+ 5 Plateaus and working your way through them
I've been here a while now and I've been around gyms for over thirty years. Recently I went into a new venture a purchased my own gym. One thing I often see talked about here and in the gym is PLATEAUS. People describe these in various ways, "my gains have slowed", "I'm not growing any more", "I've reached my genetic limit" etc. The thing that strikes me above all is the way your typical weight trainer tackles these issues.
I've noticed this even more since owning a gym, but it's more obviously visible here due to the nature of the site, AAS use. Massive sweeping generalisation coming here, but this seems to be the way a large percentage of people tackle the aforementioned "plateaus".
Jump on cycle.
Higher dosed cycle.
More compounds. (The phrase "throwing in some ...... springs to mind).
More compounds and higher doses.
Is this really what you think will cure the problem? How about this "checklist"
Am I eating enough?
Eating enough of the right things?
Am I pushing myself in my workouts?
Am I doing the same old routines week in week out?
Answer yes to all of the above, maybe look at your cycles.
These points don't seem to be considered as important. I'll tell you now a lot of people's diet that are "dialled in" aren't. A lot of people do the same old stuff week in, week out at the gym, look pretty much the same three years later and don't know why. I see it all the time in my gym. Unless that second checklist is honed to perfection, your AAS changes aren't going to cure the problem long term.
Change your thinking, the steroids are at the bottom of the list, not the top. Get the other stuff right and you'll grow. Get it wrong, steroids or no steroids, you'll be disappointed.
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I was in a rut of gaining weight during cycle and loosing it after. I think on reflection I was creating ever more complex cycles to achieve the gains I wanted that with hindsight are more achievable with food and changing what I did in the gym.
In short since my last cycle last year I've been evolving my diet further and mixing things up in the gym. I gained 5kg natural.
So another cycle then? What to use out of my box of juice with all those pretty vials? Testosterone. I think I'm on my 8th or 9th full cycle and I've never done a test only cycle. I was cycling before I found eroids and my first cycle was test/deca. In my head I wasn't going backwards in strength of my cycles! Such a wrong attitude with hignsight.
So I decided on test only. I am loving it. Just at the beginning really but I can see this being my most productive and enjoyable cycle.
All the variables are so controllable like bloat, sleep and energy. I have more time to concentrate on eating and training right. Gains are coming on better than any of my harsher cycles and I'm loving life.
Like Catalyst says. Get your diet straight. Get your training right. The gear is the icing on the cake. If you think you need an extra drug you'd best make sure that all the above on the list are bang on or you have very specific goals. Don't throw in random drugs to make up for your own shortcomings as I was doing.
Great post buddy
good write up, so many guys i know think they are eating tons of food, but dont track their calories. i challenge them to track for a day or two and guys who thought they were eating 5k cals a day are only pushing 3000. food is the number one factor in us growing.
another often overlooked factor i feel is intensity in the gym. its one thing to work out hard, but to truly bring a level of intensity that it takes to build more than just your average gym bro physique requires truly pushing yourself to the limits. alot of guys think they take themselves there, but in my experience arent close. there are alot of ways to increase intensity, most guys think of just weight, but rep speed, rest time between sets, increased time under tension, etc should all be considered. alot of guys just wanna stack more plates on.
i recently the past year hired a bodybuilding coach, and he has me running much less gear than i used to and with a better diet protocol and increased intensity at the gym, i am having 10x the results.
good post!
I'm a big believer in intensity too. Small gaps between sets, drop sets, super sets etc in every workout. Too many people spend too long in the gym doing everything other than hard graft. At least 70% of the guys I train with don't make it through a full workout and wave the white flag
I've added in a couple of days a week doing a crossfit type of workout (pull-ups, push-ups, squats etc). Done without rest in circuit. It's the hardest thing I have ever done I a gym. I get one of the PT's to stay with me a push me through to the point of blacking out covered in sweat and ready to puke. It just pushes me to train with the intensity that I was lacking in my workouts. Hoping it will shock my body into change. They are like my cardio days.
