Losing Muscle Mass? (no time to thread surf now)

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I am not questioning your genetics or anything but a lot of people mistake the "bulk" they get in the beginning of weight training to actual muscle gains. When in reality this is mostly swelling from water. It is also possible to gain 1 or 2 pounds of actual muscle in the beginning but then anything beyond that will be extremely slow. And if you are in a calorie deficit almost impossible to add on new mass.

Just thought I would throw that out there in case you were not aware of that. Lots of people see an initial gain for the first month or two and think that gaining muscle and size is super easy when it is really not. Not even with great genetics. You would still need a calorie surplus, testosterone, a training program that optimizes mass building and so on. Even then it will be really slow process.

3-5 sets of 3-5 reps, as heavy as you can lift, on the big compound lifts,while in a calorie deficit or at maintenance, will be enough to preserve muscle mass and increase strength. Do that 2-3 times per week and you should be good.

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I wish I had the genetics of most of the women of MFP. I've had to bust my butt for years and years before I broke thru and starting gaining significant mass, But most of the women here just think about lifting a 15 lb dumbbell and their muscles start ripping thru their blouses.

True story. That's why I can only wear tanks tops now. I don't even want to tell you what happened to my calves.

The recommendations for lower reps, higher weight make sense. Conversely, doing a ton of reps at low weight could also be effective.

But bulking/gaining muscle is a reflection more of diet than your particular exercise program.

For optimal performance and body composition, some balance between low rep strength and high rep cardio would be ideal. Do a periodized routine something like the following:

Push Day -
Warm up sets followed by
Bench Press (2 sets of 3-5 reps)
Body weight dips to near failure
Chest Flyes - (3 sets of 10 reps)
Dumbbell Press - (1 set of 40 reps)

And then you would switch around the reps for each exercise. Go high volume on bench press, low rep strength on flyes, etc.

Increase your protein intake and reduce your carb intake. This will preserve lean mass while limiting muscle growth.

I wish I had your problem as well! I have been training like a beast and eating as many clean calories as possible but still struggling to gain muscle (only 6 pounds gained in 8 weeks). Good luck ;-)