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Yes.

Bad?

I realized something tonight after looking at photos of me on the beach exactly a year ago in Jan, I look exactly the same!! I haven't had any gains at all. I think it might be my shitty diet. Check this out guys, this was today (I didn't drink any whey protein as I think it would be a waste today because I haven't worked out in 2 days (1hr
I heard you do less with the bicep because it's smaller and tires easier than say all the muscles involved in a complex lift such as a squat.

I'm really sick of 'wasting' a year in the gym and not seeing any gains. I remember in Jan saying " YEAH IM GONNA BULK UP FOR 2007 WOO!!! " and look at me now. I'm so sick of being an ectomorph skinny, I'm so motivated to change this entirely, I just don't know where to focus that energy. Guys if you want me to reread a thread or something feel free to suggest it here, I'm up for ANYTHING to help me at this point.

Strength vs Mass? Wtf? Aren't they the same? You're telling me some dude walking around the gym looking like Arnold is weaker than a skinnier guy who does strength training?

MY END RESULT GOALS; Big arms. 20 more pounds heavier. Big shoulders. I basically want to be strong and have a good physique, I don't want to look like a disproportional mountain of flesh, I'm aiming for Brad Pitt's bod in Fight Club.

Someone told me he's not even that big so that's a seemingly realistic 1 year goal for me.



His wrists seem as skinny as mine too, so maybe there is hope!

Oh and yeah I do have reallllyyyy skinny wrists and forearms, do these increase with time or what?

Meant for above first paragraph.

Can a mod please allow me to edit my posts?! grr lol. Ok the above like half of a paragraph got deleted... I forgot what I was asking. Just, I don't know what the best bulking workout is. starting STRENGTH. Well I"m ready for size now (I think.) Oh and I forgot to mention I didn't take whey because I didn't work out today. I have this weird fear or BS belief that I don't need to eat 4000 calories and 200 grams of protein on a day where I'm not working out, like say I work out on sat, sun, and mon, are rest days.. do I eat heavy on those days?

I also don't know what the best foods are to eat before working out or why. For example, During the week I have school and have about 8 hours before I hit the gym, on the weekends I wake up and am able to go early in the morning... but is there a certain amount of food I need to eat before I go / hour req? OR can I just wake up, take a whey scoop and milk and hit the gym?

Thank you so much everyone. Your knowledge and experience is incredible.

So to sum it all up, what's a good program to put me on? And what are the key factors. The pattern and what I noticed I did wrong so far is heavy lack of progressive overload,

Did you plan your progression? Did you add wieght to the bar every week? If so, there is no way possible you would only have gained one lb in 12 months time.

Also, next time you go for more then 3 months without seeing significant improvements in either strength, or mass, look to change something. dont wait till you've wasted 12 full months to tweak your program/diet ect.

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I don't do this for my family, my friends, women, accolades, pride, or ego. I do it for me and no one else, its just part of who I am.

so you're trying to gain weight i assume? sorry if i'm completely wrong, but is this SS thing a strength program? if you're looking to get bigger i'd suggest changing to a 'get bigger' program.
or mix get bigger with get stronger.

something like the 3 major lifts say 8,6,5,4,3,12
and 3-4 x 8-10 on everything else.
plus obviously eating like a horse, then eating the horse.

if you want to look like a bodybuilder, thats the road i'd send you down. if you want to be a powerlifter, i'm out of my element advising you.

-J-

For any beginner lifting, if they are getting stronger they will be getting bigger. It just happens. There comes a point, I believe, when you have to choose a strength focus or a size focus. However, for most people, getting stronger correlates strongly with getting bigger.

Thats how I see it anyways.

I should also point out that (I think Eric mentioned this) that your strength will come up in the beginning much faster then your size just due to your body getting used to the lifts. Your CNS is more able to make everything work together and your coordination gets better, etc.

IronWorker

Well I wasn't increasing the weight because I couldn't, say on my standing military press I was at 75, I tried to go to 80 and I failed on 2nd rep! So I had to bump it back down to 75.

in this instance micrloading would've been the thing to do. i cant make 5lb jumps on the press either, but i can make 3, 2 or even 1 lb jumps. i made myself some small weights by filling little plastic sandwhich baggies with washers to the proper weight (I used my digital food scale) then covering them with duct tape and a velcro strip. putting them on is a snap!

another point to consider is that according to your meal times listed, your first meal is at 6am and your last meal is at 5:30pm. If that's the case, you're going over 12 hours without food, which, in my opinion, is not going to help someone who's looking to pack on size.

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You were either not pushing yourself very hard at all or you just didn't bother to put on weight every week (which is kinda the same thing). My bench press went up 50lbs or so in 3 months and squats went way up as well.

I did increase some things though! I think my barbell bench press started at 95 and I got it up to 125.