Been training for years and on the verge of giving up due to lack of progress, what should I do?

@barefoothannahb Following those programs and focusing on the weight is a good way to progress on strength, which is a really good proxy for building muscle. The thing is it's not exactly the same thing. I can relate to using the weight as motivation, but what I've kind of settled into is only really caring about the weight for the powerlifting big 3. There's no magical lifting program, but there are a lot of different ones and you need to keep experimenting to find what works to help you accomplish your goals. There are some good free programs focused on hypertrophy which you might like. I'm a big fan of the stronger by science (SBS) hypertrophy program because it has autoregulation built in, but the natural hypertrophy guy has a few good ones as well (his new GUTS one looks great).

If you are focused on eating high quality food (limit processed foods), in a caloric surplus with sufficient protein, and doing roughly 10 sets close to failure for each muscle group every week while also giving at least 48 hours of rest between those muscle groups, you are going to build muscle. Maybe it's slow going, but if you gain 2 lbs a month for 12 months straight, I feel pretty confident you could put on at least 5-7 lbs of muscle and hopefully more like 8-10. Is that motivating to you? I think you have to be realistic about how hard it is to build muscle and how hard you want to achieve that goal.

The older you get the harder it's going to be to add muscle mass. You're still pretty young so if you're already burning out on this, maybe take a break and do something else that you find fun. I know guys that switched to CrossFit for a while and got really in shape, then decided to come back to bodybuilding later. They don't regret that switch at all since they built up a really good work capacity that made it so endurance or cardio was never the limiting factor in weight training. Likewise, I know a couple guys who switched to MMA/BJJ and only weight train as assistance for that sport now. They don't look jacked, but I would be way more afraid to mess with them than someone who was jacked.
 
@barefoothannahb Ha. I was like this too.

Switch to doin high reps high volume. It fixed me.

Idk my x5 for lifts anymore but I know my x12. And that’s what helped a lot. Also bulk more and for longer. Don’t be afraid to overreact and get a bit uncomfortable w body dat
 
@barefoothannahb Simple solution: don't change much of what you're doing. Just start adding an exercise doing 2 sets of that exercise and start training everything to failure (except squats and dead. Do 1-2 reps in the tank.). Stay in a surplus. You will grow.
 
@barefoothannahb You're 25.. you're not "getting older. I guarantee that you're training nowhere near failure and your diet is equally bad. As others have said, get a real and reputable coach. They will analyze your training and assign you a proper diet.
 
@barefoothannahb Could be your training, could be your diet/nutrition, could be that bulk/cut cycles don't work well for you (you may need to try recomping at a higher BF percentage), could be recovery problems, could be a genetic component, could be a combo of any/all of these.

You say you're doing "higher frequency" programs, but that could mean a lot of things. What's your most recent couple of programs and how long have you been running them?

Keep in mind it's hard to look like you have substantial muscle at your height. It takes longer to fill out. It sucks, but it's just the way it is. I'm just under 6' 4", it took me about 5 years of consistent training before I started looking jacked. There were times when I thought "ok, think I've hit my genetic limit." I was wrong though. I"m still getting bigger now at 36. Remember lifting is a long game, and it's still worth doing even if you're not getting bigger; it's good for your physical and mental health.
 
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