Help me understand why I can't lift as much as what people say they do?

Question

I'm 17, 145 lbs, and 5'9. I have never tried a max rep with any of the exercises mentioned above (I lift alone in my garage) but my usual lifting consists of lifting an 85LB barbell for a benchpress 20 times and then taking a break and lifting a 45LB barbell for bicep curls. I understand that people do way more than this normally and I can't figure out what's wrong. I've been doing the 85LB benchpress for about a month now. I don't know why I am so weak. Is it because my routine is not good? My weight training consists of doing 85LB benchpress 20 times each day, and doing 45 LB Barbell bicep curl 35 times a day. I can go higher but I will get tired faster. What is wrong? I hear that people weighing 135 LBs should be benchpressing 180 LBs...but I weight 145 and can only do about 5 lifts of 100 LBs without crushing myself. I've been doing this workout for about 5 months now. My diet consists of eating little meat, mostly pasta and vegetarian food.

I have a hard muscular abdominal area but my arms are a different story. After I do my workouts my arms feel worked but I haven't seen any big changes in 5 months of doing this.

Answer 1

well i think it should start with your diet. you need more protein. that helps feed your muscles. the amount of weight you lift and number of reps are good, but that will build lean muscle. you should try increasing the weight you lift a little more. try pushing the 100lbs. to 8 reps for a few weeks. the thing is you need someone to help spot, just in case you do crush yourself. heavy weight with less reps helps build mass and strength. what you do now builds stamina. remember to take a day or two off between work outs. the muscles need time to re-build after you have torn during your work out. work hard and be safe.

oh, and sometimes people lie and say they can lift 5 - 10 lbs. more than what they can really lift.

Answer 2

Skimming your answer, and not being you... ;)

I'd say it is from lack of protein.

As for how much you should be able to lift, you should be able to easily lift your own body weight to your shoulders

You can try to talk to a coach (if you can wait until September, you can talk to your gym teacher). If you want to maintan a low/no meat diet, you'll want to talk to a licensed dietician.

Answer 3

some people lie about everything to make themselves feel better, Just do what makes you feel comfortable and over time you will see results that are equivalent to your body structure. You'll know when it's time to move up in weight and in reps. who knows you probably lift more than those liars.

Answer 4

you just won't get stronger all of the sudden. u berly have a month doing it. it takes more time.. and instead of working on how many you lift. you should work on ur timing.. u should start out by how many minutes you want. for example five minutes one day and then six or eight the next time. just keep increasing the time of you exercise. its all about time. just remember that

Answer 5

you need protein!!!! there's no way you are going to build muscle without it, if you don't like meat, then get some whey protein at your local Nutrition store, this will also help you build muscle faster, and helps repair damaged muscle tissue. good-luck mate.