So I guess no one else should express their opinion then, huh?

 

I am a former powerlifter and right now I am trying to drop some of the weight I gained doing it. As of last week I was 256lbs at 6'2", I have been as heavy as 285# and let me tell you moving all that weight around, going up and down stairs and such is no fun. Like most other people have said mix it up a little from time to time and understand that everybody responses to training differently. Take it from a guy with crappy wrists and a tightening back FORM IS KING. You only get one body in life and the replacement parts they got for it suck so take care of it. Drink at least a gallon of water a day during the summer when I was lifting I would go through 2 gallons in a 1.5 hour workout. Be careful with supplements and anything else you put into your body. If you are not sure of what it does or what it has in it don't take it. As far as my schedule

Monday: Chest/bis (Yeah I know the beach muscles)
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Shoulders/Tris
Friday: Back

After each workout I try to do at least 20 mins of conditioning, during the school year I am lucky to get in all four days, usually it is three times a week.

 

I workout a minimum of 5 days per week. I try to get to the gym on Saturdays and Sundays for cardio, but its tough to get up early on the weekends after working all week. I have only been lifting for a year and a half and have seen significant gains in that time. I get most of my workouts from Muscle and Fitness magazine which gives good workouts for the beginner and the advanced.

 

Ok, to increase your brute strength lifts, cardio WILL NOT help. to get seriously big, you have to do squats and dead lifts. these strengthen the posterial chain. I would suggest you atleast do light squats, or hack squats on a machine. and finally, EAT. as for supplements, you pretty much have the basics down. i would try some dips instead of a decline bench, and either go light on a barbell for a few days, or switch to dumbbells on the bench. do you do flys? if not, do these for a little while, to help and bust the 320 plateau.
hope this helps.

 

One of my favorite strength boosters is speed work outs. When I was competing I would do a heavy bench day on Monday with some really slight shoulders and biceps and then on Thursday do speed bench and heavy shoulders. What to do is take about 50-65% of your one rep max and do about 5 sets of three with using absolute perfect form and try to drive the weight off your chest as hard and as fast as you can while still maintaining good form. Really trains the fast twitch muscles well and is more practice using good form. You can also ad bands or chains to it to really mix it up. It sounds weird and other ppl in the gym will think your a little odd but it will defiantly help your growth/strength

 

Well I took you guys advice and laid off for a few days. It seemed to help quite a bit actually. I quit taking all my supplements too. But on the 3rd of the new year I'm gonna start back with my whey protein. I lifted a little today, not much, but i feel like i have way more energy, and my muscles arnt sore all the time now. thanks

 

Good deal .... hope you break thru your plateau and hulk out !!

Question for you all .... what are peoples thoughts on vitamins and their benefits to weight lifting ?? In particular vitamin B. I have been reading that it increases energy ... would this help a guy out if taken pre-workout ?
I don't care for the jitters that most of the pre-workout supplements give me.

PISTOL

 

Could it be possible you havent filled out yet? I was 132 lb @ 19 and lifted my but off. I was strong, but no mass. I went into the service and magically, over the next 2 years, I went from the 132 lb to 190lb, mostly muscle. Maybe you havent fit into the body that is yet to come. Just a thought.

 

Pistol,
My stance on vitamins, I feel like you can get ALL the required vitamins and minerals via a healthy diet. As I have said though, none of them are going to bump your testosterone levels up if they are low.
That being said, I DO take a few vitamins, mostly just to make up for the things I put into my body that don't belong there otherwise. I use L-Arginine to help my protein metabolism, have used just about everything under the sun both legal and illicit and have come to the obvious conclusion:
(and here it is) When you put a supplement into your body, in other words, something it can't naturally produce on it's own, unless you sustain that "un-natural" level of whatever it is, you will go back to the same condition once the supplementation subsides. As in, your body will recognize the now LACK of said supplement and return to it's so called natural state. This goes for EVERYTHING, don't care if you are talking Creatine Mono Hydrate or the new Ester Creatine, whatever.

B, vitamin B goes like this, if you aren't going to inject it sub-q, you might as well not even take it. You can take a dozen times the daily dose orally and not see any benefit.
You can get B-12 from your local vet supply (sometimes even a local Tractor Supply store). Inject sub-q below the skin of your stomach with a short (3/4" insulin pin) 1 ML (1000mcg) every 3-4 days. You can go as low as 500, as high as 3000 a week, just depends on the person. It is usually dosed at 1000 MCG per ML.
100ML should be around $13.00 vet grade or about $65.00 for 5ML of the same stuff approved by the FDA for use in humans.

You should see increased energy, increased appetite, some people report better focus mentally.

 

pm me if you still need some good info.

 

How exactly do you do this?

I want to try it, but don't want to end up doing it wrong in the process.

 

What do you mean how do you do it? You do it!

Ever watch someone inject insulin? Same process, only use B-12.

Might be a good idea to do it under a Dr.'s supervision if you are not up on giving yourself injections. You can have your blood run, see what you are a short on and go from there. Vitamins are one of the those things that can fluctuate in the body during the day, supplementing can help with that.

 

Is this basically just like injecting yourself with a steroid. If it's like that I have no problem with that? Like could I use a syringe and stuff. I have some syringes and needles and I know how to inject using them. But i don't have any insulin needles or anything? Could I do the same process with a regular syringe.

 

To answer your question, NO it is not like injection a "steroid" that would be a intramuscular injection, deep into the tissue. A "sub-q" injection is just that, a subcutaneous injection, a needle is inserted just under the skin or into the fatty layer.

You can technically do the same process with a regular needle, I wouldn't if I had the choice though. Usually, one would want to have a needle about 1/4" longer than their actual intended depth, serves two purposes, one to gauge the depth you are trying to go, and two to be able to retrieve it if it is somehow broken off while in the process.

If you watch someone do an insulin injection they usually just grab a hunk of skin, pull it out a little then plunge the needle. The other advantage of using a insulin pin is that they are tiny in gauge, unlike one that would be used for a "steroid" as you mentioned.

 

I'm 46 yrs. old now, and have been lifting on and off my whole life, and I've never felt better since I gave up heavy lifting. Before I gave it up my joints would always be hurting, which really screwed up my routine, and made my life a painful one. I just do regular pushups,pullups,squats,and swimming, and I feel better, and actually have better all round endurance now, my 13yr. son can't keep up with me.