Been training for 10 years, still look terrible(PICS)

[dnf240]

Hey guys, I'm super frustrated right now and would like some help, I'll try to keep it brief.

I have been lifting for about 8-9 years now and have never been in great/good shape, just been overweight, super skinny or just meh(skinny fat).

Over the years I have done many cuts starting around 29% bodyfat and have never done one successfully enough to start a bulk. In the last 8 years I have only done 2-3 bulks because I was never able to get lean enough(12-14 bf).

This is how a cut would go.... start at 29%bf and expect to be 175 at around 14% bodyfat which is reasonable. I would track my lifts and track calories....then I would reach 175 and still be around 20% bf. This has been the cycle for the last 6-8 years.....I'm 6ft 1



Diet/training wise I would track lifts and calorie intake try to eat at a moderate deficit eating a protein intake above .82g per bw, train hard and try to maintain my strength but could never increase my lifts by a crazy amount. Benched was 185 lb, ohp 125, seated db press 60. I cant train any legs due to a serious issue with both knees.

Here is the weekly weight I tracked in my previous cut, it's 30lb lost over 7 months. Nothing crazy.(PIC)

Please give me some advice, it's been very frustrating putting in the work and not getting any results.

Here are the pics.

200 lb

https://imgur.com/pLiuI5C

170 lb

https://imgur.com/Rd4n4yN

Weight tracking

https://imgur.com/f6qroND

 

[Diesel59]

Keep in mind there is a difference between losing fat and losing weight. Before I started posting here, this was my biggest problem too. I would lose a lot of weight but still look just as out of shape, because I didn't lose much fat. I just became a smaller version of myself.

How much fat are you eating per day?

 

[CJ]

I see a lot of fat loss, but yes, you still have a decent amount.

You could try to lose it all over multiple efforts. Think of it like going down stairs, lose a chunk over 8 weeks(or until you stall), then maintain for 4 weeks, lose a chunk, maintain for a bit, etc...

You can do it all in one long effort, but it's not required. Some do better in waves, like I outlined, due to diet fatigue.

And TRAIN HARD!!!

 

[Send0]

30lbs over 7 months isn't awful; that's an average loss or 1.1lbs per week.

You say you are tracking your training and your diet. Please look in your logs and give us a full report of one day or training, and one day of eating. I don't care what day, just pick one.

For the training, be sure to include the exercise name, weight, set #, and number of reps performed.

For the diet, list it out by each individual meal you have and include calories, total amount of protein and total amount of fat consumed per meal.

 

[dnf240]

30lbs over 7 months isn't awful; that's an average loss or 1.1lbs per week.

You say you are tracking your training and your diet. Please look in your logs and give us a full report of one day or training, and one day of eating. I don't care what day, just pick one.

For the training, be sure to include the exercise name, weight, set #, and number of reps performed.

For the diet, list it out by each individual meal you have and include calories, total amount of protein and total amount of fat consumed per meal.

I appreciate your help!
I just picked one day of lifting/nutrition tracking from my recent cut when I was around 180lb. The recent years I have been following a 3x full body routine, this is one of the workouts, I would add a few sets of lateral raises as well, but this would be the usual amount of volume per workout. Also, I couldn't train any lower body due to serious injuries on both knees.

https://imgur.com/AcFhX0w

Diet wise this is somewhat a typical day, I would try to hit each macro everyday but somedays each macro would be higher/lower because I tried to focus on meeting my calories intake over other macros. For example some days I would eat a lot of pasta, rice then reduce the other macros to fit my calories.

https://imgur.com/OQ6SgK4

This is what I have been doing the past 8-9 years.
Thanks again!

 

[dnf240]

Keep in mind there is a difference between losing fat and losing weight. Before I started posting here, this was my biggest problem too. I would lose a lot of weight but still look just as out of shape, because I didn't lose much fat. I just became a smaller version of myself.

How much fat are you eating per day?

I have always been told/learned that protein was the most important macro when trying to keep the muscle while dieting. So my goal was 40-60 grams but I would be off most days cause i focused on meeting my protein/caloric needs.

 

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

You lost a lot of weight. Well done.

Diet
Your diet is okay, I would push protein up a little higher, maybe 200g/day and try getting more protein from food - less from shakes. Take the calories out of your Carb budget.

If the scale is still moving in the right direction (about a pound per week), I would not lower your calories any further.

Training
You're not moving very much weight. That's not a jab at being weak or anything, it's that you should be prioritizing your heaviest lifts. 160lb bench press after 10 years of training is underwhelming. When is the last time you increased weight on this lift - or any other main lift?


I'm not one to point straight to hormones, particularly considering you're still making progress, but your fat distribution could indicate higher estrogen levels. May be worth getting a hormone test, but this is absolutely less important than diet and exercise.
Diet > Exercise > Hormones.

 

[dnf240]

You lost a lot of weight. Well done.

Diet
Your diet is okay, I would push protein up a little higher, maybe 200g/day and try getting more protein from food - less from shakes. Take the calories out of your Carb budget.

If the scale is still moving in the right direction (about a pound per week), I would not lower your calories any further.

Training
You're not moving very much weight. That's not a jab at being weak or anything, it's that you should be prioritizing your heaviest lifts. 160lb bench press after 10 years of training is underwhelming. When is the last time you increased weight on this lift - or any other main lift?


