Hola.
My first time posting in this thread. I've read several posts throughout the weeks and I thought I'd contribute:
I'm 27 years old, 6 feet tall and 183 pounds. I currently consume approximately 95-100 grams of protein on average every day. I'm trying to get rid of the remaining fat around my abdomen and inner thighs, and although I am in the best shape of my life, I am still not quite satisfied.
I have all but dropped cardio in favor of only weight lifting. I'm sick of running on the treadmill and refuse to do it until it gets warmer and I can run outside (I live in NYC where it is currently ~50). I do a full body workout for ~2 hours on Mondays, followed by alternating upper and lower body workouts on Wednesdays and Fridays. I may sometimes exercise on Saturdays depending on how I feel.
I feel like I've plateaued, which is odd because every week I'm noticing myself slightly more plump and muscular. My veins are also protruding more than they used to (in addition to one going down my biceps, I now see some veins horizontally cutting across). I can see and feel the progress in some ways, but I'm not finding it easier to lift heavier weights in some areas.
I normally avoid bench pressing because my shoulder hurts from that exercise, even if I pull my arms in to utilize them less and my triceps more. Instead I'll do dumbbell presses, but I'm stuck at 70-75lb dumbbells and have been for months. Other chest exercises include the machine where you pull the levers from the sides toward your front.
Should I increase my protein intake? I know more muscle will burn more fat but I'm terrified of not being able to burn off or utilize excess protein and instead gaining weight from it. I don't know if what I'm doing is enough to justify increasing it.
Can some of you provide some thoughts? Thank you.
Oh, and squats. I don't do free barbell squats because the bar is always occupied at the gym, so instead I use the Smith machine, but I think I've plateaued on that. My 1RM squat on a Smith machine with my thighs parallel to the floor is ~355lbs, although I haven't gone that high in maybe 1.5 months. I normally don't like to go beyond ~290lbs anymore. I'm trying to focus on my posture more while also going lower. But my issue here is that I feel significantly less capable of doing that same weight in the following week. What I mean is that if I do 290lbs worth of squats this week, next week I'll find it more difficult to do the same amount of weight.
Are my legs not healing enough? What's going on?