[quote]from looking at your pictures, it seems you have built some muscle onto your frame with all that overtraining you did. so that should be enough for you to give yourself a pat on the back and quite beating yourself up.
I find the best gains come when you don’t think about the technical shit.
You never outlined your lifting routine or diet.
your post was very analytical but vague at the same time in the sense that you left out the important parts so no one can offer any usefull information other than asking are you jesus.
if you are really serious about getting help you should post a video of your lifts and the technique. you should outline your diet and be more helpfull to us so we can help you.
you worry too much about bullshit. you say you havent increased on the deadlift? well theres a reason for that, its either stupid training, stupid recovery or stupid diet or all of the above.
be more specific
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I have training logs online from the last 2 years, and on paper for the 2 years before that. But no one wants to trawl through those and then tell me what I already know.
I have tried many approaches to lifting. What I’m currently doing with overhead pressing, seems to be working - basically doing one-arm DB pressing (because I didn’t have a barbell at the time I started doing it). I started with a weight and over a month or so, worked up to doing 3 lots of (1,2,3,4,5) - that’s a set of 1, a set of 2, then 3,4,5. “Ladders”, many of you have probably heard of it. Between sets I took a minute of rest per rep just done.
I started out doing like (1,2)(1,2)(1,2) and got up to (1,2,3,4,5)(1,2,3,4,5)(1,2,3,4,5). Then I added 5kg, which was a stupidly-large jump in weight, so I got nowhere for a few weeks. I cut it down to +2.5kg and am working up again. Today I’ll do something like (1,2,3,4)(1,2,3,4)(1,2,3)(1,2,3).
When I get the target of (1,2,3,4,5)x3 I’ll go up a couple of kilos.
That’s just recently, anyway. The last couple of months, really. I’ll continue with that being the basis and target of my pressing, along with some other fun shit like BB pressing.
Deadlifting - I am about to start again (again, again, again, again) with those, so I have nothing to report yet. Hopefully in a few months I will be able to have something good to say about it. Basically I’m going to start at about 75% of my most recent best set of 5, and work up adding about 5kg per workout until I reach and then hopefully surpass for a few workouts, my previous recent best. Frequency of workouts will depend on how much I did in the last session. Days with extra volume tagged on the end will have more days off afterwards than very short workouts.
I’ll aim to meet my previous best after about 6-7 sessions, and then hopefully push past it for at least a few workouts after that. I should be able to stick 10kg on a set of 5 after a month or so. I’ve lifted more than that in the past.
I’ll also be practicing front squatting. I can only just get to parallel with a good back shape, so I’m squatting to a box which I hope to be able to gradually lower.
Chins will also be involved.
Maybe all that seems random and unplanned, but it really isn’t. I can see it all organised, and its just basically following a very standard idea of starting light and building up to your previous best then putting a bit of a gain on it, then starting it all over again.
My diet. I eat about 16 v. large eggs per day, with butter if I have any. Also usually a big meal of meat and veg, usually pork or beef. Fish too, whatever. Carbs (mostly oats, never wheat) come as neccessary, and only around workouts. Eating carbs for breakfast is the very best way for me to gain pointless fat.
I don’t have dairy (apart from butter) these days, although I always used to. Milk makes me very tired and weak. I feel tired and weak enough as it is, so I don’t like it being worse.
From your post - you suggested three reasons why I haven’t increased my lifts (deadlift, you actually said). Either stupid training, recovery, or diet. Well, my recovery is as good as its going to get for now. My lack of sleep has an enourmous impact on it, but I don’t know how to fix that - I’m working on it. My diet, likewise - I’ve no reason to think its holding me back.
My training is usually just too much and too hard. This year has been much better, I managed to stay fairly alright until April when I took a 1RM (an ugly 170kg) and re-injured by back, then basically burnt out. I stopped all lifting for a month, started running again. I felt SO much better. I’m naturally 140lbs/6ft and decent at distance running. Weight lifting is completely opposed to my body, and its only damaging to it. But, I love lifting and dislike running.
This quote from Pavel mentions my main suspected reason for not progressing:
“If hard work was all it took to get strong, there would be no such thing as sports science. No, pushing the pedal to the metal all the time will get you nowhere fast! And if your head can not take it and you can not help pushing your ever-so-stable limits every time you train, see a therapist.”
