How To Improve

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

I am 19 years old, turning 20 next month. I was kinda oversheltered and socially awkward in early and middle childhood. By the time COVID hit in 2020 I fell into a very dark depression that I tried alleviating with very consistent, very strenuous daily running.. about 7 miles a day, quite literally every day.

About 2 years ago I started incorporating resistance training into my routine and now, arbitrarily, I’m starting to think about how I might plan my workouts in such a way that I’m actually building muscle and cutting down very significantly on cardio.

I now run about 4-6miles 4-6 days a week and do very rudimentary weight training 5 days a week. Something like:

  • Four push exercises, 3x10 each.
  • Next day: Five pull exercises (bicep curls, lateral pulldowns, face pulls etc.), 3x10 each.
  • Next day: Four or five leg exercises (bodyweight squats, etc), 3x10 each.

And then I rest for a day or two and repeat for the next three day stretch.

I do this every week, no matter how sick or angry or despondent I am. But I am not getting results on a very consistent or predictable basis. For the last year I’ve been benching just about 50lbs for 7-10reps and hardly even dared to increase.

There is a really toxic culture in the U.S. now trying to keep young men lazy. I’m tired of it. I pray that I may get a good response to this thread. I want to know how I can even start to think about planning and researching more effective ways to do weight training for both strength and a respectable physical appearance.

1 Like
2

Do you know how to perform the barbell squat, bench press, deadlift and press overhead?

What is your height and weight?

2 Likes
3

I’ll jump in here with some thoughts later this evening, man, but good on you for getting moving in the first place.

2 Likes
4
  1. Set some goals for yourself and decide what you want to do. Be it general fitness or something more specific and so forth.
  2. Once you do that… education yourself on how to achieve that
    3 Keep things real and in perspective.
5

Firstly, good on you. It’s great to see someone taking some responsibility for their fitness. You’re clearly disciplined and want to succeed, you won’t get negativity on this forum with that attitude.

There are plenty of strength based programs you could look into, starting strength is one you may want to consider. If you want to incorporate the conditioning element as well there is 5/3/1 or tactical barbell.

You seem to be doing quite a bit of training, how much of a gap are you leaving between the running and lifting? What is your diet like? Are you doing any of the other main lifts?

6

I am 5-foot-9 and I weigh about 138lbs. Definitely on the lower end in terms of weight.

I can perform all the exercises you listed except the deadlift.

7

The “gap” between running and lifting for me used to be about 15-30 minutes… but the performance on weight training equipment was always subpar. Lately I’ve been leaving about 24 hours between either a cardio session or a weight training session… or 5-6 hours if I want to do both on the same day.

I have to confess that my diet is awful. I eat at McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Burger King, Taco Bell and what have you for at least one meal per day five days a week. When I have the time I may buy chicken breast or ground beef and just do the most rudimentary prep… and eat an absurd amount of that meat in one sitting.

These are all the exercises I do:

  • Bench Press
  • Overhead Press
  • Push-ups (about 100 over 4-5 sets)
  • Dips (seated dip machine)
  • Bicep Curl
  • Hammer Curl
  • Lateral Raise
  • Face Pull
  • Seated Rows (Machine, sometimes rows with a dumbbell too)
  • Lateral Pulldown
  • Leg Curl
  • Leg Press
  • Calf Raise
  • Kettlebell Squat

This is the “ideal program” over a 3-day push-pull-legs cycle. I stick to that ideal with a fair degree of consistency but life sometimes gets in the way.

8

What limits you from deadlifting?

1 Like
9

Just to level set, this is always the case. Sometimes we have those magical periods where it’s all just clicking, but usually we’ll see big jumps followed by periods of relative plateau. Unless you’re peaking for a competition, which is its own plan, I wouldn’t worry about this so much. Now, you may mean something more akin to total stagnation or regression, which we do want to address.

What do you mean here? Why don’t you want to increase.

When you run, how do you progress it? Just volume (miles/ days) or do you try to finish certain routes faster, etc?

Is this your primary goal? You’ve got the general concept - hit some big lifts for each movement pattern at an adequate volume. Are you doing the same routine every time you roll in, whatever you saw on YouTube that week, whatever station is free, etc? How do you decide what you’ll do in a week, specifically?

I mean, here’s some low-hanging fruit. I say the next piece with no prior judgement; I’m a fellow lover of the American diet as my default: what’s the main thing holding you back from improving this?

1 Like
10

I just want to dip in and say welcome. You’re in good company - almost everyone here is a dainty little psycopath trying to be better.

You might get some responses to questions that feel agressive when you start, but there’s much more support than toxicity around here.

2 Likes
11

Have any friends or acquaintances that train? If not, have you talked to or been friendly with any bigger guys at the gym? Best bet is honestly to train with or around someone who has had success in weight room.

1 Like
12

I could not have said this better.
A bit rough here and there but we mean well.

1 Like