Advice Please

Hi all,

Hope everyone had a great Christmas & New Year. Time to get right back into it ay.

The advice I need is basically how to train for the next 12 months.

Last year I got back in the gym after a bit of a lay off and have tired and tested many different training methods and diet plans over the last year. It's all helped a bit but I feel I am stuck at the moment with little to no improvement for what I want to achieve.

One difficultly I do have is that I have some kind of mystery illness that makes me fatigued and run down quite a lot (like I have a virus etc but without actually having one) This affects my training quite a bit as I can't push myself 100% or I'll end up ill for a week or I'll manage 2 weeks good solid training 3/4 days a week and then feel ill and have to have 7/10 days off. Makes me feel like I;m back to square one and difficult to progress.

I guess the advice I need is and tips for gaining size but being toned. In the last year I've stacked on nearly 2 stone in weight and bulked up but I wouldn't say i'm toned. I don't eat badly, infact changing my diet has probably helped the most with working out to bulk up. Strength wise I've stagnated after initially getting a fair bit stronger.

Any tips on any of the above would be massively appreciated.

Thanks and all the best for 2016

Perhaps a program like 5/3/1 would work? its not full on 100% all the time, and you can reign it back as you see fit.
example, not going for AMRAPS and only doing prescribed reps. it also programs in a deload week so might help with recovery?

There are a lot of templates in the book ranging from 2 days training, 3 or 4.

A decent shout for sure. Slow and steady wins the race they say.

Have you been to see medical professionals about this virus? Also, what is the current diet like?

I was like that when I started training. Wasn't very well at all.

I stated on 1 day a week for quite a while. Then after some time upped it to 2 days and a few months later tried 3 days.
As for being lean i'm sorry I can't help at all.

I'd be wanting to get to the bottom of this 'mystery illness' as a priority bud, you'll not feel much benefit of any decent program if you ain't well.

I'd personally stick to mega basic, low volume stuff mate. It does work, maybe not as well as the higher frequency / volume mega routines but if you know you're not gonna be able to do that you're only setting yourself up for failure trying.

Like one day squat, bench, rows, rest a few days then dead, press, curl. Work up to a top set that feels right for the day.

Do you respond like this to all types of training? It might sound like a weird question but I know that when I was training for other stuff I could handle loads of training, the more the merrier, but if I push strength stuff too hard I crash out so quick it's crazy.

This, over and above anything else. I guess there is more going on behind the scenes that you may not feel comfortable mentioning on here but get yourself looked at.

As for the training / diet, I would guess the best approach would be to play it by ear - not ideal, especially if you like having things planned out, but if you cannot "guarantee" recovery you can't realistically plan anything out. So do what you feel you can erring on doing to little.

I know its a stab in the dark but have you been checked for diabetes?
Your symptoms are exactly what happened to me six years ago.
Hope you get sorted mate.

Hi guys,

Thank you all for your replies, much appreciated

I've been to the docs countless amount of times and they can't get to the bottom of it. It's beyond frustrating!! If I could find out what's wrong and get better I know i'd be 10 times better in the gym etc but I doubt I'll ever find whats wrong now so just have to adapt as best I can and not let it beat me. The advice you guys have offered I hope will help. The only problem is that I get 'ill' randomly and used to when I gave up the gym for a few years completely. I know there is nothing much anyone can do for me about that though, just something I have to live with.

Thanks all

Hi mate. Yeah been tested for diabetes and it came back negative. So many things it could be it's a complete mine field

Honestly it just sounds pretty normal. When I first started I couldn't train hard for longer than two weeks before needing to back off.

So train hard for a couple of weeks and back off, take a light week, then build on that. Work in these three week blocks.

There's no need to train hard to make progress especially when your a newbie. Simple template like

2-3 days a week

Week 1 - 5x5 @ 75%
Week 2 - 5x4 @ 80%
Week 3 - 5x3 @ 85%
Week 4 - 4x6 @ 70%

Choose 4-6 key exercises you want to work on.

Add 2.5 - 5kg each block.

Jobs a goodun.

How old are you Oggy? and how long have you been training? What is your lifestyle outside of lifting? What is your job?

It sounds to me like you're battering it, getting tired (because you're not conditioned to battering it), then having a complete break (which won't help you condition yourself to battering it).

Why not try 3 sessions a week, big 3 every session starting at 50% of your current 1RM for 5 5's. Add 5k a week until you can't progress, have a session off then go for PB singles. The week after go back to week 1. Don't do any more or any less. After 1 cycle you'll be better prepared to train 3 times a week. It may seem initially like you are wasting your time, but you'll be laying the foundations for heavy sessions. Worst case you'll be a couple of months older and a little bit wiser.

Beat me to it Mark