Is it normal to have no visible progress after a year of PPL once per week? Picrel isn't me but very similar. I go to failure on every set. I am getting slightly stronger, but I don't know if I'm training hard enough. I'm starting to resent the gym for taking up so much of my time with no payoff. I only feel dread when I need to go.
Abs are just low bodyfat. You have to cut to see abs. If you want the fastest way to do this with added exercise, swim laps in a pool colder than 70F. The cold sucks heat and therefore calories out of you on top of it being top tier cardio. The cold also prevent lactic acid buildup so you can swim longer before your muscles get tired. If you do an hour a day of swimming laps in a cold pool and eat cleanly you will drop weight quickly. The most fricking annoying thing is gyms that heat their pools up to like 85F for the old people to do their aquarobics.
>Lose weight
Yeah I know, but I even look the same in the areas that do not have much fat deposit.
Does 2.5 hours sound about right per session?
2.5 hours sounds like a lot
can you share you workout routine?
Genuinely curious, how does one make significant gains in under an hour?
By going 6 days a week.
By lifting big numbers. My workout today was about 1.5 hours and by the end I was totally spent. Can't imagine 2.5 hours tbh.
+ to add to this. If you're spending more than 2 hours and you're doing PPL I think you're doing meme exercises. Just do your compounds heavy then medium weight with some volume then do the memes. Or drop the meme routine and do SS or SL as you ought to from the start.
Is training until failure for every set not considered high intensity? Not hitting high numbers of reps, just going until the muscle can no longer activate?
It depends. What are your numbers for squat, deadlift, ohp, bench and row ?
2.5 hours is about an hour and a half too long. You’re fat and can’t see the muscle underneath. You need to stop making excuses and cut the fricking weight. Start tracking what you eat, buy a food scale and eat around 2400 calories a day. Then when you stall decrease it to 2100. I have a tendency to put on weight too fast too. I’ve had to diet down 100 lbs in my teen years. Quit being a homosexual and drop the fricking weight.
Do 35 minutes minimum of cardio per day above 160bpm hr too and 1 hour on days you don't lift.
Above 160? I thought it was 220 minus age and then 60-70% of resulting value for optimum? Places me at 150-160 but I'm in my 30s now.
>2.5 hours is about an hour and a half too long
I cannot feasibly imagine doing it in an hour. How does that work?
>You need to stop making excuses and cut the fricking weight. Start tracking what you eat, buy a food scale and eat around 2400 calories a day.
How am I supposed to build muscle if I don't eat moar? I fast 48 hours a week also.
You even fast???
Man your program is dogshit.
>Trains 2.5 hours per session just to look fat and make no gains at all
Yep, another natty suckered into training like a roider
Sad lol.
It depends on what he is doing for the 2.5 hrs. Is 40 minutes of this cardio or sauna? Is he in a zoomergroup of 4-5 dudes on the same station rotating?
>Yep, another natty suckered into training like a roider
>Sad lol.
If you have the knowledge, please explain.
If you want more info:
>Push
>Incline barbell benchpress 5x5
>Dumbell Shoulder press 5x5
>Flat Dumbell benchpress 5x5
>Lat raises 3x12
>Tricep extensions 3x12
>Decline cable flies 3x12
>Pull
>Assisted pullups 4x10
>Rows 5x5
>Rear delts 3x12
>Face pulls 3x12
>bicep curls 3x12
>Legs
>Bulgarian split squats 4x10 (cannot do barbell squats because too much compressive force on my spine because of a back injury)
>Hamstring curls 4x10
>Hip thrusts 4x10
>leg extensions 4x10
Feel free to call me a homosexual or whatever, as long as it's with something constructive
Count calories. Choose either a low carb or low fat diet if you want. Add cardio. Simple ass.
>Choose either a low carb or low fat diet
These are not equivalent. Pic related.
Choose low-carb to be successful. Choose low-fat to guarantee failure.
Find a better infographic.
>Find a better infographic.
I meant it. Show me one with a line graph or scatter plot not nested histograms and a nonexistant government entity. It's not worth saving, do you have more?
