Current Events > Help? I'm a skinny guy who's been going to the gym 3-4x a week for 2 months now.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I mostly do the following: bench press, squats, shoulder press, rows and pulldowns.

I can bench about 85 lbs and squat a bit more than that but I'm starting to plateau there now.

How do I "break through" to the next level? Do I eat more protein? Just do the same weights consistently and slowly increase? I'm new to this so idk

BTW I'm 5'11 and about 158 lbs right now

85 lbs? Obvious troll is obvious.

ThePurrrfectMan posted...

85 lbs? Obvious troll is obvious.

How is it a troll? Is that too much or too little? The bar is 45 lbs right? I can bench that with 20 lbs on both sides, that's 85 isn't it?

dj1200 posted...

85 lbs? If this isn't a troll topic, tell us how much weight you put on the bar. Ex. 45 on each side; two 35s on each side, etc

The max I can do is one 20 lbs on both sides. Isn't that 85 in total including the bar?

How many times are you pressing that? Is that your 1 rep max?

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eat more food.

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dj1200 posted...

How many times are you pressing that? Is that your 1 rep max?

No, sorry, I guess I should be more specific. I can do about 8 reps of that weight on the first set and then maybe 5-6 on the next one before my arms start to wear out.

Heavier weight, lower reps.

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So you're only doing 2 sets? Lower the weight, man. Get your 4 sets in there.

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SquirtleSkwad posted...

Heavier weight, lower reps.

Stupid question, how many reps can I do at minimum that will help me advance? Should I do the weight that I can do 1 rep on? 2-3 reps?

BuckVanHammer posted...

eat more food.

This.

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dj1200 posted...

So you're only doing 2 sets? Lower the weight, man. Get your 4 sets in there.

No I'm not only doing 2 sets, sorry. I'll do as many sets I can do at my max weight and then lower the weight until I can't do any more. I'll typically do 4. But I want to be able to progress to more weight.

Eat more; the more you workout the more fuel you need unless you're just trying to lose weight. I'm about your size, and I eat roughly twice a day; I cannot gain muscle that way. When I was eating 3-4 meals a day I was able to gain some because I had something my body could turn into muscle.

Carbs are good for muscle gain, and so is protein.

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On_The_Edge posted...

Stupid question, how many reps can I do at minimum that will help me advance? Should I do the weight that I can do 1 rep on? 2-3 reps?

P much. It sounds like you're where I was about 10 years ago. I'm not a body builder by any standard, but I don't hit the gym like I used to. I definitely don't look like a bird chest anymore. Do a little less than your max. Get used to it at a lower rep. Increase weight as you plateau. Do like 4 sets, tho. One won't help much.

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Do you only do those exercises? You dont add more to it? For example do pec flies or incline/decline bench? Lunges, goblet squats? Push ups pull ups?

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MacDaMurderer posted...

Do you only do those exercises? You dont add more to it? For example do pec flies or incline/decline bench? Lunges, goblet squats? Push ups pull ups?

Sometimes but I mostly do the ones I mentioned. I add more gradually I guess.

Oh and super important pro-tip that I wish someone had told me when I first started working out:

Your triceps make up the most noticeable bulk of your arms, so give those a fair amount of focus.

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Thanks!

eat more, the calories don't have to be healthy either (though it's obviously better if they are)

Kaiganeer posted...

eat more, the calories don't have to be healthy either (though it's obviously better if they are)

So I can even gain muscles eating crappy food?