Progress way slower than expected, any advice?
I want to be as detailed as possible so please don't hesitate to ask any questions if I can clarify on anything. Pictures of progression stats, diet, and weight transformation included.
Early disclaimer for a bit of context:
Workouts (only missed one) and high protein diet started end of January, deficit started early April
EXERCISE ROUTINE:
I've been working out since January 28th this year and have mentally kept track of the progression before recording them in an excel sheet. I only do 3 exercises:
- Push-up
- Chin-up
- Squat
Sets & Reps
4 x 5-10 reps on all (originally 12 max),
3-6 minute rest,
At 10 progress to harder variation
Variation Progression
- Knee-pushups → Body weight pushups → Weighted pushups
- Inverted rows → Jackknife pullups → Assisted chin-ups → Body weight chin-ups → Weighted chin-ups
- Body weight squat → Weighted squats
Workout Schedule
One day on two day off (i.e.)
Monday - Workout
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Workout...
Tracked Progress
Recent progress stats pic
When I started I couldn't do any chin-ups (even now) and I couldn't do many push-ups so I started out with sets of 5 of the easiest variation. Eventually I worked my way up to the following stats in the image. Some notes:
April 23rd - I noticed I was cranking out the first few reps and compromise on my form for the last few; so I made an effort to slow it down, maintain form, and hit close to failure on every set but the last, then divide it into sets for the following session.
May 6th - Set the goal wrong and did 6 reps instead of 7
May 13th - Dirty meant the last rep was a struggle with bad form (If I hit a partial rep at failure, doesn't count on the sheet)
May 16th - Chin-up for every date after is assisted using the purple and black of these resistance bands.
Exercise Misc.
I don't go to complete failure on each set, only the last. I don't have much exercise history besides tennis for a bit in high-school and biking in elementary/middle-school. I have absolutely zero resistance training before January of this year.
OUTSIDE OF EXERCISE:
Sleep
Weekdays, I get around 6-8 hours of broken up sleep, tracked using an app (Sleep Cycle).
Weekends, I sleep for as long as possible.
Diet
What I eat 80-90% of the time
I eat mostly the same things day in and day out as shown in the attached pic. Column on the right are the swaps I made so it's a little outdated but gives a general idea.
Nature valley muffin bar for pre-workout.
Premier protein shake on days after workout, or on days with meals having less protein.
Never cheat days, just meals and I pretty much never compromise on 100g of protein minimum and my maintenance as a calorie budget.
Visual & Weight Progress (NSFW-ish)
Stats: 26 years old, 6'3"
Before (197 lbs, pic taken earlier but same build in January)
After (187 lbs, w/ pump unfortunately)
Extra Misc.
For supplements I take multi-vitamins, fish-oil, magnesium, and 10mg of melatonin for sleep.
Get 4-5k steps a day, maybe once a week or once every two weeks I'll have a day with 10k+
I get around 1 L of water a day.
CONCERNS:
Is strength progression really supposed to be this slow early on? I thought that it'd be a linear growth during the beginner period, rather than having to eek out one more total rep per session this early on (especially before being able to do a body weight chin-up, or max out a body weight set of push-ups). I can't help but feel some type of way when there are literal children (not to underestimate the strength of a child) and people who've never trained absolutely crush my strength stats.
Is the deficit doing me a disservice in regard to strength? Am I really not pushing as hard as I think I may be? Are there any gaps that you see in the routine that is hindering me? Even with comparisons to others aside, I'm honestly lost as to what optimized progress SHOULD look like. I realize I should feel that any progress is good progress on any timeline, but if I can do something better I want to.
Again, please let me know if there's any other info I can provide, trying to be as thorough as possible. Appreciate you guys.