Hello everyone,
I've been training on-and-off for about 3 years (I'm now 20). My gains have been atrociously bad, and I think this was mostly because of the fact that I didn't want to eat. I wanted to keep the fat off my abs and face. I wanted 6-8% BF year-round. I tried everything that could possibly be tried. All the different diets; ABCD diet, intermittent fasting, keto-cycling. I also tried various training programs; traditional 5-day split, HIT, UB-LB split, Bill Star's 5x5. Results: yeah I stayed lean, but I gained minimal muscle in the process.
At the end of it all, my stats were the following (seriously):
Height: 6'2'' (188 cm)
Weight: 163 lbs (74 kg)
BF: 6-8%
Bench 1RM: 167 lbs (76 kg)
ATG Squat 1RM: 154 lbs (70 kg)
Deadlift 1RM: 300 lbs (136 kg)
Chest cold: ?
Arms cold: 13.6" (34.5 cm)
Legs cold: 22.6" (57.5 cm)
Vertical leap: 19" (48 cm)
Which is pathetic. Pathetic.
My deadlift is high, because I have a short torso, long limbs (long arms and legs). My fingers are also very long, which all points to the fact that I am a classic ectomorph. Back in high school, I was good at endurance activities, bad at explosive ones (sprinting etc.). This makes me think I have a higher percentage of type I fibers (at least, in my legs) than average.
I now know that I will have to seriously start BULKING to add any muscle. Going up to 20% body fat in the course of the next 6-8 months. I am willing to do it, sacrificing this 'lean' look.
I hadn't trained in 3 months, dropped to 69 kg at 11% BF, arms 12.5" (31.7 cm)and legs 21.9" (55.5 cm). I've since then started HST again, thinking I would regain the mass easily, because of muscle memory. I'm now in the first week of 5's and results have been disappointing. My arms after the first week of 15's blew up from 12.5" to 13.0" (+0.5"), my legs went up from 21.9" to 22.1" (+0.2"). I've gained, over the past 4 weeks, 13 pounds. However, after the first week of 15's, my arms have remained stagnant. They're still 13.0". My legs have continued to grow gradually after the first week of 15's and are now 22.7" (+0.6" from after first week of 15's). Why aren't my arms growing (not even to equal size as before the 3 month quit from training/eating)?
It might have something to do with my current diet, which is the following:
3500-4500 kcals/day (+1000 balance every day)
100 g protein (400 kcal, 10%)
560 g carbs (2250 kcal, 56%)
150 g fat (1350 kcal, 34%)
HST training is 15 - 8 - 5 reps, keeping a constant of 45 reps/week for every exercise (1 set of 15, 2 sets of 8, 3 sets of 5), thus keeping volume (sets x reps i.m.o.) constant. I add 2.5% to weights (load) every training session, rep cadence is concentric as fast as possible, eccentric 2 seconds. Total cycle takes 6 weeks to complete.
Thinking about adding oatmeal and cooked chicken to my diet, raising protein to 150 g.
I'm looking to add 35 lbs to my frame coming 6-8 months. This would have me going from my current weight 165 lbs (75 kg) at 10% BF to 200 lbs (91 kg) at 17% BF (adding 50% muscle, 50% fat). This would mean about 2 lbs of muscle per month, which isn't unrealistic at my horrendous stats (those of a beginner). HOWEVER I suspect my genes (and free test levels maybe, ought to get them checked sometime soon) will hinder this process.
Before summer, I'd cut for 2-2.5 months (bout 10 weeks), supplementing with Ephedrine/Caffeine, doing low carb intermittent fasting with carb-loads, eating about -750 kcals/day to lose about 1.5 lbs weight per week (good ectomorphic cutting abilities), cutting down to 180-185 lbs at 9%.
Of course, this is all hypothetically speaking, but that's what would be happening in the ideal world...
Ideas, anyone on why I'm not making sufficient gains (esp. in my arms?)?
