Hey my names Alex, I’m 17, 135 pounds, and 5,9. Now here’s my problem I’ve been plateauing for halve a year now, out of the whole time I’ve been working out for 2 years,on my bench press,sitting at 175-180. Should I take creatine or train my regiment please help, my goal is (200) on flat bench press.
My other lifts include
Squat:210
Push Press:130
Incline:150
My current routine is//
Monday- Pyramid Bench
Tuesday- Back squat
Wednesday- Incline/Push press
Thursday- Front squat
Friday- Pyramid Bench
I struggle with hitting heavier weights but im able to rep 135 for sets, btw and my maxs get 1/3 of the way up on extension then stop, I’ve experimented with towel benching, but im not sure how to go about it. Any help or comments on anything would be helpful.
[quote]goolox123 wrote:
My current routine is//
Monday- Pyramid Bench
Tuesday- Back squat
Wednesday- Incline/Push press
Thursday- Front squat
Friday- Pyramid Bench[/quote]
That’s not a routine, it’s just a list of days and exercises. And a pretty poor one at that. Glad to see you’re squatting, but zero back or arm work and a bunch of pressing is basically a recipe for a plateau. So yeah, no surprise you’re where you are (which is, to be fair, surprisingly kinda strong for a dude your size).
And as was said, more food, the muscular bodyweight that comes from an abundant calorie surplus, plus an actual well-designed training plan that trains every muscle group, should kickstart gains again. No rocket science here.
Nope. Eat 3 meals a day 7 days a week for 6 weeks, without missing a single meal, and then think about creatine.
Check the nutrition info I laid out here:
Am I missing something? If it goes 1/3 the way up and stops, it’s not your “max” since you didn’t do a full rep. Unless you meant it’s hardest (not stopped) around 1/3 the way up but you grind through to complete the rep (without the spotter touching the bar, of course).
I’ve used towel bench. You’re right, it’s basically like a board press, except you obviously go deeper. The shorter ROM is supposed to be a shoulder saver, allowing for more frequency… but yeah… I was a newb and thought, “well, I certainly want to save my shoulders,” so I needlessly incorporated it.
Thanks everyone who posted advice on this, I am eating more now. I accidentally double posted the same question on my profile. But honestly I thought i was just training wrong in general, cause I eat around 3300 Calories a day on avg// or maybe its the wrong foods ill find out. (Ment to be a reply but wasnt looking too well) As far as the 2nd post is listed.
[quote]goolox123 wrote:
Thanks everyone who posted advice on this, I am eating more now. I accidentally double posted the same question on my profile. But honestly I thought i was just training wrong in general, cause I eat around 3300 Calories a day on avg// or maybe its the wrong foods ill find out. (Ment to be a reply but wasnt looking too well) As far as the 2nd post is listed.[/quote]
You’re not eating 3300 calories a day on average, or at least you haven’t been. What’s your daily diet look like?
Inflating your calories seems to be the same as people inflating their lift numbers on the internet.
Inflating your calories seems to be the same as people inflating their lift numbers on the internet. [/quote]
I’m not inflating my calories here ill list what i ate just last week: Ive been eating a lot of eggs, and mixing in cheese and other stuff but im only including the main dish as far as total Amount. Also i don’t know if this helps but
–Times I Eat–
1.Breakfast- 8-10 a.m.
2.Lunch- 1-3 P.m.
3.Dinner-6-7 P.m.
4.Midnight snack- 10-12 p.m. I’m usually in bed around 11 though.
Monday-
1.Breakfast 2 eggs,2 Waffles,Glass of milk,Bowl of cereal,//
2.Lunch:Mac and cheese(Kraft) which has 1100 calories by itself//1 box
3.Dinner-Chicken Parmesan 2 Plates With lean chicken breasts, Penne rigate, and Parmesan Cheese Spread over-Spaghetti Sauce.
