my apologies for being unclear with my original post, and for wasting everyone’s time posting such a ridiculous question. it serves as an unpleasant reminder why i don’t waste time on bodybuilding forums. i’m a newb to bodybuilding, and believe it or not, there’s other ways to train. ‘getting big’ isn’t everyone’s holy grail, and it sits way down on my list of priorities.
for me, functional strength, cardio conditioning, speed and flexibility far outweigh anything else, and as a competitive grappler, getting big would be a detriment to my lifestyle.
so overall, bodybuilding has very little value to me. however, i do have a small amount of interest in appearance, being a physically fit 30 something male, so i thought a question concerning hypertrophy would be best fitted for this forum. i was obviously mistaken, as my physical specs aren’t up to par, but i’ll give this another go.
despite burning a ton of calories via 1 conditioning or strength workout per day and 2 hours of brazilian jiu jitsu, i eat close to 5000 cal per day, and believe there’s still a slight surplus, which i measure only by appearance. as of recently (the past year or so) my weight has stayed roughly the same as i’ve gotten leaner, so for my sport, i believe i’m on the right track. i’ve followed John Berardi’s nutritional advice through the years very closely, so i also believe my macronutrients to be somewhat in order.
the only experience i had with bodybuilding was when i first started lifting, fresh out of high school, for 5 or 6 years on and off. mostly on. without much internet, i didn’t really have a source of information, and not many people i knew who were experienced / big enough to answer my questions. needless to say, there was a whole lot of wasted time.
@Cephalic_Carnage: being a personal trainer means i passed the ace exam. now how is that relevant to my post? thank you for the small bit of constructive advice, though. i’m currently trying to refine my pressing technique. today on flat i hit 255 for 5 reps, 3rd set, no spot. please keep in mind this is just a hobby, somewhat contradictory to my main goals.
and speaking of rows, i’m actually doing more pull-ups than anything else. do you think i should institute more rows? i often do a 2-3 sets of db rows @ 110, sometimes on a plate loaded machine at my gym.
@Ryu: i could probably use a little more calories if i want to further develop certain muscle groups. i’ll give it a shot.
@Professor X & Growing_Boy: just like you’ve probably advanced where i haven’t, i’ve probably advanced in many areas you haven’t. thanks for the input, though. it’s been, well, useless. there’s a whole world of training outside of training for aesthetics. sorry to be the one to break this to you.
@sebbie: do you think i can progress to that weight without using predominantly my chest? i don’t, which is why i posted in the first place.
and finally @CPerfringens. thanks for the link, i’ve bookmarked that and 2 other articles. going to give the suggestions a go middle of next week.
any other useful suggestions would be greatly appreciated.