sofakingdom

Hey everyone, first off I want to say hi to everybody since this is my first post. I stumbled across this forum and I have to say that it is comforting to know that people enjoy and appreciate weightlifting as much as I do.

I am a male, 21 years old, 5'11'', 163-165lbs. I have been training now since about January 2003, my weekly program is as follows:
Monday-Chest/Triceps
Tuesday-Abs
Wednesday-Biceps/Shoulders
Thursday-Abs
Friday-Back/Legs
Saturday-Running/Walking
Sunday-Off
OK so here's my question:

I am having trouble gaining mass and strength. I would think after working out consistently for about a year I would notice better improvements. For chest I do about 4 warm up sets, not really difficult, then for my 3 main sets I do 170 lbs. 4 reps each set. I can also max out at 225 lbs. on a good day. Then I do 3 main sets of 4-6reps on every other exercise I do that day. I do this also on Wednesday's and Friday's as well. I have been stuck at the same weight though for pretty much every muscle group for about the past 2 months. And before this I had only moved up about 10 lbs. since September. I have always been in decent shape. I wrestled in high school, but I focused more on endurance weight training than mass. I take Amino Fuel everyday; I started on Cell-Tech, Nitro-Tech, and Hydroxycut (Ephedra Free) at the end of November 2003 and continue to take them. I also take a lot of vitamins( Vitamin C,A,E, B-vitamins, Bee Pollen, Acidiphilous, Multi-vitamin, Calcium). So I guess my question is why can't I put on more mass and get stronger? I have a very lean figure, but people can't even see ab muscles on my stomach and I am not fat. I had good coaching when I first started weightlifting so I know my technique is correct. I eat a lot of protein and with the Nitro-Tech I get about 160g of protein a day. I also don't eat junk food so I know my eating habits are adequate.

Any help anyone can give me is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for addressing my problem.

PreMier

Welcome to IM.

Ok... first off, why are you running AND taking hydroxycut? Especially if you want mass. Also why are you worried about abs? Dont you want mass... or do you want to be lean? Also if you are getting 160grams of protein a day with your supplements AND food then that is NOT enough. Plus im sure you need to eat more. Post your diet.

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

sofakingdom

OK, well first I only take the hydroxycut because I need the energy. If you know of a better supplement I'm willing to try new things. I'm a full time college student working 30 hrs a week. I get about 6-7 hours of sleep on Sunday night, Tuesday night, and Thursday night. I get about 9-10 hours of sleep on Monday night, Wednesday night, Friday night, and Saturday night. And I run just to give my heart a little bit of a workout. With the running I do sprints. I just started a new diet of power eating I read about on this forum but I have only done it for three days now with no apparent results. It is as follows:

Eat 4-6 times a day
Meal 1-Oatmeal square bar with glass of milk.
Meal 2- Tuna sandwhich on wheat with Smoothie( Protein supplement and Soy supplements added)
Meal 3- Turkey sandwich on wheat with mustard and 1 slice of American Cheese, with Gatorade or water.
Meal 4- Dinner - something with rice or pasta, vegetables, chicken, beans, something along those lines. With a glass of milk.
Meal 5- Tuna out the can with water
Meal 6- Maybe a protein drink like ensure or something
I also drink alot of water throughout the day for the Cell-Tech.

I don't care if I gain 40 lbs. or more, as long as it is muscle. When I say I don't want to get fat, I mean I don't want to get a gut or flabby or anything. And when you are talking about abs, is it impossible to get a six pack while doing mass and strength training? Remember I do ab training twice a week.

squanto

how much are you varying your exercises? that might help you out. i was stuck in a rut for about 2 months before i completely changed my routine, which had been working for the past 10 months. after the change, i started making gains again.

im not an expert on the calorie thing, so i dont know if youre getting enough food for you, but i would just make sure you are full all the time. as far as getting fat, the only thing that works for me personally is to eat so much that i to gain a little bit of fat, but then when im the size i want to be cutting it off. i dont want to get fat either, but it's really difficult for me to gain muscle without a little bit of fat. that way, if i miss a meal or something, my hard work doesnt just disappear.

but i would definately recommend changing your workout routine, maybe doing chest/biceps and back/triceps or something, just to shock your body. if youre already doing that, im assuming it must be a food problem. hope this helps.

squanto

oh, as far as abs go, yes it is possible to do it. i just work my abs 3 sets of 3 exercises 3 times a week. your body fat percentage has a lot to do with that too, some people will argue that ab work isnt even nessecary, that its ALL bodyfat percentage, so it would be difficult to get nice abs while gaining strength and mass.

CowPimp

If you haven't changed your program very much since January 2003, then that is definitely a factor. Try changing around a lot of your lifts. As well, you might want to mix up the days on which you do certain muscles, as squanto mentioned. My gains have shot up dramatically in all of the lifts that I recently added to my new routine. The few lifts that I have kept the same aren't improving nearly as much.