Any general tips?
I've been training on-and-off for about 3 years (I'm now 20). My gains have been atrociously bad, and I think this was mostly because of the fact that I didn't want to eat. I wanted to keep the fat off my abs and face. I wanted 6-8% BF year-round. I tried everything that could possibly be tried. All the different diets; ABCD diet, intermittent fasting, keto-cycling. I also tried various training programs; traditional 5-day split, HIT, UB-LB split, Bill Star's 5x5. Results: yeah I stayed lean, but I gained minimal muscle in the process.
At the end of it all, my stats were the following (seriously):
Height: 6'2'' (188 cm)
Weight: 163 lbs (74 kg)
BF: 6-8%
Bench 1RM: 167 lbs (76 kg)
ATG Squat 1RM: 154 lbs (70 kg)
Deadlift 1RM: 300 lbs (136 kg)
Chest cold: ?
Arms cold: 13.6" (34.5 cm)
Legs cold: 22.6" (57.5 cm)
Vertical leap: 19" (48 cm)
Which is pathetic. Pathetic.
My deadlift is high, because I have a short torso, long limbs (long arms and legs). My fingers are also very long, which all points to the fact that I am a classic ectomorph. Back in high school, I was good at endurance activities, bad at explosive ones (sprinting etc.). This makes me think I have a higher percentage of type I fibers (at least, in my legs) than average.
I now know that I will have to seriously start BULKING to add any muscle. Going up to 20% body fat in the course of the next 6-8 months. I am willing to do it, sacrificing this 'lean' look.
I hadn't trained in 3 months, dropped to 69 kg at 11% BF, arms 12.5" (31.7 cm)and legs 21.9" (55.5 cm). I've since then started HST again, thinking I would regain the mass easily, because of muscle memory. I'm now in the first week of 5's and results have been disappointing. My arms after the first week of 15's blew up from 12.5" to 13.0" (+0.5"), my legs went up from 21.9" to 22.1" (+0.2"). I've gained, over the past 4 weeks, 13 pounds. However, after the first week of 15's, my arms have remained stagnant. They're still 13.0". My legs have continued to grow gradually after the first week of 15's and are now 22.7" (+0.6" from after first week of 15's). Why aren't my arms growing (not even to equal size as before the 3 month quit from training/eating)?
It might have something to do with my current diet, which is the following:
3500-4500 kcals/day (+1000 balance every day)
100 g protein (400 kcal, 10%)
560 g carbs (2250 kcal, 56%)
150 g fat (1350 kcal, 34%)
HST training is 15 - 8 - 5 reps, keeping a constant of 45 reps/week for every exercise (1 set of 15, 2 sets of 8, 3 sets of 5), thus keeping volume (sets x reps i.m.o.) constant. I add 2.5% to weights (load) every training session, rep cadence is concentric as fast as possible, eccentric 2 seconds. Total cycle takes 6 weeks to complete.
Thinking about adding oatmeal and cooked chicken to my diet, raising protein to 150 g.
I'm looking to add 35 lbs to my frame coming 6-8 months. This would have me going from my current weight 165 lbs (75 kg) at 10% BF to 200 lbs (91 kg) at 17% BF (adding 50% muscle, 50% fat). This would mean about 2 lbs of muscle per month, which isn't unrealistic at my horrendous stats (those of a beginner). HOWEVER I suspect my genes (and free test levels maybe, ought to get them checked sometime soon) will hinder this process.
Before summer, I'd cut for 2-2.5 months (bout 10 weeks), supplementing with Ephedrine/Caffeine, doing low carb intermittent fasting with carb-loads, eating about -750 kcals/day to lose about 1.5 lbs weight per week (good ectomorphic cutting abilities), cutting down to 180-185 lbs at 9%.
Of course, this is all hypothetically speaking, but that's what would be happening in the ideal world...
Ideas, anyone on why I'm not making sufficient gains (esp. in my arms?)?
Any general tips?
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