30 lbs in 3 months, need advice!

buster0371

buster0371

Well-known member
1 months training at this point
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3 MONTHS LATER
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Goal: BULK

I trained very heavy and very hard my first 3 months while supplementing with all the staples and even a little DTH in the last month. I do 1 major body part per day for about 15 sets hitting every body part once a week(besides abs/forearms), and 2 rest days a week.

For the past month I seem to be at a plateau. my strength is slowly progressing, but I am not seeing near the type of dramatic gains I was! Also, I go heavy practically every workout (2-7 reps). I have recently added in transdermal Formestane by CEL (4 days ago) to assist the plateau breaking.

My question: Should I lower the weight and go for higher reps? Than go to a lower rep scheme next month? Should I try training DC style? Or should I do less cardio and more power lifting?

Note: I do seem to be gaining a little definition although the scale has not budged. My goal is to bulk right now!!!!!!!!
 
I would either do less cardio or decrease my weight training frequency by grouping 2 body parts per day, and taking the day off of lifting after every weight training day. You could up your calories if you say you are getting leaner and want to gain weight faster. The number of sets per body part look at the high end; stimulate don't annihilate the muscle group. Do a combination of these things and you should see some muscle growth.

By the way great job - nice transformation for three months!
 
soma said:
I would either do less cardio or decrease my weight training frequency by grouping 2 body parts per day, and taking the day off of lifting after every weight training day. You could up your calories if you say you are getting leaner and want to gain weight faster. The number of sets per body part look at the high end; stimulate don't annihilate the muscle group. Do a combination of these things and you should see some muscle growth.

By the way great job - nice transformation for three months!
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THANKS! Yeah maybe my body is too traumatized and I need to go light for a bit. I'll also try upping the calories even though I'm eating a ton. Hope I dont get fat.
 
You mean you're having trouble gaining weight? Ah, you're burning too many calories. It's difficult staying lean while gaining weight, it requires you to gain weight pretty slowly but it's a smart approach. Just slightly increase your calories, cardiovascular exercise is good for the heart, lungs and overall function of the vital organs inside the body and allows your body to shuffle nutrients more efficiently. I would just slightly increase the calories.
 
GymRat7197 said:
You mean you're having trouble gaining weight? Ah, you're burning too many calories. It's difficult staying lean while gaining weight, it requires you to gain weight pretty slowly but it's a smart approach. Just slightly increase your calories, cardiovascular exercise is good for the heart, lungs and overall function of the vital organs inside the body and allows your body to shuffle nutrients more efficiently. I would just slightly increase the calories.
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ok so ill try increasing the calories, I'll up some clean carbs too. And do not drop the cardio... Hopefully eating more will do it(im an ectomorph)

currently get around 3,500 - 4,000 calories a day!
 
If it hasn't been said, you most certainly need to change your rep scheme. More reps, less weight.. I like to switch things up with 2 sets of maximum reps (10-20) on each exercise in a workout, resting 2 minutes between sets.. it makes for some higher than normal volume, and is rather fun.

IMO, try something like this for 4-8 weeks, and then you can get back to lifting heavy heavy!
 
You also cannot keep gaing at that rate If people could keep gaining 10lbs a month consistently everybody would be 275 jacked. Your going to hit a plateau it just happens
 
alright thanks guys! i appreciate it. I will start going for higher reps. Subconsciously i knew this is what needed to be done. I just needed to hear someone say it!

I am at a plateau but I think I am breaking my plateau as we speak. The past day or two I have been looking bigger and more define without really changing up my diet. I'll report back after I take my weight at the gym!
 
TD form will do that...dont be surprised when you go natural and the gains slow again. It happens man..
 
One way to gain mass is to do explosive type movements, or add in supersets of a plyometric right after a heavy lift. Like right after bench see how many slap pushups you can do. Or after squats do box jumps.
Either way, your way bigger in just 3 mths, and as a word of advice, I would say dont do a heavy bulk. I did and put on way to much fat. My calories werent always the cleanest, but if I had to choose slow lean gains, or quicker sloppy ones, ill pick the former. But ive always been better at gaining mass than losing wieght. And now that im an old man, those huge meals and calories arent a option any more.
 
Fantastic gains !!! However you can not and will not continue to gain like that forever...More Clean cals will keep the muscle coming, and the training more intense...I would continue with the cardio as it's just essential IMO for health, and burns very little muscle IMO.

Don't be afraid to lose your Abs, if really putting on mass it can/will happen at times...No big deal,you can get them back...Also don't get caught up in BF% and scale weight...It means NOTHING, the mirror tells it all.{Not that BF% test hurt or anything}

Seriously great job
 
First of all I agree about keeping the cardio. I think the only weight you will gain from cutting back the cardio is fat. Just make sure that the cardio is not too intense (I always do 130 bpm after work out).

One last thing I wanted to mention is switch up what you do. For example chest, I will start off with say incline bench first (I always go all out with the first exercise for chest). If I notice that I haven't gone up in weight for chest in 2 or 3 weeks, I switch, and start off with flat bench. Thats just my 2 cents
 
if you want to just put on mass, and gain size I'd recommend doing reps in the range of 10-12 max. Anything much higher than that and you're going to just be working on muscle endurance which is not going to show you any gains in mass/size. Also, anything lower than that is basically pure strength training, so the strength will go up, but the size gains won't be as dramatic as they would be by working in the 10-12 rep range. Just my 2 cents...good progress man!
 
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