This is not going to be popular but so be it. Take a look at the creatinine levels of a lot of the blood work around here. Mid range normal even low normal. That is not characteristic of folk pushing themselves in the gym, nor is it characteristic of folk carrying a lot of mass. Myself, my friends and gym acquaintances have all at one time or another been prompted by their family doctor to see a kidney doctor. You walk into the office of a competent nephrologist as a bodybuilder and he will send you home with a smile despite your high creatinine level.
bingo couldn't have said that any better myself!
RustyhookerCouple writeups by you and makwa hit home. Pushing past the basic pumps and changing workouts often has my overall looking new like a holiday. Then hit some big cals at wakeup and the plateaus melted away.
Good read indeed!!
Very nice, that checklist is spot on... as while as cycling different foods in your diet.. for example, when I prep, its one week mixed nuts as a side to my chicken, the next week straight almonds next to my whitefish etc.. different foods host nutritional benefits. Your body adapts to the same of anything such as training or diet, always good to change it up.. great post as usual Catalyst+1
That's a very good point K. I like to vary my protein sources as much as possible too. Gets you a more balanced amino profile and also helps cut down the monotony of eating chicken / rice / veg etc constantly. I'm lucky that there's very few foods I don't like, liquorice being about the only flavour I genuinely hate.
RustyhookerSomeone posted report on black licorice (the real kind) lowering testosterone. Wonder if I can dig it up...
http://medherb.com/Materia_Medica/Glycyrrhiza_-_Licorice_root_and_testos...
Phytoestrogens....
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquorice
YES, amino acid profiles.. just think of the difference when it comes to eating a nice 8oz cut of filet mignon as opposed to an 8oz cut of chicken Lol.. and yes black liquorice I have really never been fond of.
TronMuscle adaptation occurs fairly swiftly and therefore we reach plateaus. I write out my own programs as well as my clients programs based on 12 weeks of 3 4 week mesocycles. each 4 weeks is different depending on my personal goals or my clients. "keep the body guessing" is an old yet still very valid saying. You do the same routine over and over you just stop getting results and a lot of people don't understand that. However, nutrition over everything else.. The way I classify it is this ... 1st Nutrition.. 2nd training.. and 3rd being aas if you choose to go that route once your body has reached it's maximum growth level naturally. Psychological plateaus can be overcome simply by changing entirely what you are doing training wise.. if you have been bodybuilding for a while STOP.. take a week off.. come back and power lift for a few weeks. give yourself something new and challenging to look forward to. I also enjoy doing mma style training drills for a while. If your always doing something different then your always going to have something to look forward to and your body will always be changing.. getting stronger, bigger, and more lean.. keep your routines interesting and you will help keep yourself motivated.
I follow a similar philosophy, it's old school but it works.
This resonates so much for me. I was telling myself that I had plateaud and in all reality I had. If I continued with the minimal effort I was putting in the kitchen the I would have continued not developing any further. A couple weeks back I started a cycle. I also bought a food scale and put as much money and effort in the kitchen that I put on gear and sups. It's been night and day, I feel brand new, like I have years worth of experimenting with my diet ahead of me. I'm excited.
We've all done it mate, and we all make excuses for why it's not working. Taking a step back and reassessing the situation often makes you realise the answers are simple and staring you in the face. "Keep doing what you're doing and you'll keeping getting what you're getting" is a phrase that has stuck with me over the years.
This may sound counter-intuitive, but I have found that when I reach plateaus (physical and mental), taking time off usually works best. A week or so usually does the trick. It allows my body to rest for a time and also allows me time to think about the issue away from the gym. I always come back with new vigor, lifting/routine ideas and changes to my diet. Stepping away is usually the best answer for me.
A break for your joints and a break for the brain. It works. After a week your almost desperate to get in there
Bingo!!
I've been guilty of never taking time off from the gym, but over the last year I've taken a couple of days off here and there and it makes you realise just how drained you become. I particularly noticed it when I had a few days off before that power lifting tournament a couple of months ago. I had four days off and the same weight I squatted in the contest literally felt 50Kg lighter.
Got to agree, especially for us older guys. Time out of the gym is definitely a positive physically and mentally.
I'll second that, taking time off also allows me to reboot, rethink, and reinvigorate my routine. I also take a few days off sometimes when I'm starting to fee burnt out, as I think it not only gives the body a rest, but the mind as well.