Also, you might have to eat more food. I eat as much food as I possibly can handle. I don't even bother counting out the calories and such. I just eat, eat more, and then eat more after that. Of course, I make sure the stuff I'm eating has good nutritional value.

You may want to cut down on your cardio, if you are doing cardio. Sometimes too much cardio can eat up all the calories you need to gain muscle.

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PreMier

Looks like a sound setup you have there. However need more info. How many calories are you eating daily? www.fitday.com will help you figure that out. Also keeping the abs and gaining mass is not a very easy thing to do... It can be done, but is going to take veeeery long. You are going to have to sacrifice the abs for mass. You need to bulk up, put on some weight, then cut from there. Do as the others said too, and switch the routine up a bit, and do LESS cardio. I switch my routine up every 12-16 weeks.

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

sofakingdom

OK everyone thanks for the advice. I'll try to vary my routines and eat till I can't move(somewhat healthy of course). I'll post again or maybe start a journal and post it to see what happens. Anyways thank you all again for the help.

myCATpowerlifts

Instead of taking out the running, i'd take out the fat
burners...you need to do cardio for health reasons!
Good for the heart and lungs and everything, also it can help speed your recovery by punking blood to all your muscles more and better and stronger

myCATpowerlifts

oh and btw, 5'11" and weighing 165 is pretty slim i'd say, especailly since you can bench more than your body weight and what not, oh and ur protein needs to be about 1 gram per pound of body weight that you WILL be at when you are done bulking
( i.e. 200 grams if you want to be get to a body weight of 190)
More protein can be good tho

PreMier

I am bulking and eat at least 3 grams per lb... He needs atleast 2 to grow. So well over 200 grams a day in my opinion.

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

myCATpowerlifts

well remember this:

You can get too much protein...its hard but you can, especially if you get a lot of carbs and fat too

protein is calories too....

PreMier

I am hitting near 5k calories a day. Too much protein?!?! Im bulking

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

myCATpowerlifts

your body will use only a certain amount of protein
the rest will give you cramps, and a shit load of...poop

once it uses what it needs, itll discard it or turn it into fat
so yea its possible to get too much protein

it'd be nice if our bodies would discard some of the carbs we eat and use all our protein but never gonna happen

PreMier

Ofcourse at 5k calories im going to shit like a horse... The point is MORE protein is better than not enough. Plus I am only getting 120grams or so from shakes. The rest(400+grams) is coming from my food intake.

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

myCATpowerlifts

lol dont you get that weird rash from getting to much protein, its like crabs or something

myCATpowerlifts

i saw this doc phil show bout losing weight, everyone was on a diff diet (there were like 10 contestants, or what ever you wanna call them), and one guy was on atkins and he got some kinda weird bad rash or something

PreMier

Nope. Never had a rash, never get pimples. I have really good skin.

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

myCATpowerlifts

aight aight, but i wonder how ur kidneys, liver, and all that handle all that protein?

ah well who cares, i dont waanna get into a "heated discussion"

PreMier

Its not a heated discussion. I am sure everything works properly. I drink a gallon of water a day, and I feel really healthy.

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

Flex

You can eat Too much protein? dont think so.

if you wanna grow, load up the protein.

as for sofakingdom...

i briefly looked over your diet, and bro, honestly, its nothing. if you wanna get big, you gotta eat big. if you're a hardgainer, like most people, then you need enough cals to grow....got me?

as for training, you have 3 days dedicated to cardio/abs, and 1 day off. thats only 3 days/week in the gym bro. thats why you're not getting big.

i do 10min of cardio on the bike 2x/week, and abs 3x/week after workouts, thats it. granted, i have a lightning metab., but thats why i eat a shitload......

hope this helps........

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myCATpowerlifts

hrmm....its is possible to get too much protein, geez think about it

You go all day for 3 days, and eat about 1000 grams of protein and only like
20 carbs and 4 grams of fat and see what happens...

Michael D

It is also possible to drink too much water but that isn't likely to happen.

Yeah, your diet looks puny. I had this today:

breakfast-bowl of cereal

lunch1-chicken, bbq pork, brunswick stew, potato salad and some hushpuppies

lunch2-2 tuna sandwiches on wheat and some leftovers from lunch 1

lunch3-Kung Po chicken from the local Chinese restaurant

lunch4-a duplicate of lunch 1(leftovers again)

lunch5-my 1.5lb Hungry Man meal is in the microwave right now.

I weigh 175@6'2 and I can't seem to gain weight either. Not at the rate I want to. It is all in the diet I know. I just have to get it straight before I make some good gains.

"Fear profits man nothing."

Michael D

Oh, and I forgot to add the 24oz Miller Light I am drinking with my last meal

I also forgot to comment on your workout. At least for the chest. If you want strength, 170x4 is not enough. You said you can do 225. You should be able to do 170 way more than that. You aren't working hard enough. Try lifting a weight you can only get 4-6 times. Add another set to make it a total of 4 and see if that helps.

"Fear profits man nothing."