4.Midnight Snack- Peanut Butter Sandwich with white bread
Tuesday-
1.Breakfast 3 Eggs, Corn beef hash(Whole Can)-with cheese spread over it,1 glass of milk//
2.Lunch- Mac and cheese(Shells and Cheese,Velveta)//1 box
3.Dinner: 4 Lean chicken breasts, chicken broccoli hamburger helper I ate the whole box and made it myself. I baked the chicken, then I cooked it over a skillet with Butter till browned.
4.Midnight stack- Pop tarts(2) or 1 pack & a glass of milk
Wednesday-
1.Breakfast- 3 Eggs, 2 Strips of bacon, and 2 waffles//
2.Lunch-Mac and cheese(Velveta)//1 box
3.dinner- Tacos-3 Soft Tacos with meat and cheese Covering 1/3 and i put extra meat on my taco where it almost drops out the other side,(I wrap it like a burrito)//
4.Midnight Snack-2 pop tart’s and a glass of milk
Thursday-
1.Breakfast-3 Eggs(completed with cheese and Ham(omlet),3 bowls of cereal(Lucky charms)
2.Lunch- I had to get creative so, French fries diced, with cheese spread over baked in the oven for 3 min, then I cut up slices of ham (6 slices already cut from package) and I topped if off with some apple juice cause im gangsta like that.
3.Dinner-Fish like chicken tenders I think they were called fillet but not sure, with mac and cheese(which my mother bought after all that hard work… sheesh.)I had 2 plates of the mac and cheese, and i put it in a container which leads to my…
4.Midnight Snack-Reheated mac and cheese 1 Plate, with ketchup… don’t judge me.
Friday-
1.Breakfast-3 eggs, 2 buttermilk pancakes Glazed with syrup and butter.
2.Lunch- 4 TV dinners(banquet) and 1/3 a bag of chips Barbeque
3.Dinner- Yellow Rice and chicken, I eat 5 Chicken breasts, and 2 plates of rice because my lunch didn’t feel that filling.
4.Midnight snack- Twinkies(2 packs) and some chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk
P.s.Saturday & Sunday I changed up the type of foods i ate a lot like The midnight snacks and the breakfasts are a tad bit healthier, my parents go to the store on Saturday, and i begged for them to get healthier food because i know im eating unhealthy, i mean im lean im not fat, but im also skinny so i mean that’s prob why.
p.s.If you cant get 3300 calories a day from that id love to check your math im not adding in stuff like the snack peanut butter crackers id usually eat between lunch and dinner or the fact that i drink about 2 cans of soda(1 per lunch, 1 per dinner) and I drink a lot of water although, I do that to filter out the soda usually an hour before working out which i do mid afternoon.
Thank you for reading feel to critique this as you please I have a really crappy metabolism for building muscle and the only thing I haven't tried is splitting up my meals into more like instead of 4 meals have 8 small meals.Thank you for making it apparent that what I eat isn't helping sometimes I feel a little queasy from eating too much, so I eat till full at every meal I don't take supplements or creatine, or protein powder. also a lot is explained in the (p.s's) Anything you could add as advice would help me greatly though.
Your diet doesn’t look that bad, actually. It could be cleaner, i.e. fewer simple carbs and more nutritious / high protein food, but for a 17-year-old it’s a good start. At least, you’re on the right track in that you’re trying to get 3-4 big solid meals in every day.
HOWEVER, if you’re not gaining at least 1 lb / week, it means you need to increase calories. It is different for everyone – some people, even though skinny, may need as many as 5 or 6 thousand calories / day to grow optimally.
My suggestion is to keep the 4 primary meals as you have them, but 1) add calories to each meal and/or 2) add a couple snacks in between meals throughout the day. Whichever is easier.
For example, start eating 4 eggs every morning instead of 3. Add a glass of milk to each meal. Add 2 tbsp of peanut butter at the end of a meal, or as a snack. I have found peanut butter and milk to be very useful foods to add calories, as they’re relatively cheap, nutritious, and require no preparation. Greek yogurt is also good, as is canned tuna, low-fat cheese, etc. You can also add olive oil or heavy cream to things if you really find you need to add a lot of calories in order to grow.
