

Rest intervals: 90–180 seconds for main movements, 60–90 seconds for accessories

Intensity: Select a weight that allows you to complete the prescribed reps while leaving about 2 solid reps in the tank. To increase intensity, go to your limit on the last set.

Day 1: Upper body

Day 2: Lower body

Day 3: Upper body

Day 4: Lower body

.

.

.

.

Advanced workout routine for men

Additional volume (sets and reps) and intensity (weight on the bar) are essential for advanced gym-goers to keep gaining muscle. Keep in mind that you should not attempt this routine unless you’ve been training consistently for 2 or more years.

Source and daily reps and exercise info:

www.healthline.com/nutrition/workout-routine-for-men#advanced

 

[sunshine2015]

@440281/ Either you are doing everything right and you're impatient or you aren't doing everything right.

 

[pastorjohan]

@440281/ It's obvious - you're only training twice a week. make it 4-6x/week and you'll progress faster.
And don't push yourself too much on adding weights/reps etc. to avoid injuries.

 

[mark0086]

@440281/ It just seems like you're not training enough. You're doing 2 days a week or 4 hours a week. So only 16 hours a month. You said you've been training for 4 months now. So you've only trained a total of 64 hours in four months. Alternating upper and lower so say it's exactly half. Meaning 32 hours total in 4 months. You would be better off doing 10 push-ups a day, and then gradually increasing the amount. Try 10 push-ups when you wake up in the morning, and also just before bed. Before you know it 10 is too easy, so you do 15, then 20 and so on. Same with pull-ups. Try 2 in the morning, 2 at night, and build up. You need to train your body to get used to the motion

 

[amo2]

@440281/ Hit each muscle group twice a week and eat more while ensuring you get at least 0.8g/lb of protein per day.

 

[amirbekhit]

@440281/ I have been training including weight lifting for many years, using steroid matters much more than body builders admit, I've been recommended a few times by professionals.

I have seen new people in gym, their rapid progress and massive changes because of that..

All we hear is hard work and good diet , but that's just part of it.

 

[hugh999]

@440281/ Is it possible for you to go to the gym 6 times a week (3 on and 1 off)?
Also how long are your rest duration between sets? I see folks at the gym take looooooong rest periods (1-2 minutes) between each set. Try cutting it down to 30 seconds and keep that tempo. You may have to drop the weight, but keep the tempo. That's another form of intensity and your body will have to adjust in order to recover. This obviously wouldn't apply if you're hitting a PR.

You also need to eat enough protein based on your fitness goals. You also need a solid post workout protocol.

 

[apostolic1]

@440281/ I think you are not working your upper body often enough. Try every other day or every 3rd day. Try to get in a lot of volume of reps with good form. If you want to be doing pull ups, do negatives often, either every other day or every 3rd day. Do chin ups as well if/when you are able to. Band assisted pull ups are good for practicing the technique but the strength will come from doing negatives as slowly as you can at bodyweight. Try and get as high a volume of negative pull ups as you can on your upper body days, which should be 2 to 4 days per week.

Also no need for two hour sessions. An hour a few times a week is better than 2 hours once a week.

Edit: even a half hour or 20 minutes some days is fine if that's all you have time for, just do what you can to get in more workouts per week.

 

[dawn16]

@440281/ I’m someone who struggled massively to progress over a 20 year period where I felt like I was training/eating harder and smarter than everyone I knew, while not getting the results they were getting. For what it’s worth, I eventually found that for me, there are two main things I was getting wrong in most of my various phases of the journey, different training protocols and philosophies etc.

Here are my two golden rules:

• prioritise frequency (and by proxy, volume) over intensity. Once I started training ‘easy’ but often, I got better progress in size and strength and felt a thousand times more healthy in every conceivable way.
• eat more. Like you, I thought I was eating a ton. Count and track every calorie for a month and you’ll probably realise that you weren’t eating all that much. The only way for me to fix that effectively was to completely abandon worrying about protein intake and suchlike. Forget that. Just eat anything and everything (that you can comfortably digest - don’t forget to listen to your gut and avoid any foods that are an issue for you no matter how much everyone else may swear by them).

 

[agustin956]

@440281/ When you’re home, do push-up as often as possible. I’m more into yoga but when I’m home I’ll bang out some push-ups randomly throughout the day. My strength isn’t where I’d like it to be, I’m way more into yoga so I’m trying to improve on that. I can do about ten regular pushups properly, but modified I can bang out about 30.

 

[patty157]

@440281/ Fyi your metabolism is not super out of the ordinary, I'm the same weight height and age and probably need 4k calories a day to gain weight and you can def be stronger at 165 lbs if you worked out more.

 

[danaomic]

@440281/ I am 185 Cm and I had been 75kg for years. Years back I was going 4-5days a week and also didnt see much improvement, I only got huge legs from that, got to like 80kg. My metabolism is probably even faster than yours, when I dont workout I can go 3500-4000/day and retain/lose weight. Now when I workout I eat 4500-5000, sometimes more. I started again half year ago and I got to 83-5 kg now. The thing I changed the most is that I ditched the gym, I train at outdoor workout playgrounds and I train daily. Not 4-5 days a week, 7 days a week. Every two months or so I feel my body hurt a bit so I take a break for full week. The most important change I made is the mindset though. I do it, because I like it, I am motivated to do the workouts every day and I give my full attention when I do so. I push myself even if I cant do it, I rest a bit and try again. Before at the gym it was more like: okay today I will do 4 sets of this and that and I didnt really focus on it, just finish it and go. That doesnt work.

It´s hard to push further than 85kg, Ive been like that for 2 months atleast, but I got even a bit leaner while retaining the weight.

 

[jjoel10]

@440281/ Okay so now you're going to the gym. Are you using an established program or making your own? If it's your program, go find an established program.

Since you are looking to improve strength find a program designed to increase strength. You should be able to do a beginner linear progression program (like starting strength) or pick one from the r/fitness wiki.

Also 2x a week with body weight may not be doing enough to drive adaptations when your actual weight training sessions are only working upper or lower once a week.

Also seated chest press? I assume that's a machine?

What other large compound movements are you doing? I've used machines but Im partial to working with a barbell. Learning to brace and stabilize is helpful in improving strength.

p

 

[jermyn]

@440281/ What are you doing for 2 hours in the gym? You might be doing too much work during the session and having a hard time recovering.