I've been going to the gym three times a week for about six months now and I've just hit a wall. I seem to be making no gains beyond what I did the first couple of months and it's really pissing me off, I've tried reading articles and stuff but i just don't get it.

I'm spending about forty minutes on my workouts and break them up into chest and back on mondays, legs and abs on wednesdays and arms and shoulders fridays. I like to try and mix it up, generally do about 4 sets of ten each thing and i'm just noticing no gain.

I'm not a naturally big bloke but i've managed to build my chest up somewhat, but it's not noticable unless i flex. ditto arms. i just want to build up enough so that it's noticable without working out and pumping up but it's eluding me.

Can anybody help out a bodybuilding idiot get smart about working out?

Cheers,

Jonny

Welcome to JSF :)

What exactly do you do in the gym? What are you eating the rest of the day? It all adds up - but its hard to help without more detail :)

Stickies. They have so much valuable information. I've been lifting for over a year now, and yet I'm making appreciable gains while cutting.

...Because I read all the stickies :nod:


If you're :bang: then you need to adjust either your :eat:, or your :bb:, or maybe you need more :sleep:, but you can be :flex:. Just :read:.

;)

:gl:

So many smilies! I don't know what to do!! :lol:

But seriously, definitely check the stickies. They are golden.

If you're :bang: then you need to adjust either your :eat:, or your :bb:, or maybe you need more :sleep:, but you can be :flex:. Just :read:.


:tu:

On food, trying to eat clean can make it tough to stuff in the calories you really need.

If you aren't writing down exactly what you are eating and adding the total, try it for a couple of days. People who don't worry about fat percentage increase can easily unknowingly end up eating at maintenance or below thinking they are stuffing themselves. Been there, writing it down rather than just "thinking" the calorie count was pretty shocking.

Look for places where you may be expending collateral calories (physical work, yard work, cardio, sports) and be sure to seriously factor it in your diet. If you have high metabolism (re: "I'm not a naturally big bloke"?), it takes very little to chew up the calories you meant to go for your building program.

on mondays i do my chest and i generally tend to do bench 3 x 10, dumbell press 4 x 10, dumbell flies 4 x 10, the thing where you pull the cord with weight on the end (see how good i am with gym terminology), lying pullover 4 x 10 and that one where you pull the bar down and it really hurts

on wednesdays i do legs and use the leg curly machine, the step machine thingo and other random stuff (i have very poor leg workout commitment) I also try and do more than a hundred incline situps which i enjoy

Fridays is arms, which tends to involve 4 x 10 of that one where you lie on the bench and lift the bar over your head for triceps, tricep pulldowns, bicep curls (which do absolutely nothing im pretty sure), barbell curls and preacher curls

I'm just not feeling great gains from my system of doing things. I was reading the stickies but this is all pretty new so im still quite dumb with it. A guy said something about Deadlift, Squat, Bench, Row, and Overhead Press being the core of any good workout - is there a site where i can look at what all these actually are? Can somebody explain them and maybe suggest a better workout schedule to me or direct me to a good one?

Cheers

A good workout plan is Starting Strength. (See here (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224)). It involves only the compound movements you mentioned above - deads, squats.etc To see how to do these, this site (http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html) has a database of exercises by bodypart - they'll be in there somewhere. To learn the lifts properly, the Starting Strength book would be a great investment.

if i'm trying to gain muscle, do i eat more or less than i normally do? what foods are good staples?

I'm repeating what I have been told, and don't know this from much personal experience, (but read the stickies!) however if you are bulking you tend to eat more than your maintainable level.

+1 for reading the stickies. :)

have you ever considered that maybe repeating "read the stickies" thirty times to somebody is almost the exact correct method of frustrating them? i read the stickies. i still am. i just have some general questions that would quite literally take a knowledable person thirty seconds to help me out on.

If you want to bulk, you eat more than you need. Unless you have difficulty gaining weight, you'll need to eat clean calories to avoid gaining too much fat.

Get your calories from meat, protein supps, veggies, legumes, nuts, and fruits. And work hard.

:gl:

Also, you may be surprised at just how many people come through here asking the same questions that are all answered in the stickies. Your question just happened to sound a lot like one answered in a sticky.

I've been going to the gym three times a week for about six months now and I've just hit a wall. I seem to be making no gains beyond what I did the first couple of months and it's really pissing me off, I've tried reading articles and stuff but i just don't get it.



I'd forgotten about this post until the previous poster added to it. I reread your starting paragraph and it reminded me of what Mark Rippletoe has for a guide showing when your routine may need alterations. At six months, you've lost a great deal of shock value if you've continued the same program. This means that some people may have to complicate or change their routine at that point. The chart just defines the rate of adaptation or your body becoming used to the exercises and methods you are using.

