Hard for me to gain muscle

krknobbe10

Any ideas? I'm 5'6 at 137lbs. I am lifting heavy 4 days a week. Eating 1700 calories and getting at least 140g of protein. My lifting program is split days and I do cardio 6 times a week. Cardio for the longest is an hour. For lifting I do 4X8 or 3X12 and some I do until failure. I'm with a trainer right now for another week so the lifting workouts are his plan and I do additional lifting on Saturdays before I run. Saturdays I tend to hit every area of my body like biceps n triceps and quads and shoulder and chest and hamstrings. Any suggestions for anything I should change/switch up? After I am done with my trainer next week, I plan on lifting 5 days a week with doing cardio 5-6 times.

rand486

1700 calories? Are you cutting?

You can gain muscle (ie: eat at a surplus) or lose bodyfat (eat at a deficit).

If you're weight lifting on only 1700 calories, it is incredibly unlikely you're eating at a surplus. Even for the tiniest female, that would be maintenance without the work out.

You need to eat more.

Packerjohn

If you are trying to gain muscle, and the first mention of a muscle worked is the bicep that may be part of the problem. To build muscle you need to emphasize work on the larger muscle groups with compound exercises.

abadvat

low calories wise - eat more and cut the cardio to start with!

auddii

I believe that in previous posts you said you were trying to lose a few more pounds. That will be counter productive for gaining muscle. If you are happy with your scale weight, you can try eating at your maintenance and continue with your lifting (work on recomposition, a VERY slow process of losing fat and gaining muscle). Or if you want to gain muscle and not wait for recomping, you could do an official bulk and eat above maintenance and gain both muscle and fat with the plan of going into a cut again after you finish the bulk to lose the fat you gained.

As for lifting after working with a trainer, I'd recommend a strength program with progression built in designed by someone who knows what they are doing. I'm not sure if you are familiar with compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc), but programs that integrate those would be a good start. If your trainer didn't have you doing the big lifts, you might want to start with a beginner program such as new rules of lifting for women, starting strength, stronglifts, ICF 5x5, etc. If you have some experience under your belt you could try a more intermediate program such as Madcow, Texas, or Wendler's.

krknobbe10

I'm not cutting, its just hard to get to over 1700 calories or get to 1700 calories while trying to watch my carbs. I do not want to gain any fat. My scale weight is fine, I just want to have more muscle that I can see.
I am doing squats and deadlifts and bench press.

Packerjohn wrote: »

If you are trying to gain muscle, and the first mention of a muscle worked is the bicep that may be part of the problem. To build muscle you need to emphasize work on the larger muscle groups with compound exercises.

Are you talking about the squats and deadlifts and bench press? I am doing those. Have any other lifts like that I need to work in?

ndj1979

OP - didn't you have a thread going this week about low carb/low fat? I also recall another thread you posted where you mentioned you were eating 1200 a day or something similar..

I also recall advising you to eat more and that stronglifts 5x5 would be a good program for you ....did you ever do that??? Or are you just going to keep posting threads asking random questions about everything???

TR0berts

Didn't you make a previous thread that was much like this one? I seem to remember it/you and one of the responses was - and I'm going to repeat it here - cardio 6 days a week? While trying to gain weight? Waaaaaay too much. That's one problem. Another is 1700 Calories, to gain weight?

As has been mentioned - eat more. Carbs, especially. And lower/drop the cardio. I'd recommend keeping it to walks.

ndj1979

krknobbe10 wrote: »

I'm not cutting, its just hard to get to over 1700 calories or get to 1700 calories while trying to watch my carbs. I do not want to gain any fat. My scale weight is fine, I just want to have more muscle that I can see.
I am doing squats and deadlifts and bench press.

Packerjohn wrote: »

If you are trying to gain muscle, and the first mention of a muscle worked is the bicep that may be part of the problem. To build muscle you need to emphasize work on the larger muscle groups with compound exercises.

Are you talking about the squats and deadlifts and bench press? I am doing those. Have any other lifts like that I need to work in?

why are you watching your carbs? do you have a medical condition?

when trying to add muscle/bulks carbs and excess calories are king...

ahamm002

Building muscle is hard and takes a long time. Just focus on making sure you keep progressing strength wise, and eventually the muscles will get bigger too. If you just want more definition, then continue cutting fat and the muscles you already have become more visible.

