Weight gain plateau - Help!

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rucinski777
rucinski777 Posts: 7
in Food and Nutrition
I've been trying to gain weight (mass/muscle) for the last month n a half with some success but have now hit a plateau. I've been following what the website told me for caloric, carb, fat and protein intake to gain 1 lb per week pretty good so far with maybe one day a week missing my marks. I've kept the cardio to a minimum (volleyball only) and been using heavy weights when I lift. In the first 4 weeks I gained about 7 lbs from 174.5 to 181.5 but I've been stuck at 178.5-182 for about three weeks now. I weigh myself at all sorts of random times during the day so I can get an "average" of my weight and thats what I base my progress on. Also, in the last three weeks I have hit my calorie goals everyday and yet still haven't gained anything. I'm not sure what to modify in my strategy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Wes

Replies

  • mamjasmac
    mamjasmac Posts: 2
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    Do you have a crossfit gym near you? I highly recommend it. We do alot of olympic lifts and the heavier the better. Also you will get a good cardio workout but it's rarely ever more that 15-18 min. of serious heart pounding. So what I'm saying is that your not doing hours of cardio. So you really don't lose weight, but you definitly gain muscle. Check out the website...www.crosssfit.com.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    The only thing I can add is try upping your calories even higher and change up your routine (different exercises for the same body parts)
  • burner
    burner Posts: 72 Member
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    up it to 2lb a week instead of 1lb - and therefore increase your calories.

    Weigh yourself in the morning at the same time everyday to get a controlled measurement....weighing at random times will create anomylous results (for example if you ate before you weighed - your weighing the food in your stomach aswell as your body mass) in the morning your stomach is normally empty and you can get a more controlled reading.

    make sure your stressing the muscles as much as poss (change up routines) and giving them plenty of time and protein to recover - muscles only grow when rested - and when have good enough nutrition.

    If you have an iphone i reccomend the gymgoal application. Can monitor progress on a load of exercises - so you know exactly what weight your using for what exercise - so you ensure your upping weights correctly - alternatively (if no iphone or itouch) write down what weight used while training etc. - might look a bit nerdy in the gym - but you'll be the one training hard.

    You're gunna put on weight elsewhere too though while wanting to increase muscle mass - due to high calorific intake....

    this is all stuff I've read from askmen.com and using gymgoal etc...hope its useful dude.
  • balance9
    balance9 Posts: 160
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    Hi Wes-
    Are you trying to gain size...a combination of body fat and muscle? Or strictly muscle? If you're trying to gain strictly muscle mass, 7 lbs in 4 weeks is huge. Most of the research shows that 2 pounds of pure muscle mass in an untrained person is a lot. Body builders struggle to gain a pound of pure muscle a month. It might be helpful to have your body fat% tested, keep up your routine, then re-test in a month or so. A 1%-2% decrease in body fat% shows that you have gained muscle and lost fat. Also make sure you getting enough protein. Based on your body weight, The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 120-160g or so based on your body weight in order to gain lean mass. Here's a good article from the ACSM that might help:
    http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About_ACSM&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=1268
  • rucinski777
    rucinski777 Posts: 7
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    Burner,
    I do have an iphone and will definitely check out that App. All of the weigh-in's that I register with this site are taken in the morning. I think starting with my next trip to the gym I will do completely different excercises than I normally do. Thanks for the advice.
  • samseed101
    samseed101 Posts: 97 Member
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    if your goal is to put on lean muscle mass, you may have to change things up a bit. The first thing I would recommend is increasing your protein intake. If i recall correctly, this website defaults you to around 15% for protein. I would increase that to 40%. A typical macro split for body building would be 40 protein, 40 carbs, 20 fat. It' also a good idea to get some good carbs and protein in your body immediately after a workout. Studies show that you can actually absorb more protein during that crucial time frame (compared to other times in the day.)

    Are you lifting for size or lifting for strength? Or are you looking for a combination of the two? As you first start out, you will be able to gain both easily. But after awhile, the "noob gains" stop and you will need to decide on a good routine. Personally, I always recommend building up a good strength foundation first and then deciding if you want to switch to hypertrophy or stick to strength. I used to use the 1RM as a guideline. if you can at least bench press your bodyweight for one rep, then you have a decent foundation to work with. Of course, don't ignore other body parts. Squats and deadlifts are great compound exercises that hit more muscles than most people realize.

