Help a fellow skinny Sherbro!! (updated, pic in 2nd page)

[SalvadorAllende]

Hey guys, I will try to make it short.

Im almost 29 years old, have been doing sports since 17 (mostly kickboxing but like any argentinian kid I played tons of soccer while growing up) but had a few years off between then. Im 1,71 (between 5´7 and 5´8) and currently weight 60kgs or around 133lbs.

My first experience with lifting was when I was 18 in a small gym near my parents house. Despite training only 6 months (then started to work full time + college) I was pretty amazed with my strenght. Being around 52kgs (115lbs I think) I was bench pressing my own weight and little more, doing bodyweight push ups with good form, etc... then I never lifted again.

Due time issues (mostly work and b/c living with my girlfriend) and more frequent injuries while kickboxing (specially in my left eye) I decided to get a my home gym. That was actually one of the best decisions Ive ever made. I love it.

The thing is that I have been lifting for about a year but on the last 4 months I am really trying to do everything right and not just hang out. Proper form, good timing, no cheating, etc... a few weeks ago I started to diet too (tons of chicken, brown rice, lots of oats, etc).

Im feeling pretty good by myself despite losing like 2kgs (4 lbs) since starting the diet (I was around 138lbs or 62kgs, I think I lost some bodyfat if I ever had) but Im getting troubles to improve my PR and make gains.

I think my routine is pretty solid for my goals (win a few pounds of muscle) but somehow it seems not to be working... or maybe Im getting to anxious.

Routine.

Spoiler

Day 1:
Deadlifts
Cable pull downs
Dumbbell bent over row (single arm)
Seated cable rows
a few Curls variatons

Day 2:
Barbell bench press
Dumbbell flies
45° Dumbbell press
Bench dip
Row push downs
Skull Crushers

Day 3:
Squats
Lunges
some kind of calves excercise
tons of flexibility

Day 4:
Military press
Lateral raises
OHP with dumbbells
Shrugs
any rear deltoids excercise

Heavies excercises always go in pyramid sets 12, 10, 8, 6.

I always read about rookies maxes and I think I just got there and cant get through. For example, somehow I cant benchpress more than 145lbs (which is kind of depressing). I have been stucked there for like 3 months now and it does not look like a good weight. It just sucks!!

I have been improving a little bit my DL (160lbs and I think I could lift up until 175) but thats it. And is still low weight for me.

What do you guys suggest?

Dont be mean... you all started somewhere.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Squat more and eat til you puke. Then squat more and eat again.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

get rid off all the bodybuilding fluff for now and get on starting strength asap..grow and get stronger and it will take care of size as well

 

[JauntyAngle]

You probably need a programme that has you doing the main lifts more than once per week, and where you focus more on the main lifts and less on accessory. Look at Starting Strength, Stronglifts or something like that. When you have done that, try Madcow or the Texas Method (if you do another sport, maybe skip those and just do 5/3/1 or the Juggernaut Method). Links here:

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/faq-update-beginner-intermediate-routines.1210858/

You're also very light. If you are actively competing in a sport and that is your weight class, that is okay. But for normal purposes it's very very light. I'm only fractionally taller than you and I am rather slight in build, and still quite lean, at 78-80kg. Thinking about dieting seems crazy. Putting on some weight will help you get stronger and just seems like something you should do anyway. For these purposes, don't focus so much on "eating clean"- chicken and oats and so on. Eat all the food groups including fatty meats and various different carbs. Eat a lot of everything, including but not limited to a lot of protein. To stay your size you must have been under-eating, and you are probably used to it, so you will need to make a conscious effort to eat a lot more. Try make all your portions 50% bigger, eat more snacks during the day.

 

[corpse]

just don't start gomad and/or overeating like a moron.

like jaunty said, do starting strength or stronglifts.
eat a little more and sleep a little more.
stay off the internet until you stall.

and have a good day.

 

[Pitbull]

just don't start gomad and/or overeating like a moron.

like jaunty said, do starting strength or stronglifts.
eat a little more and sleep a little more.
stay off the internet until you stall.

and have a good day.

Nothing wrong with GOMAD. I went from 66kg to 90kg and still with abs. I have started it again the past month to try and get my weight up to 95+kg. I wouldn't have made the progress I have made without it. You can always easily cut back a bit if you start gaining fat but I never needed to.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Nothing wrong with GOMAD. I went from 66kg to 90kg and still with abs. I have started it again the past month to try and get my weight up to 95+kg. I wouldn't have made the progress I have made without it. You can always easily cut back a bit if you start gaining fat but I never needed to.

This guy knows what's up.

