I have a toddler, that's like a dog. I gave him some strawberries today. When he was done he dumped out all the juice on the floor. I caught him right before he smeared it everywhere.

But honestly i wished I stayed in my wickiup instead of paddling out. I could have stayed an extra day. That really was miserable. With just one person paddling an 18 foot canoe a 30knot gust at just a little off from staight on would spin me and by the time.it died i would be 200 yards back and backwards. Trying to turn a canoe in 20knot sustained winds was pretty fucking hard.

Double that is about what my shake is. But I don't eat breakfast.

I have plenty of time. Just don't like breakfast.

Damn, i gotta trim some fat.  This is the chubbiest ive been in a long time

Ha! Y'all edit and read it how you like. But that's not what I said. I said I'd rather prep food than a shake. I like to make food to chew rather than just drink my protein and calories. If I'm going to spend five min in the kitchen, I can come up with something better than a banana peanut butter shake of some sort (although I see you do iced coffee as well). I was out for the morning, but home for the rest of the day (benefits of working for yourself). I can take my time making something that I'd like to eat.

Yesterday was five eggs with a shake for breakfast. Jerky with two cheese sticks for pre lunch. 10 oz chicken breast over a salad and another shake for lunch. Three bolls of crockpot beef stew for dinner. Greek yogurt with blueberries and chashews for after dinner. Totaled just under 4,000 calories. 210 g of protein. This is my egg, chicken, beef day. I eat beef once a week at home, then once out to eat. Beef is too expensive. Chicken is a quarter the price so I eat that near every day. I cook 9-12 lbs of chicken a week for myself and the family.

Today was the same for breakfast. Lunch is two fans of tuna with cottage cheese. And I'll polish off one and a half chicken breast for dinner. Should get to 3,500 today. It's a little lower in calories because of the tuna. Egg, tuna, chicken day.

Friday morning is the same. I do Mexican food for lunch for my wife and I (work from home on Friday). Carni esada burritos. Left over beef from the stew. This is really where I like to eat my calories. Not drink them after spooning them from a jar into a noisy blender. Friday night I eat out with the wife. The dive bar makes the best steak in town. My wife like it there because she eats paleo and they have some good stuff for her eats. I get a 18 oz rib eye. With the sides, it's almost hard to walk after this meal. They give a ton of food. This one meal is around 2,100 calories. I'll do 4,800 ish calories depending on how hungry I am for lunch. Egg, mex, out to dinner Friday.

My gains are getting my belly fat back! So fucking stupid... My current diet isn't all that hard. I'm tracking everything to make sure I'm getting the protein and enough calories. Every once and a while I don't have time to eat. I'll finish my food input, and head back to the kitchen because I didn't eat enough that day. Even with eating low amounts of carbs with protein and fats being higher, I'm not making much for muscle gains.

Squat, dead, press, pull-ups, and accessories today... And I'm still sore from my Tuesday workout. Chest and back are fine, but the squats and dips have my legs and arms not 100% yet. I'm hoping it's not bad and goes away warming up.

Keeeerist! I'd get fat on that diet too.

Do you run or swim? Hill sprints? Push anything heavy?

You honestly have seen no gains?

chicken has something like 10 grams of protein per oz +/-.  You may want to cut that back to more usefull amounts. It will save you quite a bit of money. You're not utilizing all the protien of 10 oz of chicken unless you're Ronnie Coleman.

Keep it 1 gram of protein to lbs of LEAN body weight just space it out

How does that solve the empty peanutbutter jar blues?

Dont  feel bad, my 2 year old nephew likes to poop in the yard with the dogs

Saves on water and fertilizes the yard, must be an environmentalist.

I'm a demolition contractor. Everything is heavy. I loaded a 170 lbs generator in my truck by myself this morning. More of a know how than muscle thing. I've gotten used to being a 98 lbs weakling. My office days are slow, but I like to do a light cycle on those days. Just under 20 miles on the bike at a 14 mph pace. I only cycle after I have done my lift.

I've been lifting for 4 months. My arms still look like a 10 year old girls. My elbow is the thickest part of my arm. You can't even tell there is any muscle unless I flex (which is laughable). Then I really look like I have the arms of a ten year old girl.

I lost most of the moobs when I dropped weight a year ago. But no real chest muscle build. It's just stayed the same. I failed bench under my bodyweight. De loaded and am trying again. No real change in my back. But my row has gotten a little better. I think it's better form and more flexibility. I've failed at squats twice in four months and de loaded. Failed the press at 90 lbs and de loaded. So, yah. I've gained 10 lbs back after being down to 165, and don't have much strength or muscle to show for it.

Eat more protein and calories. If you have to be a little fat to put muscle on so be it. Lift harder. Push yourself.

