[quote]LoRez wrote:
The recovery impact of a failed rep in the 6-8RM range is going to be minimal, compared to a failed rep in the 1-3RM range. (Obviously there’s a big difference between the 1RM and 3RM.)
[/quote]
From my own experience - most beginners have no clue what failure really means. Not unless you train with HIT guys. failing a squat means you go down and couldn’t stand up again if someone held a gun to your head. It does not mean “wow, this last rep was really slow, better take it easy”. That does not mean that I promote the former for every training session. However, your AMAP squat set on Greyskull should give you the urge to sit down for a minute or two, otherwise you really weren’t trying.
So after eating extremely strict and clean and working out 3-4 times a week for the past 4-6 months I still don’t feel or look healthy. It’s so strange and I can’t understand it.
I kind of decided that I want to do more activities as all I do is the gym 3 times a week. Apart from that I am mainly glued to my computer desk cause of my job.
My goal is mass as I have already talked about in this thread. Adding an extra 15-20lb and down to 10-12% body fat and I would be a much happier person.
I also want to get more fit, active and healthy as the current gym routine and diet don’t seem to be doing much for me in those aspects.
Would it really hurt my bodybuilding goals if I was to implement some cardio during the week, and if not - how should I go about it?
If I added in calories to compensate and it didn’t affect my recovery too much would it be okay?
I would absolutely recommend doing some kind of cardio/conditioning. Find activities you enjoy doing, whether sports, walking/hiking/cycling or “gym” cardio like riding the stationary bike/treadmill/prowler.
As long as you don’t do really intense stuff – e.g. hill sprints – multiple times per week it shouldn’t interfere with strength gains. You probably will need to increase calories though.
I was thinking on doing a fasted walk maybe 1-2 times a week in the morning.
Maybe an additional 15-20 mins of low intensity stationary bike in the evening 2-3 times a week.
Apart from the gym 3 times a week I don’t really do anything else.
Does looking healthier correlate with bodyfat percentage? I think I read a poster saying it a page or two back that people start to look healthier around 11-12% mark, which would make sense as I haven’t seen any difference at all with a strict nutrition plan.
You’ve brought up this idea of looking and feeling “healthy”, but I don’t understand what that means. In your mind, what metrics need to be met to look/feel healthy?
My concern is that you may be chasing an unobtainable goal due to the nebulous nature of the word.
So after eating extremely strict and clean and working out 3-4 times a week for the past 4-6 months I still don’t feel or look healthy. It’s so strange and I can’t understand it.
[/quote]
Any change on the scale in this 6 months period? Have you been adding calories as suggested?
It’s been just under 2.5 months since my last proper update and 4 months in total since I started.
I just started the 5th month. I’ll post pics next week.
Today:
Weight: 137lb (5lb increase - around +0.5lb~ a week)
Physically I feel like I look a little more broader, there is definitely more muscle around my upper chest but the fat hides it, and I can feel my glutes getting bigger.
Apart from that I haven’t really noticed anything else except some fat gain - I definitely got a bit of a gut again.
I failed my squat at 175lb (80kg), getting 5 reps on the first set, 4 reps on the second set, and 3 reps on the third set.
Should I stick to the -10% deloads or should I try it again - as someone here mentioned that I should be hitting 200lb easily without a deload.
It’s a little frustrating not seeing that big of a change after 4 months and putting on more fat. I have definitely got a lot stronger though. I will post some pics early next week.
Squat didn’t hit 5 reps on all sets this week for the first time in 10 weeks.
Bench has been stuck at 132lb(60kg) for 7 weeks.
Row has been stuck at 120lb(55kg) for 5 weeks.
Deadlift is going up every week.
I will usually do a rest for 15 secs and try squeeze out the remaining reps.
I don’t really do this for the squat though and I just leave it until next workout. For example this week I only got 3 reps on my last set and I barely made it back up and I just left it there as I could barely walk after!
The worst case scenario for me in the past 2 months has been missing maybe 1 rep in the last set, apart from this week where I missed 3 reps in the last two sets for squats.
How much longer do you think I should keep at this for until I can start some mass gain / hypertrophy type workout?
[quote]peetpeew wrote:
I will usually do a rest for 15 secs and try squeeze out the remaining reps.
