Help! I'm not growing!

S

skinnyman

New Member
Hi i've done HST for a cycle and i noticed i didn't grow. I measured before i did HST and after the cycle.
My workout is as planned:
i do
15s- 2 sets per workout
10s - 2 sets for the first three days, 1 set for the last three days
5s - 2 sets for the first three days, 1 set for the last three days
i don't do negs.
My workouts arE:
Biceps: standing bicep curl using a straight barbell
Triceps: tricep pushdown (machine)
Shoulders: Arnold press
Chest: Dumbell press
I don't really care about my back but here it goes:
Seated Row and Lat pulldown and shrugs.
I don't do leg workouts.
that's it.
here's what i'm eating:
meal 1: 1 cup of rice and whatever meat there is
meal 2: 1 cup of rice and whatever meat there is
meal 3: 1 cup of rice and whatever meat there is
meal 4: 2 slices of bread total 33g of carbs
meal 5: 2 slices of bread total of 33g of carbs + protein shake 23g protein. + 5 egg whites (1 yolk)
meal 6: 1 cup of rice and whatever meat there is + 5 egg whites (1 yolk)
meal 7: 2 slices of bread total of 33g of carbs + protein shake 23g protein + 4g of fish oil.
i'm targeting basically 25% protein, 50% carbs and 25% fat
i workout tuesday to friday since the gym is so full on a monday. I jog at weekends.
help!!! :confused:
 
Are you sure you're taking in enough calories with that? To grow you need to be taking in more calories than you burn, also check to see how much protein you are getting.
 
You're problem is not with your routine, I can assure you. You are not eating enough. How much do you weigh? How many calories are you taking in each day?
 
i'm 5'7 weighing 150 pounds . i'm targeting for 2400 calories a day but i don't really count the amount of fat i eat . i'm sure to eat 279 grams of carbs, and 126g of protein.
doesn't the volume of my workout matter?
it seems to be decreasing from the 15s to the 5s.
 
If you are concerned about volume, what I would do is perform only 1 set of each 15, 2 sets of 10s and 3 sets of 5s. That way you are performing more or less the same reps overall, but your weight will continue to progressively increase.
But seriously, I think your diet is probably at fault too. Your gains are probably going to be slow if you're only eating 2400 a day.
 
totentanz - i'm concerned about volume if it really matters. in what i'm doing right now, my volume in 15s is 30. would i need to do 3 sets in 10s and 6 sets in the 5s so the volume is still 30?! i'm in the middle of my week of 10s..
leegee38 - 3500 calories?! wouldn't that make my stomach grow? i want to keep it slim in the waistline. but i think i'll try that..
liegelord - when i do deadlifts, i feel a kind of flicking spark on my back when i lift it. i decided to stop. btw, should squatting be on HST also? i'm in the middle of my cycle right now. is it okay if i suddenly squat without knowing my rep maxes?
bodyguard - okay i'll try that.
thanks for the suggestions. :)
any more?
 
You'll probably kill yourself if you go up to 6 sets on the 5s. I'd just wait until next cycle and plan it out like that, but continue doing 2 sets of each right now. Maybe do 3 sets of each on the 5s.

If I were you, I would just throw in squats right now. If you know your strength well enough, you should be able to figure out your 10 RM within a set or two. Just get your 10 RM, extrapolate to get your 5 RM, and insert it into your schedule now, so you can get the benefit from it. It's better than waiting six weeks to start squatting. And besides, even though you're sticking it in there halfway through your cycle, you'll still be progressively loading on the squat, so you should get at least some benefit.
 
I'm suggesting 3500 as shock therapy for your system, Skinny. Look at is this way: If we assume your maintenance is 2400 calories per day (we are assuming this because it is what you are eating and you are not gaining or losing, right?) then 3500 would be 1100 calories extra per day. If you do that for one HST cycle of 8 weeks you should theoretically gain about 17 lbs. since you have taken in 61600 extra and one pound of fat supposedly is made up of 3500 calories. If you actually do gain 17 lbs. during the first cycle AND you are getting fat, the obviously you need to cut back. My guess is that you will not nearly gain that much weight, nor will much of what you gain be fat around your stomach. There is only one way to find out ...:) Good luck!
 
Eating 1100 cals over maintenance to shock your system into growth will result in fat, lots of it. I would suggest going up by 400 or 500 cals only, but adjust your macro ratios. Eating 2400 cals a day and only getting 126g of protein is not enough. I know some of the more knowledgable people around here poopoo on macro ratios and quibbling over a couple percentage points is futile. But it is my opinion that with a 50% carb ratio, going up by 1100 cals will add fat.

Personal experience - I am 6' tall, when I started eating for size and doing HST, I was 180lbs and my maintenance cals were only about 2100 calories. I bumped that up to 2500, made sure I was eating at least 180-200g of protein and gained about 15 lbs in 2 months. Maybe a little of it (3-4lbs) was fat. I know that if I had been eating 3200 calories I could have gained more weight, but I wonder how much of it would have been fat, especially if a majority of those cals came from carbs.

