What helped you gain muscle and what prevented you from gaining muscle?
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ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »I was wondering since I have a problem gaining muscle what routines helped you gain muscle and if you had problems gaining muscle in the past what prevented them? I have been trying to figure out what was preventing my muscle growth even though I exercise almost every day and have a protein shake right after to gain muscle someone told me to up my protein to my current weight which is 193 while I am currently eating around 160g a day and break down the muscle groups over a period of 4-7 days so one day I do bicep exercises with 15 reps light weight 12 reps medium weight 6-8 heavy weight then back to 12 medium weight the next quads and hamsprings the next abs etc I am in the process of figuring out my muscle fibers once I bounce back up from being sick since muscle fiber might be a reason I learned. So let me know any info you think might be helpful I have no medical conditions except for Autism Spectrum Disorder and eczema and Asthma
Inadequate programming on your exercise part is going to be your largest issue. Do you squat, OHP, Bench, or even deadlift? Or are you focusing on isometric moves (machines). Are you using a barbell, dumbbells, or just machines? What is your progression scheme?
People fail at this people their nutrition, calories and programming are not in line with their goals.3 -
What helped you gain muscle:
Lifting heavy things and putting them down again. Sensible programming and appropriate volume helps.
What prevented you from gaining muscle:
Getting injured.
Lack of time/other priorities.
Getting old.
Minimal impact either way:
Cardio
Calorie balance.
Macros.0 -
What helped you gain muscle:
Eating in a surplus
What prevented you from gaining muscle:
Not eating enough
Minimal impact either way:
Macros1 -
deputy_randolph wrote: »Build muscle=calorie surplus, protein, compound lifts (squat, bench, deadlift), 3x8 set/rep for squats and bench (really built strength and muscle for me), following an established program
Preventing muscle growth=too much cardio, not eating enough, not following a program
Can running 24 km /15 miles: i.e. 10km +7 km+7km , 3 day a week affect the muscle gain? Have been doing strong lift 3 times a week.
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Jim Wendler helped me!
Not personally, which a shame, but 5/3/1 with boring but big.2 -
deputy_randolph wrote: »Build muscle=calorie surplus, protein, compound lifts (squat, bench, deadlift), 3x8 set/rep for squats and bench (really built strength and muscle for me), following an established program
Preventing muscle growth=too much cardio, not eating enough, not following a program
Can running 24 km /15 miles: i.e. 10km +7 km+7km , 3 day a week affect the muscle gain? Have been doing strong lift 3 times a week.
Potentially. It depends on your ability to get adequate nutrition and recovery. A lot of the endurance athletes I know, taper down on endurance while bulking.1 -
Another vote for StrongLifts. Free app, tells you exactly how much to lift, and you increase by a small amount every time, thereby getting stronger every time.0
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Former endurance athlete here, currently bulking. I didn't start gaining weight until I significantly cut back on cardio and really focussed on strength training. I was running at minimum 10 km 43-45 minutes, depending on hilliness, 4 times per week, cross training cardio 2 days, throwing in strength training 3 times per week, but not a consistent program, just messing around, more to compliment my running.
Now I do strength 4 days a week, 2 upper focus, 2 lower focus, structured program, 3-4 cardio per week (HIIT cycling, octane, 5 mile slow run), eat approximately 3100 calories per day. I'm 5'6 and have gone form 110 lbs to 120 lbs over 7 months, 2 month maintenance break in the middle. Slow, but it's progress. Consistency with my strength workouts and eating at surplus has been the key.
When doing more cardio I didn't have the energy to put into the strength workouts that I needed. Strength always takes priority now, if theres energy left cardio happens, or on rest days from strength when i have the energy and need to do something. Peanut butter, dense bread, and higher fat dairy have all been a big help for me on the diet side of things.1 -
CafeRacer808 wrote: »ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »TresaAswegan wrote: »Finding an established and progressive lifting program and eating in a caloric surplus. And patience. Muscle growth is very slow.
Making up your own program is usually not ideal unless you are very experienced.
This. And for a more detailed discussion, read this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1
Why is he saying to eat candy bagels pizza ice cream etc with healthy food? Why do I want to put that in my body to gain muscle? that would add fat those food you should only have on a cheat meal
I don't speak for @psuLemon. You'll have to ask him that question.
