Re: Why is my progress so slow?

sjobs12@yahoo.com writes:

> I started working out about 9 years ago when I was 31. I stopped for
> some months/years in between. I started with benchpressing 75
> lbs. Now, I can bench press about 145-150. In the last months, I
> improved only about 10 lbs in bench press. I saw a guy in one gym
> who was working out only for 5 years but his biceps were incredibly
> huge and overall he was very musculur. He started when he was 25.

First of all, we need a lot more information. For example, I am going
to assume that you are male. If you are female you are not doing so
badly . I am also going to assume that you weigh more than 120
pounds.

Secondly, I am going to assume that you spent a lot of that 9 years
not working out, or at least not working out very consistently.
Otherwise you need to see a doctor or something. Someone who has been
lifting weights consistently for 9 years should be able to bench press
more than 150 pounds.

A 10 pound gain in the bench press in a month isn't too shabby. The
real problem is that your press started at 140 pounds.

> Am I doing something wrong? I am not progressing nowhere near the
> pace he is. Of course, I know food might be a factor.

Why do you believe that food is a factor? Do you have some sort of
eating disorder? Do you restrict your calories?

We need some details. How much do you eat? What does your typical
workout look like? How often do you work out? How much do you
currently weigh? Do you have some sort of medical condition? Without
this information it's hard to guess what the problem might be.

Either way, you should have more to show for 9 years of hard work than
a 150 pound bench. Off the cuff I would say that what you probably
need to do is just put some more weight on the bar and see if you can
lift it. I found that I tend to seriously underestimate my maximum.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that you are actually capable
of moving far more weight, and getting stronger is definitely one of
the keys to getting bigger.

Jason