I’d love to see the x ray image of this. Do you have one?
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Would love to see this too. I think this is a more serious priority than bigger biceps.
Sure, I’ll send an image whenever possible
So my deadlift is 150 pounds and my bench is 88 pounds. According to numbers I’m average in my deadlift and weak in my bench. I’m thinking of benching twice a week and adding 5 lbs each time I lift. That is, 10 lbs a week. Is this realistic ? I actually underestimated the amount of weight the barbell I used for lifts had
Possibly, you might hit a wall at some point where it gets harder.
Cool, thanks for your reply. BTW, here’s another quick question buddy. I’ve posted a thread on the supplement and nutrition section but people seem to be less active over there so I don’t really get replies on some of my posts. I’m bulking, but my body fat percentage is 15 percent which is ideal and it shouldn’t be more than that. So should I bulk using fats instead of carbs? Like, a high protein, high fats and moderate carb diet?
That’s because you’re starting a bunch of different threads for pretty related questions, which is why I’m doing you a favor and trying to keep them together. Nevermind the fact that three different guys did give you answers in your “vegetarian bulk” thread.
Don’t worry about body fat at your current stage. Carbs are energy, and basically every plant-based protein source you eat will also have some sort of carbs.
If you wanna get strong/big, go for high fat/high protein/high carbs. Look up some of Brian Alsruhe’s diet stuff.
Fine I’ll add a new thread only when the topics have a nice difference. I’m new to the forum, so sorry for that!
You don’t get less fat if your x calories of fat surplus vs x calories of carbs…
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Sorry for the late reply. I re consulted my doctor and had a look at my reports again. The X-Ray wont really show you the real picture. One of my bones in the right hand has stopped growing while the other is still growing. Thus my right hand looks swollen from one side. Well, it’s not swollen…now I’m going to undergo a bone surgery when my growth stops where they’ll use metal rods and pins to fix the problem. I don’t have any issues with lifitng. There are just a few exercises like skull crushers that are an issue. But I don’t anymore lay much emphasis on isolation anymore and the exercise isn’t even a part of my routine. There’s no bone pain while deadlifitng or benching. Now since all this is bone related and not muscle related, I should be able to lift as much post surgery as well, right?
Sorry for the late reply. I re consulted my doctor and had a look at my reports again. The X-Ray wont really show you the real picture. One of my bones in the right hand has stopped growing while the other is still growing. Thus my right hand looks swollen from one side. Well, it’s not swollen…now I’m going to undergo a bone surgery when my growth stops where they’ll use metal rods and pins to fix the problem. I don’t have any issues with lifitng. There are just a few exercises like skull crushers that are an issue. But I don’t anymore lay much emphasis on isolation anymore and the exercise isn’t even a part of my routine. There’s no bone pain while deadlifitng or benching. Now since all this is bone related and not muscle I should be able to lift as much post surgery as well, right?
I think so once you recover. Check in with your doctor to see how much time off you’d need
No, the doctor said I can lift as long as there isn’t any bone pain. I don’t feel any discomfort while lifting in my bone. It’s muscle soreness that I experience. I just avoid exercises which put more strain on my elbow joints. So I can lift, plus my lifts are improving as well. I’m just curious about the difference in my strength post surgery i.e. when they’ll insert rod and pins. At this moment, my elbow movement is slightly restricted but fortunately, the range of motion is not that less that I can’t perform exercises like curls. I don’t need to stop lifting and wait for recovery. This won’t recover naturally and I’ll have to wait till I turn 18…
Late reply probably, but as a generic rule: stay the fuck away from gym owners and trainers that try to force you in doing their programs. Or, if you don’t have other options, don’t feel compelled to follow their advice.
They might ask you how you want to train, give you suggestions that might or not make sense or might or not be useful, maybe even ask you if you wanted to do their protocols more than once, and that’s ok, BUT once they start sticking to your ass and try to have you do their stuff by literally grabbing you, they’re crossing a line.
You’re already doing your part by paying your monthly fee, and if you’re not an asshole who damages equipment, creeps the other customers or stirs shit up, you’re good to go and free to workout the way you want.
It’s not easy trying to be polite with people who basically try to sell you their bullshit, but it’s important to keep a firm stance and don’t let them bully you into their beliefs.
Unless they have themselves something to back their claims (impressive physique or good strength for their age) AND/OR they can prove they’ve successfully trained people to attain serious goals, their word is just another opinion in the bunch, regardless of how many pieces of paper they hang on the walls of the gym and how many certifications they can produce of 8-hours courses that made them instant-experts in everything and something more.
Telling you this since I’ve just been to a similar gym and God knows I had to resort to all my patience to avoid punching one of the trainers, if I were a newcomer I’d probably have been caught in their bullshit and basically doomed myself in a no-progress cage for the years to come.
Truth is, you couldn’t care less of all the edgy stuff they’re throwing at you, the only purpose it serves is to give them this mystic aura of bullshit professionalism.
You don’t care to have your bodyfat measured, unless you’ve never seen your own image in a mirror or in a body of water, you already know how fat or skinny you are.