But speaking for myself, I don't view individual foods as healthy or unhealthy - I view overall diets as healthy or unhealthy. If you're eating a nutritionally balanced diet, you're consuming enough protein for your muscle building goals and you're still not eating at a surplus, there's nothing wrong with incorporating pizza, ice cream, bagels and chocolate into your diet. Obviously, eating only pizza, ice cream, bagels, and chocolate would be unhealthy, but nobody's advocating that.
So I guess my question to you is: what harm will any of those foods do if they're part of a nutritionally balanced diet?
I don't think someone would have as good as results as they could by putting that stuff into their diets frequently0 -
deputy_randolph wrote: »Build muscle=calorie surplus, protein, compound lifts (squat, bench, deadlift), 3x8 set/rep for squats and bench (really built strength and muscle for me), following an established program
Preventing muscle growth=too much cardio, not eating enough, not following a program
Can running 24 km /15 miles: i.e. 10km +7 km+7km , 3 day a week affect the muscle gain? Have been doing strong lift 3 times a week.
only if it eats into your calorie surplus...0 -
ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »TresaAswegan wrote: »Finding an established and progressive lifting program and eating in a caloric surplus. And patience. Muscle growth is very slow.
Making up your own program is usually not ideal unless you are very experienced.
This. And for a more detailed discussion, read this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1
Why is he saying to eat candy bagels pizza ice cream etc with healthy food? Why do I want to put that in my body to gain muscle? that would add fat those food you should only have on a cheat meal
I don't speak for @psuLemon. You'll have to ask him that question.
But speaking for myself, I don't view individual foods as healthy or unhealthy - I view overall diets as healthy or unhealthy. If you're eating a nutritionally balanced diet, you're consuming enough protein for your muscle building goals and you're still not eating at a surplus, there's nothing wrong with incorporating pizza, ice cream, bagels and chocolate into your diet. Obviously, eating only pizza, ice cream, bagels, and chocolate would be unhealthy, but nobody's advocating that.
So I guess my question to you is: what harm will any of those foods do if they're part of a nutritionally balanced diet?
I don't think someone would have as good as results as they could by putting that stuff into their diets frequently
Your OP asked how to gain muscle and expeienced people have told you you can do it THAT way, but you now know the answer? Interesting.
what matters is calorie surplus + macro/micro adherence + progressive lifting routine ...
no one is saying eat a diet of 100% bagles and ice cream. What we are saying is that you should eat nutrient dense foods to hit your micro and macro goals, and then fill in remaining calories with calorie dense foods.
You are going to have a hard time consuming 3000 calories of rice, chicken, fish and vegetables, and you don't get extra credit for extra macros and micros.
I have run several bulk/cut cycles doing it this way and I gained strength and muscle and was able to get body fat% down to 15% level...so yes, you will get good results.2 -
ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »I was wondering since I have a problem gaining muscle what routines helped you gain muscle and if you had problems gaining muscle in the past what prevented them? I have been trying to figure out what was preventing my muscle growth even though I exercise almost every day and have a protein shake right after to gain muscle someone told me to up my protein to my current weight which is 193 while I am currently eating around 160g a day and break down the muscle groups over a period of 4-7 days so one day I do bicep exercises with 15 reps light weight 12 reps medium weight 6-8 heavy weight then back to 12 medium weight the next quads and hamsprings the next abs etc I am in the process of figuring out my muscle fibers once I bounce back up from being sick since muscle fiber might be a reason I learned. So let me know any info you think might be helpful I have no medical conditions except for Autism Spectrum Disorder and eczema and Asthma
Inadequate programming on your exercise part is going to be your largest issue. Do you squat, OHP, Bench, or even deadlift? Or are you focusing on isometric moves (machines). Are you using a barbell, dumbbells, or just machines? What is your progression scheme?
People fail at this people their nutrition, calories and programming are not in line with their goals.
