Getting Stronger But No Physical Gains

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hi All

I am new to TNation. I have been going to the gym for years but now I am wanting to take it a bit more seriously and pack on some muscle.

I am 6’ 1" 94kg 24 years old with a body fat about 18%.

I have a reasonable amount of muscle but I feel I should be getting more than I am… My strength has almost doubled in a year but I don’t notice any body shape changes.

Here is my current workout routine, I have been doing it for about 4 weeks now and a very similar one before that but I had a day set aside for legs on its own.

Workout 1:
Chest:
(flat dumbell press.) 15x 12kg warm up. 3 sets of 10 x 40kg.
(incline dumbbell press) 3 sets of 8 x 30kg.
(decline dumbbell press) 3 sets of 8 x 30kg.
(dumbbell flye) 3 sets of 10 x 20 kg.

Legs:
(seated leg press) 3 sets of 10 x 160kg.
(leg extension) 3 sets of 10 x 40kg

Workout 2:
Back:
(body weight wide grip pull UPS) 30 reps in as min sets as poss. (usually 6,5,4,4,4,4,4)
(seated row narrow grip) 3 sets of 12,10,8 @ 70,80,90kg.
(seated row wide grip) 3 sets of 12,10,8 @ 60,70,80kg.

Legs;
(deadlift) 3sets of 8x 60kg inc. bar.
(seated hamstring curls in machine) 3 sets of 10 x 40 kg.

Shoulders:
(Seated dumbell Press) 3 sets of 10 x 24kg
(Standing lateral raises 5 sets of 15 x 10 kg

Wed: Same as Monday
Thurs: Same as Tuesday
Friday Rest
Saturday: Continue rotating workout 1 & 2

I appreciate any feedback you can give! I eat alot of protein and carbs so I am confident my diet is not an issue.

Thanks In Advance

2

Your lifting plan is shitty. You also gave no insight into how you eat.

Get on a proven program and take a hard look at how you eat.

3

[quote]Chris87 wrote:
Your lifting plan is shitty. You also gave no insight into how you eat.

Get on a proven program and take a hard look at how you eat.[/quote]

That’s probably the answer he was hoping to get…

4

[quote]Chris87 wrote:
Your lifting plan is shitty. You also gave no insight into how you eat.

Get on a proven program and take a hard look at how you eat.[/quote]

Didn’t you hear? This guy eats plenty of carbs and protein. He says his diet’s not the issue. Clearly he’s a professional nutritionist, and we should assume he knows what he’s talking about.

OP, 99 out of 100 people who post on here say they’re diet is fine or perfect or whatever. Since you didn’t mention fat intake, I can already PROMISE you your diet isn’t as good as you think it is. The fact is, diet matters WAY more than most new guys think it does. If you’ve gotten ‘twice as strong’ as you used to be, and you can’t tell by looking in the mirror, it means your muscle is covered up by fat. Nobody doubles their strength without gaining size. If I took my bench press from 300 to 600, you think there’s a chance in hell you wouldn’t be able to see the difference? Of course you would.

Read as much as you possibly can about diet. Since you didn’t give details on what you eat here, that’s all the advice I can give. Your lifting plan does indeed suck, but I doubt that’s the actual reason you don’t look like you lift, since you said you have gotten stronger.

5

[quote]Marc_Cavalli wrote:

[quote]Chris87 wrote:
Your lifting plan is shitty. You also gave no insight into how you eat.

Get on a proven program and take a hard look at how you eat.[/quote]

That’s probably the answer he was hoping to get…

[/quote]

It’s the correct answer. I don’t care what answer he was “hoping to get”.

6

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]Chris87 wrote:
Your lifting plan is shitty. You also gave no insight into how you eat.
Get on a proven program and take a hard look at how you eat.[/quote]
Didn’t you hear? This guy eats plenty of carbs and protein. He says his diet’s not the issue. Clearly he’s a professional nutritionist, and we should assume he knows what he’s talking about.

OP, 99 out of 100 people who post on here say they’re diet is fine or perfect or whatever. Since you didn’t mention fat intake, I can already PROMISE you your diet isn’t as good as you think it is. The fact is, diet matters WAY more than most new guys think it does.
[/quote]

Also OP, most new guys that think they “plenty” or a “Ton” of food but have trouble getting bigger should keep a journal. Most are surprised to find out they eat about 2000 calories a day or some other non-sense number.

I can tell you right now the answer is food if lack of growth is the problem.

7

[quote]JB8891 wrote:
(Legs:
(seated leg press) 3 sets of 10 x 160kg.
(leg extension) 3 sets of 10 x 40kg

Legs;
(deadlift) 3sets of 8x 60kg inc. bar.
(seated hamstring curls in machine) 3 sets of 10 x 40 kg.

[/quote]

No type of squats…SLDL’s…not enough exercises/volume. Anyone else find this disturbing?

8

^ not as disturbing as that picture

9

Ok thanks for the pointers! I was expecting people to be a bit harsher with regards to the lack of diet details and I know that my diet is an issue but I was trying to work out how bad my workout plan is without getting slated for my diet?!

Go easy on me! but a Typical day would be

Breakfast: protein shake and several wheatabix

Midmorning: Greek yoghurt with nuts and Granola

Lunch: 3 chicken sandwiches

Afternoon: Tuna Mayo Pitta (Whole tin of tuna)

Workout about 7ish followed by protein shake towards end of training and just after.

