I’d be pissed too if I was on a strict diet with drugs and a professional program and not seeing progress. 12 weeks isn’t that long but if you’re gaining weight, I’d expect your numbers in the gym would be improving at least.
Are your injuries holding you back? I remember you had some wrist and shoulder stuff. Is the coach working around them well?
Kinda my thoughts as well
It’s really not. Even though I KNOW it’s dumb and unhealthy I keep falling into the trap of looking at what others have accomplished using drugs, even from the same point I’m at, and 9 times out of 10 it’s one hell of a transformation.
Yea this is another one that really bugs me. Hell even keeping the body weight the same and adding drugs should make for decent working weight increases, let alone gaining body weight.
No I don’t think so. My left shoulder starts acting up towards the very end of push days, or towards the end of arm day but other than that it’s fine. I’ve fractured that shoulder socket, so I’m betting it’s a little arthritis in that area maybe? It’s such a weird pain.
Yes he is! I’m pretty much doing what I can now. At first he wanted me to try some straight bar pressing and I had to shut that down(I did try though). I do want to try again with some wrist wraps and maybe some coaching on form for pressing though. I think being stronger overall would help me.
Is this an increase in volume from what you were doing before you had a coach? I remember a year and a half ago you were hitting it pretty hard.
Over all I’m not sure. It’s so different and I’m not exactly sure how to count volume. I know I’m doing more exercises, but fewer sets of each exercise. I think the latest change is closer to what I’m used too but the rest times are shorter and instead of going all out every set I’m trying to save a rep or so.
So it’s hard to say. I started to look through my old log but never completed the task. Over all effort and workload feels fine though
I bring it up only because I don’t know much but you need to disrupt homeostasis through stress right and if it isn’t that different or more stressful than your previous methods then it just might not be enough and if you think your other areas are good enough then this might just be the thing. Just a thought.
Maybe. Idk. I am doing a lot of stuff I either haven’t done in a long time (BOR’s) or it’s just completely new. Also the same moves that aren’t new, are usually done on a mew machine. But yes, maybe a big change will be good/needed
Hey man — for some reason I feel compelled to break my 4-year long streak of not posting here in order to comment on your log.
I can relate to many of the things you’re saying here — the body image issues, the recurring injuries, the frustration at your lack of progress, etc. Here are a few things that have helped me break that cycle:
Getting (and staying) lean. It’s hard to know how much of this is physical and how much is mental, but as a former fat kid, there is a complete night and day difference in my lifting and many feelings about my body when I have abs. Again, maybe it’s psychological or maybe it has to do with insulin sensitivity, estradiol production, inflammation, etc… but things are 100% better when I’m lean. I get hurt less, my workouts are more productive, and I can actually put on muscle instead of adding fat. I can’t overstate how big of a difference it makes for me.
Dropping ALL exercises that hurt my joints. For a while, that meant I did unilateral machine and dumbbell work exclusively. I got bigger and I stopped hating my workouts so much. It can be really psychologically draining to constantly be reminded of the exercises that you can’t do, and to always feel “broken”. It was hugely beneficial to drop that shit and just focus on the stuff I could do without pain.
Mediation, gratitude journaling, and low intensity cardio. Weird list, and you can make fun of me for it if you want, but I categorize all three of these things under the umbrella of “recovery” and “feel-good” stuff. 15 minutes of meditation and 5 minutes of gratitude journaling a day + 90 minutes of low intensity cardio each week has a bigger impact on my subjective well-being than any other interventions I’ve ever tried. Plus — and I know this sounds crazy — I swear they make my training better and improve my rate of progress. I can’t explain other than chalking it up to “recovery” but it really makes a difference for me.
Sorry to drop a huge post like this in your log, but I hope you find some of it useful. In either case, I’m sure you’ll be able to turn things around and get yourself out of the rut you seem to be in.
Can’t comment on the first two but spot on for number 3 I think. Taking daily walks and doing rucks a couple times a week have been a game changer for me for body composition and just general well-being.
do you use AAS?
I do not.
Haha that’s awesome man! Thank you for breaking it for me!
This is one thing I definitely plan on doing. Right now I’m not happy with how much muscle I have and how much fat I’m carrying. So I might be smaller when lean, but I’ll be lean. Plus like you said, it seems most people have a better time gaining when starting from a lean state.
This is something I’ve been thinking about as well. I have cut out all the truly painful ones, but there is still a couple that don’t really agree with me. I should spend some more time looking at my options for a truly pain free workout.
Definitely need more cardio. It is a great time to just think and it’s very good for you. I definitely need to practice gratitude more. Even with all the negatives I have I am still a blessed man and should start acting like it. I wouldn’t even know where to start with the meditation 
time to join @ChongLordUno? 
unironically, it might be a nice change of pace to focus on bodyweight stuff and conditioning
Have you ever been lean-lean before? (Veins in your lower abs, visible separation in your pecs, etc?) If not, it’s a WAY faster way to get out of DYEL zone and if you’re like me, it will set you up to grow like you never have before. I won’t clog up your log talking about myself, but you can see what getting lean did for me if you check my 2017 T-ransformation posts (I won). I saw more physique progress the following year than I had in the previous 5.
I have you ever thought that maybe the drugs are making you have these feelings? There are 100s of threads in pharma with woeful tales of depression, anger, etc…
Nope. Always puss out and go back to gaining.
Never considered it as my feelings towards myself, including the hate and anger have been more consistent than anything in my life lol. I’ve never noticed being on a drug (Atleast not peds). They may not help, but there’s basically zero difference when off blast.
I used to do the same thing. Mostly because of issues from childhood and being the skinny kid in high school. Trying to keep at leaning out this time around to a point.
We are truly kindred spirits.
Probably so man. You looked pretty damn good in that Transformation! I was already planning on leaving out good and starting over, so this was just an extra kick that direction.
I looked at lot better 6 months later too. It seriously changed everything for me. Then, when I over-bulked I went back to making no progress and feeling like garbage. Lean again = progress and feeling good again. It’s a lesson I’ve learned a few times at this point. Haha