The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
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Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
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I wrote before on Reddit on the WW threads about negative thoughts and lifting (under a different username). I thought I might continue here.
I have switched to 5/3/1 programming over the past few months. First doing Original, then Forever-style programming last month. I haven't really progressed at all though. It's been very difficult for me to gain weight. Since starting my new job, I have eaten more than ever in my life, but weight gain is still very slow - I have ramped up from eating about 3000 calories a day at the start of June to over 4500 now and only have 2kg to show for it. I still freak out every time my scale gives a lower number, and I am still paranoid about not gaining any muscle. Over the past month I got frustrated with the lack of progress on 5/3/1 and decided to push it a bit further. I am now doing FSL for supplemental work and have cut out rest days nearly entirely so I'm in the gym every day. This is basically the opposite of what Wendler counsels... but I'd rather err on the side of doing too much than doing too little.
I've been lifting for 8 years now and one of the biggest mistakes I see people make is having the wrong mindset. They think they signed up for a sprint when in actuality its a marathon. My suggestion without even reading further simply going by my priors is, "lift for a bit longer and then come back".
So you are not gaining any "weight".
Looking at your weight over a short timeframe is a bad idea because;
It varies based on waterweight.
You can't delineate muscle gain/loss with fat gain/loss.
It's a low resolution way to check if you are making progress.
Check your calorie intake. And fix this. Looks like you have this covered.
Are you lifting more weight (or more reps, or shorter rest) ? If you are not getting stronger, your muscles will not get bigger, regardless of calorie intake.
Are the other variables in check? Adequate sleep? Adequate PROTEIN?, etc? Control for all the variables otherwise your conclusion will be useless.
Wildcard: Are your hormones in check? Failing to put on muscle despite tremendous effort might be a symptom of low testosterone.
Well, I've been lifting for about five years and I'm still pretty weak. And I think I am gaining weight again now that I am eating more calories. I don't know if I'm necessarily stronger. Obviously switching from lifting four or five days a week to seven days a week is going to reduce how hard I can push when I am in the gym. My current 5/3/1 template doesn't program AMRAPs for the leader cycles, I'm using 5's Progression instead.
I eat plenty of protein, and though my sleep isn't perfect, I think very few people have perfect sleep. I also have had my testosterone tested and though it was below-average it was still above what people describe as the low range.
If you have been lifting for 5 years its likely that you might have hit your genetic limit, or physical (current level of sleep,nutrition, hormone) limit.
Do you have a time delineated data of your lifts? If the plots look logarithmic, then you probably hit some limit. What makes you believe that you can possibly get stronger?
I think it's highly unlikely that I am anywhere near a genetic ceiling, and if I was that would be extremely depressing. In any case lots of people continue to gain muscle and strength after five years.
You are not giving us much to work with.
What are you numbers and what does the progression look like? What are the variables you tried changing, etc.
I described my numbers and lack of progress here
These numbers are totally plausible for genetic limits to be of concern (That's not an insult, these are good numbers). I would say the median male would achieve these numbers after 4-5 years of lifting. So there is a 50% chance that these are the highest numbers you will achieve.
These numbers are in the 40-50th percentile., of serious lifters. I'm quoting the 83kg weight class.
My question is what makes you think you can lift more than this? Compare yourself to the average lifter not people on youtube and instagram.
Because from what you are saying all the other variables minus hormones seem to be controlled for. Only hormones and genetics are left.
With these numbers, assuming all else is in order. If your progression has been logarithmic over time, you probably hit your genetic limits. If its been linear, there is more room to grow.
Which is the reason I am saying that its hard to answer without knowing what the trend of your progress looks like.
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