>Count calories
Instead of being a dumb homosexual giving out reddit tier advice why don't you shut the frick up instead
I'm so sorry anon-sama. Just roid, OP. Run tren and eat clen. Take ephedrine with caffeine and aspirin. Take dnp. Fast for at least 72 hours at a time. Get a vyvanze or adderall prescription.
Too many exercises per day. You shouldn't do more than 2 compound and 1-2 accessory exercises on any given day. At the same time make sure you do at least 1 (better 2) heavy compound exercise each training session.
If he's not growing from that, how will less volume help?
OP don't take advice from powersharters and mentzertards. What you need it more frequency. The point of PPL is that you can hit all muscle groups twice in a week.
If you can't do 6 days in the gym, try 4 days upper lower or some other split, whatever works for you that lets you hit everything twice a week.
I do upper lower with half the days being strength/hypertrophy. usually do two days of only cardio and often do bag work after lift days for 20-30 min. been making good gains but I'll need more time to really see how it goes. feels better on my body than any other program I've done even though strength gains are slower, I'm getting bigger faster and not as burned out from the constant volume.
what gains ur expecting to make with 5x5?
Just do RPT 3 sets of 6-8, 8-10, 10-12
Does anyone have any specific changes to make to this?:
Is there anything particularly wrong with it? Any way to get the same amount of things done in an hour?
If you change the split from push pull you can do super sets to save time. For example:
chest / back
>Incline barbell benchpress 5x5
>Flat Dumbell benchpress 5x5
>Decline cable flies 3x12
>Assisted pullups 4x10
>Rows 5x5
arms / shoulders
>Dumbell Shoulder press 5x5
>Lat raises 3x12
>Rear delts 3x12
>Face pulls 3x12
>bicep curls 3x12
>Tricep extensions 3x12
you can super set your presses with pullups and rows, and biceps with triceps etc
Time spent in the gym is irrelevant. Stay as long as you can to maximize recovery between sets to increase quality and volume for each set. Quality, volume, 4-5 min rest, plenty recovery days, and very slow overload will give you the most gains as a newbie.
If you can't do deadlifts, OHP, and SQUAT because of back injuries do back extensions, goblet squat, leg press and high incline press.
>Push
>Incline barbell benchpress 5x5 // ok, but do high incline BB press instead for shoulders and upper chest
>Dumbell Shoulder press 5x5 // 5x5 heavy db presses? you cant do these heavy because of back injury remember? skip these
>Flat Dumbell benchpress 5x5 // bullshit, too many heavy presses already + you don't go for strength linear progression set/rep schemes with dumbbells.
>Lat raises 3x12 // cable, not enough reps
>Tricep extensions 3x12 // cable, more reps 12-15
>Decline cable flies 3x12 // bullshit, skip that
>Pull
>Assisted pullups 4x10 // not enough total reps, get at least 50, however many sets it takes
>Rows 5x5 // 5x5 heavy rows? you cant do these because of back injury remember? try cable rows 3-4x12-20
>Rear delts 3x12 // what is that? more reps
>Face pulls 3x12 // more reps, 12-15 at 20-30lbs to overload rear delts, 15-25 at 10-20lbs for upper back and shoulder health and rotator cuff
>bicep curls 3x12 // good
>Legs
>Bulgarian split squats 4x10 // not enough reps, do 3-4x15-25, alternate with lunges
>Hip thrusts 4x10 // not enough reps, get at least 12-15
// these two should be optional, might be too many sets for you to recover, go by feel
>Hamstring curls 4x10 // might be too much volume for hamstrings, consider scratching that
>leg extensions 4x10 // not enough reps
cont. in next post
cont.
