Need advice

[The Renegade]

What's happening S&C, hoping to get some tips as I'm at a snag. Quick stats:

34 years old
6' tall
November 2019: 205 pounds and weak
May 2021: 163 pounds
Current Stats:
385 deadlift
295 squat
5x5 dumbell press w/100lb dumbells (sorry don't have a 1rm for a chest press variation)
425 rack pull
23 pull ups

Here's where I need some advice, been doing 5x5 with great results. I'm substantially stronger. But as you can see from my weight and height I'm far from big. Should I switch from 5x5 to something else at this point to increase muscle mass? Not looking to get huge but I'd like to get up to 170. Calories currently 3500 per day but have done stretches as high as 4000/day. Thanks in advance.

 

[vision1]

Whether or not you change your program, you'll still need to eat more if you want to gain weight.

 

[The Renegade]

Whether or not you change your program, you'll still need to eat more if you want to gain weight.

Understood, it just seems odd that even at 4k calories I wasn't really putting on size but strength kept climbing. Prerty clean diet, I basically eat only grass fed beef, chicken, rice, and fruit/vegetables.

 

[vision1]

Understood, it just seems odd that even at 4k calories I wasn't really putting on size but strength kept climbing. Prerty clean diet, I basically eat only grass fed beef, chicken, rice, and fruit/vegetables.

Is it possible that you're over counting your calories? It's not easy hitting 4k cleanly like that.

 

[The Renegade]

Is it possible that you're over counting your calories? It's not easy hitting 4k cleanly like that.

I should have mentioned I added in 2-3 snacks a day for that along with what's listed above for 4k. Almond butter, honey, and protein powder bars. Those rack up the calories pretty quick. Those plus 1 pound of chicken, 1 pound of steak, 3 cups of rice, and a lot of avocado. That's why this seems off to me, everything is there as far as I can tell and strength numbers keep going up but muscle volume seems to be very slow to increase.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

At 34 and with 3400 calories you should be gaining weight. Especially if you're 163 at 6' and running 5x5 properly. So I would count those calories again.

normally people over estimate their actual calories.

I eat 4 eggs, a steak and olive oil in the morning, a good lean lunch (chicken and rice) with EVOO, A good lean supper (meat and veg) with EVOO and a cottage cheese snack at night and I'm only hitting about 3000 in a day. I'm growing, but Im also 42...

Also 100# DB bench press at 163 and 6'? That's a pretty decent DB bench, bro! Good on you!

 

[Volador]

If you're not gaining weight you need to eat more. Add 200-300cal and see what happens. 300cal = 1/2 cup of uncooked rice, or 3tbsp of peanut butter, or 3 bananas. The daily intake that will make you gain weight will vary by person. If you don’t gain any weight after a couple of weeks, then add another 200-300kcal, and so on. You will inevitably start gaining weight sooner or later. You need to be in a calorie surplus to gain weight. If you're not gaining weight, it's because you're not in one.

The programming style will have more to do with your goals. You're pretty light, so I think you could gain size from any decent strength program as long as you eat enough. You could get into a dedicated hypertrophy program, or stay in a strength oriented program. I don't think there will be a tremendous difference if you're just looking to gain 7-10lbs at a relatively light weight.

I'd suggest you don't stay in one of those linear progressions too long, and that you switch to something else as soon as you stall on your lifts. If you're still getting stronger on it, you can stay with it, but don't do a bunch of resets. I can recommend anything by Mike Tuscherer, Barbell Medicine, Greg Nuckols or Andy Baker for strength. There's a lot of good programs out there from other sources too. I'm less familiar with pure hypertrophy programs, so I can't recommend too much.

 

[The Renegade]

I'll count them again but I'm pretty OCD about it and constantly cross reference sources for nutrition information. I'll just take your guys advice and add 10% for 4 weeks and see if there's any change. Hypertrophy is what I was also thinking but I thought it was for more advanced lifters.

Thanks for the props on the DB press, that movement just always felt natural to me so I was able to excel at it.

 

[vision1]

I should have mentioned I added in 2-3 snacks a day for that along with what's listed above for 4k. Almond butter, honey, and protein powder bars. Those rack up the calories pretty quick. Those plus 1 pound of chicken, 1 pound of steak, 3 cups of rice, and a lot of avocado. That's why this seems off to me, everything is there as far as I can tell and strength numbers keep going up but muscle volume seems to be very slow to increase.

Well that sounds more reasonable.
Some people just need more calories than others.
Are you doing any other significant activity other than lifting?
Some items like steak can lose a significant amount of calories through cooking (loss of fat)

 

[AlanGregson]

I'll count them again but I'm pretty OCD about it and constantly cross reference sources for nutrition information. I'll just take your guys advice and add 10% for 4 weeks and see if there's any change. Hypertrophy is what I was also thinking but I thought it was for more advanced lifters.

Thanks for the props on the DB press, that movement just always felt natural to me so I was able to excel at it.

I dont get the whole rep range thing, if you want to maximize hypertrophy, pick a lighter weight that you can rep out more than 8 times and lift till you reach your breaking point, simply lift till faliure and thats 1 set, do at least 3 sets for every exercise.
I went from 170lbs at 5f10 to 185lbs in a year following this type of lifting regiment. The 5x5 is great for strength gains, it however does not maxmize hypertrophy.
Also, eat more.

 

[Fahcough]

The DB bench is solid. If you're hitting 25 reps with 100s then you could be benching more than you're squatting.

Do you do leg work regular or just some extensions and ham curls 3x10 with no strain, once a week? If you're not getting the squats in, you're cheating yourself out of a few easy pounds on the scale. Unless it's due to injury or not enough weights in home set up.

 

[blaseblah]

Are you doing any cardio? It might be holding back your gains.

 

[Shadiata]

Following pretty strict macro's of 400g carbs, 80g fat and 210g protein I was adding about 1/2 pound every other week. I did this for quite a long stretch (4-5 months. Went from 164-170, stayed lean. I'm 53 now. This was 2 years ago. Training consisted of mainly lifting but other HIIT workouts as well.

Seems liike at 4k calories you should be putting on the weight but nice progress on your strength work while cutting!

 

[deadshot138]

Check out the Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel. Mike Isreatel has a bunch of vids on bodybuilding and nutrition.

 

[DoomPatrol]

What's happening S&C, hoping to get some tips as I'm at a snag. Quick stats:

34 years old
6' tall
November 2019: 205 pounds and weak
May 2021: 163 pounds
Current Stats:
385 deadlift
295 squat
5x5 dumbell press w/100lb dumbells (sorry don't have a 1rm for a chest press variation)
425 rack pull
23 pull ups

Here's where I need some advice, been doing 5x5 with great results. I'm substantially stronger. But as you can see from my weight and height I'm far from big. Should I switch from 5x5 to something else at this point to increase muscle mass? Not looking to get huge but I'd like to get up to 170. Calories currently 3500 per day but have done stretches as high as 4000/day. Thanks in advance.

Simply put if you aren't gaining weight, you aren't eating enough.

You can argue that you're eating 4k and they say you should only need 3k or whatever numbers you want to use. Ultimately though you need to just eat more than you already are.

 

[RemyR]

What’s your goals?

Are you lifting to gain size and strength? Trying to focus on lifting the most possible with certain lifts? Or are you training for a sport?