Is my progress so far reasonable?

kai9697

First post, sorry if in wrong forum.
I have always had a rough time gaining weight. 6ft, 145 out of high school. Averaging 155 at 40.
I have been working out 3-4 times a week since Jan. I’m up to 173 now and do see/feel results.
Is my progress reasonable or am I not pushing myself hard enough?
I’m not sure how fast I should expect results at 41.
I wouldn’t call my workouts intense, I stay in the 130 bpm heart rate range.

Update pic from Jan to now

JBanx256

What kind of "working out" are you doing?
If you are lifting, what kind of program are you using?
Other than trying to gain some mass, what is/are your goal(s)?

kai9697

I'm a bit of an rookie, only using my home gym right now. Just doing things I'm picking up from watching videos and reading.
I'm lifting dumbbell weights, cable machine and dip station.
45min 3-4x a week, alternating upper body, legs, core, with usually 2 days of rest for each area.

I want to gain mass mainly, look cut for once in my life... Abs would be nice. I figure I'll get my weight up and then try to cut bodyfat to lean out. Ranging 14-16% right now, reported by my scale.
Goal is 185lbs.

Been 4 months, really trying to figure out if my progress is reasonable or if I should be expecting more.

sijomial

FYI regarding "I wouldn’t call my workouts intense, I stay in the 130 bpm heart rate range."
There's really no point in monitoring your heartrate during the training you describe - it's not cardio and your HR is a very poor measure of lifting intensity.

I think your progress is good if as it sounds you are trying to bulk without a lot of fat gain.
Rather than just relying on photos using a tape measure will give you good data on where you are adding mass.
Plus of course you shoud be seeing your weights lifted increase to judge the effectiveness of your training.

JimManusPA

Looks reasonable to me!

GaryRuns

kai9697 wrote: »

I'm a bit of an rookie, only using my home gym right now. Just doing things I'm picking up from watching videos and reading.
I'm lifting dumbbell weights, cable machine and dip station.
45min 3-4x a week, alternating upper body, legs, core, with usually 2 days of rest for each area.

I want to gain mass mainly, look cut for once in my life... Abs would be nice. I figure I'll get my weight up and then try to cut bodyfat to lean out. Ranging 14-16% right now, reported by my scale.
Goal is 185lbs.

Been 4 months, really trying to figure out if my progress is reasonable or if I should be expecting more.

It definitely looks like you've gained some muscle mass. Good job!

It's relatively easy when you first start resistance training to just pick up some weights and start doing things you see on youtube and make progress. That possibility rapidly decays as your body gets more and more accustomed to resistance training. That means you need to be more careful about your workouts if you want to continue making progress. There are three simple things you need to do to make progress resistance training:

1. Eat sufficient protein. Roughly 1 gram per pound of body weight per day.
2. Work out consistently using a well structured, progressive, lifting program.
3. Allow for sufficient recovery between lifting sessions.

They're simple to list, not always so simple to execute.

For #2, if I were you, I'd start by looking for a good program tailored to your goals and equipment availability in the thread https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1 so that you can continue to make progress.