Busting Through A Plateau!

Hey guys. I've hit a major plateau and was looking to get some advice before jumping to any conclusions.
I've been training and strictly for my first year and a half now but I've been very active throuout my life. Since starting
training I've gained about 11kgs in this year and a half but I've hit a wall recently..

My stats are :

Age : 17
Weight : 87kgs - 88kgs
Length : 184cm
Bodyfat : Est. Around 14%

I train every week except on Wednesdays and Sundays which are my rest days. I believe my training is quite
advanced considering I've mastered the mind - muscle connection for every body part and ALWAYS feel the
muscle working.

Split :

Mon - Legs, Calves.
Tues - Chest, Tri's, Traps.
Wed - Off.
Thurs - Shoulders, Bi's, Traps.
Fri - Back, Calves.
Sat - Chest, Tri's, Traps.
Sun - Off.

I will always go to/or just before failure and always as heavy as possible while still maintaining perfect form and
will alternate between high rep and low rep weeks.

My diet is also quite solid and stays quite consistent throughout the week. 4 Main meals each day.

Breakfast 6:00 AM - 7 scrambled eggs and tea.
Lunch 10:30 AM - 500g Chicken breast, 100g rice.
Post Workout 4:30 PM - 1 Pack 2min noodles, 5 chicken viennas, 3scoops protein shake.
Dinner 8:30 PM - Normally whatever my mom makes. I'll usually just eat some meat and veggies,
don't eat any carbs that late at night.

I'll drink water and coke zero or light throughout the day and BCAAs throughout my workout.

I gained quickly for my half a year, but this whole last year i havent gained almost anything at all.
I'm still the same size i was at the beginning of the year.

Lastly my FFMI (Fat Free Mass Index) is 22.1

I'm looking for any advice to get past this. Any advice will be appreciated, thanks.

Post workout is bad. You need another meal in the day. You need more carbs in the morning. 500 grams of chicken in the one sitting is to much for your. Get rid of noodles, viennas.. 3 scoops of what, mass gainer, whey what? You need to start calculating your calories because it's impossible to help with your guess work

THE FORUM RULES

1. This section is for 18+ members only

All members on the forum must be at least 18 years old to post anything related to anabolic steroids. This is an attempt to protect the members and integrity of the board. Underaged users are allowed to discuss legal sport supplements and general training questions in the general section of the forum, but any underage users found posting about anabolic steroids will result in a lock or deletion of the thread along with a temporary membership ban for three days on the first offense or a permanent membership ban on recurring violations of this rule.

You may talk about diet, training, supplements, etc. but discussion of steroids or using steroids is not allowed.

100 percent, don't mention or even think about the use of steroids or you gone

But i didn't? I read the rules and am asking advice on diet and such? Do you think i should split up the chicken into two meals? What do you suggest post workout? I've always thought highly of viennas considering their nutritional values same goes for the 2min noodles. The shake is SSN 100% Whey protein.

Hope this helps :

Breakfast -
7 scrambled eggs. (525 calories, 42g protein, 7g carbs, 0g fat)

Lunch -
500g chicken breast. (550 calories, 116g protein, 0g carbs, 6g fat), 100g white rice (355 calories, 8.5g protein, 77.5g carbs, 1g fat)

Post workout -
5 chicken viennas. (336 calories, 28.5g protein, 10g carbs, 20g fat), 1 pack 2min noodles. (312.4 calories, 7.3g protein, 44g carbs, 11.4g fat)

Dinner -
2 pork chops. (1080 calories, 58g protein, 82g carbs, 68g fat), 1 cup mielies (377 calories, 23g protein, 33g carbs, 17g fat)

