Thread: 17 yr old struggles!

Hows your diet?

I eat either 2 egg white's or a small bowl of cereal for breakfeast. Lunch time i eat a turkey sandwich or crispy chicken sandwich with a can of snapple, or sushi around 4 PM i eat some sort of nuts accompanied with some type of protein (chicken, steak, yoshinoya combo bowl, subway or some kind of meat) this is usually my dinner for me.

then i take a nap and wake up around 6 and i eat an orange or 2 for energy and off i go to gym for 2 hours. I come home drink my COUNTDOWN post workout shake, and eat nothing for the rest of the night.

i do this 6 days a week. on my free day i usually go out and eat with friends for dinner.

Originally Posted by powardbyhoward

Hi, ive been working out for exactly 1 year and 1 month now. GOign to the gym at least 3 times a week, sometimes 5. When we work out i tend to stay 2 hours. 1 hr 30min weight lift, and 30 aerobics. Im starting to wonder if its got something to do with genes! My friend started with me and we both started repping 95 (12X 3 sets). Over the course of this year, he has increased dramatically to repping 215 (10 X 1 set). While i am stil struggling embarrasingly with repping 135 (10 X1 set) on the flat bench. Im taking GNC's multivitamin, the countdown powder and GNC's total lean advance 3 month supply. Im exactly 6 feet and during the course of this year i went from 220 pounds to 175 and now im up to 180. My biceps, quads, triceps, shoulders all developed greatly over this year, but my chest is still weak. I do see significant changes, but my body is just not hard like my friend. I know for a fact he's not taking steriods and he even eats junk food frequently. How did he increase his strength so much while i stayed the same? We work out the same stuff and whenver we do he just seems to be lifting heavier and heavier. Anyone have any suggestions for me so i can at least make change for myself during this summer break. I just want my body to be able to be hard and absorb punches.WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?!?! any help would be greatly appreciated!

Does he do the cardio also?

What is your chest routine? Maybe you guys are doing a high volume workout which may better suited for his body and not so great for yours?

It is possible that genetically he has a greater type II to type I muslce fiber ratio than you.

We usually work out 1-2 body parts per day.
for chest

12X 3 sets middle grip bench press
12 X1 set of far grip bench press
12X3 sets butterfly machine
12X3 sets of dumbell bench press
12x3 sets of cables
Then we would work abs or something and then i usaully go do my cardio while he leaves because hes already in pretty lean condition while i still got some body fat on me that i wish to burn.

i can rep 105's, but once we move onto the 115's it just collapses on me. I dont know why it gets so heavy for me when on my friend he just easily pushes it. He actually uses 115's as warm up. Its driving me nutz knowing ive been so motivated for over a year now and results aren't coming!

My shoulders, biceps, triceps, abs, back all got so much stronger and im slowly seeing lines now, but when u put ur hands on any part, it feels so soft and only when i flex do u feel the muscle. On my friend, he feels like a damn rock and has so much definition. i think it has to do with my body fat but ive been doing aerobics for a long time too! GNC manager put me on the total lean advance to see if that'll make me more defined. I dont understand! he is so much lazier than me too. He eats foods that are so unhealthy! what is wrong with my body!

could it be its cuz ive been obese all my life and loosing all this weight in a year and working out is still something new to my body?

Well here is what I can tell ya.....a) your rep range is not optimal if strength is what you want to increase. It seems like you have been doing the same routine for a long time and it is time to make some changes. About the cardio. One reason that he may be progressing more strength wise is because he isn't doing any cardio! If you do a lot of cardio your type I (slow twitch) muscle fibers will get taxed. This can cause a conversion of muscle fibers leading to less strength increases. Don't get me wrong cardio is important but you may be overdoing it causing you to "miss the boat" so to speak. You need to lower your amount of cardio and get your diet in order if you want to see the changes in your body that you desire.

is my diet incorrect right now? What is a more suitable workout routine for the type i bodies? or are the people with Type 1 muscle fibers all doomed to take longer time to develop?

NO, everyone has both type I and type II muscle fibers. I am saying that your frined is not doing any cardio so he is not working his type I muscle fibers as much as you are causing less of a conversion witch is probably why he is more muscluar than you are.

You chest routine looks like a lot, especially if you are doing that more than once a week. And you diet completely sucks! Need more protein, get rid of the cereal and eat oats....you need to read the stickies.

thanks.

Originally Posted by powardbyhoward

thanks.

sure, do some reading... post your training routine or even start a journal so that others can help.

struggles..struggles..struggles Nice new word struggles.
Oh, sorry.. I would lose the 30 minutes cardio.

