Hi
I’m a 19 yr old male who has been resistance training for over a year. When I first started training, my training style was aimed more towards hypertrophy although I had no real understanding of proper programming etc.
About 8 months ago, I decided to switch to a training style that was similar to starting strength - but with a few extra exercises in there for arms, rear delts etc. - and really enjoyed it. I had already been familiar with benching, pressing and deadlifting (occasionally), and I made some progress, mostly on my squat and deadlift, as I was inexperienced on these lifts.
After progress slowed, I began to add in more volume to the big 4, and eventually ran The Bridge. I really enjoyed learning about programming and RPE based training.
Anyways, I really enjoy training and have been very consistent. I’ve probably missed about 9 scheduled training days in total over the past year due to illness. However, I feel like the progress I’ve made has been a bit underwhelming.
My progress during this ~8 month period:
Bench (TnG):
Started at ~60kg for 2 reps (E1RM: 65kg)
Currently at 60kg for 5 reps @ RPE 9 (E1RM: 71kg)
Press:
Started at 35kg for 5 reps (E1RM: 40kg)
Currently at 40kg for 5 reps @ RPE 9 (E1RM: 47kg)
Squat:
Started at 60kg for an easy 5
Currently at 90kg for 5 reps @ RPE 9 (E1RM: 107kg)
Deadlift:
Started at 80kg for 5 @ ~8 (E1RM: 99kg
Currently at 100kg for 5 @ 9 (E1RM: 120kg)
Bearing in mind I purchased a belt about 4 months ago which has probably added a few kg to each.
Most of this progress I feel came early on, and for the past month or two I’ve hardly noticed any real gainzZz, even now that I’ve started tracking macros.
Even though I love training I don’t look strong and certainly don’t feel strong. I feel frustrated that I’ve only been able to add about 6kg to my bench in 8 months. Is this just due to my bodyweight? In this time I’ve went from 150lbs-157lbs. Do I simply just need to gain weight quicker if I want to get significantly stronger?
Am I just very underweight? And if so what weekly rate of weight gain is recommended, when trying to stay relatively lean, even if strength is the priority?
Maybe I’m just impatient and this is how long it’s going to take for me to make gains, but it’s definitely frustrating when I see people in my local gym who have been training for a lot less time than me and have already surpassed my strength level.
Let me know your thoughts.
Cheers.