DO this instead:
>Push
High Incline BB Press 3-4x8-12 // you can do these on the smith machine if you have trouble setting them up
Flat or Incline DB Fly Press 3-4x10-15
Face Pulls and Band Pull Aparts 3-4x15-25 // for shoulder health, include them on push days for posture and health
Cable Lateral Raises or Upright Row 3-4x12-20
Cable Pushdown or Cable Overhead Tricep Extension 3x10-20
BB Reverse Curl 3x10-15
>Pull
Pull Up // at least 50 reps, however many sets it takes
Cable Row 3-4x12-20 // alternate with other machine rows or one arm rows if progress stalls, no BB rows for beginners
Reverse Peck Deck 3-4x12-15 // build rear delts first, once your rear delts are built switch to exercises for other lacking areas, like teres, lats, rhomboids, or rotator cuff
BB Curl 3x8-12
>Legs
Goblet Squats 3-4x10-20 // you need to squat, there will be no excessive compression with goblet squats, you can treat these as warm up once you max out at 70-90lbs.
Hip Thrusts 3x12-15 // do these early in the workout to activate posterior chain
BSS or Reverse Lunges 3x15-25
Leg Press 3x12-15
Back Extensions 3x12-15 // this will fix your back eventually
Optionals: abductor machine 3x15 + adductor machine 3x15 + hamstring curl machine 3x15
Here are changes I would make
>goals
increase strength, develop muscle, not be too tiring
one compound strength movement every day, some bodyweight movement with the upper body
>Push
flat bench, 3x5
dips, 3x5
shoulder press, 3x8
skull crushers, 3x12
>Pull
deadlift, 2x5
bent over row or cable row, 3x8
pullups, 3x5
curls, 3x12
>Legs
squat, 3x5
RDL, 5x5
split squat, 3x8
something like this takes a lot less time, you have a major lift to start right at the beginning that can help with other lifts, and you probably have time for something like cardio or core work afterwards
i shit you not, you could probably ask ChatGPT and it could give you a reasonable answer to why you're stalling and not getting the results you want.
Looks okay, I'd do it like this though:
>Push
flat bench, 3 sets ramp-up to max, 1 set max, 3 sets deload
OHP 3 sets ramp-up to max, 1 set max, 3 sets deload
incline bench, medium weight 3-5x10
Dips, 3-5 sets AMRAP
>Pull
deadlift, 3 sets ramp-up to max, 1 set max, 3 sets deload
bent over row 3 sets ramp-up to max, 1 set max, 3 sets deload
pullups 3-5 sets AMRAP
curls 3-5 sets as much weight as you can for 8-12 reps
>Legs
squat, 3 sets ramp-up to max, 1 set max, 3 sets deload
RDL (why have this here?) 3-5 sets at bodyweight for 5-8 reps (or ramp-up if you can manage at bw)
front squat, medium weight 5 sets for 8
(medium weight means that if for ex you squat 90kg for max you'll do 50-60kg)
45min-60mins moron
I train 3h. Its fine if you take 2 to 3 rest days.
If you look like this, you're fat. Go on a cut, you should see some results
Wrong, if you're actually building muscle you can see it through fat.
To gain try a 800 cal surplus and eat a lit before working out. To get more volume replace ppl with chest/shoulder/leg and do back the same day. Start heavy and end the workout going to failure. Take a day or 2 off between chest and shoulders if needed.
You won't "see" your progress until you cut.
When I was bulking, I looked like shit and thought I was making no progress, but still getting slightly stronger. When I cut, I realized the amount of muscle I had gained. It's a massive difference, but you don't notice the muscle because you also gain fat on a bulk so it's buried.
A work around to that awkward phase (so as to not get demotivated by the apparent "lack of progress) is to get one of those fat measuring scales. They're not necessarily accurate (so 168 lb lea doesn't necessarily mean you're actually 168 lb lean) but they are precise (so a gain of 6 lb lean mass really is a gain of 6 lb lea mass). Helps you keep track of muscle gain even in the absence of visible changes due to fat.
Thats the issue with being fat, you can't see any of the muscle you've built. You need to cut so you can see it
What kind of numbers are you pushing brah? As long as you're benching above 1pl8 now you're fine, a year is nothing realistically - especially your first year, when you know nothing and frick around a lot like everyone does in their first year
Ignore social media and the moronic standards you see there; Instagram has more compulsive liars on it than IST, claiming they're benching 3pl8 while supposedly only lifting for 2 years
>PPL
Is that a hypertrophy program?