I don’t really do this for the squat though and I just leave it until next workout. For example this week I only got 3 reps on my last set and I barely made it back up and I just left it there as I could barely walk after!
How much longer do you think I should keep at this for until I can start some mass gain / hypertrophy type workout?[/quote]
To break it down, on your squat day you hit 15 working reps ideally. You only performed 13, meaning you only trained with 86% of the training volume you needed to on that day. This won’t help you reach your goal, which is most likely why you are not progressing at the rate you desire. Were I in your situation, I would rest as long as needed to hit the reps I needed to for that day, and then keep the weight the same and reduce the number of sets necessary to hit the goal the next time I trained.
Deloading (which I imagine you actually mean resetting, as in, lowering the weight and starting over) is only going to train you to lift less weight.
In your mind, what IS a mass gain/hypertrophy type workout?
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
To break it down, on your squat day you hit 15 working reps ideally. You only performed 13, meaning you only trained with 86% of the training volume you needed to on that day. This won’t help you reach your goal, which is most likely why you are not progressing at the rate you desire. Were I in your situation, I would rest as long as needed to hit the reps I needed to for that day, and then keep the weight the same and reduce the number of sets necessary to hit the goal the next time I trained.
Deloading (which I imagine you actually mean resetting, as in, lowering the weight and starting over) is only going to train you to lift less weight.
In your mind, what IS a mass gain/hypertrophy type workout?
[/quote]
That’s a good way to put it, I will start doing that from now on.
I was in the habit of deloading by 10% everytime I failed 5 reps, but this was the first time I didn’t hit my squat reps in about 2.5 months so I was just curious what to do (as reducing weight sucks and I really want to hit 200lb).
RE: hypertrophy/mass gain workout
In my mind I just see it as a workout that will put on more size quicker as I think the higher frequency will be better for that. I understand that size will come with strength too but I just haven’t seen anything noteworthy in 4.5 months and I have never benched/squatted/deadlifted this much in my life!
I am 137lb right now but I would estimate that my lean weight is probably more like 115lb as I am definitely around 16-18% bodyfat right now so I think my lifts right now are pretty good for me… but I am no expert on that hopefully you or someone else could clarify.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
To break it down, on your squat day you hit 15 working reps ideally. You only performed 13, meaning you only trained with 86% of the training volume you needed to on that day. This won’t help you reach your goal, which is most likely why you are not progressing at the rate you desire. Were I in your situation, I would rest as long as needed to hit the reps I needed to for that day, and then keep the weight the same and reduce the number of sets necessary to hit the goal the next time I trained.
Deloading (which I imagine you actually mean resetting, as in, lowering the weight and starting over) is only going to train you to lift less weight.
In your mind, what IS a mass gain/hypertrophy type workout?
[/quote]
That’s a good way to put it, I will start doing that from now on.
I was in the habit of deloading by 10% everytime I failed 5 reps, but this was the first time I didn’t hit my squat reps in about 2.5 months so I was just curious what to do (as reducing weight sucks and I really want to hit 200lb).
RE: hypertrophy/mass gain workout
In my mind I just see it as a workout that will put on more size quicker as I think the higher frequency will be better for that. I understand that size will come with strength too but I just haven’t seen anything noteworthy in 4.5 months and I have never benched/squatted/deadlifted this much in my life!
[/quote]
I mean mechanically, what makes a program a “hypertrophy program”?
Reducing the weight everytime you fail to meet 5 reps is one of those things that got started on the internet by unsuccessful trainees and just kept growing. The first time you fail to hit 5 reps is when you are finally starting to TRAIN. Up until that point, you’ve just been getting prepped. Once you have to start grinding, you’re going to start doing the things that facilitate size and strength gains.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
To break it down, on your squat day you hit 15 working reps ideally. You only performed 13, meaning you only trained with 86% of the training volume you needed to on that day. This won’t help you reach your goal, which is most likely why you are not progressing at the rate you desire. Were I in your situation, I would rest as long as needed to hit the reps I needed to for that day, and then keep the weight the same and reduce the number of sets necessary to hit the goal the next time I trained.
Deloading (which I imagine you actually mean resetting, as in, lowering the weight and starting over) is only going to train you to lift less weight.
In your mind, what IS a mass gain/hypertrophy type workout?
[/quote]
That’s a good way to put it, I will start doing that from now on.
