What am I doing wrong???

Ok guys Im going to SD and here is what I am going to do.

Tell me were if I miss something.

Im going to drink 9 glasses of skim milk a day for added protein...its just easier than buying shakes for me. Thats 72 grams protein. Im going to through in some peanut butter pre and post workout. Other than that Im going to keep my diet the same b/c I think my calories are sufficient and if not they are close. The extra 9 glasses of milk gives me an extra 810 calories a day.

Routine will be nothing but the Basics.

Squats, leg press, dumbell bench, hammer strenght wide grip (i feel more comfortable doing a machine for heavy stuff due to injury) and military press.

maybe 1 arms iso....maybe not.

I think I am going to keep 30 reps b/c of my years of training however I will lower the reps if its compromises load.

Thanks for everyones input.

On a side note to Scientific muscle. I completely agree with you Sci...I should be stronger ( and I have been at times) I really don't know how strong I am b/c of the fear of injury.

I have benched as much as 335 for 3 reps at 175....so if my body did it once I guess I could get back there. But that was when I was younger and my form sucked ass to be honest.
 
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(Joe.Muscle @ Jan. 25 2007,20:41)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Tell me were if I miss something.

Im going to drink 9 glasses of skim milk a day for added protein...its just easier than buying shakes for me. Thats 72 grams protein. Im going to through in some peanut butter pre and post workout. Other than that Im going to keep my diet the same b/c I think my calories are sufficient and if not they are close. The extra 9 glasses of milk gives me an extra 810 calories a day.</div>
again, track your food intake
a proper diet is at least 50% (usually more) of the equation when it comes to gaining muscle. surprisingly many will spend hours in the gym, preparing food, planning w/o's, etc yet think 5-10min a day (online) tracking their diet is &quot;too much of a pain&quot;

you wont be sorry.

good luck
 
My take???

Go heavier and drop volume slightly...with caution of course
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Increase protein intake as per Steve.

When done, take on hell of a long SD 2 - 3 weeks and re-start, youhave been cautious for 2 years...it is time to start dabbing into the heavy loads
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(Joe.Muscle @ Jan. 25 2007,20:41)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I have benched as much as 335 for 3 reps at 175....so if my body did it once I guess I could get back there. But that was when I was younger and my form sucked ass to be honest.</div>
I don't care what your form was like,  that is fabulous.  For most people that would work out to 1 rep max over 2x bodyweight.  I compete in plifting competitions from time to time and I can't do 2x bodyweight.  There are plenty of guys who take plifting far more seiously than me and most of them can't do 2x bodyweight.  Didn't you also say you were as tall as me at 6' ?

So you were 6' 175 and doing approximately 365 max in bench ?  You're a bad ass.  Did you start out strong in the gym ?  If you didn't start out strong and have gained all this strength while still being 175, then all I can look at is your diet.
 
about your diet like the guys said eat more,but more importantly IMO its around training times that are optimum because thats when you need it the most.
 
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(stevejones @ Jan. 26 2007,08:41)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Joe.Muscle @ Jan. 25 2007,20:41)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I have benched as much as 335 for 3 reps at 175....so if my body did it once I guess I could get back there. But that was when I was younger and my form sucked ass to be honest.</div>
So you were 6' 175 and doing approximately 365 max in bench ? You're a bad ass.</div>
No kidding! Especially with bad form.

Let me guess: elbows flared wide body builder style? Joe, was the injury a shoulder or pec problem?

If you don't already, I'd recommend doing flat bench power lifter style. Touch at nipples or below, elbows not real wide, upper back contracted, back with moderate arch, etc. If that doesn't hit the chest the way you want do the incline press/dip combo or the like instead of flat.

I pretty much second what has been said in this thread. Reminds me of some of the things that I've read by Glenn Pendlay about the style of training that he and Rippetoe do. When someone has a hard time setting PRs and continuing to progress the load, they'll often lower volume. Maybe cut sets, do more of the sets with less weight, etc. Whatever can help the lifter progress and set PRs for a top set of 5 for a few more weeks.

Sometimes they up volume too, but volume is only a tool to allow progression. Don't get hung up on &quot;that's strength training, I want size&quot;, people get plenty big doing that. Anyway, that's not HST, but uses many similar principles.

Bottom line, I think you're still having a hard time letting go of the volume and would do well to listen to some of the others' comments and make progression of load a priority.
 
Good point...I think you are right I have gotten hung up on the &quot;thats strenght training part&quot;

Thanks for the compliments Steve and Lifting n Tx...on the past strength numbers.

I guess I will go a little more into detail to give everyone the full picture.

Yes Im 6 feet tall. Start training at 16...but got serious at 18 years old.

When I started at 18 I was 6 feet tall and weighed around 145...in 3 months I weighed 188 everyone thought I was on steroids including myself
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In fact though I was 18 so testosterone was raging I was eating everything under the sun and It was fatty foods. This was around 1997 and if you remember this was the Big Bill Phillips EAS phase. I was taking creatine out the a$$ and it helped big time.

Now I know what you are thinking I am 18 to 19 years old and I weighed the same thing I do today...given I was not know were as big back then or defined as I am now.

To be honest I remember measuring my arms and they were 13.5 inches!

Fast forward to college and I got even more serious with training...( I got obsessed with Bodybuilding)

I mean I drank...slept and ate bodybuilding 24/7.

