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Message: [QUOTE="superjohn, post: 2694393, member: 1522"] First off, you haven't plateaued. My guess is you've already gotten in the rut of doing the same thing over and over, same exercises in the same order, with the same reps etc. Also my advice is to gain your strength before you lose the weight. If you want to gain strength eat a lot of protein and carbs (Oats, yogurt, chicken, lean beef, veggies, rice, pasta, cottage cheese) and do 5×5 and triples on your heavy lifts, do 6-12 on your accessory lifts and throw in some 18-20-25 reps occassionally for more hypertrophy burn out sets. Basically don't really count your reps too much on accessory work do what feels good to you and gives you a good pump. Always do your main heavy lifts first and smaller muscle group stuff like biceps and calves last. Once you get stonger on your main lifts by doing a 5×5, 3×5 you will have a good strength base and can go back to more hypertophic rep ranges, while still occassionally throwing in sets of just a few reps. If you really want to get strong my advice is to get strong first and then lose the weight. To get strong you have to eat a lot (protein, carbs, and good fats) and lift heavy. You're simply not going to get strong by not eating much. Once you get that strength base you want, it should be a lot easier to cut calories and lose weight while still maintaining most of your strength. I usually like to get 4 workouts in a week. Here is bodypart breakdown I do- chest and triceps together, back and biceps together, shoulders/delts, and legs and forearms. I've tried other breakdowns over the years but this is what works best for me and I haven't changed it up in a long time. What you do want to change up is what exercises you do and rep ranges, throw in some dropsets and or supersets here and there. Usually lift 80% of your max but also go to failure sometimes and go light and crank out a ton of reps sometimes. Years ago I would make the mistake of doing basically the same exercises in the same order and same rep range pretty much every workout and that doesn't work. You have to confuse your muscles a bit and keep it fresh and try different things. Whatever you do don't get in the habit of doing the same stuff over and over, it will burn you out and isn't at all beneficial. Have like 4 or 5 different go to lifts for your heavy stuff and pick a couple to focus on for your individual workout before you do your accessory stuff. Some people do only full body workouts, or a crossfit style, while other like a more typical bodybuilding style. It's all about what works for you, focusing on two bodyparts a day is what works for me and what I enjoy. If you want strength, focus more on big lifts that strengthen your back and less on things like biceps. You'll notice most people who have big strong backs also have pretty big arms. Don't care too much about arms. For upper body, I feel that back, shoulders and chest in that order are the most important. Tricep work is more important than direct bicep work for arms. It's a bigger muscle but do things like skullcrushers, close grip bench, with cable work mixed in. I always see people doing kickbacks with the smallest dumbell available and that does nothing for you. For biceps standing curls, incline curls, and preacher curls are all you ever need. Back is by far my favorite thing to train and I think it's essential for guys as we get older. If your back is strong and you know how those muscles work you are really going to limit your chances of hurting your back which is a huge problem for so many guys as we age, gotta hit it from different angles. Heavy rows from different angles and partial deadlifts will make you strong. For shoulders, overhead presses and heavy shrugs. You want any suggestions on exercises, let me know. [/QUOTE]

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