DAMMM DUDE i eat jus bout dat much for breakfast!!!! i'v been eatin 5 pancakes n 3 burgers for breakfast for da past week straight, n i'v weighed 180 for bout a week or 2 without gainin any more weight, n i usually eat around 5-8 times a day, my bench is finally goin up n my shoulders r finally fillin out(bout damm time) n my body fat prolly only went up bout 6-8%.... not to bad for a bulk yup u gotta eat more, more PROTIEN n -->CARBS<--, ur body cant lift without fuel -- JMO

i have around 19% body fat right now. After coming ot this board, i learned taht i need to balance out my meals to 6 with 3 hour intervals. I read how every 10 pounds of weight lost, 6 is muscle? So how am i supposed to loose body fat and also gain muscle tissues?

I just went to vons and purcahsed some frozen steak, turkey burgers, chicken breast, canned tuna, fruits and vege, low fat yogurt and some other stuff. Is this a right way to start? By the way.. is 99 dollars a fair price for a 42 pack supply of myoplex chocolate protein nutrition shake?

powardbyhoward

Hi, ive been working out for exactly 1 year and 1 month now. GOign to the gym at least 3 times a week, sometimes 5. When we work out i tend to stay 2 hours. 1 hr 30min weight lift, and 30 aerobics. Im starting to wonder if its got something to do with genes!

Even if you're only working out 3 or 4 times a week, training for 2hrs is too much for a session. You shouldn't be in the gym for longer 1hr15mins that's including cardio. If you are an ectomorph I wouldn't do so much cardio as it will be harder to build mass with the ectomorph body type.

5 times a week training is the most you should do. As for your cardio it doesn't have to be so long. You can cut it to 16mins doing 15 second sprints with 30-60 seconds of heavy walking in between each sprint & 3 times a week of this is plenty.

My friend started with me and we both started repping 95 (12X 3 sets). Over the course of this year, he has increased dramatically to repping 215 (10 X 1 set). While i am stil struggling embarrasingly with repping 135 (10 X1 set) on the flat bench. Im taking GNC's multivitamin, the countdown powder and GNC's total lean advance 3 month supply.

Your diet & proper nutrient intake including enough protein, complex carbo hydrates such as old fashioned %100 natural oatmeal, brown or wild steamed rice, & brown whole wheat pasta are essential along with green vegetables, banannas, citrus fruits for extra energy such as fructose, & enough water daily as water is important while on a high protein diet as not getting enough water with lots of protein can be hard on your kidneys. Your proteins should come from lean red meat, fish such as pollack as it has no mercury like canned tuna does, skinless & boneless chicken breasts, & scrambled egg whites. These factors will play an important role in how strong, big, & lean you get along with your training.

Im exactly 6 feet and during the course of this year i went from 220 pounds to 175 and now im up to 180. My biceps, quads, triceps, shoulders all developed greatly over this year, but my chest is still weak. I do see significant changes, but my body is just not hard like my friend. I know for a fact he's not taking steriods and he even eats junk food frequently. How did he increase his strength so much while i stayed the same? We work out the same stuff and whenver we do he just seems to be lifting heavier and heavier.

When you were 220lbs how was your body fat %? If it wasn't that bad, maybe you didn't need to lose all of that weight.

But if you really are training 2hrs each workout, you could be overtraining which could be putting a dent in your goals.

Even an unkown medical condition can have great negative effects on your training. A couple for example thyroid dysfunction & low testosterone levels.

Many ppl including myself have thyroid dysfunction & they don't even know it. Having a thyroid dysfunction can make it very hard for an athelete or even an average joe trying to grow in the gym & make himself or herself look better. However my thyroid dysfunction was caused by the ephedrine/ephedra supplements although not everyone who takes these supplements will develop a thyroid problem. It's individual & you won't know until it's too late.

I also have a buddy who's 25yrs old & has been on testosterone replacement therapy since he was 18yrs old.

Back to training you should only be hitting one muscle group once a week. & there are certain muscles you shouldn't train on the same day or back to back days as the secondary muscles won't get a proper work out. Here is what I mean:

Never do chest & shoulders on back to back days or on the same day as when you do chest, your shoulders come into play alot.

Never do biceps & back on the same day or on back to back days as when you do your back, your biceps come into play with all of the pulling in the rowing exercises.

Never do triceps on back to back days or on the same day as chest or shoulders. When you do your chest & shoulders, your triceps come into play a lot as well.

Hope this helps.

Johnny, believe it or not.. when my PE instructor last measured our body fats, i was at 49%. Is that even freakin possible? I was 220 pounds of pure obesity! I couldnt do a single push up, nor pull up. After working out for over year, i went down to 19%-20% and i can do push ups easily now. Still kind of struggling on my pull ups. Everyone at my shcool was impressed by how much weight i lost because i looked like a totally new person. Everyone except me though. I knew deep down that i lost a lot of weight, but most of it was probably lean muscle. I regret it so much for loosing weight the wrong way. People all think im "cut" underneath but the truth is that below my shirt is just fat that has been flattened! I really wish to cut my body fat down to 8% by next summer.