Four months? Really, man. I highly suggest you relax and learn to make lifting a part of your life and not be so worried about the ever popular gains. Your body needs time to learn what's going on, just give it a chance. Give your connective tissue some time to do its thing.

You realize most of the strong people in this thread have been lifting for years, if not DECADES! Construction work and lifting are totally different animals. I would bet that 75% of construction workers cannot bench their own weight.

Relax dude.

This one can.

Did my deads, hit my reps. Felt a little weak today starting out, guess I needed the Rockstar to kick in.

Then did front squats. 195# 3r that's a PR. Then did 210#s maybe PR could not find 210#s in my logs but thought I had done it before, felt pretty easy. Went for 215 guess I was gasses from deads and 195# FS couldn't get it up. Still happy about my lifts especially after deads.

Could you before you started a strength training program?

I was born squating 495

No.

Me either. And I doubt any of my coworkers can, except one young dude who asked for some advice a while back and followed it.

Better check dat strength privilege......

#shortfemurprivilege

Ok. When you started, where did you fail? I've failed a 155 squat twice already. De load 30% and run back up to it. Today I squatted 115. yah. 115 lbs. This is the third time I've squated 115 since I started. I'll be patient if you can tell me why in week 17 of a program I'm no where near the weight built into the program. A guy would be doing 285-300 in SL at this point *if he never failed. I squated 115 today. Sorry if I seem in a hurry to get up in weight and interested in muh gains! My press today was 60 lbs because I keep failing at 90 lbs. My bench went to shit at 145. I'm back at 105 lbs right now. I'll keep adding weight in everything and see what happens. But I looked and right now, my progress pictures look fucking backwards and I'm not really any stronger. And the orange haired freak is telling me to eat more. I'm tired of chewing.

Sometimes I eat till I feel sick and then I eat some more. If your goal is to get stronger eat dirty as hell for a month then clean it up if you don't see any gains.

 I think I failed at 185x5 on bench and 215x5 on squats 315x5 on deads.

I checked my notes-

Beginning lifts in December of last year these were the amounts I was lifting for the 3x5 SS-  assume they are the max I could lift 5 reps.
Squat 185
Press 85
Bench 135
Dead 205

After 4 months
Squat 230
Press 125
Bench 157
Dead 305

I don't have record of my body weight during this time, but I started at 195 and was pretty quickly at 210.  It took a while longer to get to 225 and strength increases were slowing down.

A few comments on that-  I started too heavy on almost all the lifts.  I had to reset the squat twice as I realized I wasn't going deep enough.  I should have started lighter and worked up as I gained flexibility to get deeper.

I stalled several times but didn't reset all of them.  I simply got tired of not meeting goals and kept trying weights that I couldn't hit.  Press was the worst for this, I felt stuck at 107lbs for a long time, then it suddenly exploded.  Hit a new PR again this week, 167lbs.

My thoughts on your (Click) predicament....  

1- relax.  You can't gain weight while lifting forever without getting stronger.  It will happen.
2- little things really help.  For example, I had some pre-workout last summer that gave me a very .... uh, active digestion.  Once I let a huge fart rip out uncontested at the bottom of a squat in the middle of a crowded gym, but it was only the first of five reps.  That day I learned how to stay tight at the bottom of the squat and engage all kinds of muscles in the glutes I'd never fired before.  My squat jumped probably 25lbs because of that fart.

I also learned how to breathe, that helped tremendously as well.  Now I use a tight diaphragm when doing all the lifts and again everything took a jump when I provided a rigid core.

Try posting a vid of your squat, maybe one of the smart guys here can help.  They won't hurt, at the very least.  I really have a problem thinking that a guy that does physical work, bikes and hikes can't squat 100lbs reliably.  Before I started lifting I was doing a lot of box jumps then weighted box jumps, but I was a crappy hiker.  I blew through several miles of trail through the Ozarks today, and I'm fat, slow and burned my lungs to a crisp.  You should be able to kick my ass on a trail or bike ride.  You should also be squatting more.  IMO, which means not a damn thing as I really don't know how to do much but eat.  I only have 10 months or so of time under a barbell, so take my inexperienced opinion for what it's worth.

#farmstrong

I agree.  Put the scale in the attic, quit looking at the mirror and eat dirty.  Screw the marcros, eat all the food.  Maybe just long enough to see if it makes a difference.  It does for me, usually within a couple of days.  Eat small and too clean and I miss my programmed lifts.  Eat like a teenaged boy and I start tossing iron like it's easy.

RoG, did you get this?  How do you like it?

