Gain frustration

allabouthegains

I've been at this program for 20 days now and I seem to be getting stronger but not gaining the weight. Im eating 4000 calories or more but still can't seem to retain the weight ....??

Motivation is decreasing at this point

883xlsportster

You have youth and time on your side. Perhaps looking at it over more of a long term rather then short will help with motivation. Probably not the answer you seek but stay focused and think long. :-)

ForecasterJason

883xlsportster wrote: »

You have youth and time on your side. Perhaps looking at it over more of a long term rather then short will help with motivation. Probably not the answer you seek but stay focused and think long. :-)

I agree. If you're actually eating at least 4000 calories consistently, I'm guessing you have a very active lifestyle that is making it harder to get into a calorie surplus.

speeno

gaining "lean" muscle mass is a slow process if done "naturally" consistency, time and lifting heavy are what it takes.

RedWolf09

Up your calories if 4k isn't working

AliMalek21

Maybe you are working out a lot which means u need to increase your calories intake and you will be good

aown61

What program? You look pretty lean already, you realise it is harder to get the gains the bigger you are and 20 days is not really any decent length of time. Keep on doing what your doing, maybe look into your program and ensure its fit for purpose.

ndj1979

are you using food scale to weigh all solids? could be you think that you are eating 4000 and you really or not, or you just need to increase calories….

Wheelhouse15

You shoud have gained around 3 pounds if you are on a decent surplus so it's time to re-evaluate your caloric intake. Are you logging accurately and consistently? If so then up your calories by 200 for a couple weeks then another 200 if that doesn't work. Eventually you'll figure it out.

elite_nal

allabouthegains wrote: »

I've been at this program for 20 days now and I seem to be getting stronger but not gaining the weight. Im eating 4000 calories or more but still can't seem to retain the weight ....??

Motivation is decreasing at this point

Significant gains in strength WILL lead to significant gains in muscle size, but only if you’re eating in a calorie surplus.

If you’re taking in more calories than you burn throughout the week and you’re consistently adding weight to the bar on all of your major lifts, those increases in strength absolutely will correlate to increases in muscle size. And it takes time and patience.

If you fail to eat in a calorie surplus, you’ll still make strength gains in the gym, but it won’t be accompanied by a significant amount of size to go along with it.

Focus on creating a small calorie surplus through your diet, maintain a high level of weight training intensity and perform cardio in controlled amounts.

arditarose

You can have some of mine, I'm gaining fast as crap. Anyway, if you're truly not gaining you're not eating enough. You could think you're eating 4,000 calories but how are you measuring that?

elite_nal

allabouthegains wrote: »

I've been at this program for 20 days now and I seem to be getting stronger but not gaining the weight. Im eating 4000 calories or more but still can't seem to retain the weight ....??

Motivation is decreasing at this point

In addition to my post earlier. Let me just be more detailed. Yes, it’s perfectly possible to make noteworthy gains in strength without any real size gains to go along with it.

In simple terms, your body can produce gains in strength in two primary ways…

The first is through muscular hypertrophy, or growth.This refers to an actual increase in the cross-sectional area of the muscle itself. If you’re trying to pack on muscle size, this is obviously what you’re after.

The second is through neural adaptations. In this case, the body becomes more efficient at recruiting motor units and making use of the muscle mass that you already have. If you’ve been gaining strength without the size, this is the primary adaptation you’ve been experiencing.

While it’s possible that this is happening as a result of an improperly structured workout plan, it’s not very likely that this is the case. If you’re already making consistent gains in strength in the gym, you’d have to be making some pretty basic errors in your training structure in order for this to be the root of the problem.

Here are a few possible, but unlikely scenarios…

You’re mostly performing sets of about 3 reps or less – This would primarily result in gains in strength/power rather than hypertrophy.

You’re mostly performing sets of above 12 reps – This would primarily result in increases in endurance rather than hypertrophy.

You’re only performing a couple sets per muscle group per workout – This would prevent you from creating enough overall metabolic fatigue in the muscle to produce significant size gains.

You’re training each muscle group less than once every 10 days or so – You could still produce size gains this way, but it would be a much more gradual process.

You aren’t training all of your muscle groups equally – If all you’re doing is going into the gym to train your “showy” muscles (like chest, biceps and abs) the overall changes to your physique are going to be far less noticeable.

If you’re making any of these basic errors, you’ll want to fix them immediately.

Make sure that you’re sticking to a hypertrophy-based rep range anywhere between 5-12… you’re hitting each muscle group at least once a week… you’re performing multiple sets per muscle during each session… and you’re training your entire body with equal focus.

Assuming that you already have these basic training principles in place, your lack of size gains likely has nothing to do with your actual training plan at all. Then as I said earlier, your problem must be your diet. More specifically, you’re not consuming an adequate calorie intake each day.

If you’re gaining strength without the size, chances are that you’re consuming a level of calories that is either at or right around your calorie maintenance level. You’re taking in enough for your body to maintain its current weight, but are not providing the additional excess calories needed to fuel hypertrophy gains. It’s possible that you’re already aware of this, but if you’re simply “winging” your diet each day, there’s a good chance that you’ll still end up missing the mark.

For the very best results, you should ideally be tracking your individual macronutrient intake as well (protein, carbs and fats), but at the very least you’ll want to make sure your calorie intake is nailed down.

Total calorie intake is the primary, underlying foundation of your entire nutrition plan. If this basic principle is not being employed, you’re completely wasting your time in the gym.

