major in civil engineering, minor in drinking.
k, finally hit a ceiling, after 8 straight months of solid gains. but I have a problem now. if anyone read my other post on my roommate’s problem where he kept losing weight on the bench every week, it’s happening to me now. I don’t know why, maybe it’s work, my new diet (moved home for the summer), or just a natural plateau, or all together, but every week I’m doing less. exp: 3 weeks ago bench: 235 6-6-5. 2 weeks: 5-5-5. last week: 5-5-5, but I’m lucky I got 4 on the last set, much less 3. yesterday: barely got 5 on the first set, had to lower weight to keep reps. I know I’m just going to have to wait it out, but it’s still annoying.
as for the pullups, before this hit, you’d be proud of me: 6 of bodyweight + 10 pound chain + 45 pound weight. 
unfortunately… now: 6 of bodyweight + 10 pound chain. I’m just hoping to God that the loss is due to work and the diet, and when I get back to college I’ll be an animal in the weight room. 
to fight off the possibility that it’s a plateau, I switched to 6 sets of 3. I’ll post pics of the chest progress this weekend if I don’t forget.
oh and a forarm question: ideas on the most bang for your buck? I heard thor’s hammer is good. my cousin has massive forarms, almost the same size as his bi/tri measurement. I realize I can’t assume I’m going to see results like his, but I just thought I’d ask.
How much are you eating?
things that can cause your numbers to go down is
change in diet
sleeping habits
work load outside the gym
stress level
you can even take a couple days off to recoup from whatever exersise you are dropping in and then try again fresh so to speak
most likly its your diet ahve a look at that and see whats up
forearms
work on grip strength type things
and yes thor’s hammer works along with wrist curls
I forgot the names but if you do a wrist curl with palms facing down and then with palms up they work 2 different muscle groups in the forearms
accidentally deleted my old diet, but I do remember having a calorie intake of 3000-3500, and a protein intake of 280-300. I know that that much protein isn’t needed, but I didn’t realize how much I was actually getting until I added it up one day near the end of the year. I’ll do a check-up on my current diet and get back to you…
and as for the arms, my main pic should show that I’m gaining. up half an inch since march.
You’ve definitely thickened up.
3500-3800 kcal should be enough for growth.
Two things come to mind:
a) You need to de-load. take a week off, or go light (I recommend light… back off on volume AND intensity).
b) You need to eat more. Like, 500kcal/day more. This isn’t a scientific number, I just keep seeing guys on here post about how their numbers fly up once they start eating everything in sight. I don’t recommend that, but there may be something to it.
Looking good, by the way (no homo).
[quote]Eppert wrote:
I’d like it if after about 5-10 responses, we could get a general idea as to what I should do, I’d hate it if we got a bunch of smart guys coming in here with completely different workouts, all of them telling me to do theirs. Thanks in advance, I hope you all know what you’re doing. haha[/quote]
I’m going to ignore this because I have to.
Looking at your side photos and your exercise selection I make the predication that you are imbalanced.
Photos - your “before” has your shoulders internally rotated and your scapula do not appear to be retracted. Also, you don’t appear to have much hamstring engagement in either photo.
Exercise selection - nothing for external rotators and I’m pretty sure nothing for rear delts. Nothing directly training hamstrings.
I want to be wrong with my prediction here because these exercises aren’t bang for your buck exercises (and no one ever brags about doing 45 lb cuban presses) but it your lower traps and rotator cuff muscles are not at par with the rest of your body, the rest of the body will adjust to stay in line with these weaker muscles.
Also, can you tell us a little about your rep speed - particularly for chest and arms?
rep speed? as fast as I can on the pos without losing form, controlled but not slow on the neg.
I’ll post a new post sometime on what I’m doing now when it comes to lifting. hams - leg curls, for example, and neck-chained dips for chest, as another example, which I don’t believe are in my original workout. switched legs between chest and shoulders, as well.
[quote]Eppert wrote:
rep speed? as fast as I can on the pos without losing form, controlled but not slow on the neg.
I’ll post a new post sometime on what I’m doing now when it comes to lifting. hams - leg curls, for example, and neck-chained dips for chest, as another example, which I don’t believe are in my original workout. switched legs between chest and shoulders, as well.[/quote]
Thanks! I asked about rep speed because I was wondering how much time under tension you were getting - you’re strong and have made great gains.
Looking forward to read what you come up with!
ok, good news and bad news. the good news first: I’m getting between 320-340 grams of protein per day, and 3500-4000 calories per day. now the bad news: I’m getting between 320-340 grams of protein per day, and 3500-4000 calories per day. don’t bother trying to figure out what the difference is, they’re both the same. I’m getting enough calories and protein, same as college life. however, my performance is decreasing.
I’m going to take this next week lightly, kind of like if I was injured; you wouldn’t do sprints with a torn MCL, would you? maybe a light week will do my lifting some good. to the guy who said to take a week off or lightly, how many weeks would I go light? just one, hopefully?
oh, and I did 6 sets of 3 this week. probably won’t make much of a difference until after this week, but I thought I’d say what I felt during it: too easy. sure, doing 90% for 3, 6 times, sounds like it could work, but I don’t know, it just seemed too easy. I guess I really shouldn’t say anything until my lifting is back to normal, and I have more time with 6x3 under my belt. we’ll have to wait and see.
I’ll post my workout sometime tomorrow or monday, but right now it’s 1:30 in the morning. not exactly going to help my lifting much with this inconsistant sleeping pattern.
