I'm new and really need some help.

[NGP]

Hi everyone!

First post here but have been a reader on and off for a long time... I'm not sure if this post is in the right forum...

I need some help! This post may be quite a long one, but please take the time to read - you may find this ineteresting, or may be not.

Right then... I'm 31 years old, I've been training nearly 10 years, but the trouble is I still weigh 140lbs.

"You should eat more" I hear you say... well, I have been as high as 174lbs with a 36 inch waist - that was in the middle of a cycle, yeah that's right, I've used AAS and still haven't gained any muscle mass, or any real strength.

In fact, the strength I have gained has just been neural, there's not been any real strength increase or muscle growth. Whilst on the juice I did gain some strength and a load of water retention and fat, but all that was lost 2-3 weeks after the cycles had finished. Even during the cycles I've done (there's been a few) I didn't notice any new muscle, I just looked fatter/ I've used alsorts of steroids from Dianabol, to Prop, to Sus to Tren and even drol. I haven't used any gear in 3 years now, wasn't much point.

You'll probably be thinking that the gear was fake - I know it wasn't.

You might think I drink, smoke and have a crap diet - that's not true either.

You might think I train 50 sets a session and train every set to failure and train 7 days a week - that couldn't be any further from the truth either.

My diet is good and I've worked with two bodybuilding nutrionists, I keep my protein consumption from whey protein low and try and get most of it from good solid foods, good fats in there and low-moderate carb intake. I've tried different ratios with my diet, but still nothing changes for the better.

When it comes to training, as you can imagine, I've tried a lot, but still haven't found anything that works. I've tried abreviated routines, volume, high and low frequency, failure training, beyond failure, training 1-2 reps shy of failure, training 2-5 days a week but so far I've still found nothing that works better than the previous method. I've trained using two personal trainers too, one was an online trainer, the other was at a gym.

You're probably thinking that I should get to the doctors to get checked out, but I've done that too - I had a full blood work done 10 weeks after a cycle and everything was fine - test levels were high, and everything in order. I then went on to have cortisol, DHEA, estradiol, prolactin, thyroid, SHBG and again everything appears to be normal.

So What is going on? Has anyone heard of anything like this before? I don't have any trouble gaining weight, but that weight is just fat. I do like training but being strict and consistent for nothing in return is taking it's toll!... I know that my CNS might be part of the problem along with abnormal levels of myostatin... maybe my IGF-1 levels are low, maybe all of these factors may be contributing, maybe it's nothing to do with any of those, maybe it's something else?

If you've read this, thanks for reading and if anyone has anything constructive to say, then please do so. I've posted on other forums before but just get people talking down to me like I'm some kind of idiot... I'll keep posting on the internet, I'll keep reading and hopefully some day I'll have an answer! I'd love to be able to make some kind of progress with lifting weights, but at the moment it just doesn't look possible.

 

[RADAR]

By Golly you're at the right place,If you can't make it here then you can't make it anywhere,Since I don't know what your diet and training looks like ,lets start there.
Training.
For starters i reccommend the push pull method.

4 days a week
Day one
Push Exercises
Chest,Shoulder presses,Tri's

Day two

Pull Exercises

Rows,Lat pull downs,chin ups,curls


Day three

Free Squats,Leg extentsions,leg curls,calves


Day 4

Abs,incline sit ups, leg raises ,etc

Diet

You should consume whole foods,not process food,
Nuts,Grains,Dairy,Meats(except Pork)Veggies

And supplement your diet with a hi calorie protein shake,I love Muscle milk(vanilla)

Eat 5-7 smaller servings thruout the day so not to stress the body and include some protein with each meal.

This is just a rough draft to get you going ,i'll send you a pm when i get time with more details.


RADAR

 

[JDid23]

hey.. just wanted to let you know i read your post. I don't know what you can do, but i want to commend you for your dedication. It's hard to find someone who would keep persisting the way you are, and i truly wish you the best of luck and much success in the near future.

 

[NGP]

By Golly you're at the right place,If you can't make it here then you can't make it anywhere,Since I don't know what your diet and training looks like ,lets start there.
Training.
For starters i reccommend the push pull method.

