question about progress.

I'm Very new to weight training. I've been lifting for about 2.5 months. I'm nothing to look at and I can't lift much, but I hope that changes. I'm 6' 175-180 pounds roughly.

I was just wondering on average how quickly do people start adding weight to their lifts? So far I've only progressed by 5-10 pounds on all of my lifts. Is this average? Am I worrying about this sort of thing far too soon? ( I just hate wasting time)

thanks in advance for any replies I might get.

Everyone is different. Basically the idea is get perfect at all the sets & reps then move up. It's hard to give an exact figure as it depends upon competence & exercises chosen.
So 10 pounds on squat wouldn't relate to 10 pounds on a dumbbell kickback for example, also on how many reps & sets you're doing effect results.

My advice is to focus on form, aim at getting perfect reps, once you get all your reps & sets perfect go up a few pounds, then repeat. As you are a beginner you won't need to cycle your training or anything, just head up slowly, keeping the form tight.

There is no need to worry. I would begin by sticking to reps of around 8-12 reps for 3 sets. Even if you plan to become a powerlifter & want to do less reps or sets, this gives you a chance to learn the lifts, get the form perfect. Once you've been at it a few more weeks, then if you like you can play around with other protocols, but for now I'd keep a slow, steady increase as the strength develops. Don't forget rest & food if you want the gains to continue.

Bear in mind having longer limbs means that you have more distance to overcome than a person who is 5 foot 5 inches, so it's likely you'll progress more slowly. All you have to think of is you will be progressing over the next 20 years at least as long as you keep training steadily. So, you have the next 20 years of looking better (assuming that's a goal) &/or of improving in overall strength. Training will get you fairly quick results, but it's over the long term when you make the almost magical change of lifting numbers that frighten your friends or neighbours Stay consistent, eat, train & rest, add weight when you can & once you stop making gains cycle your training (go lighter & work up to a new top weight). That is how to train in a few words.

To give you some ideas about what you should be aiming at:

Shoulder press should equal body weight (B/W)
Bench press should be 1.5x B/W
Barbell back squat should be 2x B/W
Deadlift should be 2.5x B/W

another option I've heard is:

on a normal Olympic bar 45 pounds or 20Kg
a plate is normally 45 pounds or 20Kg

Shoulder press 1 plate a side
Bench 2 plates each side
squat 3 plates a side
deadlift 4 plates a side

If you can do these you can call yourself strong, so setting a goal is a great way to motivate yourself, just don't rush it, it will take most people a few years to get there.

thanks for the info. You're a great help.

I'm not really looking to become a body builder or a powerlifter, but I would like to get stronger and a bigger.

I've been doing sort of a full body work out 3 days a week. I'm keeping my reps for all my lifts between 6 and 10. For the last three weeks for instance my curls have remained the same, no improvement in reps and no improvement in weight. This doesn't seem to be too long? especially for a beginner?

My workout is definitely a beginners workout and I Workout at home. I do two sets of every exercise to failure. Pullups, Curls, bench press, squats, shoulder press, dumb bell raises and dumbell flies.

Another thing (sorry to ask a million questions) I don't pay much attention to diet. I eat 4 meals a day and they all contain fat, protein, carbs and vegetables. You'd think with this diet I Wasn't getting excess calories but I seem to be gaining quite a bit of fat. I do see muscles that DEFINITELY were not there before, but I don't feel like I am eating enough compared to most people trying to gain muscle and yet I'm gaining fat.

Let's go through the questions one by one.

Curls. If you get stuck for several weeks this can be down to several things. The basic design should be built around compound movements. Things like deadlifts, squats, chin-ups, bent over rows, shoulder press etc. These should be the foundation of your routine. If these are going up & the curl is 'stuck' that could simply mean you are working harder on these & not having so much energy left for the 'extras' (& curls are an extra!). You workout should be first doing your compound moves, then isolation moves (compound moves work across more than one joint - like shoulder press, isolation moves work only one joint - like curl).
So if you are going up in the compound moves I wouldn't worry about the curl too much. If you want to advance just change the type of curl you are doing, so do a barbell curl ,dumbbell curl, hammer curl, whatever. If you're after arm size, then actually triceps (or the back of the arm) should be that will give you the most arm size as the triceps are much bigger than the biceps (those will be stimulated plenty by the pressing).
Your basic eating plan should be as follows. For all your main meals you should try to have a quarter of the plate should be a protein source (beans, tempeh, tofu, fake meat etc), a quarter of the plate should be a carb source (quinoa, brown rice, sweet potato etc) & half the plate should be veggies (mainly green veggies). If you're after maximum gains you might want to think about a protein powder (if you eat soya I'd probably stick to hemp, rice, pea or other plant based protein powder). I'd also consider having a small amount of saturated fat (from something like coconut) as having a level tablespoon will increase testosterone without adding too many extra calories (you can buy coconut fat or full fat coconut milk at most supermarkets).
Are you doing some cardio, everyone should do some form of cardio, it can be walking, swimming, jogging, cycling, or you could go HIIT (high intensity interval training) & do sprints. If you're pushed for time you could limit the time between sets & go for less rest between sets (making it more of an interval style workout doing circuits, supersets or similar).
Swap any junk you are eating for better alternatives & avoid sweetened drinks & sugar-free sodas.
Sorry this is a little bit vague but I don't have much detail about your diet, training or recovery to offer exact advice.
I sure some others will have some options you could apply as well?
Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

Finally make sure you have the basics of your diet right you can download this basic nutrition guide & feel free to ask anything you are not sure about.