Real talk, why are my results so bad after 2 years of lifting?

Real talk, why are my results so bad after 2 years of lifting?

Lol of course I see that now, at the time I thought it would help me get stronger, but all it did was made me fat.

 

Real talk, why are my results so bad after 2 years of lifting?

You really have to eat all day long, every few hours, to make noticeable gains. If you eat lean meat and good carbs, you won't blow up and should build lean muscle. If you eat crap like mcdoubles all day for protein (which I'm guilty of doing from time to time), you'll build muscle but you'll also get fat. Comparing your first picture to your last picture, I'd say your problem is food, especially if you're working out to failure and truly blasting your muscles. If you're pushing set after set after set, rep after rep after rep, pumping your muscles with blood to the point that you want to scream and jump out the window, and you're not growing, then your diet is the problem. But that's what stinks about a forum - there's no way for us to see your workouts to know if you're taxing your muscle enough to grow. I'm just guessing that's not the problem.

Consider Kai Green. He cooks a family pack of chicken in the morning along with massive amounts of broccoli, and separates it all into containers so that he can tote it around in a rolling suitcase with him all day long. That way, he eats every 2.5 to 3 hours without fail. Plus he drinks protein shakes and takes 50 grams of BCAA's so 2 scoops 5 times a day, (which is basically just more protein) along with his vitamins, etc. The point is, his body has MORE than enough protein and nutrients to grow. Think about that and compare it to your meals over the past few years and see if there's a way for you to get more meals and more protein. I'm not talking about crappy weight gainer shakes that make you fat. I'm talking about eating clean with massive amounts of protein to build lean muscle.

Don't get discouraged. You'll figure it out. Keep hitting the weights hard and really evaluate how often you're feeding your muscles, and you should be fine.

Good luck!

 

Real talk, why are my results so bad after 2 years of lifting?

I was eating a lot of minced steak and mashed potatoes when I was bulking. Surely a calorie is a calorie though, and lean meats don't have some magical formula that means their body composition partitioning is better than that of meat from mcdonalds? If it fits your macros... (but for the record, I will be eating mostly lean meat, casein, slow release carbs this time round.)

I wasn't training to failure while on SS. I was training in a progressive way, adding 2.5kg to the bar every workout. The only times I hit failure were times when I stalled out on the lift.

Don't worry I'm not discouraged, I will keep going as fitness is just part of my life now, but it just sucks having worked for so long, for such little results.

 

Real talk, why are my results so bad after 2 years of lifting?

Not all calories are equal. You don't see pro bodybuilders shoveling fast food and pizza. They eat clean all the time. The difference between cutting and bulking is the quantity of food. It's the same types of food though.

Also you don't need to eat every few hours. A bodybuilder hitting 5-6k calories a day probably will just because it's easier. You would probably be fine on 3-4 meals a day.

 

Real talk, why are my results so bad after 2 years of lifting?

To be fair, bodybuilders are on all kinds of things which means they would grow anyway regardless. 3-4 was what I was planning on.