This is when I got even more serious...I started logging the food intake ( I ate nothing bad. Perfect diet almost everyday) no exageration. I was eating great!

Nothing but egg whites, chicken breast , turkey...and tuna out of the can with ketchup (yuk..tasted like ass) but it had tons of protein.

So with that being said I starting hitting the gym hard.

I followed a Body for Life routine by Bill Phillips and bought into the concept of ( less is more) and it worked great...I actually had phenomenal results for about 1 year.

Fast forward again to around 22 years old.

I am at a friends house waiting to go out and party...he was running behind so me and my friend were bored waiting on him. We had, had a couple of beers and were feeling good and started playing around with his bench press.

I got down under the bar...(tipsy at the time) and did 135 for a couple of reps. Then I did 275 a couple of reps ( I went straight to 315 and brought the bar down and &quot;pop&quot; I torn my bicep tendon in the Pec shoulder tie in area. This happened b/c of two reason. One I was being stupid and drinking and lifting ...but the main reason was the lack of warmup.

8 weeks later and out of a sling I start back training.

I went from benching in the mid 300's to having to start back with 10 pound dumbells.
My shoulder and stabilizer muscles hurt like hell and I was beyond weak.

I was determine to bounce back b/c everyone knew me for my phsyquie and I couldn't let this minor setback get in the way.

I started reading everything around supplements and went and bought the book Encyclopdia of modern bodybuilding by arnolds Schwarzenegger.

For whatever reason I forgot that the &quot;less is more approach worked&quot; and I started doing arnolds routines.

I did this thinking hard work and dedication would get by strength and physique back soon. I started doing 25 sets for chest back shoulders and legs ....plus 16 sets for arms during the week...all one 1 bodypart per week routine.

I started taking 21 pills a day of supplements. I was on ZMA....HMB and creatine plus my rediculous food log of turkey and tuna!!!! with egg whites.

Needless to say I shocked my system and grew like hell for about 3 months and plateaued for about 3 years.

After 3 years of lifting like this my strenght was up to benching 45 pound dumbells for reps. (pathetic I know)

I didn't know what to do...and didn't know how to get my strenght back...I started reading some more to find the answer and I got introduced by google to HST.

Stared HST after a SD and my strength started coming back after 2 weeks. Come to find out I was extremely and I mean EXTREMELY overtrained.

Don't get me wrong I could work out with the best of them as far as pain threshold and endurance but I couldn't grow muscle for shi-t!

Anyway long story short....HST helped me more than ever ...Im back into believing the less is more approach. And I have found myself at this crossroads again.

Now I know I am still roughly 188 to 190 after all these years but my muscles have gotten much bigger and more defined...so something there has happend???

I have weighed as much as 222 at 18 % bodyfat.

Everyone thougth I looked huge and arms were big over 17 inches but I took my shirt off and I looked like shi-t.

Even the wife didnt like it!

Well thats my life story....hope everyone is more informed now and not bored to death!
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I think you're gonna explode again on the minimal approach. Remember, you're going to have much more strength since you're not wearing yourself out, and you've not done this to your body before. People ask me the old standard &quot;how much do you bench&quot; and I just say, &quot;I don't bench&quot;. Any Bb'er knows it's not a measure of strength in anything but itself. If someone asked my PL'ing totals, I'd consider it to be a valid question. (1080 using my maxes, if you wondered)
I really would do the arms one day and maybe pullups once a week too; I get that from this 5x5 cycle results. It's surprising to see arm growth this way, but there it is.
 
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(quadancer @ Jan. 26 2007,16:27)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I think you're gonna explode again on the minimal approach. Remember, you're going to have much more strength since you're not wearing yourself out, and you've not done this to your body before. People ask me the old standard &quot;how much do you bench&quot; and I just say, &quot;I don't bench&quot;. Any Bb'er knows it's not a measure of strength in anything but itself. If someone asked my PL'ing totals, I'd consider it to be a valid question. (1080 using my maxes, if you wondered)
I really would do the arms one day and maybe pullups once a week too; I get that from this 5x5 cycle results. It's surprising to see arm growth this way, but there it is.</div>
I agree Quad...100%.
 
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(Lifting N Tx @ Jan. 26 2007,12:19)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Bottom line, I think you're still having a hard time letting go of the volume and would do well to listen to some of the others' comments and make progression of load a priority.</div>
Completely agree and that's why I think I am going to just do 20 reps this time.

What do you guys think about a 10 day de-load week instead of SD.

I have been reading about this over a lyles board?
 
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(Joe.Muscle @ Jan. 26 2007,17:45)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">You know guys the more I think about it I am thinking of dropping reps to 20 instead of 30
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Sounds good, and interesting story you had there.  Life does throw a lot of curveballs for everyone, particularly when you throw alcohol into the mix.

I'm easily impressed by strength because I'm not really a bodybuilder at heart.  If given the choice between looking like Bruce Lee and having superior strength vs. looking like your favorite bber and having average strength, I'd choose Bruce's body everytime.
 
I have to agree with steve. I started just wanting to look great, but lately all I care about is how much I lift!?
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I am thinking of changing my max-stim routine to be even more a power/strength type program.
I find the world's strongest man competitions even more interesting than bodybuilding competitons. Seeing guys with huge muscles and low bodyfat is pretty inspiring, but it gets boring quick. For some reason I never tire of watching Pudzianowski and other strongmen do incredible feats of strength that would kill most men!
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