What helped you gain muscle and what prevented you from gaining muscle?

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  • ShinySkyShaymin1994
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise

    Obesity, inactivity and genetics have much greater impacts on metabolic markers than anything else. There are some foods that can improve metabolic markers (e.g., MUFA). Eating pizza or ice cream or whatever is not going to hurt you, especially if you eat large amounts of whole foods. Adding stress of labeling what is clean and what isnt is probably worse for you than eating the food, since there is an association of stress to high cortisol levels. Either way, in the end, genetics will drive most of it. Most of my family, all over weight and ate like crap has lives in their upper 80s to low 100s.

    There is also a question of how you even define clean and that is why i posted that video.
  • ShinySkyShaymin1994
    Options
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise

    Obesity, inactivity and genetics have much greater impacts on metabolic markers than anything else. There are some foods that can improve metabolic markers (e.g., MUFA). Eating pizza or ice cream or whatever is not going to hurt you, especially if you eat large amounts of whole foods. Adding stress of labeling what is clean and what isnt is probably worse for you than eating the food, since there is an association of stress to high cortisol levels. Either way, in the end, genetics will drive most of it. Most of my family, all over weight and ate like crap has lives in their upper 80s to low 100s.

    There is also a question of how you even define clean and that is why i posted that video.

    Large amounts of my family are overweight/obese on my end as well and quite a few died from health problems heart attacks diabetes etc I have a mix of good/bad genetics so I try to be careful with what I eat unless when I can't avoid it. When I mean clean I define it as nothing bad I stick to as much whole foods as possible I usually clock in just below 3000 when my goal is 3360 sometimes I hit past 3K
  • slacker80
    slacker80 Posts: 235 Member
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    Eating and not eating. I don't know If I should elaborate for my experience. It's just that its not until just recent that for the first time I'm actually committing myself to eating about 1k above maintenance. I applied A good macro formula to it, which I was a skeptic of because it was very high carb, and wouldn't you know it. My metabolism hit turbo mode and I try to eat exactly every 2.5 hrs with snacks in between here and there when I'm hungry. I should also mention that I'm a gym junkie between 6 to 7 days a week. trying to knock it down to 5 days a week now.
    Also I rarely do traditional cardio work because my routines are typically high volume that it's a cardio session in itself. I've compared a 1 hour workout session to a 6 mile jog (1 hr) by using a Polar HRM and they're nearly Identical.
    Anyhow, I always thought I was simply a hard gainer. Nope! I was catabolic. I hadn't realized it because my metabolism was adjusted to my routine. That I just simply didn't feel that hungry throughout the day after an intense workout. So basically all I would ever do is just cut so well to low body fat and just strengthen the already existent muscle fiber that I had. but did I ever actually grow in lean mass not really but the leanness of my body symmetry would give the illusion that I had grown big.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
    edited February 2017
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise

    Obesity, inactivity and genetics have much greater impacts on metabolic markers than anything else. There are some foods that can improve metabolic markers (e.g., MUFA). Eating pizza or ice cream or whatever is not going to hurt you, especially if you eat large amounts of whole foods. Adding stress of labeling what is clean and what isnt is probably worse for you than eating the food, since there is an association of stress to high cortisol levels. Either way, in the end, genetics will drive most of it. Most of my family, all over weight and ate like crap has lives in their upper 80s to low 100s.

    There is also a question of how you even define clean and that is why i posted that video.

    Large amounts of my family are overweight/obese on my end as well and quite a few died from health problems heart attacks diabetes etc I have a mix of good/bad genetics so I try to be careful with what I eat unless when I can't avoid it. When I mean clean I define it as nothing bad I stick to as much whole foods as possible I usually clock in just below 3000 when my goal is 3360 sometimes I hit past 3K

    Then staying in a healthy weight and working out/being active, will largely reduce your chances of diabetes II and heart attacks. Having bagels and pizza once in awhile won't increase your chances of either of those, especially if you eat a well balanced, high nutrient diet.

    And honestly, I still can't figure if my diet is clean or dirty as defined by you.


    But if you want to gain muscle, you need a good progressive overload lifting program and adequate calories, it's truly that simple.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise

    Obesity, inactivity and genetics have much greater impacts on metabolic markers than anything else. There are some foods that can improve metabolic markers (e.g., MUFA). Eating pizza or ice cream or whatever is not going to hurt you, especially if you eat large amounts of whole foods. Adding stress of labeling what is clean and what isnt is probably worse for you than eating the food, since there is an association of stress to high cortisol levels. Either way, in the end, genetics will drive most of it. Most of my family, all over weight and ate like crap has lives in their upper 80s to low 100s.

    There is also a question of how you even define clean and that is why i posted that video.

    Large amounts of my family are overweight/obese on my end as well and quite a few died from health problems heart attacks diabetes etc I have a mix of good/bad genetics so I try to be careful with what I eat unless when I can't avoid it. When I mean clean I define it as nothing bad I stick to as much whole foods as possible I usually clock in just below 3000 when my goal is 3360 sometimes I hit past 3K

    You are having a hard time getting to your calorie goal because you are obsessed with clean eating...which is understandable given your family history
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
    Options
    Progressive overload with high volume exercises along with eating 4000 calories a day helped me gain.

    Not doing that did the opposite.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise

    Obesity, inactivity and genetics have much greater impacts on metabolic markers than anything else. There are some foods that can improve metabolic markers (e.g., MUFA). Eating pizza or ice cream or whatever is not going to hurt you, especially if you eat large amounts of whole foods. Adding stress of labeling what is clean and what isnt is probably worse for you than eating the food, since there is an association of stress to high cortisol levels. Either way, in the end, genetics will drive most of it. Most of my family, all over weight and ate like crap has lives in their upper 80s to low 100s.

