I’m in a rut. I've been at it for about 9 months now and have certainly seen/felt improvements but its taking longer than expected. Not trying to win any awards or be the biggest on the block.

Initially, I set some achievable goals:
Get Stronger - progressing but slow in my opinion
Add Weight - I don't stay comfortable for long - I've doubled the weight from when I initially started if not more
Allow recover time (because I have elbow issues) - I work out 3-4 days a week so every other day mostly due to time restraints
Eat More - check - lost some fat gained muscle mass
Eat Protein - no way I can get in 200g of protein a day but I try (I read that I need 1g per pound of body weight)
Considering reevaluating these goals.

I’m 6’ 4” 230lbs (+/-)and 37 years old. I consume a pre and post work out shake. I work out at home. No gym. Dumbbells, curl bar, bench, triceps bar is what I use. Plenty of plate weights and dumbbells. I've logged every workout on a spreadsheet including measurements because I felt the need to track my experience.

What am I doing wrong?
What would help my growth?
Is there a magic formula?
High reps low weight or low reps high weight? Recently, I started doing high reps lower weight every 4th workout.

I've researched this a little bit and have read plenty of conflicting information. Everyone has an opinion.

I'm not a weight lifter by any stretch but I watched this guy develop this program. It's worked for many,

http://www.weightrainer.net/spreadsheets/matrix.html

Dips. More dips.

Personally I prefer a mix of weight and reps.

Eat more even if you are eating a lot. Lift only 4-5 days a week and on them days, lift heavy each day. On rest days, eat eat eat! My advice to getting big from personal experience when I did power lifting was to lift huge, eat huge, and rest huge. Its hard to supplement a lot of that in though, I understand. But if you want to break through walls, you gotta do what you gotta do.

What type of gains are you looking for? Lifting more weight, cut fat, lean up, look more defined?

Thanks for the suggestions so far.



Interesting. I downloaded the matrix. I'll try to fit it in.



I'm partial to bean dip.



I'm going to start tomorrow.



Not concerned with cutting fat or leaning up. Looking to lift more weight and sure, some definition. I want to feel and see the difference.

Example from 9 months ago to today:
bent flys went from 3 sets of 10 reps @ 20lbs to 4 or 5 sets of 10 @ 35lbs
tricepts extensions went from 20lbs (I know I know) to 5 sets of 10 80lbs
concentration curls went from 20lbs to 40lbs (I'm ready to add 5lbs this week)
I keep my reps to 10 unless I have cut the weight in half. In those cases, I double the reps or do burnouts

what do you mean by improvements?

did you take any before measurements?

There is a magic formula. Do a cycle of Anadrol 50. It'll get you past that wall and give you a whole new attitude.

When my boys would peak, we would add negatives for two weeks. Making sure to vary the width of our grips.

Put 50-75 lbs above your max and fight it on the way down for 5-7 seconds.


Don't worry, everyone finds a plateau. Negatives and rest will push you through.

Avoid the red and blue pills

If you're going to do a steroid, please be careful with oral steroids like this. Stick to a short cycle. Injectables are better for longer cycles.

Tell your kidneys bye bye

Change up your workout, but stay with the heavier weights.

Maybe incorporate a Smith machine if you can come across a cheap one.


I personally believe anything past 5 reps (when trying to gain strength and size) is a waste. Certain things like calves have to take an absolute beating to get bigger.


Bench: 8 sets of 3 reps, 1 set of 2 reps, and finish with 1 rep (all max weight)

Heavy tricep rope pressdowns was my go-to for size

Everything I read says diet is 70-80% of your gains. You have to have a caloric surplus to build muscle, and you have to get over 200 grams of protein for your weight. Once you get to a certain point you aren't gonna get stronger unless you get bigger.

I hit 200 grams protein pretty easily.....
Wake up--double scoop protein shake (50-60 grams)
Mid morning--Protein bar (20 grams)
Lunch--Turkey or Ham sandwhich, two eggs, yogurt, vegetables (30-40 grams)
Mid afternoon--Single scoop protein shake (30 grams)
Dinner--30-40 grams
After workout--double scoop protein shake (50-60 grams)

Total 210-240 grams of protein per day. You just gotta drink it.


As far as getting stronger what others posted is true....switch up routines, reps per set, even the order of your workouts. I try to hit each body part every 4-5 days, and every workout is different.

Do some searches on Bodybuilding.com....lots of good articles and info on that site.

Check out Jim stoppani. Awesome workouts and advice. He has a lot of different workouts that you can get access too. Some are shreds, some are mass gains.

You need to do low reps, high weight. Gotta eat big to get big.
Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt are good for protein that is not meat.

And body change is a really slow process unfortunately. And change is good to shock the muscles. Throw some front squats, reverse grip bench press, etc in.

Here's a sample of my workouts that I'm doing. We work out all body parts twice a week. This is a shred though, but he says you can gain good muscle on this if you eat a lot. Let me tell you, these workouts are brutal.

This isn't rocket science boys.


Go with the KISS method..... Keep it simple stupid


Eggs, tuna, chicken, peanut butter, bananas, water, milk, a little red meat as far as diet.


Heavy weight, low rep, and rest.


Make sure you have a spotter and throw in some negatives.


Never trust the Husker chart. Go with single rep max. Nothing like throwing up enough weight the bar bends. Oh yeah!

Ain't a one of you mentioned legs! Real men don't don't forget leg days.....

I said we hit everything twice a week.
My largest love/hate relationship for sure.

There ya go. Everyone loves bench, but hang clean, clean & jerk, and squat will give you the " bad arse" look.

Ignore every bit of this.

This is good advice.

For strength you want to lift heavy, 5 reps or less. Mix up your workouts at least every few weeks if not more and use big compound movements. Bench, Squat, Deadlifts, Bent Over Rows and Power Cleans, should make up the base of your workouts. Don't use a smith machine or machine versions of these lifts, use the real deal old school iron. I also agree with AB about doing the negatives to get out of rut. Also doing sumo versions of the main lifts will also make your regular narrow lifts much stronger. You can also add bands or chains to the barbell to create what is called "over speed eccentrics" which is a over speed negative. For more info on the use of bands or chains research the Westside Barbell Method and Joe DeFranco.

As far as diet goes. You only need 1 gram of protein per pound to maintain or gain. The whole 2 grams per pound that the body builders preach is bro science, complete garbage made up by supplement companies to sell more junk protien to people who don't know any better. Your much better off just eating more whole foods. I got some of my best gains by eating more healthy fats (fish, nuts, coconut oil, MCT oil, avocado, bacon, etc..).

Yep. The squats are what get you those big testosterone and hgh boosts.

http://fitness-science.org/squat-vs-leg-press-effects-testosterone-growth-hormone-cortisol/

https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/new-study-pits-barbell-squats-against-leg-press-machine

Lol. I've put on 16-18 lbs in the last 8-9 months, most of it muscle. But yeah, ignore all of it. Lmao.

You then said in your next post to eat one gram of protein per pound of body weight, that's exactly what I said too. Lol. Great post, troll.

So diet doesn't matter and you should do the same workouts all the time....got it.

I was wondering the same Doc.