    As far as reps go. if you are looking for strength, pick a weight that you can lift about 3 - 5 times with proper form. For hypertrophy, look for something in the 12 or so rep range with 60 - 90 second rests between sets. Most people like to go with a combination of the two, which puts them in the 8 - 12 rep range. This will give a decent balance of size and strength for most people.

    Also don't forget to keep changing things up. you can stick to the same routine for awhile, but increase the weights or reps. Or decrease the rest time a bit. Progressive overload is the key. If you keep lifting the same weight every workout, you're not going to make any progress because your body will adapt. You may be surprised how much you will gain that way. If you had a tough workout today and barely completed 3 sets of a 200lb bench, try 205 next workout.

    And of course the obvious... make sure you are taking in enough calories and make sure you are getting enough. if you are hitting body parts fairly hard, then give them at least 48 hours before hitting them again. You gain strength and size while you rest, you break down muscles and cause microtrauma while in the gym. rest is important.

    What does your lifting routine and schedule look like?
  • rucinski777
    rucinski777 Posts: 7
    Options
    Hi Wes-
    Are you trying to gain size...a combination of body fat and muscle? Or strictly muscle? If you're trying to gain strictly muscle mass, 7 lbs in 4 weeks is huge. Most of the research shows that 2 pounds of pure muscle mass in an untrained person is a lot. Body builders struggle to gain a pound of pure muscle a month. It might be helpful to have your body fat% tested, keep up your routine, then re-test in a month or so. A 1%-2% decrease in body fat% shows that you have gained muscle and lost fat. Also make sure you getting enough protein. Based on your body weight, The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 120-160g or so based on your body weight in order to gain lean mass. Here's a good article from the ACSM that might help:
    http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About_ACSM&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=1268

    Balance9,
    One of my favorite sayings in life is "Begin with the end in mind". My end goal is to pack on muscle muscle muscle. I do undertand that high calories will also mean fat gain as well and I am comfortable with that. I tested at 6.5% body fat at the beginning of my weight gain adventure (12/7). My plan is to gain the mass (say 15-17 lbs) and then shred the fat with high intensity cardio and by monitoring my heart rate zones during cardio. Hopefully I won't lose to much muscle mass during that time and I will end up reducing my body fat % even more than were it is now. Thanks for the link to the article as well, it is helpful.
  • samseed101
    samseed101 Posts: 97 Member
    Options
    Hi Wes-
    Are you trying to gain size...a combination of body fat and muscle? Or strictly muscle? If you're trying to gain strictly muscle mass, 7 lbs in 4 weeks is huge. Most of the research shows that 2 pounds of pure muscle mass in an untrained person is a lot. Body builders struggle to gain a pound of pure muscle a month. It might be helpful to have your body fat% tested, keep up your routine, then re-test in a month or so. A 1%-2% decrease in body fat% shows that you have gained muscle and lost fat. Also make sure you getting enough protein. Based on your body weight, The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 120-160g or so based on your body weight in order to gain lean mass. Here's a good article from the ACSM that might help:
    http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About_ACSM&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=1268

    This is spot on. Under ideal conditions with an ideal diet, ideal rest, and an ideal routine you can expect to gain 2lbs of lean muscle mass in a month. This is naturally without the aid of any supplement. Of course, except for someone just starting out for the first time, it's pretty difficult to reach such ideal conditions and gain this rapidly. So chances are if you are gaining at a higher rate, you are putting on a good deal of fat as well.

    Typically when trying to gain muscle mass, I expect to put on 1 lb of fat for every 2 lbs of muscle mass gained.
  • rucinski777
    rucinski777 Posts: 7
    Options
    if your goal is to put on lean muscle mass, you may have to change things up a bit. The first thing I would recommend is increasing your protein intake. If i recall correctly, this website defaults you to around 15% for protein. I would increase that to 40%. A typical macro split for body building would be 40 protein, 40 carbs, 20 fat. It' also a good idea to get some good carbs and protein in your body immediately after a workout. Studies show that you can actually absorb more protein during that crucial time frame (compared to other times in the day.)

