boldpastor
New member
Hi, I started working out consistently this February. The starting stats were 74kg 185cm 20M. I have previously worked out summers back in high school and had very good results.
I was determined to gain some muscle, and with the previous experience I had I started a PPL workout routine (details below).
There's 2 different variations of PPL, however I will only provide the first since the second swaps between equivalent exercises. If necessary, I will provide the second variation as well. I will also provide weight where relevant (weight will include bar or individual DB unless otherwise stated). I would do Push1-Pull1-Legs1-Rest-Push2-Pull2-Legs2-Rest. However, I add an extra day of rest in-between when needed. I progressively overload by increasing number of reps until a certain threshold, and then increase the weight; however, this may not work sometimes, so I try to tweak the numbers so that the overall volume per exercise increases by 1-4%.
I (21M) am currently eating around 3600kcal/day with around 225g of protein and 360-370g carbs. I drink 2.3L of milk (full fat or semi-skimmed) daily because I can't eat that much and milk I can drink even when I feel full. I now weigh 88.6kg. In the last few months, I've noticed that I am not putting on any muscle (minimal strength increase) and that I'm just getting fat or experiencing water retention. My flexed arm size is smaller than what I achieved in high school with 3 months of training, and the numbers below speak for themselves (I would bench 70 for 5 sets when I was 16). I am struggling to recover, however taking longer breaks or rest days don't help, I still lose strength if I don't train. I sometimes have to decrease volume even though I'm eating so much - while still gaining a good amount of fat. I get at least 9h of sleep daily.
I am trying to keep consistency and just view this as a long journey, but I've been going through some rough times and it's demoralizing to stall for so long. I have friends who started working out recently deadlifting or benching significantly more while not really counting calories or keeping track of progress, and it's frustrating to put in so much effort tracking everything and getting barely maintenance in return. I've been told that I should work more on my shoulders and chest since they are underdeveloped, but they don't really grow even though I work them to the point of several day tiredness or injury. I no longer get soreness, but I feel weak when warming up and can't even lift my arms above my head without noticeable muscle discomfort.
I'm not sure what else I could improve without overcomplicating things or hyper optimizing. I am currently taking an extra rest day between push and pull so that I can allow my shoulders some recovery.
I have done extensive blood tests and everything came back okay. Testosterone is 5.15ng/mL.
My next plan is cutting down over a longer period of time while trying to maintain what I have because I am feeling too heavy to even walk comfortably. I think I should be able to cut to 80-81kg and I'm nervous to see if there's any muscle underneath. I was also going to switch my training to jeff nippard's ppl4x program to see if training differently will improve anything.
This is what I looked like when I started working out in february:
This is what I look like now:
There is a bit of pump in the last 2 pictures above. I normally look more skinny fat.
I'm looking for suggestions or changes that I should bring to my training or diet. I want to keep gaining more muscle reliably and without injury so I can start training some calisthenics and more balance-strength oriented exercises. I also feel like some people may say just keep training and don't stress about it, but I'm really feeling like I'm getting nowhere, so I think I'd like to ask for your help and opinions. Sorry for the long post and thanks for your time!
Rest times: 2-3min between sets
Push 1:
Bench press: 50kg-10, 60kg-9, 65kg-7
Incline DB press: 20kg-10, 22kg-10, 24kg-8
Cable crossover: 3 sets x 10 reps (controlled, around 8-9 RPE)
Lateral raise cable: 3 sets 12,11,9 reps (sometimes with DB in the 8-10kg range)
Overhead DB press: 16kg-12, 18kg-10, 20kg-10
Front raise cable: 3 sets x 10 reps (controlled, slow movement)
Rope triceps extension: 3 sets 12,11,9 reps
Bodyweight dips: 3 sets 9,8,8 reps
Pull 1:
Cable lat pulldown: 59kg-10, 66kg-10, 66kg-9
Bent over one arm DB row: 20kg-11, 22kg-10, 22kg-10
Deadlift: 3 sets of 90kg-8
Face pull cable: 3 sets 12,10,11 reps
Upright DB row: 8kg-12, 8kg-12, 10kg-11
Reverse fly machine: 3 sets 12 reps
Barbell standing curl: 30kg-10, 30kg-9, 30kg-7
Rope hammer curls: 3 sets 10 reps
Smith shrugs (excludes weight of bar): 45kg-15, 45kg-15, 55kg-15, 55kg-15, 60kg-13
Legs
Squat: 50kg-10, 50kg-10, 55kg-8
Leg extension machine: 41kg-10, 45kg-10, 50kg-11, 54kg-12
RDL barbell: 60kg-10, 70kg-9, 75kg-10
Lying leg curl machine: 4 sets of 21kg-10 reps
Standing calf raise smith (excludes weight of bar): 40kg-15, 40kg-15, 45kg-15, 45kg-13
Side bend + sit ups: 4 sets of 15 reps each exercise
Cardio:
I am able to run 8-10km with 5:45/km pace unless I'm feeling injured. I also row around 6k in 30min when I prefer it instead. Usually doing cardio once a week since it destroys my knees at current weight.
