Breaking My Plateau - HELP

[houseofpain]

I've done weight training all my life although rarely in a consistent fashion. I'd usually start in the Jan or Feb weighing about 155 (6' tall), get relatively buff for the summer pushing my weight up to about 165'ish, and then by the fall slack off and let all the muscular progress fade back to my original weight. Usually because of reaching a plateau (I'd never benched more than 190 lbs) and getting frustrated with not being able to get past it. Then I'd do the same thing over and over again every year.

Well I'm 39 now and I decided that I was going to go futher this time than I ever had before. Some people use their mid-life crisis to get a corvette, some a mistress, me I decided that I'd give myself a new body.

I started out on January 1st 2003 doing good to just bench 135 a few times and unable to do an unasisted wide grip pull up. So I started off just doing about 3 days a week in the gym trying to get my muscles over the soreness phase.

Now 6 months later through a lot of pain and shear determination I've pushed my weight up to 180, I'm benching 225, and when I do wide grip pullups I can actually do sets of my body weight plus another 10 pounds.

How? I tried something I never tried before. I decided that all the peaking and shaping movements were going to be out of my routine. I was going to go strictly for basic compound movements that worked the major muscle groups. The proof is in the results above. I've gotten bigger than I've ever been before.

Here's the routine I used to get here (current weights used listed):

Day 1 - Chest & Back
***
Very wide grip flat bench 8-6-4-2-1 reps increasing 20 lbs between each set peaking at 225.
(no rest between other than the walk between machines)
Very wide grip pull ups using an assist machine starting with a 50 pound offset doing 8 reps each then 40-30-20-10
***
Close grip (6" apart) flat bench usually starting with 145 lbs dropping down in 5 lb increments, (but never going below 135)
for 5 Sets of 8 reps.
(no rest between)
Close grip pullups of full body weight or rows with around 200 - 240 for 5 sets of 8 reps


Day 2 - Legs & Abs
***
45 degree machine hack squats starting at 225 increasing 90 pounds for each set up to 585 (5 sets).
(No rest between)
Weight machine crunches 200 lbs, 8 reps, 5 sets.
***
Sitting leg press 320 lbs (full machine stack) 10 reps, 5 sets
(No rest between)
Hanging leg lifts (straight legged) 10 reps, 5 sets


Day 3 - Arms
***
Wide grip straight bar curls starting at 70 lbs going up in 10 lb increments to 110 - 8 reps, 5 sets
(No rest between)
Forward cable tricep pulldowns starting off at 70 lbs, going up in 5 lbs increments to 90 - 8 reps, 5 sets
***
Cross body standing dumbell curls starting with 40 lb dumbells working up as high as I can get, usually to 55 lb dumbells. 5 reps per arm, 5 sets
(No rest between)
Either weighted dips or dumbell kickbacks. Body weight + 20 lbs with the former, and 35 lb dumbells for the latter. 12 reps per arm 5 sets.


Day 4 - Chest & Back
Day 5 - Legs & Abs
Day 6 - Arms
Day 7 - REST

It's worked great so far, but now I've been stuck for 2 months and I can't get beyond the weights or the repetitions mentioned and I need help getting over this plateau. What should I change to get myself over this hump?

 

[Debaser]

Arms don't need their own day. Hell, they don't really even need to be isolated (I don't isolate my triceps). I'm not sure why you're working 3 days in a row without rest either, that's a recipe for becoming overtrained. I would cut it down to 2 or 3 days a week with a push-pull-legs split, or look into DC or HST training.

 

[pwr_machine]

To get over a hump, change something. Try to vary your program. Every few months, try something different. Keep your body guessing to what might come next. That often keeps me and many other lifters that I know from plateauing. I got a late start as I didn't start weight training until about 7 years ago. I was 6' 160 pounds. Now, I'm 29 on my way to 230.

 

[casualbb]

If what you've been doing has been working, I say why change it. But you may need the secret weapon: time off. Try taking 2 weeks off, and restarting the same exact program with some diet adjustment.

As you gain lean body mass, the amount required to build more increases. Before you could bulk on 3000, now you may need 3500. That will ensure that you continue to gain strength and bodyweight.

You could switch programs if you want. If you don't want to switch, these two basic actions will help you get more out of your current program.

 

[pwr_machine]

It's worked great so far, but now I've been stuck for 2 months and I can't get beyond the weights or the repetitions mentioned and I need help getting over this plateau. What should I change to get myself over this hump?

Reason enough to make a change in my book.

 

[Mike_Rojas]

More food and more rest days.

 

[Liftbig]

like pwr machine said, change your stuff around.

