Newbie in a bit of distress

[wingy]

hey all, new to the forums, looks like a good place though, anywho

i'm 20yr, 162 lbs, male, i've been going down the gym for..coming up to a year now, trying to bulk up, i've been progressing but to me it feels like i'm not making any headway, the GF says i've grown but i don't feel any gain what so ever. is there by chance i'm doing somethign wrong? or am i nto really meant to feel the gain(particularly in my lower abs and lower chest, i have small pecs, though i finally do have some :P).

also could someone prehaps help explain how, i can do a normal set of weights on my chest one session and then when i come back round to that session again (3 days later) i can't lift half of what i did the session before ,

lastly what do people think of that maximum strength book? is it worth getting? i've been considering it for a while now but haven't had opinons.

sorry if this is a bit all over the place but wanted to make sure i got everything down

thanks

[lee thompson]

if you cant lift the same weight three days later your not giving your body enough time to recover,try lowering the weights your using and concentrate on good form for now then after three weeks increase the weight slightly. hope this helps.