IA - help!!

[SoaD_Fan]

What can you do with a beginner who just isn't getting stronger? I go to the gym on a consistent basis and I cant ever move more weight than I did last time. ive been lifting almost a year and my numbers are embarrasing. I think my training is the problem because:

a) diet isnt spot on for someone trying to get lean (i eat fast food and stuff like that occassionally) but there is certainly enough calories/protein to get me stronger. id say around 3500-4000 cal a day with maybe 150-200g pro. this isnt just guess work ive plugged what i eat into fitday before and was surprised at how much it really was. also im kind of fat maybe 15%

b) sleep 8 hours a night most nights.

i have tried a lot of the routines on your site like your basic bb'ing split and what usually happens is something like this: if say monday is back day, ill do deadlifts, then the next week when monday rolls around i struggle to even do as much as i did the last week, much less add weight. i tried to increase frequency and i made some small strength gains but got stuck fast.

so in summation - why does my progress suck? how can i get my numbers to go up?


last thing - no squat rack in my gym so ill have to do fronts/hacks/leg press or something instead

[adelman337]

Try the simple power based routine. And is it possible to join a gym with a squat rack?

[offroad]

Originally Posted by SoaD_Fan

i tried to increase frequency and i made some small strength gains but got stuck fast.

Try doing less, not more.

[Dedicated1]

150-200 grams protein in a 4000 calorie diet seems low, perhaps you could post your statistics, and one rep maxes.

[needmassquick]

you say you have trouble even doing what you did last time. Are you saying you actually try to do what you do last time? You should be putting on weight from the last time and then trying it. For instance if you lift 200lb. on monday don't try 200lb. again next monday expecting it to be easy or something, it'll of course still be hard. Add 5lb. and push as hard as you can to get the same amount of reps with that weight

[SoaD_Fan]

i dont know, last time i posted on here was 9/7/08 and my best lifts i put as being

bench 125x6
dl 205x3
squat - n/a i had only squatted once and it was 100lbs for 2 sets of 10



3 months down the road -

best bench is now 135x6
best dl is 185x5 with a lot better form
squats still n/a

not much progress at all

EDIT: let me respond to your comments.

adelman - cant really, current gym im at is dirt cheap and the only place i can get to on foot/bike

offroad - yea dude i know now, i mostly try routines like the ones IA puts up. thanks for trying to help

dedicated - i know, i dont eat to clean so its quite a few carbs

needmass - yea i know, whenever i try that if i do say 135x5 on a lift one day, then i try to bump to 140 ill get maybe 2 reps. happens all the time =\

it just sucks to be weak and not getting anything out of the work i put in

[Dedicated1]

weight height age...

How long EXACTLY have you been doing each routine, and which routine have you been doing?

[SoaD_Fan]

5'9/around 160/16


uh i tried IA's real basic i dont know what its called bb'ing routine, jsut a basic split with chest,tri,shoulder one day, back,bi one day, and legs the last day. stayed on it for around 6 weeks until i realized i had gained almost nothing in terms of strength, maybe a few lbs on given exercises here and there. did the simple power routine for a while but that didnt last long as i couldnt find a real alternative for the back squats, and i was unfamiliar with a lot of the exercises. if i would have stayed on it for longer i mightve made progess but only with pressing movements.


i was hoping to do something like madcow 5x5 but in my current situation thats going to be impossible for at least 6 more months


dont know if this is important either but ive never felt comfortable with rows, Barbell hurts my lower back to stay in that position and DBs i can go sorta heavyish but i dont feel the movement in my back its like i just jerk the db up

[Dedicated1]

Well not gaining strength on a BBing routine is not surprising, you stated some alternatives to back squats and while there is no exercise that comes close to back squats, you will have to make due.

You might feel uncomfortable with rows because your lower back is weak or it might be a form issue, if you could get some videos that could be easily remedied.

As i said in that earlier post 150-200 grams is not enough protein, recommendations for 160lb person is 1.5grams per lb bodyweight minimum 2x is preferred that means 240-320 grams of protein, creatine is also a cheap and effective way of putting on strength and mass.

I'm no expert and there are many people around here much more knowledgeable then myself, but if i were you I would start IA's simple power based routine and sub hacks/leg press in for squats, run it for ATLEAST 6 weeks, I know first hand and from reading logs around here that it is a very effective routine, if you are unfamiliar with a lot of exercises now is the time to learn them, search the internet or ask around here, there are plenty of good examples.

[SoaD_Fan]

i will try to jack up the protein, and ive been curious about creatine for a while now. thanks for those suggestion. as for the simple power suggestion, i'm not sure, i just don't think ill be able to add weight week to week, which is the whole reason i started this thread. i mean ive always done low volume-ish stuff and the strength gains never came in. for me, the fact that i used a certain amount of weight one week does not mean that ive gotten strong enough to do that weight +5lbs next week.

i thought i could solve this by doing the same lifts day in and day out, and it was easier to progress for a short amount of time but then i started going backward.

also, simple power does a lot of curls/calf stuff which i dont really care about, i just want to get stronger where it counts.

if you guys REALLY think that i should try ia's simple power based routine again, ill give it an honest shot but i dont think any good will come out of it


EDIT: thanks for trying to help and sorry if i sound like an asshat disagreeing with you. im a little upset about wasting the last year of lifting to get minimal results, so i just dont have much faith in me getting any stronger with that routine.