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Anonymous
Need help /fit/

How do I gain weight and stay motivated?

After living my life as a stick figure for years, I finally decided to start lifting regularly a couple years ago.

For about the first 6 months, I was goin to the gym like 4 days a week, and went from benching about 90 to benching 150...and gained about 10 pounds in that time.

(I started at 120lbs...was almost a whopping 130 by the end, and I'm 5'9")

At about the 6 month mark, I hit a plateau...which I expected would happen anyway, but I kept going regularly and started drinking protein shakes and trying to eat more...with no progress, 6 months of that and I was still at the same weight and benching the same amount as I was at the end of the first 6 months.

Probably reflecting my failure from that second 6 months, and probably other factors, I have had a really hard time going regularly in the past year. I can usually still go a couple times a week, but there have been a few occasions where I'll go weeks without lifting at all.

How can I get past my plateau, and stay motivated to keep going regularly?
>> Anonymous
get a workout partner and go to failure on every lift
>> Anonymous
JEWS-no i mean SQUATZ
>> Anonymous
Even if you're trying to eat more, you might not be eating enough. The more muscle you gain, the more calories you need to eat to maintain that muscle in addition to gaining more.

Otherwise... I don't know. It's really bizarre for someone to not make any progress over six months.
>> Anonymous
I agree with what they said. What's your current routine look like? www.t-nation.com is a GREAT site for strength training knowledge; if you need a plateau buster look there.
>> BOwen !i7E4yRzZEQ
>>21912
Curlz 4 da gurlz, brah.
>> Anonymous
Eat moar.
>> Anonymous
>>21881
Actually the proper way to break a plateau is to take time off. Take a week or 2 off from lifting, do light cardio 3 times a week maybe. Play a little tennis on the weekend. Take some potassium to help your muscles repair fully.

Then get back to the gym and fuck that shit up. Go heavy.
>> Anonymous
>>21952
And my sources are:
Me - Trainer who let certification expire, also plateaued bench press at 295, broke through and am now at 365.
and
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Read through his "Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building"
>> Anonymous
Lol.
Switch up your training regimen to get over a plateau (5x5 powersquats instead of 5x10 squats, etc), eat more, try cutting weight before bulking again, and remember to eat.

Also, at your pisspoor weight, I suggest hypertrophy sets before actually working on strength.
>> Anonymous
>>21972
Actually, my mother loves me,so strike one on that.

Also, you say there is no proper way to break a plateau, but then go on to start giving your advice as though it is needed, and thus superior to all advice already given, which implies you probably think your way is better.

Fuck, you're on your way to becoming a namefag so you can have people thank you for your wisdom of borrowing other peoples ideas and regurgitating them while criticizing others for doing the same.

tl;dr - fuck you
>> Anonymous
>>21972
alright, changing set and rep schemes meaning going from 4x8 to 5x5 to 8x2 etc. weight goes up, reps go down. instead of grinding out x amount of weight for one set to failure, cut the reps and do more sets. this is how weightlifters and powerlifters train and there is a wealth of science to back it up. if you want to get really technical use max percentages; but if you're not used to it doing one rep maxes is not safe. three rep maxes are probably acceptable and less dangerous.

tempo is up for a set time, pause/hold for a set time, down for a set time, pause/hold etc.

there is a whole level of detail here that i could go into but that would take forever.

google poliquin principles + rapidshare. read. it's a little out of date but still largely pertinent. enjoy, because you have now educated yourself and started a delightful journey of hotsex and cocaine.
>> BOwen !i7E4yRzZEQ
>>Fuck, you're on your way to becoming a namefag so you can have people thank you for your wisdom of borrowing other peoples ideas and regurgitating them while criticizing others for doing the same.

Fuck, he's on to us/me!

To the COLLECTIVE CAVE

*cue exit music*
>> Anonymous
>>21991
suck my enourmous balls. she's lying to you like she lied to your dad about paternity and niggers.

and no, what i did was point out his problem and answer his question about set, rep and tempo variation. his constant trying to increase by just adding sets and reps is his problem, because even if he takes time off he'll go back and do the same thing again.

the fact that i said that is one way to do it implies that any way i say is also not an absolute.

schwarznegger's training is not the best example to follow. he used to do a lot of stuff that he said he didn't do because of joe weider and his sponsership work. if that makes sense. and old science is old.

my advice is better than yours and i will cock-sword fight you to prove it, nyah nyah nyah.

tl;dr: rawr.
>> Anonymous
>>22016
I accept your challenge to cock fight, so long as balls do not touch.