First, your caloric intake better increase as your weights increase. Otherwise you'll just lack the physical resources.

Second, at plateaus is where it can actually become important to mix things up, I think. So, take some time to do dumb bell bench pressing. Start somewhere you can do it with perfect form, but then try to get as heavy as you can, keeping form solid, for 5x5 or something similar. That should help bring your barbell bench up. And, of course, you can focus heavily on support work and form. For example, get your legs and glutes strong, and practice engaging them when benching -- that can make a big difference. Get your back/lats broader so you have a wider surface to push from. Do stuff like farmer's walks to increase overall strength and power, and then be sure to grip the bar as hard as you can when benching.

For me, 225 for 5x5 is about where thoughtless lifting stops working. If I just show up and do 5x5 adding weight each time, I can get to 225, but not much higher. But I switched to Wendler 5/3/1 for a while and quickly got my 1rm to 305. Now, I've been doing some of the stuff I said, and I feel much stronger overall. To be honest, I haven't done 5x5 sets of barbell bench in a long time, so I can't say with perfect confidence that I broke the plateau -- but I have been dumb bell benching very heavy with relative ease. If I compare to typical ratios of DB-BB bench numbers, it looks like when I switch back to BB my numbers will shoot way up. (Not doing this any time soon because my chest is already way stronger than my back; I only BB row ~160 for 5x5. An unacceptable ratio.)

But do you really need to increase caloric intake to gain strength? I'm not interested in getting bigger at the moment, just stronger. This may seem like a really basic question, but with every trainer/lifter/etc giving different answers it becomes difficult to know for sure.

depends who the 'you' is.

I could get stronger without gaining a pound, but an olympic weightlifter or a professional boxer might be so optimal he has to make a choice between weight class and strength.

Also a fundamental that seems to be "too traditional" I guess is: You have to allow your muscles to completely heal. That's something pro bodybuilders never have to worry about because they have a rich course of steroids to heal and grow. Doing the same thing that failed and expecting a different result is essentially what you're doing, sure you can have more food to add mass but muscles aren't always healed just because you feel no pain. And yes you can switch up your exercises but if that full muscle isn't prime and ready then you'll fail to go heavier at bench, the same can be said for all exercises really.

Any advice or suggestions for a skinny dude whose been hitting the weights for a couple of months specially regarding nutrition and supplements? Thanks in advance guys!

Calculate your calories and aim for ~500kcal over your baseline once activity is factored in. Give it a month or so, see if you are gaining too much fat or not, and adjust accordingly.

What does baseline mean in this particular context (fuck, I feel noobish), thanks for the response though.

In this case, your BMR + your activity level. Basically what it takes to maintain your current weight. There are many calculators online

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand it like this: Even if you just want to stay the same weight while getting stronger, lifting more weight takes more energy, and thus requires more calories -- so, if you keep the calories constant while trying to lift more and more, you won't have enough calories to adequately recover. So, even to stay the same weight, if you want to lift more, which means expending more energy, you have to eat more.

Thanks got it now!

Huzzah - new pull up PR.
15 / 13 / 12 / 12
me happy

Nice. I haven't done more than 10 in a row in a long, long time, and not for lack of trying.

I did deadlift 415 yesterday though. So hopefully that number keeps climbing until 5 plates... and my knees are starting to feel ready for squats again, thankfully. That should help.

August Progress Pics:

Really good back day, cheated on the body building oriented program because I was sore from work and not really up for high volume on the deadlifts. Pulled 375x5 and then 405x3 which is pretty exciting for me since my one rep max is 425. Really excited to get back to lifting heavy for lower reps. Definitely saw good progress doing the higher rep stuff though, and now have a better base for going heavy.

nice upper back..

Yeah, coming in slowly. Need to work on the lat spread, however. Any recommendations?

More rows/chins/pulldowns. It looks like you do a lot of deadlifts

After much time away from benching, I got 285 today. Deadlift still 415. Squat -- I have no idea. Because of imbalances, I'm mainly doing a lot of glute-ham raises instead, but I have no real idea if I'm performing them properly or not. Ugh. But then I guess I'll upgrade to hip thrusts, and then finally get back to squatting... It's always gotta be disturbing if somebody benches more weight than they squat...