Link to motivation post?  I haven't seen much of the Internet for 10 days or so.  Going to squat in the morning, I need to really focus on squats to hit my goal in a couple of months.  Going to be doing lots of heavy squats several times a week for a while.

Not yet. Planning on it within the next few weeks hopefully.

Ice cream with protein powder every night until you can't eat anymore.

I had ice cream on my cobbler the other night.  The next morning my ass was singing a tribute to democrats for hours.  At an engineering conference.  Where I was a speaker.

Sometimes it's ok for everyone around you to suffer for your gains.

It's so good.

I usually have a protein shake w/ the carb supp in it before bed.  Two nights ago, right after the shake, also had a "very best bar", which itself is like another protein and carb shake.  Then I took all my damn pills, which should be spread out some, and not all at once.  4 fish oil pills, 2 vit C,  2 vit D, magnesium, and 3 alleve.  I started to feel, holy shit, I think I've actually consumed enough that I really am going to vomit.  By the time I woke up the next morning, there was an epic fart brewing.  One of those that just goes on and on and on.  

Have you bought and read Starting Strength yet? It's more than just a workout. And it's more than just GOMAD.

Didn't you post that you have low T or was that someone else? If so, fix that.

How much weight have you gained? Since you started as an underfed person, you should have gained 20-30 lbs or more. Eat more. Eat like it's your job. Eat dirty. Stop making excuses.

I used to weigh 125 lbs at 5'11". I know where you are starting from. Are you eating something right now? Why not? Eat more.

Honestly though, it doesn't matter where anyone else fails. Have you read 5/3/1? Wendler has a basic philosophy that might do you some good.

My personal fitness path has been all over the place. I change things all the time and as it goes my priorities change. With lifting once or twice a week I can stay strong enough to comfortably rep the max weights Kaik posted above. To go heavier I really have to invest time, which I choose not to do.

How often are you biking 20 miles after lifting? And is it true that Strong Lifts limits your deadlift to one set? I know everyone preaches squat, but deadlift is pretty awesome too.

ETA: Address Low-T if it really is an issue. 5/3/1 and Starting Strength go hand in hand. They are for many the bibles of this game.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1776447_Why_arent_you_at_the_gym_fatty_.html&page=10#i55845798

Lost a 395# front squat attempt at the "stick". I was on my way up and then...hey legs. Legs, hey. Hey legs c'mon let's go. Legs? Are you there? Come in legs?

Nothin'.


That's good though, because normally I fail forward but I was pretty upright just...not having it today.

Squats two weeks ago-
335x5

Squats today-
315x3. . That's what two weeks of poor attention to lifting and thousands of miles of driving will do.

I've got Starting Strenth. Read it twice. I bike once to twice a week. It is at a 13-14 mph pace and burns 600-700 calories.

Yes. SL5x5 has only one set of deads. Workout A. The theory behind it is squat works many of the same muscles as deads. So you do three warm up sets of squats, then your workout weight 5x5. Then press. Then your dead set. After doing squats there is no need to warm up for deads, so you just jump in at full weight. I like to get in three sets of deads. At least two. I love them. A set light at 135, then add some weight, and then the 1x5 that is in the program. Only doing one set of dead lifts once a week is lame (week two workout).

Adding an extra set of two of deads hasn't really slowed me down. It's all these fucking squats. In SL, you do all of the damn squats every fucking workout. I end up doing 105 squats in a week (3x5 warmup plus 5x5 at weight three times a week). Where in the SL program, on week 1 you only do a 1x5 for two days. And week two you only do five reps of deads.

Workout A- squat/ press/ dead/ pull-up.
Workout B- squat/ bench/ row/ dips.

Lift on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Week 1- workout-  A, B, A
Week 2- workout-  B, A, B
Ect.

I go back to my GP doc on Monday. He was open to treating me for low T. I'm hoping that because the Endo doc wouldn't treat me, that my GP doc doesn't decide he won't either. Fingers crossed that he'll come through for me.

Im in the same boat but ive decided im going to reverse the reversal.

Sometimes when im in a lifting funk ill watch one of these


Rita motivates the hell out of me. Makes me want to unsheath swords and conquer shit

my sets fluctuate up to 100 pounds week to week don't feel bad

5x5 squats at 330# FML.

Is it just me, or does switching your hands on alternating grip for deadlifts feel extremely unnatural?

As in changing what side you alternate?  Never tried.

Its not just you

I'm ambidextrous, which means I am equally uncomfortable with either hand alternated.  I'm surprised it works so well, double overhand feels much better.

Today shall be burger day. I might pass on the fries. The bar I work at makes really good sweet potato fries though

Wait. What are we talking about again?

Tried a choco protein, coffee, pb shake today. Amazingly awesome! Thanks Hank!