hey guys, my lifts are no longer going up really, and i've been lifting seriously for about a month. Infact it is quite sad since today i was only benching like 125. This is imperative that this goes up. My diet can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~dbucholtz38/food.xls since i cannot upload excel files.

i take glutamine powder 3 times a day, and total about 12 grams of it a day. I get plenty of protein, but i am trying to make my final push for weight loss.

I am 5'9", about 157 pounds, and an 18 year old male. Help me out guys, i want to maximize muscle gain while still cutting fat.

A stall in progress followed by a decline in ability can be indicative of overtraining. Since you said you've been doing this for about a month AND it is 'imperative' that it goes up, you seem to have been going for about long enough to BE overtraining, and have a mindset that would make overtraining possible.

I guess what I'm saying is: It sounds like you are overtraining. Perhaps you should take a couple days off from lifting so your muscles can fully recover -- which should allow your maxes to increase (full recovery is really good at that)

Good luck!

-Allen

*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, I'm just "some guy" off the internet who is probably in worse shape then you are. Take all my advice with a large granule of NaCl*

well, when routine X stops working, change it. unless you are overtraining as akm3 suggests, which is entirely possible, maybe you should change your routine. do dumbbell press instead of barbell, drop the glutamine for awhile, change your diet around, eat more and more often, etc. if your maintenance cals are 2500 then 1400 is way too low if you're trying to bulk/build/etc.

i take glutamine powder 3 times a day, and total about 12 grams of it a day. I get plenty of protein, but i am trying to make my final push for weight loss.

I am 5'9", about 157 pounds, and an 18 year old male. Help me out guys, i want to maximize muscle gain while still cutting fat.

It's pretty obvious to me some of the factors that may be contributing. First, glutamine isn't going to make or break your lifts. Supplements are like the icing on the cake - they don't make or break the cake. People lift with glutamine, they lift without it, so I wouldn't point there as a factor. It is common to point to protein but protein is only part of the picture and hardly has anything to do with the strength you generate - strength is more a neural function and a combination of having the fuel to lift and then the neurological efficiency to lift well.

WHERE ARE YOUR CARBS? I only see them with a few meals. That looks to be a major culprit. You need carbohydrate to lift. Your muscle cell fires from carbohydrate. This is why low carb diets fail miserable for lifters in general unless they do something like a cyclic ketogenic diet where they are able to carb-up. Add a post workout shake with carbs, not protein, and get some carbs in before your workout - even an apple might make a world of difference.

Jeremy

jeremy seems to know whats up with all this fitness stuff, so i guess i will start getting plenty more carbs.

i just guessed i am about 2500 maintance, i really have no idea. I do quite a bit of exercise though, i play tennis after school, but that is far from intense, and then i lift.

Pay attention to where you place the carbs, why u have them, what kind they are, what you consume them with, etc.

This is far more important than "just add carbs". You may end up adding fat if you just add carbs w/out thinking about why and where and the entire purpose behind utilizing them. Remember protein builds lean mass, not carbs.

~SC~

well, i won't add them with fatty foods, that promotes fat storage, i will most likely throw a banana in with my protein shakes. it gives it a nice flavor boost!

fructose is okay I suppose, but you'll want "real" starches and such for recovery and energy purposes. Fructose (fruit sugar) doesn't apply to either scenario.

~SC~

Pay attention to where you place the carbs, why u have them, what kind they are, what you consume them with, etc.

This is far more important than "just add carbs". You may end up adding fat if you just add carbs w/out thinking about why and where and the entire purpose behind utilizing them. Remember protein builds lean mass, not carbs.

~SC~

What are the most important times or reasons to have carbs?

i eat alot of whole wheat bread, that works right?