Half way through cut Crisis/Predicament

[stronglikewood]

I'd go with that option. Stay at the same weight or close to it, and get stronger in the right rep ranges. What is the routine like at the moment- exercises, reps and sets? You may need more volume, you may not.

Just to add- my friend I'm training with does Monday, Tuesdays and Fridays with me (does legs himself). He is the same bodyweight as in April but bigger and more muscular. He does exactly what I do, but often a set or 2 less as he doesn't need quite as much being a beginner. At the moment for the 10x10 I'm on I had him do 8x10 last week, and 8x8 this week for bench press. He had to use 55kg last week and drop it down to 50kg for half the sets. This week he was on 57.5 and 50. My point is there is no shame in dropping the weight if you're going to get better gains from it. We've both noticed we've sharpened up a little the past fortnight from the ammount of work we are packing in to a 30 minutes session. We're also still gaining strength.

[Ben]

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I feel your pain, i have been hitting the gym hard for 7 months now and have seen huge gains in terms of lifts. But here is the big thing, i look no different and people have started mentioning i should go to the gym which is depressing when in fact i got 3 times a week and read and write about it 7 times a week. I am going to swap to HST in one month time and hope to see some gains in size. Last night i went out and i felt like the weediest weed ever compared to every other person out.

I suffered from the same problem as you. At my peak I could DL 160kg and Bench 110kg (not great I know) but I looked fairly regular. I've been seeing a PT for the last month who has me on a calorie deficit and doing a more hypertrophy program and I have seen better lean muscle gains than in the entire time (2 years) I was doing strength training. As Stronglikewood says, maybe you're not built that way and will benefit from different training.

[Barrington]

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I'd go with that option. Stay at the same weight or close to it, and get stronger in the right rep ranges. What is the routine like at the moment- exercises, reps and sets? You may need more volume, you may not.

Just to add- my friend I'm training with does Monday, Tuesdays and Fridays with me (does legs himself). He is the same bodyweight as in April but bigger and more muscular. He does exactly what I do, but often a set or 2 less as he doesn't need quite as much being a beginner. At the moment for the 10x10 I'm on I had him do 8x10 last week, and 8x8 this week for bench press. He had to use 55kg last week and drop it down to 50kg for half the sets. This week he was on 57.5 and 50. My point is there is no shame in dropping the weight if you're going to get better gains from it. We've both noticed we've sharpened up a little the past fortnight from the ammount of work we are packing in to a 30 minutes session. We're also still gaining strength.

So for example with bench keep to 80kg just work up to something like 4x10 maybe?

My routine is a variation on James' Upper/Lower split on Mon/Wed/Fri so.....

Upper - Bench, OHP, Close Grip BP, Shrug Machine, Seated Calf, Lateral Raises,Tricep exercise or two

Lower - Squat, Front Squat (Low weight, finding my way with them), Back pulling machine, Inverted Row (occasionally), DB curl, Hammer Curl, Pull Ups.

I do chin ups at home aswell when i remember.


I tend to do four or five sets, sometimes more with arm exercises. Reps are 8 to 10 with arms and laterals, 5x5 with squat (Trying to get the weight up) and RPT with Bench, OHP and Back Machine (so generally 5,6,8,10).

Having written it down it does look slightly slap-dash, also i tended to do RPT before i even knew what it was.

I'm thinking of trying out a 4 day split routine soon as i have never done a proper body part split before and i know a couple of people who its worked really well for.

[stronglikewood]

I'm not a fan of this type of routine. Back and legs on the same day means that one of the most important muscle groups for size is going to suffer. If you do legs first, you're tired for back and vice versa. If you can get in and do a 4 day split then fantastic. If you can only get to the gym 3 times then I'd Push/Legs/Pull (occasionally you could add an extra set of a pushing exercise on this last day if a large upper body is your goal). Get more volume on the big lifts on the same day, rest for a week and then start over. Of course you don't have to do this, but if what you're currently doing is not working then something needs to change. I'd speak to the other people you know who are doing bodypart splits with succes for more pointers.

As for 4x10 on bench with 80kg, I'd treat that as a short to mid term goal. Based on the numbers you mentioned I would be aiming for 4 x 10 at 70kg first of all and then aim for that with 80kg.

[James]

I tend to hit chin and row work on a deadlift or squat day - away from bench and pressing exercises - chins are going up HUGELY since doing this and I feel a lot better not performing rows after since heavy shoulder and tricep work. The only lower body work I do on benching days is calves and abzzzz - my calves are then fully able to take volume (since I'm not using them for squats or deads etc prior) and abzz are quite fresh from not deading or squating either.

[Barrington]

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I'm not a fan of this type of routine. Back and legs on the same day means that one of the most important muscle groups for size is going to suffer. If you do legs first, you're tired for back and vice versa. If you can get in and do a 4 day split then fantastic. If you can only get to the gym 3 times then I'd Push/Legs/Pull (occasionally you could add an extra set of a pushing exercise on this last day if a large upper body is your goal). Get more volume on the big lifts on the same day, rest for a week and then start over. Of course you don't have to do this, but if what you're currently doing is not working then something needs to change. I'd speak to the other people you know who are doing bodypart splits with succes for more pointers.

As for 4x10 on bench with 80kg, I'd treat that as a short to mid term goal. Based on the numbers you mentioned I would be aiming for 4 x 10 at 70kg first of all and then aim for that with 80kg.

I do like the routine, my simple mind likes how it changes up every week. You're right about the squats though, after them i'm pretty much done.
I think i'll give Push Pull Legs a go as a bit of a step towards a 4 day split. Was thinking this:

Push - Bench, OHP, CGBP, Lateral Raise, Triceps

Pull - Back Machine, Inverted Row, DB Curl, Pull Ups, Shrugs

Legs - Squat, Front Squat, Calf Raise

[stronglikewood]

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I do like the routine, my simple mind likes how it changes up every week. You're right about the squats though, after them i'm pretty much done.
I think i'll give Push Pull Legs a go as a bit of a step towards a 4 day split. Was thinking this:

Push - Bench, OHP, CGBP, Lateral Raise, Triceps

Pull - Back Machine, Inverted Row, DB Curl, Pull Ups, Shrugs

Legs - Squat, Front Squat, Calf Raise

I think this is a better split.