    Are you lifting for size or lifting for strength? Or are you looking for a combination of the two? As you first start out, you will be able to gain both easily. But after awhile, the "noob gains" stop and you will need to decide on a good routine. Personally, I always recommend building up a good strength foundation first and then deciding if you want to switch to hypertrophy or stick to strength. I used to use the 1RM as a guideline. if you can at least bench press your bodyweight for one rep, then you have a decent foundation to work with. Of course, don't ignore other body parts. Squats and deadlifts are great compound exercises that hit more muscles than most people realize.

    As far as reps go. if you are looking for strength, pick a weight that you can lift about 3 - 5 times with proper form. For hypertrophy, look for something in the 12 or so rep range with 60 - 90 second rests between sets. Most people like to go with a combination of the two, which puts them in the 8 - 12 rep range. This will give a decent balance of size and strength for most people.

    Also don't forget to keep changing things up. you can stick to the same routine for awhile, but increase the weights or reps. Or decrease the rest time a bit. Progressive overload is the key. If you keep lifting the same weight every workout, you're not going to make any progress because your body will adapt. You may be surprised how much you will gain that way. If you had a tough workout today and barely completed 3 sets of a 200lb bench, try 205 next workout.

    And of course the obvious... make sure you are taking in enough calories and make sure you are getting enough. if you are hitting body parts fairly hard, then give them at least 48 hours before hitting them again. You gain strength and size while you rest, you break down muscles and cause microtrauma while in the gym. rest is important.

    What does your lifting routine and schedule look like?

    Samseed,
    Lots of great information you provided, thanks a lot. I am mostly looking to add size and usually do 3 sets of 6-8 reps of all of my excercises. I never do the same muscle on consecutive days. My protein intake is always higher than what the site says, I'm usually at 160-200g. I'm going to start incorporating a full body workout day each week going forward, i.e deadlifts, squats, clean n jerks. I think that should help. Right now my workout routine lets me hit every muscle group once a week and then double up on about half of them (areas I want more growth like bi's, tri's)
  • rucinski777
    rucinski777 Posts: 7
    Options
    Hi Wes-
    Are you trying to gain size...a combination of body fat and muscle? Or strictly muscle? If you're trying to gain strictly muscle mass, 7 lbs in 4 weeks is huge. Most of the research shows that 2 pounds of pure muscle mass in an untrained person is a lot. Body builders struggle to gain a pound of pure muscle a month. It might be helpful to have your body fat% tested, keep up your routine, then re-test in a month or so. A 1%-2% decrease in body fat% shows that you have gained muscle and lost fat. Also make sure you getting enough protein. Based on your body weight, The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 120-160g or so based on your body weight in order to gain lean mass. Here's a good article from the ACSM that might help:
    http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About_ACSM&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=1268

    This is spot on. Under ideal conditions with an ideal diet, ideal rest, and an ideal routine you can expect to gain 2lbs of lean muscle mass in a month. This is naturally without the aid of any supplement. Of course, except for someone just starting out for the first time, it's pretty difficult to reach such ideal conditions and gain this rapidly. So chances are if you are gaining at a higher rate, you are putting on a good deal of fat as well.

    Typically when trying to gain muscle mass, I expect to put on 1 lb of fat for every 2 lbs of muscle mass gained.

    Yea right now I just want to put on as much weight as possible (without eating BK double cheeseburgers everyday) and will deal with the extra fat when the time comes to cut. Well I guess if my scenario is even possible, I figure I've never tried to gain mass rapidly so might was well give it a go. I do take supplements as well so that might have helped with some of the initial weight gain.
  • samseed101
    samseed101 Posts: 97 Member
    Options
    It sounds like you're on the right track and know what you're doing. Just give it some time and keep working hard and it will pay off in the end.

    What supplements are you taking? I assume creatine. I'm guessing possible Glutamine or beta Alanine as well?

    Your scenario is quite possible, especially if you are just starting out or just now getting really into it. When I first started, I had 22% bodyfat, was 212 lbs, and was pretty weak. The MOST I could bench was 115lbs, and that was for one rep only! Just over a year later, I was 200lbs, 14% bodyfat, and increased my one-rep max to 245lbs. Every other lift went up as well.

    The only thing I can't stress enough is DON'T neglect your back! many people focus on biceps, shoulders, and chest. But they will ignore their back muscles. in the end, the shoulders roll forward and the posture becomes bad. it can also cause major shoulder problems and injuries that you can sustain while lifting.