 

[PUO3]

just don't start gomad and/or overeating like a moron.

like jaunty said, do starting strength or stronglifts.
eat a little more and sleep a little more.
stay off the internet until you stall.

and have a good day.

Eating a little more doesnt put on size/strength. He needs to eat a lot more.

 

[PUO3]

TS, Id say have a look at Stronglifts. Starting Strength is awesome but I prefer the volume especially when adding size is a factor.

What do your macros look like, and be honest. How many calories, how many carbs, how much protein, how much fat per day?

 

[JimRussel]

get rid off all the bodybuilding fluff for now and get on starting strength asap..grow and get stronger and it will take care of size as well

I wish people would stop making recommendations like this.

What wrong with doing isolation movements after the main lifts?

Yeah, do Starting Strength and/or GOMAD, and you can end up with epic results like this:

Spoiler

 

[PUO3]

I wish people would stop making recommendations like this.

What wrong with doing isolation movements after the main lifts?

Yeah, do Starting Strength and/or GOMAD, and you can end up with epic results like this:

Spoiler

Agreed.

Amazing how so many top lifters are wasting their time with isolation and hypertrophy, when apparently its worthless....

 

[JimRussel]

Agreed.

Amazing how so many top lifters are wasting their time with isolation and hypertrophy, when apparently its worthless....

Well, I think there's an issue with those sorts of comparisons too. Top lifters have different needs than the audience we're talking about in this thread, as well as the experience to know/recognize those needs.

Basically, my only point was that the broad "don't do ____ exercise until you're ____ strong" is super silly. Doing arm/leg isolation work with Starting Strength isn't going to ruin everything.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Well.. thanks for the replies guys. I think Ill bump this after a few months and tell you how everything worked.

Regarding nutrition... I feel A LOT better now than before. It is not like Im eating less (please) but Im eating better. I still think I should eat more, a lot more, but it is complicated when I go to work at 7:30 AM and dont get back until 7:30 PM. Still no excuses... Im tuppering my own food now and not eating garbage like I used too.
I tried "overeating" but I felt horrible when I did that. Still I could eat more.

I think I need to sleep a little bit more (normally I sleep between 6 or 7 hours, sometimes 5).

Regarding Isolation vs Main lifts.. Im starting all my trainings with the main lifts (military press, deadlift, squats and bench press) and all the rest is accessory... important but accessory. I train 5 or 6 days at week, despite only having 4 routines.

I have a small frame so I think at 70kgs (155lbs) I would be pretty muscular and aesthetic. I see guys who said that they are my height but a lot heavier but it is not how it works for me. Not that I want to be huge or anything (lets be honest, at 172cm I would be a manlet lol). For reference, my bodytype is similiar to UFCs Dominick Cruz but without all the muscles (lol).

 

[ROcknrollracing]

I see Jim you are still here. Ive been gone a few months and nothing changed. Still the worst poster here.

 

[Cconstandse]

imo deadlifts, squats, bench press, military press should be done heavier like within the 8-3 reps range.

 

[JimRussel]

I see Jim you are still here. Ive been gone a few months and nothing changed. Still the worst poster here.

Totally. The things I have said in this thread are completely incorrect and have no merit.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

Hey you said it not me.

An aside. If TS wants to do some curls for the girls or some tricep pump exercises it is fine unless of course it does efrct recovery(which it can if you do the program correctly). Those arent just my words as the creator of the program has said this numerous time.(the giy with 30+ years of experience training people)

The gomad thing is certainly not for everybody( as rip has beaten to death like a fucker)as for your sarcastic representation of it.

As far as 3x5 2-3x a week not bein enough to gain size is just ludacris because it is as it has been shown time and time again to be plenty of work. In reality even a too level bodybuilder on drugs or not is getting about 10-15% of his size from sarcoplasmic hypertrophy(which includes the bodybuilding fluff obv.)the rest is from building real muscle with real heavy ass weight.

Furthermore, all of that is irrelvant to this OPs goals as he isnt training to be a bodybuilder so he should in turn train to get strong on a proven program built for strength not a bodybuildingesque split.

 

[selfcritical]

Sarcoplasmic vs myofibrillar hypertrophy is much more poorly understood than it was thought to be at the time the first edition of practical programming came out and it is seeming less and less likely that your programming can have any direct determination of how much contractile tissue vs substrate gets built. I wouldn't base any training advice off of the distinction.

 

[JimRussel]

Hey you said it not me.

Try not to pull a KnightTemplar and let your awkward, obsessive dislike for me affect your ability to assess the information in my posts.

 

[golvmopp]

Siding with Cartos on this one tbh. Allowing opinions on someone's person to cloud your pragmatism is shit-tier behaviour.