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Comment by hellodevnull | Hacker News Reader

>I was just at the gym watching the 30-year-olds at the pull-up bar building muscles in three weeks. And I’m at the pull up bar and nothing’s happening

While many of you are thinking that he's making excuses (he might be) or that the other guys worked long and hard to build muscle, I can relate: I've been lifting weights three times a week for the last four years. I still look average, and yes I'm eating and exercising properly.

I believe it might be something to do with testosterone. I was always skinny, high body fat and frail. I worked super hard to even start exercising, eventually I was able to get into routine but still now I feel like I should look much better after all this time.

What's the deal with testosterone in UK? I'm 27, is it likely that I can get it? Are there home test kits I can get (reliable ones)? Do testosterone boosters actually work (I can't verify without testing)?

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Are you sure you're eating enough? Have your lifts been going up?

Before searching out testosterone I would try a beginners lifting program (meaning linear programming, where your lifts go up every workout) and eating a lot (3000-4000kCal a day). Starting Strength (my recommendation), Stronglifts and Ice Cream Fitness (ICF) are 3 popular ones.

I did Starting Strength with a gallon of milk a day (6000 Calories). I was able to improve my lifts (slowly) but I looked horrible (so much fat around abdomen I looked pregnant). Switched to hypertrophy with 2000-3000 Calories whilst cutting/maintaining. I researched this well and tried really hard so I'm not jumping to conclusions here.

6000 is a crazy amount of calories! Not surprised you packed on a huge amount of body fat.

Sounds like you have done your homework though. There's no harm in getting tested so I would talk to your doctor.

> I've been lifting weights three times a week for the last four years

Beware of doing strength-training of the same muscle group more than once a week (except for legs, up to a limit).

Also, sorry, but "Gallon of milk a day" is broscience.

Go to a non-fad sports doctor to get a good diet matching your training plan and goals (both micro and macrocycles). Lots of greens and healthy protein (i.e. not cow's except for whey protein powder). No sugars (including lactose), like ever. No refined food (unless you are into ultramarathon or similar). Time your foods.

A very common mistake is getting confused of what you should do while training and while competing. Yes, competing it makes sense to get as much carbs as possible to improve performance. But when training it's better to be starving and forcing your body to burn fat. Guys at the gym drinking Gatorade = losers. High glucose blocks growth hormone secretion!

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/human-growth-hormone.html (nasty popup closed bottom right)

This guy advised some winning olympic british teams of 2012.

Also, we have a different genetic composition. Compare your gains to yourself. Else it's like getting depressed because you can't ball like the 7ft guys at the NBA.

>Beware of doing strength-training of the same muscle group more than once a week

This is completely false, if you're a beginner you can absolutely work the same muscle group within the same week and still get results. As you become a more advanced lifter, of course, this becomes less true.

>"Gallon of milk a day" is broscience

What do you mean? Are you saying that milk isn't a good choice if your goal is to get a high number of calories with a large proportion of them coming from protein? Calling this broscience just doesn't make sense.

Looking at your logs, what do the big exercise #s look like from day 1 to now? Row, DL, Squat, Bench, OH Press

You certainly may have some medical condition, but every person who has come to me with a similar story has not realized they are simply missing something. I was even you at one point until I finally figured out how to lift and how to eat.

When was the last time you changed your workout routine? If you do the same thing for a long time it's easy to get stuck in a rut with minimal / no gains. Switch up the exercises, volume, and intensity if you haven't already.

It could just be genetics. Rs1815739 is related to what type of muscle that forms.

http://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs1815739

Ask your GP to do a blood test - reasonably cheap and can get conclusive answer.

Have you gained or lost any weight?

I bulked and cut as many recommend. During the bulk phase I put on about 10kg, after which I lowered my calorie intake to try to reduce my body fat and look better (I was skinny-fat). I worked out with some friends, similar age, and they were able to build muscle and increase their lifts at a much higher rate than I could.

The number one thing you need to do is logging. Without measurements it very hard to know what's going on. You might very well go to the doctor and check blood levels, intolerance and the like. But that is mostly a one time thing. You need to be constantly logging all your workouts and diet and then test yourself every 1-6 months (different for different tests). You'll at least want body measurements, bmi (be accurate, but not to often), aerobic performance, strength performance.

Get some screening, then go to someone who knows their thing, get homework, do homework for a couple of months, come back and you'll be in a very good position for improvement or at least arguing your case.

>I've been lifting weights three times a week for the last four years. I still look average, and yes I'm eating and exercising properly.

People always says this. They always eat well and recover properly, but they just can't make any gains. Everyone else can, but they can't and instead of looking at the simplest explanation, they do hurdles to convince themselves they have low test and that's why they're not perfect. Have you been going to a trainer? A nutritionist? Might want to check out other alternatives before taking synthetic hormones. And get off /fit/. This seems like the kind of genius idea that someone on /fit/ came up with.

I just made a post saying I didn't jump to conclusions, it was only after years of training that I even considered the possibility that something was wrong with me. Never browsed /fit/ not sure what you're trying to say... I won't try to convince you -- I'm sure there are many that like to make excuses so you think I fall under that category too.

>it was easy for me so surely anyone who is struggling is doing it wrong

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