Calories - 3158.5 cals
Protein - 281.3g
Carbs - 253.5g
Fat - 123.4g

Thanks so far 00pump

@KlitKat,

1. First off, that's a messed up name mate.
2. Length is godly, be thankful.
3. Age is 17. Ok just back the fuck up. You just started yet you complain about plateau? You have a lifetime of gains ahead, I promise you. Don't sweat the small stuff now, just get the fundamentals right.
2. So much trap work, are you going for Bane-mode? Prepping for Halloween/cosplay?
3. Back once a week but traps 3/week, do you have humongous lats to justify this?
4. Breakfast, is that tea a traditional South African tea with milk and sugar? If so, start to omit that. Add something to the eggs to blunt the high L-luecine, maybe have 1 less egg and use a bit of butter, or add in cottage cheese.
5. Noodles and viennas. Are you in primary school breh? Shit tier nutrition. Viennas are ground up off-cuts like necks, toes, beaks etc. Then they add dextrose, MSG and sugar to make it taste like something. Get rid of these phallic objects ASAP. Not all macros are equal. Also noodles are sugary wheat bombs. That chicken and rice idea is spot on, just flow with more of that.
6. Mielies, highly underrated in my opinion but combine this stuff with clean protein and something to lower GI.
7. If you don't understand why your choices are bad, there are plenty books and even online articles. Nobody has an excuse to be ignorant these days.

Good luck mate.

Nicely structured, your calorie total looks good, your calorie quality not so. The viennas have to much crap in them, 2 minute noodles have terrible msg in them, the quality is of the noodles is bad, rather replace with sweet potatoe. You can split the chicken into 3 positions and this includes the rice, rather increase your meal numbers. Include a carb for breakfast, maybe a baked potatoe or oats. Maybe save one of the pork chops for just before you go to sleep, you will struggle to absorb the amounts of protein you including in each meal. Try have 6 to 7 meals a day, also pre workout is extremely important. Breakfast pre and post is the most important. You missing good healthy fats, peanut butter / nuts. How much protein is in 3 scoops of their whey ? I'm guessing you using too much again and should probably be 1 scoop. Try restructure around the ideas I posted and let's see if it looks better. Also try change the rice to brown rice.

Pyroclasm wrote: THE FORUM RULES

1. This section is for 18+ members only

All members on the forum must be at least 18 years old to post anything related to anabolic steroids. This is an attempt to protect the members and integrity of the board. Underaged users are allowed to discuss legal sport supplements and general training questions in the general section of the forum, but any underage users found posting about anabolic steroids will result in a lock or deletion of the thread along with a temporary membership ban for three days on the first offense or a permanent membership ban on recurring violations of this rule.

You may talk about diet, training, supplements, etc. but discussion of steroids or using steroids is not allowed.

I honestly didn't pick up that he insinuated it.

Me neither, but we have to make sure the rules are kept regardless, so better to point out the rules. Which he has done and most older guys chose not to

We always remind our under 18 members of this rule. He didn't insinuate or break the rule.

Hi Furk, thanks for your advice bro! Let me try and answer your questions; my back is quite a strong bodypart which i don't really struggle with. My traps and calves on the other hand are lagging quite a bit.. But I've brought them up quite a bit this past year luckily. Yeah normally its rooibos with candarel, i try to stay away from sugar. So split up the chicken and rice meals? Like 2 or maybe 3 chicken and rice meals with 250g and 50g respectively?

Thanks for your help thus far 00pump. Check out my reply to Furk regarding the chicken and rice meals splitting in to 2 or 3 meals. I stuggle to eat as much early in the morning, i used to eat 5 boiled eggs and 50g oats a while back but i could hardly get it all down.. Maybe i should try that again? I'm not too big on nuts or peanut butter, their whey has 22.5g per 2 scoops so 33.75g in three. I'll try the brown rice, thanks.

00pump wrote: Me neither, but we have to make sure the rules are kept regardless, so better to point out the rules. Which he has done and most older guys chose not to

Pyroclasm wrote: We always remind our under 18 members of this rule. He didn't insinuate or break the rule.

Okie dokes, cheers gents.