Dinner: 2 chicken breasts rice beans

10

Attention OP… your diet is shit… that is all.

11

lol THanks

I clearly need somehelp!!? Can anyone tell me what they would change please?

Which workout plan would you recomend??

Ta

12

Sigh. Ill be the nice guy.

Your new diet:

Breakfast:
6 egg omelette with spinach/spring onion and some celery with natty PB

11am:
Some type of meat and veges(i.e steak and bell pepper), and 1/2 avocado

2pm:
Some type of meat and vege(ie chicken breast and sweet potato), with 2 table spoons of olive oil

Pre workout:
protein shake

Post workout:
protein shake and gatorade

6pm:
Meat and veges, and a tablespoon of coconut oil.

8pm:
Cottage cheese and a handful of blueberries and some natty PB.

Supplement with fish oil. Snack on almonds when hungry.

Do some research into a proper work-out program.

tweet

13

[quote]theBird wrote:
Sigh. Ill be the nice guy.

Your new diet:

Breakfast:
6 egg omelette with spinach/spring onion and some celery with natty PB

11am:
Some type of meat and veges(i.e steak and bell pepper), and 1/2 avocado

2pm:
Some type of meat and vege(ie chicken breast and sweet potato), with 2 table spoons of olive oil

Pre workout:
protein shake

Post workout:
protein shake and gatorade

6pm:
Meat and veges, and a tablespoon of coconut oil.

8pm:
Cottage cheese and a handful of blueberries and some natty PB.

Supplement with fish oil. Snack on almonds when hungry.

Do some research into a proper work-out program.

tweet[/quote]

Where’s the carbs?

Breakfast, Eggs, Egg whites, Oats, mixed Berries, protein powder.
Snack. 200g Chicken, mixed salad, Olive oil/whole Avocado.
Lunch. 200g Turkey, 2x Wraps, spinach, broccoli.
Snack. 150g Salmon, Walnuts/almonds and lentils.
Dinner. Steak, Egg, home made chips, and as much mixed veg as you can eat. Greek yog with some berries for desert?

PWO. Shake and carbs (Dex, WMS or Vitargo)
If you get hungry between meals eat greek yog, cottage cheese or have a shake.

Adjust quantities to suit your needs.

Also your workout is one of the worst i’ve seen. Read the Kingbeef “Don’t do that dumb one” thread. Pick a routine (from the many on there) you like the look of, and follow it for at least 6 months. Then decide if its working. If it is keep going, if it isn’t then try and figure out why and adjust!

14

OP, one big problem I see with your diet is the almost complete lack of vegetables and fruits. You should significantly increase your vegetable intake for the sake of your future health. (A bit of lettuce and tomato on a sandwich does not count, and some rice and beans do not make a balanced diet.) You should eat a lot more of a much larger variety of green, yellow, red, etc. vegetables, and a variety of fruits.

15

600 readers and only a few of you could be bothered to help the loser out lol

Thanks guys! much appreciated!

16

We’ve shown you how to eat and that your routine is shite! I also pointed you to where you can get a proper routine. What more do you want?

We can’t lift or eat for you so get off your arse and put the advice you’ve been given into practice!

17

OP, so you’ve seen the posts here. Any ideas on which program you want to switch to seeing as how most people here have denounced yours? Are you thinking 5x5, or starting strength or something else (hint hint)? Have you considered doing a 2 day split with push on one day and pull on another?

What is your endstate? Do you want to look like a BBer or be a fitness model? Although my guess is that you currently suffer from chicken leg syndrome currently considering your lack of effective leg work.

Have you researched eating plans? Are you thinking of doing carb cycling or IF or anything else? When did you start tracking how you eat?

Did you consider adding in some HIIT or SS cardio to help you lean out?

18

[quote]JB8891 wrote:

600 readers and only a few of you could be bothered to help the loser out lol

Thanks guys! much appreciated![/quote]

There is not a lot to say that hasn’t been said.

1.) Get a clear idea of what you would ultimately like to achieve performance/physique wise

2.) With 1.) in mind, get your nutrition sorted. Reasonable recommendations were made. No magic really. Consistently eat a surplus of calories coming dominantly from “clean”, minimally processed foods like lean protein, a variety of vegetables and fruits, “good” fats (nuts, seeds, coconut oil, fish oil etc). I prefer not to eat many grains, but it’s not the end of the world either way. 2g/kilo of lean bodyweight seems to provide a decent baseline for protein intake and it’s easy to remember. Many people shoot for more, however.

Prepare meals ahead of time and have quality ingredients on hand. Keep an accurate log of what you actually eat and run it through a food calculator from time to time to make sure you’re on track. How you want to structure that intake is a matter of personal choice, IF, carb cycling etc. but pick something and stick to it for 3 months (unless it is truly disastrous). I’d say keep it simple - 3-4 meals + post workout shake (shake should have a high proportion of your daily carbs).

3.) Adopt a proven lifting plan that is consistent with 1.) i.e. bodybuilding, powerlifting, looking “good”, being “strong”, sports performance etc. Learn to lift well and do it consistently. Again, 3 months minimum before you consider switching programs unless something goes wrong. WS4SB, 5x5, Starting Strength, 5/3/1, bodybuilding split + lots more. Honestly it doesn’t really matter. Pick one that sounds good to you and do it without changing or hybridizing anything about how it’s set up.

This has all been said by others who have already responded and if nobody else is posting, it’s likely because they have nothing to add. Just typing the same thing over and over is pointless.