[quote]craze9 wrote:
HOWEVER, if you’re not gaining at least 1 lb / week, it means you need to increase calories. It is different for everyone – some people, even though skinny, may need as many as 5 or 6 thousand calories / day to grow optimally.
My suggestion is to keep the 4 primary meals as you have them, but 1) add calories to each meal and/or 2) add a couple snacks in between meals throughout the day. Whichever is easier.
For example, start eating 4 eggs every morning instead of 3. Add a glass of milk to each meal. Add 2 tbsp of peanut butter at the end of a meal, or as a snack. I have found peanut butter and milk to be very useful foods to add calories, as they’re relatively cheap, nutritious, and require no preparation. Greek yogurt is also good, as is canned tuna, low-fat cheese, etc. You can also add olive oil or heavy cream to things if you really find you need to add a lot of calories in order to grow. [/quote]
Thanks man ill definitely Do all of this, also, i’ve been recently adding in a lot more milk because its kind of that Strength building drink, as ive seen.
Also yeah ive been stagnant around 133-135 my weight doesnt real move, I weigh in the morning so meals don’t get involved. So a pound a week hey? Didn’t know that thanks.
Thanks Jarvan also i use good form for strength lifting, slight but not giant arch in my back(hand barely fits between bench and back. I keep my back locked, my feet planted and a little bit back, I also keep my elbows at a 45 degree angle allowing tricep and shoulder closure. My eyes are right under the bar, and i use hook grip not false. I keep my entire body tight, and lower down till bar touchs my chest then explode up no bounce. I record my form for my reference and I have a strength Coach at my school that taught me form for olypmic lifting on bench, but im not joining the club team till Febuary, of 2015.
-Thank you and have a nice day, feel free to critique because if I am doing something wrong, you’d be helping me greatly.
[quote]goolox123 wrote:
Thanks Jarvan also i use good form for strength lifting, slight but not giant arch in my back(hand barely fits between bench and back. I keep my back locked, my feet planted and a little bit back, I also keep my elbows at a 45 degree angle allowing tricep and shoulder closure. My eyes are right under the bar, and i use hook grip not false. I keep my entire body tight, and lower down till bar touchs my chest then explode up no bounce. I record my form for my reference and I have a strength Coach at my school that taught me form for olypmic lifting on bench, but im not joining the club team till Febuary, of 2015.
-Thank you and have a nice day, feel free to critique because if I am doing something wrong, you’d be helping me greatly.[/quote]
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
The bench is in the special Olympics and para Olympics. Which Olympic bench form did he teach you?[/quote]
Not only is that extremely ignorant and offensive to me. One you are assuming its OK to post offensive things relating to physically disabled, or mentally. Not that I’ve had any problems referring to either of these but if you truly get a kick off using those as insults, then you have something wrong with you mentally and not para or special,(mental institution) just in case you haven’t caught on, I hope truly one day when you need something from somebody when your lying in a hospital bed in your sixties-seventy’s assuming you live that long… and you need some kind of transplant or you become mentally or physically disabled you can feel what it feels like to be in there shoes, you sick fuck.
No i am being serious, is there anything wrong with my form there that I typed or do you need visual preference, or do you think im being sarcastic completely and just bullshitting the whole thing. Either way yes im being 100% serious.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
The bench is in the special Olympics and para Olympics. Which Olympic bench form did he teach you?[/quote]
Not only is that extremely ignorant and offensive to me. One you are assuming its OK to post offensive things relating to physically disabled, or mentally. Not that I’ve had any problems referring to either of these but if you truly get a kick off using those as insults, then you have something wrong with you mentally and not para or special,(mental institution) just in case you haven’t caught on, I hope truly one day when you need something from somebody when your lying in a hospital bed in your sixties-seventy’s assuming you live that long… and you need some kind of transplant or you become mentally or physically disabled you can feel what it feels like to be in there shoes, you sick fuck.
[/quote]
What the fuck are you ranting about?
Did you not write this:
?
There is no bench press in the olympics unless it’s the para olympics or special olympics.