I think you need a little more protein in your diet, you definitely need more calories, but take it easy if you are concerned about fat gain. Instead of just adding 1100 cals, then coming down from there if you think you are gaining too much fat, slowly add 200 cals a week until you start gaining. Then you will know the correct amount, rather than overshooting and guessing at how much you overshot it by.

Brak
 
brak - thanks for the low-fat diet tip. i'll go for that. besides, i'm really having a hard time shoving of carbs in my mouth. maybe i'll ko for higher protein
here's the plan:
2900 calories to gain weight
783 calories on protein (195.75g) 27%
1392 calories from carbo (348g) 48%
725 calories from fat (80g) 25%
4 cups of rice : 180g carbs
10 slices of bread 165g carbs + 25g protein + 5g fat
2 servings Whey 46g protein
15 egg whites (2 yolks) 60g protein (each white egg has 4g protein right?)
can of tuna in oil. 52g protein + 32g fat
+meats served during meals (really random)
+i'm looking to eating olive oil for added fat but i can't see olive oil in my neighborhood. there's only edible canola oil. whatever that is. i think that one is used for cooking.
pre-workout:
2 servings protein
post-workout:
glucose+3 slices bread (about 48g carbs)
i was wondering... if my arms are lagging behind.. would 2 workouts (ex. bb curls and preacher curls) having 2 sets each on a day be more beneficial than 1 workout with still 2 sets(only bb curls) because i transfered from ezcurl bar to the straight bar and i'm still going to finish this cycle and see if it works for me. thanks big guys
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Just wanted to add my 2 cents. I wanted to get this thread earlier but forgot . . .

I would back off doing extra stuff with the biceps and arms. Basically, the problem with your workout setup has more to do with diet and frequency scheduling than the exercise selection. (Although having deads in there would help arm development too.)

You're on HST, Tuesday through Friday. Meaning you're not on HST for 3 days of the week. Depending on when you train Tuesday and Friday, that means you're only growing optimally at roughly 4-5 of the 7 days. That's at least a 33% dropoff from the HST typical every other day schedule.

Jogging is not such a great idea for size gains unless you're attentive to post-WO carbs. Even then, you're not really introducing much of a training effect on the arms, and so there may be some protein breakdown anyway from glycogen depletion.

In your case, because you're not deads and you don't have extensive leg work, I'll add back in that 2nd set for your exercises. Just terminate the 2nd set when the rep slows down.

About the diet thing . . . because you have no extra leg work and you're not deadlifting, I'd probably follow Brak's dieting advice. You don't need to eat huge during your rest days. Basically you want to "eat for size" (carb up) post-WO during your 15s and 10s phases. The metabolic fatigue creates an impetus for glycogen storage, which facilitates your muscle's energy systems, protects from protein breakdown during exercise, helps your strength-endurance, and gives you full-looking muscles. Then during the 5s and Ns, one trick to avoid getting fat with excess calories is to increase your protein intake. Your body has a tough time converting excess protein into glycogen into fat.

I would back off messing around with arm optimization strategies (since your routine's mass gains are geared toward upper torso anyway) until you've covered the above issues.

cheers,
Jules
 
hey Jules, thanks for the reply. recently, i've been on a strict "bulking diet" and can see size gains everywhere EXCEPT my arms. i don't see any gene issues since my brother has big arms.
concerning the schedule, i can't do an every-other-day schedule because of a busy schedule ;) is it that bad?
biceps would just not respond... even though strength is really increasing...
:mad:
thanks in advance
 
Reading this post, couple of things spring to mind:
14lbs LBM = +1inch on arms (squats)
reverse curls to "thicken" the arms

for breakfast consider 2/3cup shreaded wheat, 2tbsp mixed nuts, 1tbsp WPI together with 1/2cup semi-skim milk

Lunch: 1/2cup cottage cheese, 2tbsp mixed nuts, 1/2cup grapes & a few lettuce leaves. Medium apple for afters

Dinner: bread is just about the worst carb source (GI wise) try switching to a Jambalaya made with pearl barley & added WPI (you can make a big batch & freeze)

the above are approx 40%c 30%p & 30%f, add in a few snackbars that are around 150cals (with the above proportions) before & after your workouts

Remember the proportions are percentages; start with potein say 30grams - you need 1/3 more carbs;40grams and for fat you'll need half the amount of proteins weight;15grams

Use this as a baseline diet for a few weeks than start adding cals, in the correct proportions...
 
ok straight bar curls isn't for me... wrists hurt especially when i reach 5rm. i think i'll go for inclined curls. however, increments from 15s to 10s to 5s are really close and will result to a lot of zig zagging... any advice please? :D
thanks in advance
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I use really small increments on the incline curls, as low as 2.5 pounds per increment, to prevent zig zagging. It seems to be working for me.
 
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