Am I on the Right Track?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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First of all, thank you for taking the time to read my post. To start, I don’t necessarily have too many “problems” with my current program. I am however, always looking to improve it in anyway that I can, from diet to workout routine.

About a year and some months ago, I first began truly dedicating to building a better built physique. I deployed on a ship for 7 months so my day mostly consisted of sleeping, eating, and working out (literally). I will say I was making decent gains for someone who had previously never really spent much time in the gym. I was in the Infantry and for being (before deploying) 5’5 and about 125 lbs, I had pretty damn good endurance. And honestly, for someone like me trying to bulk back then, would have been extremely difficult- eating MRE’s for an entire week (on a regular basis) isn’t exactly a healthy bulking diet.

But alas, that is no more.

As of lately, this is how my diet is. This schedule is more of a guideline to what most of my days consist of:

0630 - Whey shake, PB&J
0730 - 6 eggs, 4 strips of bacon, oatmeal
1130 - chicken, rice, whey shake
1430 - 2 PB&J, oatmeal
1730 - chicken, rice, veggies
2030 - chicken or steak, rice, veggies
2130 - Whey and Casein shake

My workout routine is:

Day 1 - Chest / Biceps
Day 2 - Legs / Calves
Day 3 - Off / Abs
Day 4 - Back / Rear delt
Day 5 - Shoulders / Triceps / calves
Day 6 - Off / Abs

The above meal plan and workout program I have only been doing for several months now

When I returned to the states from deployment, after progressing quite well, I got extremely lazy, drank a lot, and lost everything that I worked so hard to get (weight went back down). I have been back and serious for about 6 months now, my weight is up to 145 on a good day. I am truly beginning to understand the the important of eating every few hours.

If anyone had read through this and see’s any advice or pointers they’d like to throw at me, it would be much appreciated. I’m always seeking out knowledge to improve on any areas that I can.

Also a picture is attached of a dry erase board where I keep a log and record of my continued progress, any notes I feel the need to post, measurements, PRs, and supplementation:

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i love pbj’s also. they are sort of my dessert food. 430 meal is all carbs, add whey at least 25-50g. how tall are you @ 145lbs?

based on your weight i’d move to beef for most protein. lean beef - cook it, drain grease, add salsa, fat free sour cream, brown rice, black beans, little cheese. eat it again and again.

a.m. shake to sub in - 1/2 -2/3 dry quick oats + natty pb + 50 g chocolate whey w/ milk skim or full, your choice. add a banana to bump up cals. if needed.

use mirror if growing good, good. if getting fat fat fat, back off cals a bit.

as for your split, use what works for you. personally i like arms on there own, back on it’s own, chest, legs, shoulders all get their own special day. i hit rear delts on either shoulder or back day depending on how i feel. same goes for traps it can either go w/ shoulders or back depending on time and how i feel.
some weeks i make traps and partial deads (rack pulls) their own day. work in abs and additional calves during the week when i can.

keep growing, beef + the oatmeal shakes w/ pb + whey were two items that helped bump my cals. throwing in a shot or two of olive oil w/ whey at night helps too w/ cal +. if i drink casein i canot poop. i like to poop.

*edit -read height, 5’5" so not as little as i assumed. i started @145lb @ 6’ got to 226. look in the t-cell thread for members before and afters. lot of folks have gained 30-50-70+ lbs it’s do-able but not choking down veggies and grilled chicken alone. eating is the tough part, thereafter it’s just showing up to get it in intensely day after day until months turn to years.

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Thanks, I’ll start bumping up my shake blends. I actually just got a few tubs of regular oats. Most nights for one of my evening meals I’ll have at least a 1/4 or 1/2 lb of steak.

There was something I’ve been pondering about as well, which is just how relative are strength and mass?

For example, from tracking my workouts I can see (on paper) my strengths steadily rising in all my muscle groups, however, my mass seems much much slower. Is there a point where x amount of strength cannot exceed x amount of mass? (i know there’s always other variables such as someone’s natural propensity for strength).

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neuropathways, learning efficency of a movement create increases along w/ strength increases in the beginning hence your not growing as much but creating pathways, e.g. movements become second nature.

baseline genetic strength potentiality, as you mentioned is an inherent variable. some folks were strong to begin and become beasts, others begin weak and eventually can become above average.

if your getting bigger you will become stronger (see conditions to follow), if you’re not getting bigger you may become stronger but your ceiling will be reached quicker. if you are getting bigger but your strength is not improving you are likely getting too fat, e.g muscle to fat ratio is too high you’ve become on the fat ass end of the spectrum. don’t confuse this w/ gaining fat and muscle. it’s happened on this site wherein someone has bulked up 100+ lbs but 80lbs were fat. that in my opinion is not a good investment.

other variables; no rest, high cortisol, wrong foods, low t, cancer, aids, VD all can fuck up strength gains.
i’m done my food is now cold.