You don’t surely care to have your height measured, because honestly, who the fuck cares? It’s not something you have control over anyway, it is what it is.
You don’t really care about switching protocols every two months to “shock teh bodyz” because you’re a complete beginner, almost anything will make you stronger and bigger as long as you follow a pair of extremely basic principles (push weight, eat to support your goals).
You don’t need to cycle through different stimuli. This is the same bullshit I’ve heard in the latest gym I’ve been, where every guy around was either small and/or out of shape, everyone of them was weak as fuck and the very best ones displayed a barely decent upper body with a total lack of lower body development.
Where the chief trainer bragged about squatting 220lbs after almost 20 years of training and boasted how their innovative protocols had supersets, dropsets, rest pause, forced reps and every single technique and the kitchen sink thrown together - you know, the kind of stuff that a beginner doesn’t need at all.
And in all of this, you’re a kid, you’ll naturally keep on growing and it makes this whole paradigm even simpler - you just need to stick to basic stuff and your body will do the rest. I remember getting stronger and packing mass at your age by working out at home doing pushups and dumbbell work with dumbbells no heavier than 45 pounds.
Over two years and a half (which is nothing in terms of training), I came to appreciate more and more my regular gym.
I’ve received a few questions and suggestions at the beginning, but nobody said a thing when I wrote my own (shitty) programs right from the start, as poor as they were I still made progress with them - as a 25 years old beginner who never touched a barbell before (so just imagine the potential margin for progress you have as a teenager who’s getting suggestions by experienced guys here in the forums).
I came to appreciate the fact that some things I’ve done (and some I still do, and some I’ll do in the future) weren’t “teh absolute bestest ones”, but if you train with a grain of salt, screwing things up has a huge educational potential.
Reading stuff from the accomplished guys here in the forums, looking at channels and videos from famous champions and world class guys, I’ve came to the conclusion that in weight training there’s always a degree of trial and error needed, so I don’t trust when random trainers come to you with the holy grail of training method that can do no wrong.
You have the right to make mistakes and the duty to learn from them (because, you know… you’re still paying you gym fee, putting in time and energy, you’d be a moron to make mistakes and not learn from them, you owe it to yourself). That’s growth, too, personal growth in a nutshell actually, and is kinda priceless imho.
I came to appreciate the trainer who two years ago commented on my form without solicitation, and passed as rough and a bit arrogant at first, but even if he never commented again, he spoke a simple truth back then and I listened because it made sense. Flash forward, and now we chat every time I workout and he’s on his shift, we talk and joke about exercises, training methods, movies and chicks, I ask his opinion on stuff, he asks me my opinion on other stuff. Yesterday he asked me to spot him and tell him if his squat form was on point.
I came to appreciate the fact that I had to slowly climb my way up to be considered by the strong guys after looking at them from a distance for some time, and this happens when you put in the work AND get results AND learn what works and what doesn’t, you need to spend time under the bar and be willing to look ridicolous from time to time.
I bet I looked quite ridicolous when I barely benched 65 pounds and did shoulder presses with 18 pounds dumbbells. But I’m glad that no self entitled trainer came to me and told me that I’d be better off doing cable crosses and lateral raises instead so that my ego wouldn’t hurt, killing my progress.
To sum it up, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did and progress how I wanted to if I had a damn trainer breathing on my neck all the time and constantly pushing me to follow the gym’s pre-compiled shopping list bullshit protocol made of 25 different exercises randomly pieced together by some smartphone app, or whatever technique they use to assemble those idiotic protocols.
/end rant
I think you mixed up the policies of two different gyms I gave examples of. I have joined a gym where I can do what I want. So I’m doing a 3 day beginners push pull legs split instead of a regular bro split. But I don’t know why would it make a difference if I do a bro split or a PPL beginner split, or let’s say even an upper lower split, when I’m performing the same number of sets per week for each of my muscle group. Agreed I’d be training more frequently but why’d it make a difference if I do incline and decline presses on the same day instead of doing them on separate days. Oh and my trainer also recommends squatting twice a week, so should I do it?
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Can we have it in paint by numbers? Wait you guys already did that for him…I just don’t get people who don’t disclose important things like nutrition. My personal motto is eat big lift big. Ffs why would anyone make abs such a priority.
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Have you asked your trainer about what you/his goals are for you…
Omg, call me “thick” cuz I just weighed in at 127 and I’m 5 3…how can you be a lifting addict when you don’t know the A, B, Cs. T nation can provide all the knowledge you’lll ever need. Read articles and show some respect to the guys trying to help. Me I’m bitchy no need for respect for me. I’m just lucky I don’t get banned as much editing as @Chris_Colucci has to do for me…or maybe I enjoy it. At least I know it’s being read 
I don’t train abs… I don’t care about abs… I already have them because of soccer… And I wouldn’t want them even I didn’t have them…my goals are strength… I do wanna look aesthetic too… But my main goal is to increase my bench, squat, and deadlift. All these lifts are increasing in my current split… Push/cardio/pull/calisthenics and kick boxing/legs and I squat twice a week. On Sundays I play soccer and yeah, I eat 5 times a day, eat a lot, and eat healthy. Cheat meals only once a week…