Am I Making Progress?

You don’t climb a mountain by taking one vertical leap to the peak.

Well, I can, so can Elsa from Frozen. That’s it.

Probs should have ‘let it go’ after the 1st pr set, sorry couldn’t resist that one my daughter loves that movie.

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Yeah, so here’s the deal Brah - look forward to what happens by the third year, not the third month. This is a lifestyle, not a makeover.

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But I read in Men’s Health that I could get HUUOOOOOOGGGEEEE in 30days… back to my cheetos then

hahahahahaha! lets keep it real here! Is this a fucking training log or 531? Which you guys that have been around for awhile know what it means to you!! COME ON MAN!!!

Whenever I lose count of the reps I subtract 1 rep from what I think I got (or planned to get, more on that in a sec). In the end, who cares. My body doesn’t care if I lifted 6 reps or 7 reps in a particular lift in a particular week on a particular day. What’s important is having a particular goal in mind for that day, week, month, 3 months, etc… I write down exactly what I’m going to do in the gym before I head to the gym and that becomes my goal for the day. I don’t “try” to hit 7 reps, I plan on it. Confidence is huge when it comes to lifting. Jim always says not to miss a rep; so instead of trying to hit 7 reps, just fucking hit it. If you lack the confidence to do it, you wont. Don’t recalculate anything - start light, progress slowly and hit PRs.

At your age, however, I would consider sticking with 5’s progression, or even going back to 5x5 like Mad Cow or something that adds weight to the bar daily/weekly. I bet you can make faster progress if you eat right. 5’11" at 170 sounds like tall and skinny to me - I’m 6’0" 220 at 13-14% body fat - literally 50 pounds heavier than you at the same height. The thing that might be missing from your program is recovery (i.e. food).

Don’t get me wrong, 5/3/1 will work for you, just not as fast as someone filled with testosterone and growth hormone as an 18 year old who just got his dick wet last year might want it to. Stick with it and for fuck sake eat - come back here at 5’11" and 200 pounds and tell me about that 185 bench for reps again.

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Sorry to burst your bubble but you prob wont be on 531 in 3 months. You’ll be in another forum asking about some other program you read about and a few months later you’ll be onto something else. SOS.

It’s ok though, it’s not a knock on you it’s actually a good thing. You’re young and you’re hungry to learn, that’s awesome. You need to experiment and try different things to see what works for you.

Over time you will learn a lot. The price you will pay for that education will come at the expense of not reaching your full potential. You won’t be as strong as you are capable of because you move from program to program.

Eventually you’ll settle into something that works for you and allows you to enjoy life outside of the gym as well. Hitting the weights is as much a part of life as mowing the lawn and shagging the wife. You kinda don’t want to at first but once you get started you’re thinking hell yea this is fun.

Godspeed to you young jedi.

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So, you are not following the program? Check.

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You never listen to any advice and never to do any program correctly.

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this guy either 1) doesn’t read replies, 2) is incredibly stupid, or 3) an incredibly awesome troll.

I’m sure it’s number 3

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Can someone “lock” this thread? This is ridiculous.

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You need to be a motivational writer or at least get quoted in Jim´s new book!