Lifting for ~9 years. Ran starting strength first, made small progress. Then moved on to variety of programs including things like 5/3/1 I’ve the years. Almost never ever made any progress and I did everything to track and make sure. Lots of lying to myself to be patient over the years. Consistent training, decent form, and diet/sleep is not the issue.
Ive has some success with one program and it was a bodybuilder program and it basically was mostly all isolation exercises and I went to about failure each set. The problem is my real training goal is lifting heavy compounds for strength which has been about stagnant since I was 19 (I’m 28 now) at the numbers I reached very early in training.
I am a fairly athletic guy btw at 5’10” 200lbs. Was naturally strong for my size and age growing up but seem to be a hyper non responder to strength training. Is this possible and am I just going to have to deal with this problem being genetic or are there other things I’m possibly screwing up? I definitely never “looked” like I wasn’t genetically gifted but at this point I’m so frustrated that I can’t get past a 350 squat 400 dead and 250 bench despite years of effort and hard work and a variety of training approaches that I just feel I am wasting time bc I am a genetic super low responder to training.
any insight would be super appreciated right now as I’m contemplating abandoning lifting altogether as it might not be worth it for me
It sounds like your programming has been the major culprit given the details you’ve reported. I wouldn’t expect much maximal strength improvement in the main lifts from a bodybuilding program focusing on isolation movements and both SS and 5/3/1 have MAJOR flaws in their programming.
I’d run either our free Bridge, Beginner Prescription, or Beginner Template and see how you do with that.
Is is just as unlikely that you’re a genetic dud when it comes to gainzZz, as it is that you’re a freak of nature.
Appreciate the response. A few concerns I have however that might annoyingly complicate things:
I understand the only things you could endorse or prescribe would be your own designed programs however my fitness goals go beyond just strength and hypertrophy and also athletic qualities like jumping height and sprint speed are goals I was hoping to improve. Not sure if those programs are the 100% right move for that goal to concurrently train those qualities.
I understand if the aforementioned programs are flawed. However I believe I should have at least seen SOME development since running them + a myriad of other programs that have enough success for people to be running them with reported improvements despite being suboptimal. This makes me afraid the issue is I am a have a genetic decent start point but also genetic terrible response to lifting.
the bodybuilding high rep stuff and iso work did work better but I hate that style of training nor does it focus on strength and power (obviously) which is also what I want to improve. This is also what makes me feel it’s my natural response to certain training effects.
I also wasted some years with no progress on 5/3/1 and the like. I am probably also a below-average responder given how many things I had tried over the years. Still, Jordan helped me make steady progress over the last 5 years or so (from a total of somewhere in the 800s to around 1300). I would highly recommend getting a good coach. You have so much time at your age, you can almost certainly get where you want to be if you get on the right track.
I think that if you’re not getting the results you want from a strength and/or hypertrophy perspective, then those elements of your programming are inappropriate regardless of your other goals.
I disagree. I think if the programs are inappropriate, you probably won’t get any better. I don’t think your genetics are holding you back here.
Sounds like you respond well to hypertrophy-specific programming, but your strength and power programming has been inappropriate recently based on your response.
Is it possible that I don’t respond to compound lifts? It seems like I just can’t get stronger at them specifically and I am just weirdly topped out with my potential at an “early” stage. It also seems that I am not responding to any training as the last time I hit a PR (I have trained very consistently for almost a decade) was about 2-3 years ago.
how is it possible regardless of whether a program is ideal or not that after running between 7-10 programs that deliver results for people that I would end up with ZERO positive adaptations? It would seem that there is something wrong with me bc I just have a very hard time believing it should be this hard to gain just 1lb of mass and that it can be SO easy to screw up and end up with nothing.
at the end of the day how is this rocket science where my margin for error is so small and are you sure a beginner template is appropriate for me? (I would not be classed as a beginner in anyone else’s terms I believe)