    There is also a question of how you even define clean and that is why i posted that video.

    Large amounts of my family are overweight/obese on my end as well and quite a few died from health problems heart attacks diabetes etc I have a mix of good/bad genetics so I try to be careful with what I eat unless when I can't avoid it. When I mean clean I define it as nothing bad I stick to as much whole foods as possible I usually clock in just below 3000 when my goal is 3360 sometimes I hit past 3K

    You are having a hard time getting to your calorie goal because you are obsessed with clean eating...which is understandable given your family history

    I have to admit, I am much in the same boat with the food choices, and the why. There hasn't been a male in my family, in three generations who lived past 64. Everyone on my mothers side either ends up T2D, or with various forms of cancer. Everyone on my fathers side kicks the bucket early with heart failure.

    Up until a few years ago, I was a prime candidate for both (C2 Obese, and had been since nine or ten). Luckily, I still have my fat kid appetite, so have no issues bulking mostly on "clean" foods.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,847 Member
    Options
    I'm very jealous of multiple people in this thread who talk about having to be above 3k or even 4k calorie diets in order to gain at body weights close to mine. The unspoken implication is anything less will be maintain or even lose. Meanwhile I have to be down at 2k in order to maintain. The bummer of a sedentary office job.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    Options
    there's a chance too the op may be doing fine, but is just judging himself by unrealistic expectations.

    not saying that's the case, just sayin' in general.
  • ShinySkyShaymin1994
    Options
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise

    Obesity, inactivity and genetics have much greater impacts on metabolic markers than anything else. There are some foods that can improve metabolic markers (e.g., MUFA). Eating pizza or ice cream or whatever is not going to hurt you, especially if you eat large amounts of whole foods. Adding stress of labeling what is clean and what isnt is probably worse for you than eating the food, since there is an association of stress to high cortisol levels. Either way, in the end, genetics will drive most of it. Most of my family, all over weight and ate like crap has lives in their upper 80s to low 100s.

    There is also a question of how you even define clean and that is why i posted that video.

    Large amounts of my family are overweight/obese on my end as well and quite a few died from health problems heart attacks diabetes etc I have a mix of good/bad genetics so I try to be careful with what I eat unless when I can't avoid it. When I mean clean I define it as nothing bad I stick to as much whole foods as possible I usually clock in just below 3000 when my goal is 3360 sometimes I hit past 3K

    Then staying in a healthy weight and working out/being active, will largely reduce your chances of diabetes II and heart attacks. Having bagels and pizza once in awhile won't increase your chances of either of those, especially if you eat a well balanced, high nutrient diet.

    And honestly, I still can't figure if my diet is clean or dirty as defined by you.


    But if you want to gain muscle, you need a good progressive overload lifting program and adequate calories, it's truly that simple.

    Thank you for your input I will put it into consideration
  • ShinySkyShaymin1994
    Options
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    psuLemon 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.

    Yes I have been trying to eat clean as much as possible sometimes I have to eat like pizza or burritos etc but I try to stay as clean as I can because I don't want to die like my dad so its psychological too. My dad ate like *kitten* and my brother eats as clean as he can he he puts on muscle easily I think and at one time he had a six pack idk about now as he doesn't have time to exercise

    Obesity, inactivity and genetics have much greater impacts on metabolic markers than anything else. There are some foods that can improve metabolic markers (e.g., MUFA). Eating pizza or ice cream or whatever is not going to hurt you, especially if you eat large amounts of whole foods. Adding stress of labeling what is clean and what isnt is probably worse for you than eating the food, since there is an association of stress to high cortisol levels. Either way, in the end, genetics will drive most of it. Most of my family, all over weight and ate like crap has lives in their upper 80s to low 100s.

    There is also a question of how you even define clean and that is why i posted that video.

    Large amounts of my family are overweight/obese on my end as well and quite a few died from health problems heart attacks diabetes etc I have a mix of good/bad genetics so I try to be careful with what I eat unless when I can't avoid it. When I mean clean I define it as nothing bad I stick to as much whole foods as possible I usually clock in just below 3000 when my goal is 3360 sometimes I hit past 3K

    You are having a hard time getting to your calorie goal because you are obsessed with clean eating...which is understandable given your family history

    I have to admit, I am much in the same boat with the food choices, and the why. There hasn't been a male in my family, in three generations who lived past 64. Everyone on my mothers side either ends up T2D, or with various forms of cancer. Everyone on my fathers side kicks the bucket early with heart failure.

    Up until a few years ago, I was a prime candidate for both (C2 Obese, and had been since nine or ten). Luckily, I still have my fat kid appetite, so have no issues bulking mostly on "clean" foods.

    Yes my dad's side is where the bad genetics takes place my dad died from health problems at 51 including diabetes like my grandparents as well my grandpa was 66 great uncle 50 Great Grandpa 49 they all had health problems and that's the ones I know of
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    nossmf wrote: »
    I'm very jealous of multiple people in this thread who talk about having to be above 3k or even 4k calorie diets in order to gain at body weights close to mine. The unspoken implication is anything less will be maintain or even lose. Meanwhile I have to be down at 2k in order to maintain. The bummer of a sedentary office job.

    I have an office job, lift 4 days a week and 1 to 2 cardio sessions. I maintain at 3k.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,847 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    I have an office job, lift 4 days a week and 1 to 2 cardio sessions. I maintain at 3k.

    <insert tongue-sticking-out smiley here>