I have done Squats but due to a short term knee injury I haven't been able to do as much as I would want. I am trying to maintain a 3360 calorie diet which is difficult I work in a hospital so I'm moving around a lot and assumed 3360 was good for me my BmR is around 1925 I think and a 22 year old 6 foot 2 male I started doing more targeted workouts not whatever I wanted like for example push-ups Piyo Kick Through a Reverse crunches and dumbbells at home now it's more targeted in a specific spot0 -
ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »I was wondering since I have a problem gaining muscle what routines helped you gain muscle and if you had problems gaining muscle in the past what prevented them? I have been trying to figure out what was preventing my muscle growth even though I exercise almost every day and have a protein shake right after to gain muscle someone told me to up my protein to my current weight which is 193 while I am currently eating around 160g a day and break down the muscle groups over a period of 4-7 days so one day I do bicep exercises with 15 reps light weight 12 reps medium weight 6-8 heavy weight then back to 12 medium weight the next quads and hamsprings the next abs etc I am in the process of figuring out my muscle fibers once I bounce back up from being sick since muscle fiber might be a reason I learned. So let me know any info you think might be helpful I have no medical conditions except for Autism Spectrum Disorder and eczema and Asthma
Inadequate programming on your exercise part is going to be your largest issue. Do you squat, OHP, Bench, or even deadlift? Or are you focusing on isometric moves (machines). Are you using a barbell, dumbbells, or just machines? What is your progression scheme?
People fail at this people their nutrition, calories and programming are not in line with their goals.
I have done Squats but due to a short term knee injury I haven't been able to do as much as I would want. I am trying to maintain a 3360 calorie diet which is difficult I work in a hospital so I'm moving around a lot and assumed 3360 was good for me my BmR is around 1925 I think and a 22 year old 6 foot 2 male I started doing more targeted workouts not whatever I wanted like for example push-ups Piyo Kick Through a Reverse crunches and dumbbells at home now it's more targeted in a specific spot
is joining a gym an option?0 -
ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »TresaAswegan wrote: »Finding an established and progressive lifting program and eating in a caloric surplus. And patience. Muscle growth is very slow.
Making up your own program is usually not ideal unless you are very experienced.
This. And for a more detailed discussion, read this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1
Why is he saying to eat candy bagels pizza ice cream etc with healthy food? Why do I want to put that in my body to gain muscle? that would add fat those food you should only have on a cheat meal
I don't speak for @psuLemon. You'll have to ask him that question.
But speaking for myself, I don't view individual foods as healthy or unhealthy - I view overall diets as healthy or unhealthy. If you're eating a nutritionally balanced diet, you're consuming enough protein for your muscle building goals and you're still not eating at a surplus, there's nothing wrong with incorporating pizza, ice cream, bagels and chocolate into your diet. Obviously, eating only pizza, ice cream, bagels, and chocolate would be unhealthy, but nobody's advocating that.
So I guess my question to you is: what harm will any of those foods do if they're part of a nutritionally balanced diet?
I don't think someone would have as good as results as they could by putting that stuff into their diets frequently
If those four foods don't fit into your preconceived notion of "healthy", then don't eat them. There are two dozen other foods on that list. You need to consume more calories to maintain a surplus. How you do that is up to you.0 -
ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »TresaAswegan wrote: »Finding an established and progressive lifting program and eating in a caloric surplus. And patience. Muscle growth is very slow.
Making up your own program is usually not ideal unless you are very experienced.
This. And for a more detailed discussion, read this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1
Why is he saying to eat candy bagels pizza ice cream etc with healthy food? Why do I want to put that in my body to gain muscle? that would add fat those food you should only have on a cheat meal
I don't speak for @psuLemon. You'll have to ask him that question.
But speaking for myself, I don't view individual foods as healthy or unhealthy - I view overall diets as healthy or unhealthy. If you're eating a nutritionally balanced diet, you're consuming enough protein for your muscle building goals and you're still not eating at a surplus, there's nothing wrong with incorporating pizza, ice cream, bagels and chocolate into your diet. Obviously, eating only pizza, ice cream, bagels, and chocolate would be unhealthy, but nobody's advocating that.
So I guess my question to you is: what harm will any of those foods do if they're part of a nutritionally balanced diet?