For natties training for hypertrophy is demoralizing as frick. You do a million exercises, you don't see any results and your numbers don't go up.
That's why i quit the gym 3 times and lost over a decade until i started training for strength.
You just obsess over making strength gains on 4-5 exercises and cope by saying that you're getting "objectively" stronger.
Then, after you strength gains stop coming or after you get sick of looking at yourself in the mirror, you go on a massive cut, start looking decent and forevermore focus on hypertrophy.
...Or go do some more bulk/cut cycles, like i chose to do.
Pic rel is me after my first cut
Nice work anon. Lookin good.
It's what's on the inside that counts, but what's on the outside that matters.
Your goal is to get lean and have some muscle mass.
A 12% bodyfat "twink" with a six pack doing 100 pullups will infinitely mog a 25% bodyfat "strong" guy doing a 4pl8+ DL.
I think it's not normal, no. maybe you are eating too much.
listen, if you're training to failure once a week, then you should be doing the highest possible weight or intensity exercise you can handle during your progressive overload period.if you haven't had any *visible* progress it's because you're making very meager gains.especially since you're a chubby fricker you should be aiming to increase all of your lifts by at least 2.5lbs per week until you need to recover your tendons.
>then you should be doing the highest possible weight or intensity exercise you can handle
I literally am doing that though.
>you should be aiming to increase all of your lifts by at least 2.5lbs per week
Not possible. How the frick am I supposed to add weight every single time when I can't even do full sets at the current weight?
>Too many exercises per day. You shouldn't do more than 2 compound and 1-2 accessory exercises on any given day
How am I supposed to properly train every muscle group to its fullest if I half-ass my workout?
Again, how?
>half ass my workout
dude you're a gay or just trolling. reduce the weight if you can't do full sets and frick off. you're a moron.
>BRO JUST ADD 2.5 IBS PER WEEK BRO
>ACTUALLY YOU SHOULD REDUCE THE WEIGHT
The moron is you.
>Not possible. How the frick am I supposed to add weight every single time -
Black person, if you were doing high intensity, your max rep should be 8 or 9, then you up the weight and start again at 6. you are so fricking moronic. kys.
>your max rep should be 8 or 9, then you up the weight and start again at 6
Why 8 or 9? Is 12 not the upper limit before diminishing returns?
fitness youtubers are not your gods.
look. all rep ranges matter for are for measuring how quickly your muslces fail, as long as it's within an anaerobic window (anything between 1 and 20) you are stimulating muscle growth. 8 or 9 is around the rep range where you're pushing weights that are relatively closer to your max. that is why. it is MORE INTENSE, you dense fricker. the variable we are trying to change is the INTENSITY. wisen up please. training until failure is a given when it comes to growing muscles.
like, you can't even think logically for a second. if you're always lifting and failing at 12 reps, you will NEVER progress, because you NEVER change the intensity. like, you're complaining that you're not getting stronger because you can't lift a heavier weight at 12 reps RIGHT AWAY??!? fricking idiot.
progressive overload. lift at 80% of your max, add 2.5lbs per week, if you plateau, stay the week and try again next week.
>Verification not required.
>if you're always lifting and failing at 12 reps
I'm not. I'm saying that 12 is the upper limit of reps I aim for before adding more weight. I try to get at least one set to 12, then the next will be slightly lower. That's when I consider myself "finished" with that weight.
>How am I supposed to properly train every muscle group to its fullest if I half-ass my workout?
You're half-assing it now host to get through the junk volume. You're probably training like 90% of guys I see. They think they train to failure but they're just training to get tired.
>You're half-assing it now host to get through the junk volume. You're probably training like 90% of guys I see. They think they train to failure but they're just training to get tired.
I don't understand. "Junk volume"? I train until the muscle I am trying to recruit fails to activate for the next rep. Does that sound like it's wrong or what?
I did squats and only squats until I got to 3pl8. That's when I started adding other things.
Weight training is just fricked. There's so much contradictory information it's unbearable.
