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

[jewels261]

@tp243 What accessories do you recommend?

 

[tp243]

@jewels261 It depends on the individual trainee but for me personally I just spammed a ton of arms and side raises as they are stubborn body parts for me

 

[hellofriends]

@jewels261 The exercises themselfs don't matter that much. You should pick the ones that you can execute with good range of motion and make the muscle you want to grow be the limiting factor when going to failure (or close to it)

Simple example: if your forearms are the reason you can't do more reps on pulldowns, then your back will be missing those gains.

 

[holyrood]

@barefoothannahb Well first of all there's no reason to cut for you. You made some gains and then lost all of it in 2023 when you lost 30 pounds for no reason.

edit:

also you're very tall so it's more difficult to SEE the progress. Need to give the bulk more time without interrupting it

 

[barefoothannahb]

@holyrood I mean the reason I cut was because i thought I was getting close to or already over 20% body fat. Should I really push up to 25% in that case?

 

[holyrood]

@barefoothannahb I don't know how much that'd be in % bodyfat but in my opinion you didn't look like you needed to cut. A somewhat slow bulk would've been good

 

[spreading_the_gospel]

@barefoothannahb For you to have made so little gains there has to be something catastrophically wrong with your input in the GYM (intensity, understand that too high of intensity is AN ISSUE with high frequency training if you haven't properly moderated your split in the same way that too little can be too), or your recovery which could be a factor of the first two usually by someone not understanding how to program properly and combining too much of high volume and high frequency(i see it multiple a times a day here and think there's no way this guy will grow on this unless he employs strict rpe 5s on this pplx2 a week with his 20sets of a chest a week).

If you share actual real information I would try to help you.

 

[nimrod2006]

@barefoothannahb 28 , 192 cm , 102kg here - i stopped focusing on weight and more in intensity. Worked wonders for me. Also cut back on volume as I could not recover. Hope you find what works for you!

 

[alchemist_jay]

@barefoothannahb Get yourself a coach and go on a proper bulk and cut routine. Having to be accountable to someone will reignite that vigour for progress

 

[peter67]

@barefoothannahb I’d strongly suggest a volumizing program like “kong savage size” by Alex Bromly.

 

[newlivingplace]

@barefoothannahb You're an extremely tall individual so gaining mass without any PED usage is already difficult enough. I would bulk to around 265, hold that for around a month, and then cut down to see where you're at. You're at a genetic disadvantage for mass because of your height, you will struggle with that type of thing. Also for your protein, i'd be eating at a way higher value than 185 as your minimum, i'd aim for 230-250 grams of protein a day, and will likely have to push the calories very high to really see progress. Also, a lot of times hiring a coach and allowing someone else to plan your meals and training for you takes a lot of stress out of your own hands and allows you to basically "cruise control" your life while someone else plans out your bulking and cutting phases.

 

[tanyafaithfully]

@newlivingplace He's at a genetic advantage for mass. The disadvantage is the speed at which you see change. Length has nothing to do with speed of muscle growth is probably around average it's just spread out growth. Taller people will always get bigger than a shorter person. Mass.

 

[kimhills]

@barefoothannahb You could just go into maintenance mode if you want but if it was me, I’d probably still be pushing things to the limit. Just for the enjoyment and challenge of it. You’d have to be ok with potentially achieving minimal aesthetic gains though.

My friends brother is 6ft 7 and always wanted an aesthetic physique but eventually realized it wasn’t going to happen for him. So he started taking steroids and it still didn’t happen. Then he just gave up altogether. There’s just some body types that will never be super aesthetic and I suspect yours is in this category. It seems to be more common in very tall dudes. I guess it’s natures way of throwing a bone to the shorter guys. Mother Nature: “Short man, I cursed you with being short so I will allow you to be aesthetic. Tall man, you have such a big advantage so I’m going to curse you with an inability to have an aesthetic physique”

 

[flowergal44]

@barefoothannahb The dark side is waiting

 

[tanyafaithfully]

@barefoothannahb Stay at 245 and just focus strength for 1-2 years

 

[johnc101]

@barefoothannahb how much have your lifts progressed from the 2021 to the 2024 230lbs pics?

 

[barefoothannahb]

@johnc101 -Squat went from 285x5 to 370x5
-Deadlift went from 295x5 to 415x5
-Bench went from 220x5 to 245x5
-OHP went from 115x5 to 140x5

I think most of these increases mostly have to do with getting technically better at the lifts, specifically the upper body. I always have to fight for a 5-10 lb increase at the end of a mesocycle.

 

[johnc101]

@barefoothannahb yea i mean lower body progress is solid enough - i would imagine you've put on some muscle to be able to hit those and it's not just due to getting technically better at the lifts. the pics you have are only frontal upper body though and yeah, the bench and ohp progress kinda align with your assessment of not much progress.

imo, you have a lot more room to grow, and you're 25 you have a lot of time, i would not even think about giving up to maintain for at least a couple more years.

in terms of general advice, i'll give you some of what really made a difference for me (i'm 6'3 and can relate to some of the struggles of taller guys building muscle). i didn't really start looking like a bodybuilder physique until hitting 215-220lbs - and have to push 230+ to have enough energy intake and recovery ability progress my lifts. at 6'7 i think you're simply going to have to be and stay heavy (like at least 240+) and resist cutting for a while to give you enough time to build the amounts of muscle you'll need. maybe the big swings in bodyweight prevented you from progressing like you should have - you likely want to avoid this going forward if your focus is making substantial improvements. exercise selection - more isolation work has been a game changer for me - i relied a lot on compound lifts for a lot of my first few years, and moving away from that and adding a lot of isolation work really made a difference to my physique. idk your programming but if you're focusing on s/b/d/o for your measures of progress - maybe reassess and come up with more targeted lifts for each joint movement and muscle group. progressive overload - this must must must be your focus (i know you said you focus on it, but it really cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to actually have it occur). every single session you must add weight to the bar or to the total reps you do - no matter what. you might not increase your strength, but you must keep the stimulus increasing. so, for example, if you do 370 x5, 5, 4 then next week you add 5lbs and do 375 for 4, 4, 3 - do another set of 3 (or 2 then 1) to ensure the total volume is increasing. do this with every exercise (and ideally at higher rep ranges) and this is really what progressive overload means in terms of hypertrophy. when i switched to this progression on all my lifts, that was probably had the biggest impact after the first few years of training.

hope that helps

 

[alex17791]

@barefoothannahb Have you only done 5x5 workouts the past 4 years? Tell us more about how you are training.

 

[barefoothannahb]

@alex17791 I do mainly higher frequency workouts but I always track my strength because noticeable size gains are so hard to come by. It’s how I stay motivated. In terms of programs I’ve done the Reddit PPL, PHUL, Texas Method (roast away), Arnold’s Split (my favorite but high fatigue) and this one. All of which I ran for at least 12 weeks sometimes for multiple cycles.