This one simple shift in your bodybuilding program will immediately take you from a place of complete stagnation to consistently gaining brand new muscle size every single week.

Sorry for the long post. But I hope this helps.

allabouthegains

arditarose wrote: »

You can have some of mine, I'm gaining fast as crap. Anyway, if you're truly not gaining you're not eating enough. You could think you're eating 4,000 calories but how are you measuring that?

Come to Connecticut and we can trade

allabouthegains

Maybe my program is not working correctly the way it should with what im trying to do but this week I was gonna start tracking all my ex druses in a book and keep a log. Unfortunately haven't actually had Time to get to the gym in about four days. Sometimes skipping the gym I feel like I'm getting smaller each day

ndj1979

allabouthegains wrote: »

Maybe my program is not working correctly the way it should with what im trying to do but this week I was gonna start tracking all my ex druses in a book and keep a log. Unfortunately haven't actually had Time to get to the gym in about four days. Sometimes skipping the gym I feel like I'm getting smaller each day

are you using a food scale? accurately logging everything into MFP?

psuLemon

OP, IIRC you have a very active job. So its possible you will need to increase your intake over 4000 a day. The good news is, if you haven't lost or gained, we know your maintenance is around 4000 calories. This would mean bumping your calories up to 4250 should produce gains pending you dont increase expenditure.

allabouthegains

Yea but along with that im actually eating around that cause my job I burn around 350 or so on average plus the gym. So might be more then even what you suggested

ndj1979

allabouthegains wrote: »

Yea but along with that im actually eating around that cause my job I burn around 350 or so on average plus the gym. So might be more then even what you suggested

food scale yes/no?

allabouthegains

ndj1979 wrote: »

allabouthegains wrote: »

Yea but along with that im actually eating around that cause my job I burn around 350 or so on average plus the gym. So might be more then even what you suggested

food scale yes/no?

Yes

jimmmer

Three things:

a) You appear to burn a craptonne of calories. To gain, eat more. Add in 250 more a day and give it 2 weeks. No gain? Add in 250 more a day. Rinse/repeat.

b) Consistency. You must consistently nail your calories and your workouts. Inconsistency is your enemy.

c) Patience. If you're discouraged after 20 days, I've got news for you. Strength gains, muscle gains, fat loss, building an endurance base, whatever. It all takes time and commitment. 20 days is nothing. It is a blink of an eye. Start thinking in terms of months and years, not days and weeks.

sjohnson__1

elite_nal wrote: »

allabouthegains wrote: »

I've been at this program for 20 days now and I seem to be getting stronger but not gaining the weight. Im eating 4000 calories or more but still can't seem to retain the weight ....??

Motivation is decreasing at this point

In addition to my post earlier. Let me just be more detailed. Yes, it’s perfectly possible to make noteworthy gains in strength without any real size gains to go along with it.

In simple terms, your body can produce gains in strength in two primary ways…

The first is through muscular hypertrophy, or growth.This refers to an actual increase in the cross-sectional area of the muscle itself. If you’re trying to pack on muscle size, this is obviously what you’re after.

The second is through neural adaptations. In this case, the body becomes more efficient at recruiting motor units and making use of the muscle mass that you already have. If you’ve been gaining strength without the size, this is the primary adaptation you’ve been experiencing.

While it’s possible that this is happening as a result of an improperly structured workout plan, it’s not very likely that this is the case. If you’re already making consistent gains in strength in the gym, you’d have to be making some pretty basic errors in your training structure in order for this to be the root of the problem.

Here are a few possible, but unlikely scenarios…

You’re mostly performing sets of about 3 reps or less – This would primarily result in gains in strength/power rather than hypertrophy.

You’re mostly performing sets of above 12 reps – This would primarily result in increases in endurance rather than hypertrophy.

You’re only performing a couple sets per muscle group per workout – This would prevent you from creating enough overall metabolic fatigue in the muscle to produce significant size gains.

You’re training each muscle group less than once every 10 days or so – You could still produce size gains this way, but it would be a much more gradual process.

You aren’t training all of your muscle groups equally – If all you’re doing is going into the gym to train your “showy” muscles (like chest, biceps and abs) the overall changes to your physique are going to be far less noticeable.

If you’re making any of these basic errors, you’ll want to fix them immediately.

Make sure that you’re sticking to a hypertrophy-based rep range anywhere between 5-12… you’re hitting each muscle group at least once a week… you’re performing multiple sets per muscle during each session… and you’re training your entire body with equal focus.

Assuming that you already have these basic training principles in place, your lack of size gains likely has nothing to do with your actual training plan at all. Then as I said earlier, your problem must be your diet. More specifically, you’re not consuming an adequate calorie intake each day.

If you’re gaining strength without the size, chances are that you’re consuming a level of calories that is either at or right around your calorie maintenance level. You’re taking in enough for your body to maintain its current weight, but are not providing the additional excess calories needed to fuel hypertrophy gains. It’s possible that you’re already aware of this, but if you’re simply “winging” your diet each day, there’s a good chance that you’ll still end up missing the mark.

For the very best results, you should ideally be tracking your individual macronutrient intake as well (protein, carbs and fats), but at the very least you’ll want to make sure your calorie intake is nailed down.

Total calorie intake is the primary, underlying foundation of your entire nutrition plan. If this basic principle is not being employed, you’re completely wasting your time in the gym.

This one simple shift in your bodybuilding program will immediately take you from a place of complete stagnation to consistently gaining brand new muscle size every single week.

Sorry for the long post. But I hope this helps.

Great post here - very well articulated.