No Strength Gains for 3-4 Months

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

Someone can tell me why my strenght is not improving eventhough i :

  • eat well (much protein)
  • sleep quite well (8 hours/night except sometimes)
  • trains often (4-5 per week, and i take 3-5 days break sometimes)

I did respect that for 3 month and my bench press, deadlift and curl strenght has been quite the same since those days. And this although my perfs are very low (40-50kg for barbell benchpress, 50-60 for deadlift)

I don’t understand, is it genetic ? It’s the fact i sleep during the day (i work at night) ?
I dont f***** understand.

2

Have you tried varying your routine/exercises?

Your body is very good at adapting (exactly what strength, size, endurance gains are) and as such will adapt to a certain stimulus.

Try changing certain exercises for slight variations eg.

barbell bench press → dumbbell bench press, flys, dips etc

bicep curls → horizontal barbell/dumbbell rows, chin ups

Standard Deadlifts → Stiff Legged DL, Romanian DL

For increasing gains in the bigger compound movements (eg squat, bench, DL) try isolating/strengthening not just the target muscle but also the synergist and stabilizer muscles.

Hope that helps a bit.
Sam

3

You’ve been lifting 3 months and can only bench 50kg and deadlift 60kg?
Have you considered the possiblity that you aren’t even trying?
Unless your a 12 year old girl, in which case keep up the good work and stick with it.

4

How long have you been lifting?

I would venture a guess that although you MIGHT be eating enough protein, you are probably not eating enough in total. That, and you may not be lifting heavy enough - try lower reps and more weight.

Start a food log, chances are the problem is in the kitchen.

5

You have to add weight to the bar occasionally if you want to get stronger. (In your case occasionally means every workout)

If you keep lifting the same weight you will stay at the same strength.

Did you think that if you benched 100 lbs for 3 months that in month four you could bench 315?

6

Thanks everyone for answering. And sorry in advance for my bad english, i’ll try to answer as acute as possible, in hope you find a solution.

[quote]Have you tried varying your routine/exercises?

Your body is very good at adapting (exactly what strength, size, endurance gains are) and as such will adapt to a certain stimulus.

Try changing certain exercises for slight variations eg.

barbell bench press → dumbbell bench press, flys, dips etc

bicep curls → horizontal barbell/dumbbell rows, chin ups

Standard Deadlifts → Stiff Legged DL, Romanian DL

For increasing gains in the bigger compound movements (eg squat, bench, DL) try isolating/strengthening not just the target muscle but also the synergist and stabilizer muscles.

Hope that helps a bit.
Sam[/quote]

Well, it’s true i don’t change too much my routine, but i don’t keep doing the same “formats” everytime. For instance, i do pecs twice a week, one time, it’s 55, other time it’s 410. And sometime i don’t do 55 but 73, i don’t do 4*10 but progressiv (pyramidal).

That being said, i always start my pecs workout with barbell flat bench press, then barbell incline bench press, then either dips, decline bench press or dumbell flye. All my workout start with flat bench press then incline bench press. It’s a problem ?

As for biceps, i always start with what i think is most effective (barbell curl) but i vary the dumbell exercise.
Something really wrong there?

[quote]You’ve been lifting 3 months and can only bench 50kg and deadlift 60kg?
Have you considered the possiblity that you aren’t even trying?
Unless your a 12 year old girl, in which case keep up the good work and stick with it.[/quote]

Iam 19 y/o boy :confused:

[quote]How long have you been lifting?

I would venture a guess that although you MIGHT be eating enough protein, you are probably not eating enough in total. That, and you may not be lifting heavy enough - try lower reps and more weight.

Start a food log, chances are the problem is in the kitchen.[/quote]

I have been lifting for 5-6 month.
I really think my eat routine is okay, i eat every 3-4 hours, and i have at least 2 meals with 40-50 g of proteins per day.
A generic day is like that :

Breakfast 14p.m : Muesli n milk + protein shake + 1-2 spoon of wheat germ

dinner 17pm.30 : 150g of pasta + 2 steaks (50 protein)

19pm.30 : 2 turkey slice (12-15g prot)

22 pm : 1 big tuna box (35-40g) + bread and something random else

1 pm : 4 turkey slice (30 g)

4 pm : 3-4 eggs

6 pm : 300-400 g of fromage blanc (white cheese ?)

Sometimes i eat less, sometimes i eat more, but that’s what look like my eat routine.

and sleep

[quote]You have to add weight to the bar occasionally if you want to get stronger. (In your case occasionally means every workout)

If you keep lifting the same weight you will stay at the same strength.

