Advice needed to achieve my goal

[degscher]

I started lifting weights at the end of August, my goal was to be 150 pounds by the end of the year, then I changed it to 155 pounds. I'm 6'1", my weight was between 134-137 pounds, now I'm at 148. I work out at home with a weight bench 3 times a week doing this:

(Everything is 4 sets 8 repetitions and in this order)

Bench press
Bent lateral rise
Leg extension
Leg curl
Leg rise
Preacher curl
Triceps kickback
Crush (4x16 with weight)
Upright row
Squat (picked up from floor, heavy enough to get me really tired)
Bent over row
Fly

I do all that and it takes me 2 hours

I add weight just by seeing how it feels, I try to go almost to the failure point on the last set, been adding weight every week until a couple weeks ago that I started feeling very weak. A week ago I messed up my right shoulder, I think because I put to much weight on the Bent over row, so because of that and having to go out of town for thanksgiving I decided to take a week off, my shoulder is a little sore but I think is good to go.

I was gaining weight every week, I haven't been able to pass 150 for three weeks.

Diet, I try to eat as much as I can but I could eat more:
6am: bowl of oatmeal with honey and milk, a glass of whey protein supplement. 9am: two ham with butter sandwiches. 11.5am: rise/pasta with redmeat/chicken/pork and tomatoes/lettuce/other veg. and a juice or soda. 2pm: banana. 4pm: same as 11.5 only bigger amount and slices of bread. 8-10pm: sandwich of mayonaisse with ham and two toats with peanut butter and jelly, juice or soda. That's for the week, weekends changes a bit.

My goal is to gain weight, 155 by the end of the year, I don't think I'll make it but I'm happy with the 12-15 pounds I've gotten, I'll set a new goal for the next year, 175 lbs by July, for that I think I'll have to start going to the gym and maybe separate sessions by body parts.

What am I doing wrong?
What could I be doing better?

Any advice, help or comment will be greatly appreciated.

 

[SouthernLord]

Congratulations on the weight gain and the decision to start lifting.

You should really join a gym. That would be the best thing for you right now imo. You are limited by your equipment now and that is holding you back.

Your diet is not perfect. Every meal should be a chore to finish. Every meal should have a complete source of protein and a lot of it. You need to be eating at least 300 grams of protein a day. At least double that amount of carbs. The Dollar menu is your friend. 4 double cheeseburgers, a large fry, and a super-sized milkshake a few times a week wont kill you. It will ad weight to the scale.

Don't get caught up in the supplement hype either. Whey protein and creatine are fine. All your money should be going towards food and a gym membership. This is more important than any Ronnie Coleman super blast pump 2000.

 

[knockdown357]

you could really simplfy your workout. focus more on compound lifts like bench press, squats, rows, and deadlifts. The tricep kickbacks and other isolation excercises are not going to do much to add mass. I would check into a 5x5 program like madcow's which there is alot of info on in the stickys. good luck bro

 

[SCREW]

yes join a gym or something so you have more equipment and a good program is the 5x5

Bill Starr 5x5 - Madcow Intermediate or Linear Version

its a good one trust me ive done it

 

[lockdownd7]

Congratulations on the weight gain and the decision to start lifting.

You should really join a gym. That would be the best thing for you right now imo. You are limited by your equipment now and that is holding you back.

Your diet is not perfect. Every meal should be a chore to finish. Every meal should have a complete source of protein and a lot of it. You need to be eating at least 300 grams of protein a day. At least double that amount of carbs. The Dollar menu is your friend. 4 double cheeseburgers, a large fry, and a super-sized milkshake a few times a week wont kill you. It will ad weight to the scale.

Don't get caught up in the supplement hype either. Whey protein and creatine are fine. All your money should be going towards food and a gym membership. This is more important than any Ronnie Coleman super blast pump 2000.

Listen to this post.

In regards to diet, it sounds like you're overly focused on eating clean. As a result, you're not even close to hitting the amount of calories you need for growth. It is not rocket science....if you're not gaining weight you need to eat more. That's it, period. If you metabolize a lot of calories, it is very hard to get what you need eating an ultra clean diet. This article goes into a lot more detail on that subject.

 

[keasbey]

in the meantime drink more milk throughout the day it will be a nice cal/protein boost but this is only temp. fix

 

[joe d]

every time you workout you should be doing all different lifts. enery 2-3 months you should change the way you go about it with a whole new routine. you should also try working each muscle group 1 time per wk and see how that works for you. are you eating enough? 250+ grams protein 500+ grams of carbs 3000+ cals?

 

[the_alcatraz]

yes join a gym or something so you have more equipment and a good program is the 5x5

Bill Starr 5x5 - Madcow Intermediate or Linear Version

its a good one trust me ive done it

This is good advice.

I started with something similar when I first started bodybuilding.

Concentrate on the big lifts (bench, deads, squats, military)

The rest will fall into place..

 

[lockdownd7]

in the meantime drink more milk throughout the day it will be a nice cal/protein boost but this is only temp. fix

Well, milk should actually be a permanent addition! Unless you have trouble digesting it, that is. But nothing wrong with it being a staple; after all, it is the only substance explicitly designed by nature as food.

 

[Big_BK]

No need to get complicated with this at all. You are very close to what i was when i started. My suggestion is the following:

workouts:

joing a gym, you really are limiting yourself. This is what i would do for now at the gym.

day 1
deadlifts
db or BB rows
Pullups any grip you want
some sort of curl (hammer, preacher, regular, etc.)

Day 2
bench press DB or BB
dips
pushdowns or skull crushers, your pick
shoulder press, DB or BB

day 3
squats
calf raises
abs and obliques

It looks very very simple but its basically all compounds and its what worked for me. Stay away from the machines, if you truly bust your ass you should be tired as hell and sore after each workout with that routine. For your rep range i would do either 4 sets of 6 or 3 sets of 8. You wanna do a warm up then go as heavy as you can, you should need help on the last 2-3 reps.

Food and supplement wise. Creatine IMO is just gonna make you hold water and fill your stomach up. I would cut that out, but thats just me. Protein shakes are your friend, BUT a shake is not a meal, remember that. My day looked like this:

breakfast
shake + chicken breast and rice or just eggs
lunch
shake + chicken breast and rice or just a shake if it was a workout day because i can't workout well with that much food in my stomach
shake after workout or another meal if not a workout day
usually fast food on way home from gym after my shake
dinner
anything i want until i go to bed.

 

[b fold the truth]

I haven't had a gym membership in probably 10 years.

I have a squat rack, bench, adjustable dbells, bands, few bars, and lots of plates.

You could easily split your routine up into an upper/lower/upper session where the next week would be lower/upper/lower if that makes sense.

Don't stick with 4x8 every time. Maybe do 3x10, 4x8, 5x5, 20 rep sets, etc...at different times. You never know...you may find that 20 rep squats add those 5 lbs on you before Dec 31! They sure do for a lot of people!

As a matter of fact, since you don't have a squat rack, 20 rep squats could be perfect for you! You don't need much weight on the bar either!

For years I didn't have a squat rack so I did this:
YouTube - Squats are Important

If you drink a gallon of milk every day and do 20 rep squats 2x a week...there is no reason why you can't step on the scale at 155 before Jan 1!