 

[houseofpain]

A few here mentioned that I may be overtraining at 6 days a week. But I've found that if I take more than 3 consecutive days off, I seem to start losing ground as far as my maximum lifts.

How many of you are doing 6 day workout routines? And for those that do, what is your basic muscular schedule?

I was thinking about dropping the arms part of my workout since I'm basically hitting both the biceps and the triceps during my chest and back days, which would give my muscles more rest time. But do you think that my arms will get enough stimulation from just the chest & back routine I described above?

This is what I was thinking:

Day 1 - Chest & Back
Day 2 - REST
Day 3 - Legs & Abs
Day 4 - REST
Day 5 - Chest & Back
Day 6 - REST
Day 7 - Legs & Abs

Are there any other suggestions on a schedule change that I should consider?

 

[casualbb]

You could throw in 1-2 sets of bis and tris on legs & abs day.

 

[pwr_machine]

A few here mentioned that I may be overtraining at 6 days a week. But I've found that if I take more than 3 consecutive days off, I seem to start losing ground as far as my maximum lifts.

How many of you are doing 6 day workout routines? And for those that do, what is your basic muscular schedule?

I just finished a 10 week training cycle at 6 days/week.

Sun - Legs and Calves
Mon - Neck, Forearms, and Abs
Tue - Off
Wed - Chest and Calves
Thu - Back and Biceps
Fri - Shoulders, Traps and Calves
Sat - Triceps

I was very satisfied with training that often. However, next training cycle I will change things up a bit and go to 5 days/week. I never train the same way for more than 10-12 weeks at a time.

 

[revexrevex]

What did volume look like on that

I just finished a 10 week training cycle at 6 days/week.

Sun - Legs and Calves
Mon - Neck, Forearms, and Abs
Tue - Off
Wed - Chest and Calves
Thu - Back and Biceps
Fri - Shoulders, Traps and Calves
Sat - Triceps

I was very satisfied with training that often. However, next training cycle I will change things up a bit and go to 5 days/week. I never train the same way for more than 10-12 weeks at a time.

 

[Scotsman]

You may not even need to change your split. Try changing some exercise around and reps and weights. Your body will grow accustomed to anything you contiually through at it. Also you may need to increase your caloric intake to support the large amount of new body you have gained. Also a week off would be good for you.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[pwr_machine]

What did volume look like on that

In the past, most of my training cycles were structured very similiar to what you find on Bigguns15's website at http://www.rebeccaphelps.com. This past training cycle, I took a break from the HEAVY lifting and stayed at higher reps for longer than usual. I did 3 weeks at 10 reps, followed by 3 weeks at 8 reps, followed by 3 weeks at 10 reps, and finally a week of 20 reps on each exercise. I typically do between 10 and 12 total sets per bodypart. I'm taking a break now and will begin a new training cycle next week.

 

[revexrevex]

I am very interested about that tricep day. What was your exercise selection like? Did you use board presses and various extensions?

 

[pwr_machine]

I am very interested about that tricep day. What was your exercise selection like? Did you use board presses and various extensions?

Board presses are performed off a 3" block for sets of 2, 3, or 5 depending on how many weeks you are into the training cycle as shown on the website. Due to tendinitis in both elbows, I had to modify the way I trained triceps to work around the pain. I did sets of 5 the entire 10 weeks to be able to handle a lighter load. From week 1 to week 10, I put about 50 pounds on my 5 rep max for board presses.

I generally did rope pushdowns, a tricep machine with a hammer grip, bench dips, or dumbell kickbacks. I simply chose those exercises because they produced the least amount of pain during my workouts. Bigguns15 is injury free (lucky her) and typically performs weighted parallel bar dips, overhead tricep extensions, pushdowns, etc. I'm sure she'll come around this thread soon and comment on exactly how she handles the tricep workout.

 

[bigguns15]

I'm sure she'll come around this thread soon and comment on exactly how she handles the tricep workout.

Mine's pretty similar to pwr_machines. I start off with a 2 board press with my pinkies on the rings (my normal grip was index fingers on the rings, but I'm trying to bring that in now). The weight is a percentage of that same weeks bench press. In the beginning of a training cycle, I will do sets of 5 for all tricep exercises and taper down to doubles and singles closer to a meet. After board presses, I either do heavy overhead dumbbell or weighted dips. I do both exercises each week, just changing the order. I'll finish with either close grip bench or close grip decline bench. When I get to doubles and singles, I cut out all exercises except the board presses. I'll also add in some heavy holds those last few weeks. I've seen excellent results so far with this!!

 

[revexrevex]

Thank you, very interesting

 

[pwr_machine]

Thank you, very interesting

Let me know if you give the training a shot.