I don't think someone would have as good as results as they could by putting that stuff into their diets frequently
Well they do. I, and many other bulkers and bodybuilders are proof of that. My calorie intake is so high right now that I can have ice cream every single night. My goal is to bulk for 8 months total, with a daily intake of over 3000 cals.. if I had to stay away from all those fun foods it would be miserable and honestly, I would probably have given up a long time ago and not come close to my goal. No bueno for me.
You can bulk however you want.. if you want to restrict certain food items, stay away from sugar, if certain things make you feel sluggish and affect your gym performance, hey, that is your choice. Do keep in mind though that I have been around awhile and I've seen a lot of people be overly restrictive and fail to hit their calorie goals and they waste soooo much time (months, even years.. yup.. I have seen some of the same people come back over and over who fail to gain) They spin their wheels not being in a surplus. No thanks. I want results and I get them.2 -
ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »TresaAswegan wrote: »Finding an established and progressive lifting program and eating in a caloric surplus. And patience. Muscle growth is very slow.
Making up your own program is usually not ideal unless you are very experienced.
This. And for a more detailed discussion, read this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1
Why is he saying to eat candy bagels pizza ice cream etc with healthy food? Why do I want to put that in my body to gain muscle? that would add fat those food you should only have on a cheat meal
If you have another look at the thread,he has replied in detail to your comment and explained why those foods are ok within the context of a varied diet when you're trying to gain weight
Edit: oops ,sorry, he's replied above.!
I'd also like to add another vote for stronglifts!1 -
I honestly don't know. I just did a lot of random things and didn't even track food or nutrition but somehow I gained muscles.
I blame my heritage, lýsi and skyr. For some reason it just works.0 -
In addition to a decent program and a reasonable diet (as many others have said) -
- consistency
- patience
- consistency
- consistency
- patience
- consistency
- patience1 -
ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »ShinySkyShaymin1994 wrote: »I was wondering since I have a problem gaining muscle what routines helped you gain muscle and if you had problems gaining muscle in the past what prevented them? I have been trying to figure out what was preventing my muscle growth even though I exercise almost every day and have a protein shake right after to gain muscle someone told me to up my protein to my current weight which is 193 while I am currently eating around 160g a day and break down the muscle groups over a period of 4-7 days so one day I do bicep exercises with 15 reps light weight 12 reps medium weight 6-8 heavy weight then back to 12 medium weight the next quads and hamsprings the next abs etc I am in the process of figuring out my muscle fibers once I bounce back up from being sick since muscle fiber might be a reason I learned. So let me know any info you think might be helpful I have no medical conditions except for Autism Spectrum Disorder and eczema and Asthma
Inadequate programming on your exercise part is going to be your largest issue. Do you squat, OHP, Bench, or even deadlift? Or are you focusing on isometric moves (machines). Are you using a barbell, dumbbells, or just machines? What is your progression scheme?
People fail at this people their nutrition, calories and programming are not in line with their goals.
I have done Squats but due to a short term knee injury I haven't been able to do as much as I would want. I am trying to maintain a 3360 calorie diet which is difficult I work in a hospital so I'm moving around a lot and assumed 3360 was good for me my BmR is around 1925 I think and a 22 year old 6 foot 2 male I started doing more targeted workouts not whatever I wanted like for example push-ups Piyo Kick Through a Reverse crunches and dumbbells at home now it's more targeted in a specific spot
No one says you have to eat certain foods, but saying that you think one food will provide better results than another is not true. There isn't any scientific data to support your claim. It has also been in my experience, both with myself and clients I work with, that the particular foods mean very little. We still try to take in nutrient dense foods, but many people struggle with very high calorie diets driven by active jobs and hard exercise. And one of the biggest reasons for failure is maintaining high levels of calories, which apparently you are struggling yourself.
Ultimately, you have a few options. 1. You can keep doing what you are doing now and struggling to hit you calories calorie and strength goals, or 2. take a step back and take into consideration the large amount of anecdotal experience we share on this forum. Those same foods that you noted as bad, has helped me increase my deadlift from 225 lbs to 300 lbs in 7 weeks.
So as far as I can tell, you are doing a program that is highly isometric and failing to meet calorie needs? Is that correct? If so, that is exactly the reason you will not gain muscle.0
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