I'm not one to point straight to hormones, particularly considering you're still making progress, but your fat distribution could indicate higher estrogen levels. May be worth getting a hormone test, but this is absolutely less important than diet and exercise.
Diet > Exercise > Hormones.

No man I appreciate the help! And you're 100% right , after 8 years my current stats are complete shit.
For example, on the bench I would be adding weight and progressing at a good rate then once I reach around 165-170lb I would suddenly stall and cant progress from there unless I use shit form. This will continue for a few weeks then I would lose 10-15lb of strength and have to restart. This cycle has been occurring for all my lifts ever since I could remember. It's really frustrating knowing I shouldn't be stalling on such a weight.

 

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

No man I appreciate the help! And you're 100% right , after 8 years my current stats are complete shit.
For example, on the bench I would be adding weight and progressing at a good rate then once I reach around 165-170lb I would suddenly stall and cant progress from there unless I use shit form. This will continue for a few weeks then I would lose 10-15lb of strength. This cycle has been occurring for all my lifts ever since I could remember. It's really frustrating knowing I shouldn't be stalling on such a weight.

Okay so lets change up your training.

Run Phraks Greyskull LP, add a biceps, calves, and traps exercise in after every session.


You should be pushing yourself to failure on the last set of everything you do here, except for squats (safety).

 

[dnf240]

Okay so lets change up your training.

Run add a biceps, calves, and traps exercise in after every session.


You should be pushing yourself to failure on the last set of everything you do here, except for squats (safety).

Thanks, I'll def check out this routine!
Quick question, can you help me understand why I always stall at the same weights for most lifts over these past years? Am I eating to low of calories, not doing enough volume.....or just have terrible genetics for lifting/fitness?

 

[CJ]

Thanks, I'll def check out this routine!
Quick question, can you help me understand why I always stall at the same weights for most lifts over these past years? Am I eating to low of calories, not doing enough volume.....or just have terrible genetics for lifting/fitness?

It's probably a mental thing. If you can do 4x6 @160 lbs on benchpress, you should absolutely be able to do similar with 165 lbs. At a minimum you should get 6 reps on the first 3 sets.

I'd recommend if you're going to stick to this routine, to take the last set of each exercise to failure. You only get 1 shot per workout per muscle group in a full body routine, so make the most of it.

You have to push your body, give it a reason to adapt and grow, or it won't. Hard exercise is the signal for muscle growth, simply going through the motiins will get you ZERO results.

 

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

can you help me understand why I always stall at the same weights for most lifts over these past years? Am I eating to low of calories, not doing enough volume.....or just have terrible genetics for lifting/fitness?

This is gonna hurt.

I think you are not putting in enough effort. I'd be willing to bet that your face on the last rep of your last set looks remarkably like it did on the first rep of your first set.

Volume is only an amplifier of things you are doing correctly. If you aren't hitting failure, or VERY close to, then your set is basically wasted. But that's from a hypertrophy perspective.

Phraks is not meant for hypertrophy, at least, not really. It will still help you grow muscle as a byproduct of progressive overload, but the goal is to get you strong in every movement pattern your body has (vertical push/pull | horizontal push/pull | squats | hinge (deadlift)). I recommend this until your weights have plateau'd, which should not be for some time. I added the last set to failure onto this program as you need to get familiar with what actual muscular failure feels like.

From there, you should move on to more goal-specific training. I'd recommend DoggCrapp for hypertrophy, and 531 or Conjugate for powerlifting.

So, is it your diet or some genetic thing? Probably not. It's most likely related to supbar training and needing more effort to be applied.

You're not training to failure when you have every set ending in the same number of reps, with the same weights.

I don't intend this to come off harsh, I mean you well. Places like this are good for reality checks, I got one myself a couple years ago and I've been on the road to a bigger/stronger/sexier version of myself ever since. I hope this does that for you.

 

[SFGiants]

You are not training properly, you are just becoming a smaller version of yourself.

You're going to have to listen a follow direction to achieve your goals.

 

[Mythos]

Good advice here. I would add: Look into RIR and how to estimate it.. Shoot for at most 3 RIR average. If you're intimidated by getting nearer to failure on a barbell bench, switch to dumbbells.

 

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

Good advice here. I would add: Look into RIR and how to estimate it.. Shoot for at most 3 RIR average.

Oh for fucks sake.
Mike Israetel really did a number on this entire industry. Arguably just as damaging as Arnold.

 

[Achillesking]

Oh for fucks sake.
Mike Israetel really did a number on this entire industry. Arguably just as damaging as Arnold.

Bro he’s got a cool YouTube channel doh

 

[Mythos]

Oh for fucks sake.
Mike Israetel really did a number on this entire industry. Arguably just as damaging as Arnold.

This guy has probably never trained to failure in his life and has no idea what to do to start but you're saying telling him to try to pay attention to RIR and at least getting him in a range from 3-0 RIR for all his sets is bad advice.

You're right. Just train harder bro, just train to failure bro.

 

[Mythos]

Bro he’s got a cool YouTube channel doh

Just train harder bro

 

[Achillesking]

Just train harder bro

What’s training ?

 

[Mythos]

Oh for fucks sake.
Mike Israetel really did a number on this entire industry. Arguably just as damaging as Arnold.

I just read your advice in this thread on intensity. It's amazing. Go by what your face looks like on the last rep. I swear to god we don't need any more advice than this.