Did you think that if you benched 100 lbs for 3 months that in month four you could bench 315? [/quote]

For benchpress, i always do twice workout a week, one for mass and other for strengh, so i don’t bench everytime the same weight.
Still, not much progress.

To give you an overview :

The 17 april, my flat benchpress was : 31040kg + 1740kg.

27 april : 11030 + 1644 + 1646 + 3450

The 26 may : 11040 6-5-6-5-4-4*48

Last week i did SMH at 74 kg for 10 sec then 3550 + 2354 + 1160+ 1550

Today i did : 1040, 844, 646, 546, 744, 644, 6*40

Oh and something i need to precise, i sometimes slightly change the grip, but it’s very slightly. I always do wide, but sometime a little more wider (2-3cm) than other time.

Ok, if you can give me some solution or tricks now.

7

Do you do anything for legs?

8

not much, squats and deadlift. But i’ll start leg ext/curl soon.

9

[quote]creutzfeldt-jak wrote:
Thanks everyone for answering. And sorry in advance for my bad english, i’ll try to answer as acute as possible, in hope you find a solution.

Have you tried varying your routine/exercises?

Your body is very good at adapting (exactly what strength, size, endurance gains are) and as such will adapt to a certain stimulus.

Try changing certain exercises for slight variations eg.

barbell bench press → dumbbell bench press, flys, dips etc

bicep curls → horizontal barbell/dumbbell rows, chin ups

Standard Deadlifts → Stiff Legged DL, Romanian DL

For increasing gains in the bigger compound movements (eg squat, bench, DL) try isolating/strengthening not just the target muscle but also the synergist and stabilizer muscles.

Hope that helps a bit.
Sam

Well, it’s true i don’t change too much my routine, but i don’t keep doing the same “formats” everytime. For instance, i do pecs twice a week, one time, it’s 55, other time it’s 410. And sometime i don’t do 55 but 73, i don’t do 4*10 but progressiv (pyramidal).

That being said, i always start my pecs workout with barbell flat bench press, then barbell incline bench press, then either dips, decline bench press or dumbell flye. All my workout start with flat bench press then incline bench press. It’s a problem ?

As for biceps, i always start with what i think is most effective (barbell curl) but i vary the dumbell exercise.
Something really wrong there?

You’ve been lifting 3 months and can only bench 50kg and deadlift 60kg?
Have you considered the possiblity that you aren’t even trying?
Unless your a 12 year old girl, in which case keep up the good work and stick with it.

Iam 19 y/o boy :confused:

How long have you been lifting?

I would venture a guess that although you MIGHT be eating enough protein, you are probably not eating enough in total. That, and you may not be lifting heavy enough - try lower reps and more weight.

Start a food log, chances are the problem is in the kitchen.

I have been lifting for 5-6 month.
I really think my eat routine is okay, i eat every 3-4 hours, and i have at least 2 meals with 40-50 g of proteins per day.
A generic day is like that :

Breakfast 14p.m : Muesli n milk + protein shake + 1-2 spoon of wheat germ

dinner 17pm.30 : 150g of pasta + 2 steaks (50 protein)

19pm.30 : 2 turkey slice (12-15g prot)

22 pm : 1 big tuna box (35-40g) + bread and something random else

1 pm : 4 turkey slice (30 g)

4 pm : 3-4 eggs

6 pm : 300-400 g of fromage blanc (white cheese ?)

Sometimes i eat less, sometimes i eat more, but that’s what look like my eat routine.

and sleep

You have to add weight to the bar occasionally if you want to get stronger. (In your case occasionally means every workout)

If you keep lifting the same weight you will stay at the same strength.

Did you think that if you benched 100 lbs for 3 months that in month four you could bench 315?

For benchpress, i always do twice workout a week, one for mass and other for strengh, so i don’t bench everytime the same weight.
Still, not much progress.

To give you an overview :

The 17 april, my flat benchpress was : 31040kg + 1740kg.

27 april : 11030 + 1644 + 1646 + 3450

The 26 may : 11040 6-5-6-5-4-4*48

Last week i did SMH at 74 kg for 10 sec then 3550 + 2354 + 1160+ 1550

Today i did : 1040, 844, 646, 546, 744, 644, 6*40

Oh and something i need to precise, i sometimes slightly change the grip, but it’s very slightly. I always do wide, but sometime a little more wider (2-3cm) than other time.

Ok, if you can give me some solution or tricks now. [/quote]

Do you bench with a spotter? Sometimes people have a subconcious fear of increasing weight if they don’t have a spotter. If your gym has a good squat rack, maybe you can slide a bench underneath it and not be too concerned about dropping the weights on your sternum. I know that my bench increased when I did this as I was always concerned about adding weight without help and then looking like a dumbass with weights on my chest that I couldn’t pick up.

