any of you guys stopped gaining weight and strength?

[JOHN MATRIX]

ive reached a point where i havent really gained much, if any, strength in the last year or so. also my weight does not increase anymore either, in fact its gone down a bit, despite the fact that ive been lifting only about 2 times a week and eating lots of food, i even wake up once or twice during the night and eat because i get hungry. all i notice now is a bit of refinement. has anyone else reached a major plateau? what did u do about it?

[Bast175]

What is your body fat like?  Maybe it's time to diet down?

[alexxx]

I keep gaining weight at an astounding rate. 

Check my journal if you want to know how.

[JOHN MATRIX]

What is your body fat like?  Maybe it's time to diet down?

its low...i could not get fat if i tried.

[JOHN MATRIX]

I keep gaining weight at an astounding rate. 

Check my journal if you want to know how.

is your wisdom available to the public or do i have to make 12 easy payments of $29.95 a month?

[alexxx]

is your wisdom available to the public or do i have to make 12 easy payments of $29.95 a month?

For you my friend it comes for free.

http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=69519.0

[Bast175]

What is your training like?  Maybe you are doing too many sets and overtraining.

[JOHN MATRIX]

What is your training like?  Maybe you are doing too many sets and overtraining.

ive stopped doing arms anymore, basically this is what i do now.

leg day:

calf raises as heavy as i can go
squats(untill i can barely push it back up again)
finish with leg extensions(i recently dropped leg presses)

pressing day:

i do any combination of the following

flat bb bench
incline bb bench
db flat
db incline
 then

hammer strength military presses
dips
tricep pushdowns
nautilus pullovers

last i have 2 back days that i rotate between:
either

deads and bb rows

or

50 pullups
pulldowns
cable rows
rear delt work


thats all ive been doing lately, typically 2-3 days between workouts.
 

[Bast175]

how many sets for a muscle though?

[gcb]

I find it easy to gain weight - gaining strength though is hard.

I found a way to break through plateaus was to cycle my reps and weights like a powerlifter.

I wasn't doing much arm training either but I found that I was getting built more like a powerlifter with small arms so I added arm training back in.

[Ursus]

ma a wee witp is to lower the weights u use for sets by say 20% and eacj week build up 2% or so until u surpass wat u are at now. its called cycling and it really works. how many sets are you doing. overtraining is a possibility .

[Mark1]

ive stopped gaining size and strength because i want to lean out a bit more. when i take in a lot of carbs my strength goes through the roof but i also gain bodyfat. cant win!

[GET_BIGGER]

Eat more.

[yangmian]

ive reached a point where i havent really gained much, if any, strength in the last year or so. also my weight does not increase anymore either, in fact its gone down a bit, despite the fact that ive been lifting only about 2 times a week and eating lots of food, i even wake up once or twice during the night and eat because i get hungry. all i notice now is a bit of refinement. has anyone else reached a major plateau? what did u do about it?

[yangmian]

ive reached a point where i havent really gained much, if any, strength in the last year or so. also my weight does not increase anymore either, in fact its gone down a bit, despite the fact that ive been lifting only about 2 times a week and eating lots of food, i even wake up once or twice during the night and eat because i get hungry. all i notice now is a bit of refinement. has anyone else reached a major plateau? what did u do about it?

i   simplify program even further and add more rest days until u start gaining in strength again also add weight to the bar at a more gradual rate and try cutting back like goudy suggested and build the weights back slowly

[JOHN MATRIX]

Eat more.

what a novel approach.
ive tried that, but if i eat any more than i do now the only place i get bigger is my stomach

[JOHN MATRIX]

ma a wee witp is to lower the weights u use for sets by say 20% and eacj week build up 2% or so until u surpass wat u are at now. its called cycling and it really works. how many sets are you doing. overtraining is a possibility .

lower the weight-and do more reps?

nope lower weights do the same amount of reps tho gradually build up to what tyou wer doing. the rest and slow approach should mean you can surpass your previous lifts.

think of it as doing the long jump. from a standing start you may get so far. tho with a big build up u are gonna get a hell of a lot furthur

[shiftedShapes]

ive reached a point where i havent really gained much, if any, strength in the last year or so. also my weight does not increase anymore either, in fact its gone down a bit, despite the fact that ive been lifting only about 2 times a week and eating lots of food, i even wake up once or twice during the night and eat because i get hungry. all i notice now is a bit of refinement. has anyone else reached a major plateau? what did u do about it?

you need to focus more on big compound movements:

deadlift (both sumo and conventional)

squat

dips

bench press

push press (hand stand push up would be even better)

chins

bent over row


try to work out 4 times per week and do 2 or 3 of these each time

I promise that you will start getting stronger again.  It will probably take less than a month for you to see major results.

-sS

[OakExpress]

I really struggled to add lean mass until I changed my workout routine.  I've been a high volume guys for years.  Now I'm doing a program that is low-volume and high intensity.  The changes have been amazing.

Here's the theory..
1) TRAINING - provide your muscle with growth stimulus using heavy weight in the 8-12 rep range.  I do 2-3 warmup/acclimation sets and then I do one all out, crazy rest/pause set or drop set.  That is it for that muscle group.  Then I move on the the next.  Typically people annihilate their muscle thinking that tearing it way down means that it will build back better.  Not necessarily.  Provide the stimulus and then move on.

2) RECOVERY - you have to give your body time to recover.  When you are doing high volume and 5-6 training days per week, your body is constantly trying to recover.  If your body is trying to recover, it's not growing.

3) GROWTH - you not only need time to recover, you need time to grow.  If you are back in the gym as soon as your muscle has recovered, you've not let your body acclimate to the stimulus you provided in the gym.  So, allow time for recovery and growth THEN train again.

4) FOOD - you have to provide your body with plenty of energy (carbs) and subtrate (protein) in order to build muscle.  Food is the most powerful anabolic in the natural bodybuiders repetoire.  Quality food in appropriate quantity gives your body permission to grow.  Your body is an adaptive machine.  If you give it the food it can adapt to the stimulus provided in the gym.  If you don't provide sufficient food, your body will not be able to respond.

These principles are particularly important for:
1) Natural bodybuilder
2) Ectomorphs (given your body fat comment, sounds like an ectomorph to me)
3) Older bodybuilders (your ability to recover slows down)