KlitKat wrote: Hi Furk, thanks for your advice bro! Let me try and answer your questions; my back is quite a strong bodypart which i don't really struggle with. My traps and calves on the other hand are lagging quite a bit.. But I've brought them up quite a bit this past year luckily. Yeah normally its rooibos with candarel, i try to stay away from sugar. So split up the chicken and rice meals? Like 2 or maybe 3 chicken and rice meals with 250g and 50g respectively?

Well it's not that we are saying the only thing edible is rice and chicken, but it's a damn good way to go for bulking. Check rough guide below:





Regarding calves, man everybody struggles with them. It's rather genetic, perhaps others can give tips here.

Try mince and potato for breakfast, or oats + mix your whey in it.. Try re-structure your layout with the advice given above and lets take it from there.

Thanks 00pump and Furk, really appreciate it. Any thoughts on training or stuff like that? Another thing I'm unclear about is my carb intake, I'm looking to get a bit leaner and drop some bodyfat but not any muscle. I have done carb cycling but that didn't seem to work at all? What do you guys recomend?

Adjust your diet according to the above advice and you will have a much better chance at losing weight but retaining muscle (due to a more active metabolism).. More meals, stick with the advice above, post out you re-adjusted diet and let the guys give it a thumbs up and then try that for a month or two and take it from there

KlitKat wrote: Thanks for your help thus far 00pump. Check out my reply to Furk regarding the chicken and rice meals splitting in to 2 or 3 meals. I stuggle to eat as much early in the morning, i used to eat 5 boiled eggs and 50g oats a while back but i could hardly get it all down.. Maybe i should try that again? I'm not too big on nuts or peanut butter, their whey has 22.5g per 2 scoops so 33.75g in three. I'll try the brown rice, thanks.

I couldn't stand boiled eggs. I experimented until I found a breakfast that meets my nutritional requirements while being somehing I actually look forward to!

6 whole eggs, 1x banana, 4 strawberries OR handful of blueberries (depends what's available) and a tablespoon of coconut oil. Throw it all into a blender and pour the resulting magic into a pan layered in a bit of olive oil. turns out like a delicious pancake and berry flavoured porridge. about half an hour before this I down a 30g whey, 60g raw oats and 2 teaspoons wheatgrass shake upon waking.

A lot of the right nutrients but easy to get in and delicious.

Iron K

KlitKat, I'm still curious though as to why you think chicken vieannas are good post-workout food? Or ever, no offence.

You guys know of any good substitutes for oats guys? Tried making oats this morning and remembered why i hated it so much. Hey Furk, i always ate a lot of viennas, but when starting bodybuilding i started getting interested in the nutritional info in the foods i was eating. When i looked at the info of viennas it didn't seem at all that bad, especially at almost 6g of protein per vienna. I think ill go end of the month and do some food shopping, chicken, rice, potatoes and eggs. Maybe oats if i don't find a viable replacement.

Just about any processed meat is shit-tier. The macros might look okay, but look at the extensive ingredients list and think if Thore are conducive to muscle gains, let alone health.

Oats alternatives: Quinoa, sorghum, brown rice, potatoes, barley, rye. Is that what you meant? Or like ready-to-eat foods?

Try adding cinnamon to oats or buy flavoured oats. Look in the breakfast aisle for that sort of thing. Maybe also give Futurelife or ProNutro a go

Thanks Furk, i think ill bake a potato with my eggs in the morning. I'm quite fond of them too. What's your guys's takenon spices and such? Because i can go lekke bos with spices sometimes.. I know salt retains water but what about others? Like 'Traditional Braai Spice'?
Thanks

"Traditional Braai Spice" will properly be filled with dextrose, additives and preservatives. Regular pure herbs and spices are awesome. There are benefits to just about any. Turmeric for thermogenesis, ginger shown to increase test, mint to help flush water. List goes on. So I would say freely explore with the raw stuff.

Just an add bro, potatoes aren't equivalents to oats. The pro is that they are not a grain, the con is that they are much higher GI. I probably should've said sweet potato. My bad.