4 days a week
Day one
Push Exercises
Chest,Shoulder presses,Tri's

Day two

Pull Exercises

Rows,Lat pull downs,chin ups,curls


Day three

Free Squats,Leg extentsions,leg curls,calves


Day 4

Abs,incline sit ups, leg raises ,etc

Diet

You should consume whole foods,not process food,
Nuts,Grains,Dairy,Meats(except Pork)Veggies

And supplement your diet with a hi calorie protein shake,I love Muscle milk(vanilla)

Eat 5-7 smaller servings thryout the day so not to stress the body and include some protein with each meal.

This is just a rough draft to get you going ,i'll send you a pm when i get time with more details.


RADAR

Thanks radar, I've tried similar routines to that in the past. I also eat 5-6 meals a day (sometimes 7 on training days) and I like to keep whey protein consumption low as I prefer to get my protein from whole foods and aim for 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight and I don't eat any processed foods, just good and healthy foods... I may have a cheat meal once a week.

I eat well both pre and post workout and sleep 8 hours a night.

Thanks again.

 

[NGP]

hey.. just wanted to let you know i read your post. I don't know what you can do, but i want to commend you for your dedication. It's hard to find someone who would keep persisting the way you are, and i truly wish you the best of luck and much success in the near future.

Thanks for that, though some people would deem me as a bit of fool for continuing weight training having gained nothing from it - the people at my gym must think I'm a loon because for years my appearance hasn't changed other than an increase in fat, they must think 'why does he even bother?' lol

But thanks for the sentiments, appreciated.

 

[AEKDB]

The best thing you did was go to the doctor. As everything is normal, the problem must be your training. I would recommend you forget everything you have learned so far and start over with an open mind.

If you have not already, you should become familiar with the different body types. After you have an idea of your body type, you should pick a realistic goal based on your body type. Since you may never be a 200lb lean giant, why not aim for 160lb freak who can lift more than a 200lb giant? Muscle size is not directly proportional to strength.

The Training Vault at the top of the sub-forum page is the place to start reading on how to really train. But please do not stop at the 5x5 as most people do. Read as much of the info and links in the vault as you can especially Dan John's page. The really good stuff on his site is in the archives at the bottom of the page. I also recommend the routines on Joe Skopec's page (the Smolov squat routine is one of the best). It is not in the vault (it should be) but the Coan/Phillipi dead lift routine is great:Excel Spreadsheet at bottom of page.

 

[NGP]

Hi aekdb, you said "The best thing you did was go to the doctor. As everything is normal" - there still could be something wrong, like myostatin levels, CNS frailty, IGF-1 levels etc- I haven't been tested for everything, so although the tests I have had done indicate there isn't a problem, it doesn't mean that there isn't something wrong. I actually disagree with the bit about my training - in ten years I've tried so many different ways of training - the 5x5, WSB and HST I'm familiar with but that last routine looks good. How can anyone go as high as 1750mgs of test a week and not see anything in the way of muscle and strength gains? I haven't bee able to progress on anything I've tried and the only thing I regressed on was training to and beyond failure - that sent me backwards pretty fast. I'm on the 5/3/1 at the moment but it's not going great. Thank you for replying.

 

[mad_monkey59]

Thanks radar, I've tried similar routines to that in the past. I also eat 5-6 meals a day (sometimes 7 on training days) and I like to keep whey protein consumption low as I prefer to get my protein from whole foods and aim for 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight and I don't eat any processed foods, just good and healthy foods... I may have a cheat meal once a week.

I eat well both pre and post workout and sleep 8 hours a night.

Thanks again.

Have you tried just doing a dirty ass bulk, eating high calorie, high protein foods... rather then doing just a clean bulk and then just cutting down? Maybe you need the calories... other then that you're not a vegetarian or anything are you?

 

[NGP]

Have you tried just doing a dirty ass bulk, eating high calorie, high protein foods... rather then doing just a clean bulk and then just cutting down? Maybe you need the calories... other then that you're not a vegetarian or anything are you?

I'm @ 140lbs with about 15-20% bodyfat.

I've been as high as 174lbs and as low as 130lbs and even at that low weight I couldn't see my abs because there was still some fat covering them.

I've got stretch marks on the side of my buttocks, so I have done a "dirty ass bulk" before.

And no, I'm not a vergetarian either.

 

[RADAR]

As Ronnie Coleman once said Don't be mad because you ate that Big Mac ,be mad because you didn't eat 2 of them.



The most anabolic substance you can put in your body is food.
RADAR