>"Eat moar for gainz"
But also
>"Stop eating and lose weight you fat frick"
>"Cardio is killing your gains"
But also
>"You need to do Cardio every day"
>"Lift heavier and heavier every week"
But also
>"Don't be a powershitter roidtroony"
>"You need to hit every muscle group sufficiently"
But also
>"Spend less time at the gym moron"
What the frick is wrong with you people?
pretty easy to figure out which of these are correct in which context
Not if you have any fricking clue about what you're doing. Not a single post has given a full breakdown of what the OP is doing wrong, even after he posted his workout. I genuinely don't know either.
>>"Eat moar for gainz"
>But also
>>"Stop eating and lose weight you fat frick"
You bulk and you cut. Bulking is the most important of the two, as it is where you actually build your body. The cut exists only to reveal it.
>"Cardio is killing your gains"
This one is just lies.
>"Lift heavier and heavier every week"
But also
>"Don't be a powershitter roidtroony"
Increase load overtime while keeping good form. You shouldn't follow a rigid progression scheme like "every week", rather set for yourself a rep range. For instance, 12-8 reps on curls for three sets. Go to failure on each set. When you can hit 12 on at least two of the sets, increase weight. If you chase load arbitrarily, you will inevitably cheat to lift more, which, while good if lifting more is your goal, is a bad idea for hypertrophy.
>>"You need to hit every muscle group sufficiently"
But also
>"Spend less time at the gym moron"
You should be able to do that in less than 2 hours as a novice or intermediate.
Who knows what he's doing wrong. If he's progressing in lifts keeping the same form, though, that guarantees he's growing. There is no other way to get stronger at a movement, at least if you've done it for a while and you do it with enough reps, except for your muscles growing and getting thereby getting stronger. 5x5 tends to be a strength rep range but he goes to failure which is conducive to hypertrophy.
Op here
>You should be able to do that in less than 2 hours as a novice or intermediate.
I cannot recover between sets that quickly. I might be able to cut out 15 minutes if I really try but that's about it.
>5x5 tends to be a strength rep range but he goes to failure which is conducive to hypertrophy.
What if I do 3 sets of 5/to failure? Would that have similar results as 5x5?
On another note, I do dropsets for almost everything. Is that a bad idea? I only decrease the weight once per set.
you are just fricking moronic its that simple. sports is not meant for autistic morons like you, its annoying that thats the crowd that adopted training. nobody looks for scientifically optimal training method for playing apehoop or ice hockey or golf. people just fricking play and have fun and trial and error and create their own style etc. you look at PGA tour and there's 150 players with personalized swing, training frequency, playstyle, diet, this and that.
like you are so fricking autistic that you think exercise science, or nutrition science is REAL science and there is some binary 01010101 answer by the book for everything with no contradictions. There fricking isnt. Im so fricking sick and tired of you booksmart losers trying to get into sports.
I hope you die a slow, painful and humiliating death.
>nobody looks for scientifically optimal training method for playing apehoop or ice hockey or golf.
Pretty sure all the professional sports players have personal trainers that tell them what to do. They don't just "figure it out lmao" you fricking moron.
>eat moar
eat SLIGHTLY more
>cardio
10 minutes of jogging will never hurt in any case
>lift heavier
always, powershitting is when you prioritize moving your max. always progressive overload within rep ranges of your choice.
>muscle groups
workouts should be quick and intense. going 3 times a week for PPL, 1 hour to 1 hour 30 for each session is more than enough if you train intensively.
you are too moronic to filter out the nonsense and come up with your own conclusions and THAT is what filtered you at the very beginning.
>workouts should be quick and intense.
I have already caused a nasty injury by going too fast and putting the weight on too quickly.
>1 hour to 1 hour 30 for each session is more than enough if you train intensively
Again, I cannot fathom cutting an hour out and have good results. If I go to failure on every set, I can't just start another set very quickly after. If I am able to take short breaks, it probably means I'm not training hard enough.