Maybe this applies to you and it's not just diet. If so, there are many ways to shock your system with a new program. The one mentioned above would be one way (the Starting Strength), going to a 5x5 is a completely different thing from a 3x10 and especially since most of the exercises are new to you. In fact, just changing to those exercises you mentioned would have a massive impact if your body is now adapted to the existing ones. But there are many other ways to do this with complex rep and weight schedules, some even change from week to week intentionally. No way to know if it really applies to you but it's something to think about.

have you ever considered that maybe repeating "read the stickies" thirty times to somebody is almost the exact correct method of frustrating them? i read the stickies. i still am. i just have some general questions that would quite literally take a knowledable person thirty seconds to help me out on.
OK fine.

Without providing much information, there is little anyone can do to help you. And we encourage people to read the stickies because it stops the same people typing out the same information over and over again.

Usually when people "hit a wall", it's due to nutrition. Nutrition is key. Most workout plans will work, only if they are backed up by a solid nutritional plan. You haven't provided either of these; your diet and your lifting information.

So, if you would like more in depth help, it would be useful if you could post what you're eating and your choices of exercises, as this will make it easy for someone to step in and point you in the right direction. :)

I'd forgotten about this post until the previous poster added to it. I reread your starting paragraph and it reminded me of what Mark Rippletoe has for a guide showing when your routine may need alterations. At six months, you've lost a great deal of shock value if you've continued the same program. This means that some people may have to complicate or change their routine at that point. The chart just defines the rate of adaptation or your body becoming used to the exercises and methods you are using.

Maybe this applies to you and it's not just diet. If so, there are many ways to shock your system with a new program. The one mentioned above would be one way (the Starting Strength), going to a 5x5 is a completely different thing from a 3x10 and especially since most of the exercises are new to you. In fact, just changing to those exercises you mentioned would have a massive impact if your body is now adapted to the existing ones. But there are many other ways to do this with complex rep and weight schedules, some even change from week to week intentionally. No way to know if it really applies to you but it's something to think about.

Yea, as I re-read this as well a good full-body lift program to teach those big lifts that will really help you.

Here is the link for a good place to start: Starting Strength Program (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=712752)

The forum link gives you a good overall look at what to do. If you follow the link in the forum it will take to you the parent website where the ebook is available with detailed descriptions of how to do the exercises.

For further information on everything exercises check out this link: http://exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

The wealth of information at that site can be intimidating, but take some time to fiddle with the site and see how they organize those exercises. It's a really amazing site when you get comfortable with the organization.

:tu:

I'm just not feeling great gains from my system of doing things. I was reading the stickies but this is all pretty new so im still quite dumb with it. A guy said something about Deadlift, Squat, Bench, Row, and Overhead Press being the core of any good workout - is there a site where i can look at what all these actually are? Can somebody explain them and maybe suggest a better workout schedule to me or direct me to a good one?

If you go to YouTube and search for any of those exercises, you'll get a good idea of what they actually are. A good number of folks on this forum have linked to their own videos for proper form, but I'd suggest a book like "Starting Strength" if you want to read something detailed about form and the reasoning behind why each exercise works the way it does.

Thanks very much guys, very very helpful advice - it's already yielding results.

(still reading the stickies :p)

Cheers again

Stickies. They have so much valuable information. I've been lifting for over a year now, and yet I'm making appreciable gains while cutting.

...Because I read all the stickies :nod:


If you're :bang: then you need to adjust either your :eat:, or your :bb:, or maybe you need more :sleep:, but you can be :flex:. Just :read:.

;)

:gl:

Sig'd!

(i have very poor leg workout commitment)
I think we've discovered a huge part of the problem...

I think we've discovered a huge part of the problem...


:nod:


This used to be my problem. I hated working out legs.

I think it was a pyschological thing. It was the one workout I would miss, if I had to miss one during the week.

I think that I had some misconcieved notion that legs wouldn't do much for what I was going for, size, but I was way wrong!

The thing is that a good Leg day is probably going to be the hardest day of all your workout days. Working out legs is important for all of the goals (size, strength, fat-loss). You don't really get tired curling the bar a couple of times, or pushing the bar up off your chest. But going down and up kicks your but if done well. Welcome this feeling. You need to come up with a way to overcome this.

I LOVE leg day now. I've done high reps, lifting heavy, Breathing squats, they kind of kick your butt.

Find the leg exercises you will like, there are tons of leg exercise variations, and do them. I could go on and on about legs but I'll leave it at that.

I really should get the shut up and squat shirt. :dreamy: