>>40581731>Do you eat all the protein and count calories?I'd be lying if I said I didn't eat a suspiciously large amount of chicken. I can get boneless skinless dark meat locally for like .50/lb, which is amazing. I add in steamed broccoli and carbs here and there, not nearly as much as I probably should, but yeah. I think it's safe to say I consume a shit ton of protein. As for calories, absolutely. I mean, at this point I already have a good idea of how many calories are in the things I eat (repeatedly), but I still bust out a food scale every time I cook up a chicken breast to check the oz count, and I still record whatever steamer bag I eat. It's a good habit to keep up. Blows my mind how some people feel like it's just too much work, it takes maybe an extra 30 seconds to do it.
>my gains are mediocreDifferent programs work for different people, just go with what you like and can keep doing. The best program in the world doesn't mean shit if it's boring and you don't want to do it. That said, I'm on a cut, and still making gains, which I imagine are just noob gains after having not kept up a consistent routine in a long time. They say you can't make much in the way of gains on a cut, but when I started my OHP was like ~125, and I'm currently trying to crack 155, so I'm definitely getting stronger.
>>40581773I think as a beginner, you should just be focusing on compounds. Play around with those until you get comfortable enough to know what your doing and be able to identify problem areas, and start adding in isolation work. That said, I'm not a personal trainer, so I could very well be utterly wrong. I do get the impression that people who don't know what they're doing don't like complicated routines, and find simple ones far more approachable.
Lack of proper sleep is absolutely a killer. I picked up a cert lately and my job is now giving me 12-14 hours shifts every week. Had to start cutting some things out of my life to make it work.