Might be the way you are standing, but having overdeveloped traps in relation to the rest makes you look narrower. I think you need to start doing more bent over rows and seated rows with the close grip. That's what gives your back that taper that you can see from the front.

My neighbor's bathroom has better lighting than mine, so I'll demonstrate. She's out of town and I'm watching the dog.

Looking good, D.

You know, I stopped doing seated rows a while back, and don't do nearly enough bent over rows, so looks like I'm gonna have to get back into doing them. I thought that might have been the case. We'll see what the progress is like in the near future.

Goddamn y'all are ripped.

Skipped the gym today because Wednesday/yesterday I was feeling pretty beat up from Wednesday's workout. I've been trying to push the StrongLifts a bit harder following those deloads, doing accessories and extra sets and whatnot. Probably was pushing it a bit much with doing 3x5 deadlifts instead of 1x5, maybe, and could've been getting sloppy on form without realizing it. Due to hit 300lbs for reps soon, which I feel shouldn't be an issue at all since I've done around 260 for reps with lots of sets and really touch-and-go, but I wanna make sure I get there without fucking my back up.

On the horizon though is the future, and that future is uncertain. Not sure what my gym access will be like for a few months, and for a while there I'll likely be eating like utter shit. Hopefully I don't get sloppy as fuck in the near future.

D'aww how did you know?

Also don't stink up the thread, OP.

let's see your half-naked pics, bro!

@batman, 315 for reps is where I started messing my back up. Kind of pisses me off because I could possibly be at a 500lb deadlift if not for all that wasted time. Form was my biggest issue, I knew I had to not round my back but I didn't really know how to make it not round when I went heavy. Working out with Derigin definitively helped my form because he knows a lot more about this sort of stuff than I do. Strengthening the rest of my back made a big difference(bent over rows will do wonders). Remembering to pull my hips through definitely helped, as before I was kind of making it into a two movement lift. I went to a physiotherapist because I kept putting my back out and had made no progress on deadlifts and squats for quite some time because of it and he said my hamstrings were way too tight gave me some stretches that really helped and I also started foam rolling. Another problem was I was doing the reach down and touch your toes stretch when I hurt my back thinking it would help. Little did I know it actually makes an injured back worse. Finally, use your warm up sets to really focus on your form.

tl;dr make sure your form is good, that your back has no major imbalances and that you are stretching and foam rolling often and you shouldn't have to worry about fucking up your back.

You got it, El Boss.

Who wins?

No hair. You both lose. 0 bear out of 10.

Haha, he beats me there!

You wait, D. In a few months my lat spread will be bigger.

Diamhea's 70s Lou Ferrigno Hulk/70s Arnie haircut is so retro he's actually a bigger nerd than any of the people in the nerdy threads.

Hey, at least I have hair. Plenty of it, in fact.

Said I'd cut until I drop to 180lbs and now that I'm 178, I want to push for 170. It never ends.

So finished my first real week of RTS yesterday, the powerlifting program Derigin and I are trying. It does seem a bit complicated with all the math and stuff, but definitely excited about this. First week was determining what your 5 rep max is for the big three, got 230 for bench, 275 for squat and 385 for deadlift. Happy about the deadlift, but not as much the other two, my bench is getting way too close to my squat. Doing low reps with heavy weights is definitely what I like best, and already feeling it on the easy starting week, so this is going to get intense. Doing the same weights for all sets is something new to me and adapting to it is going to be interesting.

Didn't you injure yourself working out like that?

He wont on my watch.

Sure, but given my form back then I would have inevitably hurt myself at any rep range as the weights got heavier.

I once ran the 40 in 4.69 seconds, would probably be in the 6+ second range now. This thread indicates I need to hit the gym with more dedication than I already do.

I know the lighting probably gives you 10-15 lbs, but that is great conditioning. Just a great everyday look to strive for.

Arm progress... (very high triceps)

^^ Look pretty damn powerful