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 Weak Upper Body & Poor Strength

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axtray
post Aug 27 2016, 01:22 PM

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QUOTE(dennooze @ Aug 26 2016, 09:56 PM)
Hi All,

I'm new here. Had been training for 8 months straight (3 to 5 times gym, with regular cardio 20 to 30 mins between rest days)

But the results not so encouraging for me, especially my upper body.
My shoulders, chests, arms & other parts seemed weak.

I'm also on Personal Training and not being given very good advice. Seeking help to understand why I'm not getting the results as intended.
Somehow I'm already starting to feel demotivated.

Below are the things I'm doing:-
- first 2 months (dropped 5kg on workout and clean diet)
1) good workout from PT (sore and pain like shiet), strength can't increase much
2) even push ups is hard for me to reach beyond 30, pull-ups is almost impossible for me to lift
3) Regular intake of isolate protein after workout and night time & morning supplement (Muscletech Multi-Vitamin)
4) Increased food intake especially protein & increasing back to my usual calories & carbs (not too good with macro nutrients)
5) Eating more crazy than ever (getting hungry very fast almost every 2 to 3 hours, others start thinking i'm food crazy & ridiculous)

How do I fix my weak upper body.

Anyone have experience with such problems like mine. Really appreciate some help.

Thanks & Regards.
*
are you working out in a commercial gym? with a personal trainer from there as well? are you currently fat, or thin.

to be honest, lack of strength gain from my own experience is always down to the standard 3,

1) lacking intensity. personal trainer in commercial gyms tends to change workouts however they like. which is a problem if you want to gain strength.

2) not eating enough (if you're thin) or not eating correctly (if you're fat). how crazy we're talking about this eating 2-3 hours. a whole meal or just a standard snack like a packet of biscuit.

3) not having enough rest.



axtray
post Aug 27 2016, 10:33 PM

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QUOTE(dennooze @ Aug 27 2016, 08:35 PM)
1st Question Answer
- he does change workout frequently these days
- intensity (it's there, but normally when he leave me alone, I'll try to push the highest possible weights I can go, when my body can't handle it, will drop to the weight I can handle and push on)
- can't comment much on this since I don't understand my body well and nor experts in workouts

2nd Question Answer
- for my height not really fat (but my fat is covering my tummy) finding it very hard to get rid
- no fixed meal sometimes whole meal sometimes light (depending on food availability around me), travelling outstation sometimes can be an issue for me to find food
- good fix for food still not ready, but trying to fix it
- mostly eating outside, if at outside, will try to find best possible food with protein, eating as clean as possible (less oil, high protein, if there's eggs, will sure take at least one to two and mix with other protein food)
- these 3 days, starting to incorporate protein shake in between my main meals (breakfast & lunch), to see if there's any difference (is this good ?)


3rd Question Answer
- rest I believed I have plenty
- are you referring to sleep ? (my sleep nowadays are more energized compared to old days, prolly because of the workout)
- I can't sleep exceed 6 to 7 hours (otherwise when I wake up, will have spinning headaches, sign of oversleeping)
- I don't exactly sleep early roughly 12am to 1am (sometimes earlier depends on my schedule or personal stuffs on the day)
- come back home mostly relax and don't do other stuffs (fearing of stress)
- so this one should not be an issue for me

Appreciate some help based on my previous feedbacks and see if there's anyone here can help out.

And btw, I'm from Penang, someone nearby my place would be great to catch up and meet.
*
so there's your answer i guess.

i'd suggest for you to suggest to the trainer to focus more on strength oriented workout. weight training, free weights, reduce the machines or even don't use it altogether. i hope he doesn't ask you to do all those kettlebell swings etc (basically crossfit shit).

standard strength oriented workout
1) lower down the rep range (from 8-12 to 6 - 8)

2) sets, depends either from 3 sets to 5 sets

3) workouts should center around big 4 lifts, OHP, Bench press, Deadlift, squats (basically the bosses of the compound movements). you can add dips (weighted if bodyweight is too easy) and pull ups (weighted as well if bw is to lmao easy). these workouts, i'd suggest you to go for the lower rep range as mentioned above. once done you can add isolation workouts as accessories if you with for hyperthrophy.

4)lets say if you can rep 3 sets of 5 with the same weight, increase it on the next workout.

again i'm saying this based on my own experience. unlike some dude who thinks he knows it all, i'm not gonna say that i know best. but happy to say that i actually gained some strength even during my cut following this hybrid strength and hyperthrophy workout.

make sure to work on your form as well. hopefully your trainer is good enough to help you on this. i've seen PTs in personal gyms letting their clients work with half rep benchpresses and squats, which is abit sad.

For the meal, i can't comment much to be honest. you said you're not fat for your height but can't see any abs, so you're in the skinny fat range. since you are more aware of what you're eating, you can try continue doing what you're doing now and see how's the progress on your strength training goes. of course the best way is to track your calories and macros. this need a little bit of effort to start at first, but gets pretty easy once you get used to it.

goodluck
axtray
post Aug 28 2016, 10:29 AM

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QUOTE(dennooze @ Aug 27 2016, 11:00 PM)
1st & 2nd point - noted

3rd point - the rest I can do but not dips & pull ups (these 2 workouts are insanely tough for me and tried couple of times and cant even lift my own bodyweight at all), so how do I fix this ? keep training same thing ? or use other methods ?

So the above 3 points, how do I monitor myself I'm doing well and what kind of results should I be expecting from myself ? any benchmarks or measurements ?

4th point - yes, my PT sometimes will train me and halfway my forms sometimes go little off (when my body can't handle the weight), especially doing the biceps (my left hand - weaker hand tend to twist the dumbbell when I move it up and down), but I still try my best to do it on my own without PT monitoring (but sometimes I feel pissed off as I'm paying to get attention and knowing the correct forms but instead I'm left alone sometimes, this is a similar issues with many commercial gyms I guessed)

For the food, I'll try my best to slowly fix it and incorporate more clean food, fried, oily food I can cut off easily, only thing is the protein intake may not be sufficient

Comes to supplement, any recommendations of tweaking I need to do ? Currently I'm relying quite heavily on isolate protein & multi-vitamin.
Should I try put in BCAA ? pre or post workout ? any other etc ?

Need some advices on the above.

Thanks & Regards.
*
Well it is a strength routine so your first and foremost goal should be getting stronger. I'd target being able to bench press and squat your body weight and deadlift at least 1.2 times your bodyweight for starters.

The standard benchmark that's used in 4chan fit message board and even Reddit (lol troll message board) is 1/2/3/4 plate (Google this). You can achieve this, I dare say you're already alot stronger than 90% of ppl in the gym.

Supplements, from my own experience, getting your protein intake up was a good start. And you're on multi vitamins too. Unless you're doing fasted training, don't bother with bcaa. Post workout, just eat a banana or white bread or any other fast acting carbs. Preworkout might be a good if you're having trouble getting into workout mood. But if you wanna save money, just drink coffee (no sugar).

Again, if you want to see solid result, tracking your calories and macros will be your best bet. You go to any bodybuilding, powerlifting forum, the first thing they'll ask you will be "what are your macros" then only they'll ask your routine.




 

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