>you are too moronic to filter out the nonsense
How am I supposed to know what's nonsense and what's legit?
okay, so this tells me you don't know how to actually progressively overload. LISTEN CLOSELY..
this shit will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
after making progress for about 4-5 weeks, you take 2-3 weeks off, where you either do NOTHING at all, or focus on light cardio and something moderate like calisthenics.
your tendons cannot grow as quick as your muscles, so giving them time off the heavy resistance will allow them to heal back stronger.
I do not think PPL once per week justifies this. The tendons don't recover THAT slowly.
if you lift heavy enough and also do progressive overload, a one week rest period is enough. also you're not doing everything in one day of the week are you?
>also you're not doing everything in one day of the week are you?
No? I said I do PPL once per week. That's three days. I could understand needing longer rest periods if I were lifting super heavy or going 6 days a week, but there's no way my tendons are struggling with my current routine. I'm not hitting constant plateaus or anything. It's just that I'm not seeing any visable progress even in areas that aren't obscured by fat.
>I have already caused a nasty injury by going too fast and putting the weight on too quickly.
But cramming all that junk into a shorter timeframe or by paring down to the essentials?
>I have already caused a nasty injury by going too fast and putting the weight on too quickly.
I don't mean your lifting should actually be quick though, I mean don't dilly dally.
set should take 30 seconds to complete, 3 minute rest and then x3
12-15 minutes for an exercise. then you have like 1 or 2 accessory exercises to hit after that and then you're done.
>eat slightly more gainz
>eat less for definition
>cardio is optional. just take it easy and don't overdo it.
Cardio is not optional and neither is flexibility training. Cardio will keep you from getting hit by a train like greg plitt
>once per week
This little per week is never good for any progress whatever you are doing.
i do it once a week and I have tried doing it twice. Maybe it's a case if my body not used to it, but on the second pull day I couldn't lift like I did on the first pull day. I stopped the experiment there and then.
I've been doing a PPL since September and noticed gains in the first two months. I cut calories and am still getting stronger and looking/feeling better. 2.5 hours is way too long for a weightlifting session even with heavy compounds. Should be taking you a little over an hour max if the gym is busy.
It's probably your diet.
You're not seeing any progress because you have too much body fat. Start cutting immediately. Eat high protein/low calorie meals. Run 3 miles once a day. Don't stop until you see abs. Start bulking and only bulk with a 500 calorie surplus so you don't become a lardass again.
this is good advice as far as only how he can look good, not to make progress with his muscular development.
>no forearm or delt development
Fat won't cover that up.
I workout a little over an hour a day, 5 days a week. I eat 200g of protien, under 50g fat, amd anywhere from 100-500g of carbs 6 days a week and 1 cheat day where anything goes. I used to do powerlift until I tore my tricep, and now I do bodybuilding. if you've really been working out that long with that little progress, then you either your diet sucks, or you have shit genetics. food is required to from, but it has to be the right food. if you are consistently gaining strength, you will gain muscle mass. judging by your pic, you have next to zero upper body strength. if you want really good info on diet and training, look up Rennasaince periodization on YouTube and listen to Mike's advice. he's super intelligent. Also on YouTube is anabolic bodybuilding with big Paul. they will get you results.
What do you mean by "diet sucks"? besides eating enough protein and calories, diet doesn't matter for building muscle
Wait, so if I reach 8 reps for say, lateral raises, does that mean it's time to increase the weight? I don't need to get 12 reps?
I'd treat lateral raises differently because shoulder injuries are life changing. Spam reps and slightly alter the weight after you can do like 15 reps in one set.
Can someone please explain how to reduce my time in the gym AND actually make gains? If not, I'm just going to quit while I'm ahead. I can't deal with this demoralization anymore. You have all been thoughroughly unhelpful.
1.- Deload in your main lifts
2.- Start progressive overload on them (1kg each session)
3.- Superset your accessory lifts
4.- Do your accessory lifts faster (I bet you're a moron autie that tries to nab the PERFECT form doing them all slow and shit lmao). Don't do them lightning fast, just do them normal.
i have never met or seen a strong person that does workouts shorter than 60 minutes
Try swimming in addition to your weight training.