Day 1:
Bench (6x3 with 240)
DB Incline Bench (6x3 with 90’s)
Flyes (6x3 with 75’s)
Chained Dips (6x3 with 45)
Day 2:
Weighted Chin Ups (6x3 with 45)
Weighted Dips (6x3 with 50)
DB Curls (6x3 with 55’s)
Rope Pushdowns (6x3 with 80)
Machine Curls (single arm, 6x3 with 50)
Skull Crushers (6x3 with 95)
Wrist Rollers (10)
Day 3:
Squats (6x3 with 330)
Leg Press (6x3 with 590)
Deadlift (6x3 with 345)
(can’t do any more than this without DOMS kicking in, and I need my legs completely for my job. tried adding front squats to it, but was completely useless the next several days at work)
Day 4:
Weighted Pull-ups (6x3 with 35)
T-Bar Rows (6x3 with 135)
Power Cleans (6x3 with 170)
Rope Cable Front Lateral Raise (6x3 with 50)
Lateral Raise (6x3 with 40’s)
BB Smith Machine Shrugs (225)
Looks like you need to give us some tips. Best transformation I’ve seen on these boards!!! Isn’t it amazing what hard work and dedication will do. Great job!
Got a message from a guy asking if I juiced to get my results, thought I’d share my answer for anyone else wondering:
"Complete honesty? I have no hookups to steroids, know nothing about steroids, skip any T-Nation article about steroid cycling, and don’t have the cash to buy steroids.
At my slimmest, I used TRIBEX Blue, GNC 100% Whey, and fish oil bought from Wal-Mart (Spring Valley enteric coated 1200mg, by the way). At my strongest (now) I’m still on the fish oil and protein powder, but I’m now using Alpha Male and HOT-ROX, to keep from gaining too much fat while taking in more calories. I don’t know if the HRX is a good idea or not, maybe I’m wasting my money cuz of the bulking, but it’s what I’m using.
I’ve been accused of steroid use before, and still have one guy telling everyone I juice. Apparantly, xerosis looks like a steroid side effect. haha I used to have it bad before I realized it, and slept on my side, causing it to literally break the skin on my sides under my arms, and I have scars there. He thinks this means I’m juicing.
As for you, good luck! When it comes to getting in shape, the hardest part is the diet. Saying no to brownies is tough when you’re fat, and saying yes to 6 healthy meals a day is tough when you get skinny; I was never hungry. Bulking or cutting, search around for some T-Recipes, it’ll save you."
oh and since I changed my default pic, here’s what I looked like when I said “my default pic should show my gains on my arms” or something along those lines.
I think you have made some tremendous progress. Just a few things to consider.
With regards to your drop in weight lifted. Change in environment by moving back home is probably causing you a little excess stress and that is taking a toll on your CNS. Back off a little and give yourself time to adjust. Modify your split/progression and maybe do a week or 2 worth of whole body splits or variations. That is just an example. You know where to go for other ideas if that one does not float your boat. Changing where you sleep and any surroundings in your environment is huge for some people and its stresses should not be taken lightly.
Second - Looking at some of CTs principals you can always adjust tempo and volume to shock the CNS back to life. Looking at your program I would say you have high intensities as well as high volumes for your body part splits per workout. If you have adapted sufficiently, which it appears you have, degradation in performance is likely to occur. The good news is you have adapted, the bad news is your body is turning off what it thinks it does not need any more. If 10+ reps doesn’t work what about 10 sets of 3RM or 12 sets of 2? I know it sounds crazy but I was doing 12 sets of 2 on a CW program and left the gym feeling like I did not hit it hard enough. 3 weeks later I was doing 110lb DB presses for the first time.
Just some thoughts.
You may want to drop CT a line. He is very active in the forums and some times the smallest cue can help you bust a plateau.
Good Luck.
I changed from 3 sets of 6 to 6 sets of 3. On arm days it feels like I’m not doing enough work, but chest, shoulders, back, and especially legs, it’s brutal. Hopefully this change is enough to pass the plateau. If not, I’m going to CA on the 4th till the 11th for a brother in need, when I get back I’ll do this “shocking.” (I read one on here about doing something with dips and chinups, but I can’t remember. I’ll do a quick search)
As for asking CT, I’ll do that, too.
UPDATE:
Day 1:
Bench (6x3 with 240)
DB Incline Bench (6x3 with 90’s)
Flyes (6x3 with 75’s)
Chained Dips (6x3 with 45)
Day 2:
Weighted Chin Ups (6x3 with 45)
Weighted Dips (6x3 with 55)
DB Curls (6x3 with 55’s)
Rope Pushdowns (6x3 with 90)
Machine Curls (single arm, 6x3 with 60)
Skull Crushers (6x3 with 95)
Wrist Rollers (10)
Day 3:
Squats (6x3 with 330)
Leg Press (6x3 with 600)
Deadlift (6x3 with 345)
Leg Curls (6x3 with 110) (realized that this is the weak link holding back my leg power)
Goodmornings (3x10 wih 135)
Cable Crunches (3x25 with 90)
Day 4:
Weighted Pull-ups (6x3 with 35)
T-Bar Rows (6x3 with 135)
Power Cleans (6x3 with 170)
Rope Cable Front Lateral Raise (6x3 with 50)
Lateral Raise (6x3 with 40’s)
Smith Machine Shrugs (225)