I was in the habit of deloading by 10% everytime I failed 5 reps, but this was the first time I didn’t hit my squat reps in about 2.5 months so I was just curious what to do (as reducing weight sucks and I really want to hit 200lb).
RE: hypertrophy/mass gain workout
In my mind I just see it as a workout that will put on more size quicker as I think the higher frequency will be better for that. I understand that size will come with strength too but I just haven’t seen anything noteworthy in 4.5 months and I have never benched/squatted/deadlifted this much in my life!
[/quote]
I mean mechanically, what makes a program a “hypertrophy program”?
Reducing the weight everytime you fail to meet 5 reps is one of those things that got started on the internet by unsuccessful trainees and just kept growing. The first time you fail to hit 5 reps is when you are finally starting to TRAIN. Up until that point, you’ve just been getting prepped. Once you have to start grinding, you’re going to start doing the things that facilitate size and strength gains.[/quote]
This. The part in bold should be on a fucking t-shirt.
So next squat workout (2 days time) I should try 176lb / 80kg again instead of dropping back down to 160lb?
Just go for the 3 sets or 2? You talked about reducing a set until you meet the reps, but wouldn’t that contradict your first point about not meeting the volume goals for the workout?
So next squat workout (2 days time) I should try 176lb / 80kg again instead of dropping back down to 160lb?
Just go for the 3 sets or 2? You talked about reducing a set until you meet the reps, but wouldn’t that contradict your first point about not meeting the volume goals for the workout?
[/quote]
I believe you misunderstand me.
In 3 sets, you got 13 of the 15 reps you needed. Lets say that you were able to get 2 more reps in 1 more set. This meant you took 4 sets to get 15 reps.
Next workout, try to get 15 reps in 3 sets. When you can do that, increase the weight again and try to get 15 reps in 3 sets.
Lets say you have a really crappy day, and it looks like this.
Set 1: 5 reps
Set 2: 3 reps
Set 3: 3 reps
You only got 11 reps, so you go for more sets
Set 4: 2 reps
Set 5: 2 reps
Now we got 15 reps in 5 sets. Next time you train, you keep the weight the same and it goes like this
Set 1: 5 reps
Set 2: 4 reps
Set 3: 4 reps
Set 4: 2 reps
You now got 15 reps in 4 sets. Then, next workout, you get 3x5 on the same weight. At this point, increase the weight and try for 15 in 3 sets.
[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
To break it down, on your squat day you hit 15 working reps ideally. You only performed 13, meaning you only trained with 86% of the training volume you needed to on that day. This won’t help you reach your goal, which is most likely why you are not progressing at the rate you desire. Were I in your situation, I would rest as long as needed to hit the reps I needed to for that day, and then keep the weight the same and reduce the number of sets necessary to hit the goal the next time I trained.
Deloading (which I imagine you actually mean resetting, as in, lowering the weight and starting over) is only going to train you to lift less weight.
In your mind, what IS a mass gain/hypertrophy type workout?
[/quote]
That’s a good way to put it, I will start doing that from now on.
I was in the habit of deloading by 10% everytime I failed 5 reps, but this was the first time I didn’t hit my squat reps in about 2.5 months so I was just curious what to do (as reducing weight sucks and I really want to hit 200lb).
RE: hypertrophy/mass gain workout
In my mind I just see it as a workout that will put on more size quicker as I think the higher frequency will be better for that. I understand that size will come with strength too but I just haven’t seen anything noteworthy in 4.5 months and I have never benched/squatted/deadlifted this much in my life!
[/quote]
I mean mechanically, what makes a program a “hypertrophy program”?
Reducing the weight everytime you fail to meet 5 reps is one of those things that got started on the internet by unsuccessful trainees and just kept growing. The first time you fail to hit 5 reps is when you are finally starting to TRAIN. Up until that point, you’ve just been getting prepped. Once you have to start grinding, you’re going to start doing the things that facilitate size and strength gains.[/quote]
This. The part in bold should be on a fucking t-shirt.[/quote]
Solid advice by T3hPwnisher. Increasing intensity very gradually is an effective way to make progress. People are too used to thinking progress can be made by only increasing reps or weight. Training to beat failure is great advice too. It seems like it’s an all or nothing mentality where a beginner can’t push hard enough or does something stupid. Pushing close to failure is definitely where most of the learning and progress is made.