Hey I am kind of feeling sad right now.
I started working out in December 2024 and since then I am consistantly in the gym. I started off with Full Body for a month but got bored and did a Upper Lower Split for maybe 6 weeks and then I swapped to PPL.
I ran PPL 6x a week.
My workout I could just say was (imo) on the lower end (Push had 2 Chest, 1 Shoulder, 1 Triceps // Pull had 1 Vertical 1 Horizontal 1 Shoulder (Face Pulls basically) and 1 Bicep exercise and Legs I did Barbell Squats, Leg Curls, Extensions, Calf Raises and 1 Ab Exercise)
I am still SKINNY. I mean not skinny my chest and belly are still fat and my arms and legs skinny.
What I changed in diet: Increased Protein intake from never ever tracking in my life to 2.2 g per kg bodyweight. I cut out most crap but still it bad stuff cause I need kcal to gain muscle. I try to eat healthy 3000 kcal a day but its hard but I always have my 2.2g of protein a day in me. The lowest I tracked was 4 months ago 1.55 gramm protein. The highest I had was a month ago with 2.9g of protein per kg bodyweight.
I started at 83.9 kg, droped to 76.5 kg (kcal reduced to 2100-2300) and now I am back to 80 kg after I increased kcal a month and half ago to 3000 kcal.
I am still benching only 22.5 kg (8 reps) dumbbells. I started at 15 kg which is already nothing (male, 32 years old) now. I started Lat Pulldowns at about 30 kg now I am at 73 kg (6 reps)
What am I doing wrong? How can a body (again I am a 32 year old male) only bench 60 kg (Barbell Flatbench Press) for 3 Reps??
Its depressing. People start off at 60 kg. I worked my way to 60 kg and thats considered beginner lift. And I cant even do 4 reps lol.
My genetics are so bad I honestly dont know what to do at this point.
Maybe PPLPPL is too much and I am not recovering properly? But its only 4 exercises day. And I dont even feel tired after training - despite not even being able to lift another rep. People say you should feel exhausted after training. I think if Id go back to the gym I can do another 9 reps of my last weight. But I cant do more than 9 reps of something if my energy is gone.
Today I did Cable Hammer Curls (38 kg…) 11 Reps, then 8 in my second set and in my third set I made 6 reps. It wasnt possible to get 7. I squeezed so hard to try to get the 7 but it wasnt possible. I took a shower, came back to the cable machine and did 9 reps of hammer curls with 38 kg. So I didnt train to failure earlier?
I just want to look decent and not skinny anymore. I need help…
Going to the gym isnt actually the problem at this point. I am so ready for my workouts I cant wait to go again. A reason why I prefer PPLPPL over Upper Lower or Full Body cause I have time to be in the gym every day for 1-2 hours (my workouts currently with these 4-5 exercises only 50 minutes per workout though) but Id have time for more if it was worth it.
Edit: Yeah it might look like progress my Lat Pulldown 30 kg to 73 kg (6 reps) but how am I even sure if I wasnt able to do 73 kg in december 2024 already? I never tried it. I just started off at 30 kg. I remember the 30 kg feeling quite hard, but just by looking in the mirror Id say I didnt gain strength/ muscle at all. My wife says I look wider but I think she is just wanting me to feel proud lol. I slightly remember trying to Bench Press the Barbell (20 kg at my gym) and did a few reps and added 5 kg left and right (so 30 kg) but I eventually instantly switched to Dumbbells cause I had no spotter and was alone most of the time in the gym and didnt want to die early by weights squooshing me. But I also never really bench marked my barbell bench.
Also the shame kicked in. Had 13/14 year olds benching 60 kgs while I was just benching the bar. So I made my final switch to dumbbells and started benching when no one was at the gym.
Today the same 16 year old started his warm ups with 30 kg dumbbells. I get it, he is strong asf but he is 16 years younger than me. I cant even pick up the 25 kg dumbbells and place them properly to start benching lol.
Not even judging him, I am judging me. I wonder how unnormal this is that a male my age cant bench 25 kg dumbbells.
Am I delusional or in a bubble? Maybe 22.5 kg is okay and I am just on the wrong side of youtube and the gym? Is 22.5 kg really that bad? lol.
A few things come to my mind reading this.
You should probably not focus on the weights other people are pushing (especially not the monsters on the internet). It will only make you frustrated. But if you figured you actually want to be strong, regardless of how you look, then eat more and move to a powerlifting program, but that’s a different discussion.
Good luck!
Thanks! :)
I never really was on a program. Just doing PPL with the exercises for that day.
Now I am trying GZCLP. The program says I should use weights based on 85% of my 5RM.
Which is quite good for me, now I am starting this program with a bit lesser calculated RM (or Training Max better said) and can focus on forms of the big lifts.
I hope this will work, I am just basically restarting "kind of" to test the weights and learn the movements correctly.
I don’t have the conversions on top of my head for what 85% of 5RM represents exactly (around 70% of 1RM?), but that sounds maybe a bit “low” for strength?
But if you can go to failure between 5 and 15 reps, again, with great form, that should do! 👍 And if your issue to start with was the volume, then yeah, going for more reps will help.