By no means a fitness expert, but did you do multiple sets of each exercise?
Did you attempt to make sure you are working out every opposing muscle group, as sometimes working the opposing muscle will give extra stability allowing you to lift more weight?
For the same reason, are at least some of your lifts, compound lifts, versus working isolated muscles?
Are you on a medium to high protein diet? Though, you'd likely still have some gains with even a bad diet.
as sometimes working the opposing muscle will give extra stability allowing you to lift more weight?
moreover, working opposing groups maintains balance in the overall structure. you want concentric and ecdentric stuff to be approximately equal, for aesthetics and health
Yes I had mostly 4 sets and 8 reps, deadlift was 3 sets and 6 reps. The routine had the basic dumbell curls, lat pulldowns, forementioned deadlifts, overhead press, hyperextensions and so on. I had calorie deficit diet to get rid of the belly fat and at least thought I got enough protein per day. I barely ever eat junk food and sugar products or drink alcohol. I lost about 2 kg during that time, with no visible change on the mirror.
I'm a bit smaller at 180 cm but I'm hitting about 200-250 g protein a day rn for about 6 weeks. It's a bit of too much excess but I'm still figuring out my macros and caloric demands at the moment.
My meals are pretty consistent so to give you an idea of what that might look like:
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 slices of bread, avocado, Monster
Snack: 20g Protein Bar, 1 scoop protein shake
Lunch: Chicken tikka masala on rice with side of greenbeans, 1-2 grilled chicken thighs, 1 serving of carnitas shredded pork (I frequent a hot bar for this meal)
Preworkout: banana
Post workout: 2 scoop protein shake
Dinner: 2 seasoned chicken thighs, 2 eggs, rice, side of veggies
Evening snack sometimes: toasted bread with peanut butter/honey
Caveat: I do work a pretty strenuous job so my caloric needs were already high, it might be a lot easier for me to hit this protein level because I already eat so much as a result. I also have 0 issues eating the same thing every day so long as I like the dish, although dinners may vary sometimes.
tldr: huge chunk supplemented by protein powder, many meals throughout the day
Check the sugar content and think about whether you would ever drop 10 teaspoons of sugar in any drink you make yourself.
Even better: Take a glass and fill it with the same amount of sugar, add water, try to dissolve everything. You'll be busy for a while just dissolving it. Now take a small sip. That's what you chug in half a liter of every day.
I went back to coffee and tea after trying that. Still can't say no to sweets though. Sugar is one hell of a drug.
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u/Trappist1 11h ago
By no means a fitness expert, but did you do multiple sets of each exercise?
Did you attempt to make sure you are working out every opposing muscle group, as sometimes working the opposing muscle will give extra stability allowing you to lift more weight?
For the same reason, are at least some of your lifts, compound lifts, versus working isolated muscles?
Are you on a medium to high protein diet? Though, you'd likely still have some gains with even a bad diet.