I was determined to gain some muscle, and with the previous experience I had I started a PPL workout routine (details below).
There's 2 different variations of PPL, however I will only provide the first since the second swaps between equivalent exercises. If necessary, I will provide the second variation as well. I will also provide weight where relevant (weight will include bar or individual DB unless otherwise stated). I would do Push1-Pull1-Legs1-Rest-Push2-Pull2-Legs2-Rest. However, I add an extra day of rest in-between when needed. I progressively overload by increasing number of reps until a certain threshold, and then increase the weight; however, this may not work sometimes, so I try to tweak the numbers so that the overall volume per exercise increases by 1-4%.
I (21M) am currently eating around 3600kcal/day with around 225g of protein and 360-370g carbs. I drink 2.3L of milk (full fat or semi-skimmed) daily because I can't eat that much and milk I can drink even when I feel full. I now weigh 88.6kg. In the last few months, I've noticed that I am not putting on any muscle (minimal strength increase) and that I'm just getting fat or experiencing water retention. My flexed arm size is smaller than what I achieved in high school with 3 months of training, and the numbers below speak for themselves (I would bench 70 for 5 sets when I was 16). I am struggling to recover, however taking longer breaks or rest days don't help, I still lose strength if I don't train. I sometimes have to decrease volume even though I'm eating so much - while still gaining a good amount of fat. I get at least 9h of sleep daily.
I am trying to keep consistency and just view this as a long journey, but I've been going through some rough times and it's demoralizing to stall for so long. I have friends who started working out recently deadlifting or benching significantly more while not really counting calories or keeping track of progress, and it's frustrating to put in so much effort tracking everything and getting barely maintenance in return. I've been told that I should work more on my shoulders and chest since they are underdeveloped, but they don't really grow even though I work them to the point of several day tiredness or injury. I no longer get soreness, but I feel weak when warming up and can't even lift my arms above my head without noticeable muscle discomfort.
I'm not sure what else I could improve without overcomplicating things or hyper optimizing. I am currently taking an extra rest day between push and pull so that I can allow my shoulders some recovery.
I have done extensive blood tests and everything came back okay. Testosterone is 5.15ng/mL.
My next plan is cutting down over a longer period of time while trying to maintain what I have because I am feeling too heavy to even walk comfortably. I think I should be able to cut to 80-81kg and I'm nervous to see if there's any muscle underneath. I was also going to switch my training to jeff nippard's ppl4x program to see if training differently will improve anything.
This is what I looked like when I started working out in february:
This is what I look like now:
There is a bit of pump in the last 2 pictures above. I normally look more skinny fat.
I'm looking for suggestions or changes that I should bring to my training or diet. I want to keep gaining more muscle reliably and without injury so I can start training some calisthenics and more balance-strength oriented exercises. I also feel like some people may say just keep training and don't stress about it, but I'm really feeling like I'm getting nowhere, so I think I'd like to ask for your help and opinions. Sorry for the long post and thanks for your time!
Rest times: 2-3min between sets
Push 1:
Bench press: 50kg-10, 60kg-9, 65kg-7
Incline DB press: 20kg-10, 22kg-10, 24kg-8
Cable crossover: 3 sets x 10 reps (controlled, around 8-9 RPE)
Lateral raise cable: 3 sets 12,11,9 reps (sometimes with DB in the 8-10kg range)
Overhead DB press: 16kg-12, 18kg-10, 20kg-10
Front raise cable: 3 sets x 10 reps (controlled, slow movement)
Rope triceps extension: 3 sets 12,11,9 reps
Bodyweight dips: 3 sets 9,8,8 reps
Pull 1:
Cable lat pulldown: 59kg-10, 66kg-10, 66kg-9
Bent over one arm DB row: 20kg-11, 22kg-10, 22kg-10
Deadlift: 3 sets of 90kg-8
Face pull cable: 3 sets 12,10,11 reps
Upright DB row: 8kg-12, 8kg-12, 10kg-11
Reverse fly machine: 3 sets 12 reps
Barbell standing curl: 30kg-10, 30kg-9, 30kg-7
Rope hammer curls: 3 sets 10 reps
Smith shrugs (excludes weight of bar): 45kg-15, 45kg-15, 55kg-15, 55kg-15, 60kg-13
Legs
Squat: 50kg-10, 50kg-10, 55kg-8
Leg extension machine: 41kg-10, 45kg-10, 50kg-11, 54kg-12
RDL barbell: 60kg-10, 70kg-9, 75kg-10
Lying leg curl machine: 4 sets of 21kg-10 reps
Standing calf raise smith (excludes weight of bar): 40kg-15, 40kg-15, 45kg-15, 45kg-13
Side bend + sit ups: 4 sets of 15 reps each exercise
Cardio:
I am able to run 8-10km with 5:45/km pace unless I'm feeling injured. I also row around 6k in 30min when I prefer it instead. Usually doing cardio once a week since it destroys my knees at current weight.