    I'm not some ripped beast by any stretch of the imagination, but I have made quite a bit of progress (with a long way to go.) All i can do is just stick to it and try to improve each week. But i'm sure your gains will come faster than you think. And once you gain some size, you should have little to no trouble burning off the fat, especially if you are going to be doing some high intensity interval training as well.
  • rucinski777
    rucinski777 Posts: 7
    Options
    It sounds like you're on the right track and know what you're doing. Just give it some time and keep working hard and it will pay off in the end.

    What supplements are you taking? I assume creatine. I'm guessing possible Glutamine or beta Alanine as well?

    Your scenario is quite possible, especially if you are just starting out or just now getting really into it. When I first started, I had 22% bodyfat, was 212 lbs, and was pretty weak. The MOST I could bench was 115lbs, and that was for one rep only! Just over a year later, I was 200lbs, 14% bodyfat, and increased my one-rep max to 245lbs. Every other lift went up as well.

    The only thing I can't stress enough is DON'T neglect your back! many people focus on biceps, shoulders, and chest. But they will ignore their back muscles. in the end, the shoulders roll forward and the posture becomes bad. it can also cause major shoulder problems and injuries that you can sustain while lifting.

    I'm not some ripped beast by any stretch of the imagination, but I have made quite a bit of progress (with a long way to go.) All i can do is just stick to it and try to improve each week. But i'm sure your gains will come faster than you think. And once you gain some size, you should have little to no trouble burning off the fat, especially if you are going to be doing some high intensity interval training as well.

    Wow you certainly did make some serious gains in just a years time, congrats. Right now I am taking the Superpump250 and Size-on stack, as well as NO Shotgun occasionally when I need some intense energy. I have been lifting for two years now and have gotten alot stronger and have put on some size. The problem was I would cheat on my diet everyweekend, drink and party a lot, and this really cut into my potential. Now I've layed off the booze and am ready to make some gains. Oh and don't worry, wide-grip pullups, inverted rows and lat pull downs are my fav excercises, so my back is not neglected ever.

    Thanks for the help.
  • samseed101
    samseed101 Posts: 97 Member
    Options
    Wow you certainly did make some serious gains in just a years time, congrats. Right now I am taking the Superpump250 and Size-on stack, as well as NO Shotgun occasionally when I need some intense energy. I have been lifting for two years now and have gotten alot stronger and have put on some size. The problem was I would cheat on my diet everyweekend, drink and party a lot, and this really cut into my potential. Now I've layed off the booze and am ready to make some gains. Oh and don't worry, wide-grip pullups, inverted rows and lat pull downs are my fav excercises, so my back is not neglected ever.

    Thanks for the help.

    Ahh, so you're a Gaspari Nutrition fan ;) I actually like their products and use SP250 myself from time to time, although I do find it to be a bit tangy. can't argue with the results though. Gives great energy. And the pump does feel pretty good. I know it realyl doesn't mean much but I do like the feeling, lol. I usually alternate between SP250 and "Shock Therapy" from Universal Nutrition. they are from the same guys that make Animal Pump and other decent products. Gaspari is pretty good though so that will definitely help.

    Cheating on the weekend is ok. More calories won't hurt muscle production. it may just add a little fat that's all. I do it a lot when bulking up. the alcohol can be a problem though. When the body is trying to metabolize the alcohol in your bloodstream, it pretty much ignores carbs, fat, and protein. Not usually a good thing.

    Good job on the back exercises too. Those are some good exercises that will keep you on track.

    Have you looked at any specific routines? One of my favorites is one called HST (hypertrophy specific training.) I have seen my best resutls using that. it's essentially an 8-week cycle where you draft out exactly what each workout will be in advance, and then follow the exact routine. You get 2 weeks in the 15-rep range, 2 in the 10 rep range, and 2 in the 5 rep range. the last two either mimic weeks 5 - 6 or instead you work on negatives with a heavier weight.

    I have seen AMAZING results from it and love it. it makes sure i increase weight every workout and keeps me on the right track. If you're interested in it, I can send you some additional info. of course, if you have your own routine you like then stick to it. But if you're bored and want something new, this would do it ;)

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