TR0berts

krknobbe10 wrote: »

I'm not cutting, its just hard to get to over 1700 calories or get to 1700 calories while trying to watch my carbs. I do not want to gain any fat.

A few things:

1) Carbs aren't going to make you fat.
2) If you want to put on weight, you will almost definitely (like, 99.999999999999% positive) put on some fat.

krknobbe10

Low carb works for me in feeling energized and healthy and no cravings. Just thinking I will gain fat if I add excess calories and I've worked hard to lose 5lbs, not a fan of undoing the hard work.

ndj1979

krknobbe10 wrote: »

Low carb works for me in feeling energized and healthy and no cravings. Just thinking I will gain fat if I add excess calories and I've worked hard to lose 5lbs, not a fan of undoing the hard work.

you cannot add muscle and not gain fat...the ratio is usually 1:1 to if you gain ten pounds five is going to be muscle and five will be fat...however, when you cut the fat off you look a lot better..

if you want to do a recomp you can do that but it is a slow process, we are talking like a year to see any appreciable gains...

krknobbe10

So my best bet is eating above my calories for awhile then eating below them to cut fat. How long should I eat above to see results? Are there any macros to watch like fat intake or sugar or carbs?

jimmmer

krknobbe10 wrote: »

Low carb works for me in feeling energized and healthy and no cravings. Just thinking I will gain fat if I add excess calories and I've worked hard to lose 5lbs, not a fan of undoing the hard work.

Uhmm.. that's cutting talk.

You need carbs for bulking.

Plus you WILL gain fat whilst bulking. It's inevitable if you're in a calorie surplus, carbs or no carbs. Just without carbs you'll suck at putting on muscle as well.

Dealing with fat gain is just part of the mental game you have to come to grips with. Maybe you're are not entirely ready for what the process entails?

auddii

You seem to be in a mindset that gaining weight = gaining fat. You should take some advice from Staci. She's 11lbs heavier in the photo on the right.


You can read her full story here:
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

krknobbe10

I'm sorry if all of my threads seem the same and same questions, this is just very hard for me to do when I have been watching what I eat for such a long time and have never really got into this gaining muscle thing. But since I've seen other women and I want that look its time to take it seriously instead of the thin look which is gross.

TR0berts

Your protein is probably a little higher than it really needs to be, but it's fine.

Fat, as pretty much always, .35-.40 grams per lb of bodyweight. So, at 137 lbs, about 50 grams per day.

The rest can be whatever, but I/we would really recommend carbs, to help with glycogen replenishment.

If you really want to be careful about not putting on too much fat, try 2000 Calories per day and cut the cardio. Seriously, walk. That may help curb the fat accumulation. It might not, but it seems to work for many people when they bulk.


So, keep your 140 g of protein - that's 560 Calories from protein. Then 50 g of fat per day - that's another 450, for a total of 1110. That leaves 890 Calories for whatever you want - again, mostly/preferably carbs.

marysamezz

to add to the posters above if you are eating at a defecit and also doing cardio 6x/week too much cardio can sometimes break down muscle. I would eat more and cut down the cardio. Specifically you should find out your TDEE and BMR to find out what your defecit should be. If you're lifting heavy you need to eat heavy

TR0berts

krknobbe10 wrote: »

I'm sorry if all of my threads seem the same and same questions, this is just very hard for me to do when I have been watching what I eat for such a long time and have never really got into this gaining muscle thing. But since I've seen other women and I want that look its time to take it seriously instead of the thin look which I don't personally like.

FTFY. And might I recommend editing it yourself? You/I/we don't really want anyone complaining about body shaming.

ndj1979

krknobbe10 wrote: »

So my best bet is eating above my calories for awhile then eating below them to cut fat. How long should I eat above to see results? Are there any macros to watch like fat intake or sugar or carbs?

yes...

figure out your maintenance calories and add 250 calories to that, which should equal .5 pound per week gain.
cut the cardio down to once a week
get on structured lifting program like stronglifts 5x5
set your macro % to 40% carbs/30%protein/30% fats
repeat until you add about ten to fifteen pounds and then cut it off...

judging from your profile pictures you look pretty small and I would say are almost tiny so you would benefit from an extra 10-15 pounds of weight and then cutting it off...