10

I may be speaking out of my ass, but …

SHORT VERSION

(A) Can you clarify your times. They’re kind of confusing without using AM and PM.

(B) What are you eating for your pre- and post- workout meals?

(C) Can you map out your exact weight training routine for an entire week? What do you do for those 4-5 sessions? Maybe you’re “overtraining”? Are you doing each bodypart twice a week? (Note: doing body parts twice a week may work for some but maybe it’s not the right fit for you). Consider doing squats and stiffleg deadlifts.

(D) You might want to do your HEAVIEST weight earlier in your workout directly after your warm-up sets, that way you know you can do it physically and psychologically BEFORE you get “fatigue” with your working sets. This may help carry over to the following week’s session.

(E) Your best friend might in fact be the 2.2-kg plate. Use it to your advantage.

(F) Maybe you should keep your rep schemes strict (as opposed to a pyramid scheme).

(G) Increasing your dumbbell flat press might cause a carry over effect to your barbell bench press.

LONGER VERSION (below)

When exactly do you workout with respect to your meals? Are you getting enough carbohydrate and protein pre- and post- workout. Which meal actually corresponds to your pre- and post- workout meals?

I don’t quite understand what’s going on with your meals. (It’s just kind of confusing how you have your times mapped out. Instead of using military time, it would be nice to see both AM and PM times. )

Maybe it’s just me, but how do you go directly from breakfast to dinner within a span of about 3 hours. Plus, I don’t see any AM times at all. At 1pm and 19.30pm, what kind of turkey slices are you having? Are these processed deli slices? What is the protein/ carbohydrate/ fat content of the cheese at 6 pm? Do you workout after this 6pm “snack.” Have you considered adding some sort of protein shake a couple hours OR directly before you go to bed?

Can you map out your actual workout routine for an entire week? What exactly do you do in those 4-5 day sessions?

Have you considered dropping the curling exercise altogether? I have found that my gains on my 3 major compounds (deadlift, bench, squat) continue to increase when I don’t do any direct arm work (no bicep or tricep work). Also, some people love the curls but neglect their triceps. Are you doing tricep exercises as well? Are you doing any sort of shoulder work, such as the push press or military press or dumbbell press?

Since you’re not really working your lower body at the moment, I think it’s wise to start. Consider adding in squats, stiffleg deadlifts, and possibly box squats.

Furthermore, if you’re working out 4-5 times per week, are you working each body part twice a week? Everyone’s different and maybe twice per a week per body part for you right now might not be the most effective for gains. Maybe you’re actually doing too much/overtraining? How long are you in the gym each day?

I use to do high repetition schemes, but have found that my gains progressively get better using low repetitions + heavy weight (i.e. 5 repetitions). I personally do two warmup set of 10 repetitions, then 3 heavy weight working set of 5 repetitions. I also write down the weight, set, and repetitions (INCLUDING whether it was easy, medium or hard) every time I go to the gym … and try to beat it the next session. My goal is to hit 5 reps per set. But if I only hit 3 consecutive reps, I take a breather and hit 2 more reps to bring the total to 5. I (Note: I always strive to make the previous week’s heavy working weight the following week’s warmup weight).

One other thing that I love/like to do is simply use the 5-lb plate for all of my warmup and working set. For example, if I warmup up with 45-lb plate, I will add on an extra 5-lb plate even before I do the set, making the warm-up set a total of 50-lb. If my warm-up weight is scheduled to be a 45-lb plus 25-lb plate, I will add on an extra 5-lb, making the warm-up set a total of (45-lb + 25-lb + 5-lb). In other words, I look at the 5-lb as “air” weight. I do the same with my working sets.

You might also consider keeping your workout repetitions a little bit more strict.

(A) The one key/crucial item that you can use to your advantage is in fact the smallest weight available (i.e. 2.2-kg or 5-lb plate or the smallest weighted plate). If it looks like you’re “plateauing” at around the 50kg mark, consider adding the additional 2.2kg (or smaller weighted plate) at your next workout. It’s something light and should “trick” your muscles into believing it’s not really all that heavy.
(B) Two, getting a spotter (either an employee or another person working out) would work well to conqueror your plateau point.
(C) Three, and probably most important to overcoming a plateau might simply be doing your heaviest weight early in your workout set after you have warmed-up properly. That way, you know you can actually hit that higher weight (both physically and psychologically). For example, (1) do your warmup sets (2) “HEAVIER” it set (3) working set.
(D) Consider doing negative repetitions with a spotter (the spotter can either be an employee or someone who’s working out at the same time.)