Not made any progress in years

[cinnamoroll]

As the title says. I've been training for 15+ years and feel like a haven't made any significant progress the last 10-ish years. I've tried a variety of different program structures, PPL, upper lower, full body, bro split and everything in between. And all with a focus on progressive overload. And I'm pretty much at the same place I was 10 years ago.

As for knowledge, I've also listened to alot of Dr Mike Israel and his periodization approach, but it just sounds very close to what I've been doing so far and as I have concluded doesn't work for me.

I've recently been listening to Mike Mentzer heavy duty training philosophy and find that some of hes points makes great sense while other seems outright ludacris.. The idea of pushing a muscle to absolute failure and then giving it time to rest and recover before working it again just seems intuitive. Have any intermediate guys here tried out he's approach or an variation of it and gotten great results?

For the record I'm 175 cm, 80 kg, 32 years old and have the following lifts. 1 rep max:
Bench press 140 kg
Squat 150 kg
Military press 87,5 kg
I don't deadlift as it breaks my back, lol.

I don't usually train one rep max, but it's just to give an idea of my current place.

And as for diet, I aim to be in a surplus of 300-500 kcal with a 1,2 g/pound of bodyweight being protein.

 

[cpo]

@cinnamoroll There is zero information to give you any meaningful help.

We dont see your exercise selection, your execution, your training program, the intensity on all of them.

As an advanced lifter you wont get meaningful advice here from anybody, especially if they just blindly give you “tips” even though all the useful information to go on is missing.

Here is what I would do, get a good coach, or record all of your lifts, study how to structure a good training program, track your lifts and improve your intensity.
Even these tips will get you nowhere if you are just blindly increasing your volume on zero progression.

I have coached way too many advanced people and the main reason they stopped progressing is because they are not training with intensity and they have no clue about what fatigue is and how much that affects progression. There is no such thing as dumping together exercises and sets without its counter part being managed (fatigue).

 

[sbrodhagen]

@cinnamoroll Given your time investment it might be worth going with a reputable coach, to go over what could be holding back your progress...

But if you want some more online resources, some of Paul Carter's stuff is pretty illuminating. He used to be a huge Mentzer fan, ran Doggcrapp etc... Now he's friends with Chris Beardsley, so now preaches Mechanical Tension as the primary driver of growth, effective reps, reducing fatigue and unnecessary muscle break down etc, neuro-mechanical matching...

Thanks to him, it spurred me to look into new material and learn a lot of new stuff about lifting weights I didn't know.

But I would also take some of the stuff he says with a grain of salt, he's pretty dogmatic about some of his "takes" which aren't backed with the same evidence as his other stances, and has a very abrasive personality and has shit talked other knowledgeable people.

 

[taught2beenslaved]

@sbrodhagen This is such a good take on Paul. Dude is incredibly well versed in the literature for somebody that is self taught, but the dogma he has over his views when he himself used to preach high volume and TUT is fucking crazy (his LiftRunBang book for context), it just makes me bemused how he can be so toxic to random kids on the internet when they're completely lost when he himself used to preach the views they have at Day 1 of their lifting career.

Combine that with the fact he posts Christian shit on his instagram often and claims to be devout despite his toxcitiy and it can make him pretty unbearable to listen to.

If you can get past the verboseness of his language which can be insufferable at times, because he knows he's doing it as an intellectual flex, Ryan Jewers does a pretty solid job of educating without the toxicity that Paul delivers.

 

[comyn7]

@taught2beenslaved Paul Carter is hands down one of the biggest pricks in the online fitness space. Just like anyone else, he has some good information and some that isn’t so good (4-5 rep bicep curl sets???), but the way he goes about delivering his viewpoint is so unnecessarily condescending, abrasive, and dogmatic that I’d rather go to almost anyone else for information.

 

[sbrodhagen]

@taught2beenslaved Thanks, I'll give them a follow on Insta/watch some vids.

 

[leena2016]

@taught2beenslaved

it just makes me bemused how he can be so toxic to random kids on the internet

Yeah it's very unbecoming. Of course he gets some questions which are a little or very silly. But it's like... dude you choose to do this, you choose to be an Instagram fitness educator q&a dude, get a fucking grip & if it bothers you too much, dip out.

 

[savedgirl]

@sbrodhagen Paul is awesome, nothing bad to say about him. Most people hatin on him just because he does social media. Just appreciate the free content an value he gives and stop being a b.

 

[guadalupana]

@cinnamoroll A 140kg BP to 150kg squat?
Above bodyweight OHP but don’t deadlift?

Suspect you’ve been neglecting that lower body, OP

 

[cinnamoroll]

@guadalupana I been doing a PPL for the most of my lifting career. But I suck at pushing legs hard enough, i admit that. But I get bad knee problems and back pain when going to hard on the squat and deadlift.

 

[forgivenofsins]

@cinnamoroll You use knee sleeves? Helped me a ton and was able to withstand a lot more weight on squats and lunges once I did.

 

[cinnamoroll]

@forgivenofsins Yeah, I do. But I have a feeling they are not tight enough

 

[forgivenofsins]

@cinnamoroll Get a size smaller and save the bigger ones for when your legs get massive

 

[cinnamoroll]

@forgivenofsins Solid advice right there!

 

[hmd]

@cinnamoroll Do you get pain even from low weight high reps?

 

[opalsky]

@cinnamoroll Post physique

 

[cinnamoroll]

@opalsky Not sure if this works but

https://imgur.com/a/ftuymri

 

[stellanguyen]

@cinnamoroll You look great bro.
Get fat for a year, then cut slow.

 

[cinnamoroll]

@opalsky And before anyone says anything. Yes, I know, you can't see my legs. Haha

 

[masonmatt1000]

@cinnamoroll You only weigh 175 lbs, so my question is, have you ever weighed 200? Have you ever weighed 225? 250? Shit, even 185? You say you’re in a surplus but if you’re stuck at 175 and not progressing, you have to eat more. The 3-500 cal surplus is “just enough” and since daily and weekly calorie expenditure can vary by that much, it’s not ensuring you’re eating enough. Your focus on training isn’t the issue. People can train like dogshit and if they eat enough they’ll put on mass. It’s really not that complicated. You’re not going to weigh 200lbs if you never weigh 200lbs.