20 year old girl wanting to gain muscle, need advice!
jaimesparkman
Posts: 17 Member
I am currently 20 years old. I am 5'4" and 104.8 lbs. I would much rather be about 115 pounds with obvious muscle definition (a strong back,a booty, abs, etc.) I am currently very lean and I have visible abs. I know that means I should "bulk". I have struggled with dieting and eating too little in the past, so this is very difficult for me. My fitness pal says my maintenance is about 1760 per day. I've been aiming for 300-500 calories over this for a while and my scale has stayed about the same. I also eat over 100 g of protein per day and keep my fat 20-30%.
My training is a basic bodybuilding style training and it usually looks something like this-
monday-legs
tuesday-shoulders
wednesday- biceps and triceps
thursday- rest
friday- chest
saturday- active rest like yoga or something
then i begin to repeat, again this is just a rough example i usually do each muscle group at least once per week. I only do 5-10 min of cardio to warm up.
I do 8-10 exercises. I go as heavy as i can. 3 sets per exercise (usually), 8-12 reps. I like free weights better than machines. I'm squatting 105, dead lifting 155, and benching 65. I have been lifting weights for over 1 year and I have gotten very serious about it in the past 4-5 months... just no progress.
So it seems like I'm doing everything right! why am I not seeing progress?
HELP MFP I NEED YOU!!
My training is a basic bodybuilding style training and it usually looks something like this-
monday-legs
tuesday-shoulders
wednesday- biceps and triceps
thursday- rest
friday- chest
saturday- active rest like yoga or something
then i begin to repeat, again this is just a rough example i usually do each muscle group at least once per week. I only do 5-10 min of cardio to warm up.
I do 8-10 exercises. I go as heavy as i can. 3 sets per exercise (usually), 8-12 reps. I like free weights better than machines. I'm squatting 105, dead lifting 155, and benching 65. I have been lifting weights for over 1 year and I have gotten very serious about it in the past 4-5 months... just no progress.
So it seems like I'm doing everything right! why am I not seeing progress?
HELP MFP I NEED YOU!! 0
Replies
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More food.0
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Firstly, if you have been eating 2060-2260 calories per day and your weight has stayed the same, you are eating at maintenance and not at a surplus which is why you may not be seeing any gains.
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I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?-1 -
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Yup, eat more. MFP's calculated TDEE (maintenance) is an approximation; your observed experience is telling you that it is too low, so you need to add more calories.
How long is "a while" that you've been eating this much? If a month with no gain, then add 300 calories and observe for a few weeks. Bulking for a female should be pretty slow, as we are more prone to gain fat than muscle, so you should be aiming to gain about 2 lbs per month.0 -
JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
Please give me science to back that up.0 -
fivethreeone wrote: »How long is "a while" that you've been eating this much? If a month with no gain, then add 300 calories and observe for a few weeks. Bulking for a female should be pretty slow, as we are more prone to gain fat than muscle, so you should be aiming to gain about 2 lbs per month.
since the beginning of summer so like 4 or more months:(0 -
JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
In the long run i'd like to do bikini. at least once, give it a shot. I thought you were supposed to eat a lot of carbs and protein?0 -
jaimesparkman wrote: »fivethreeone wrote: »How long is "a while" that you've been eating this much? If a month with no gain, then add 300 calories and observe for a few weeks. Bulking for a female should be pretty slow, as we are more prone to gain fat than muscle, so you should be aiming to gain about 2 lbs per month.
since the beginning of summer so like 4 or more months:(
Okay, then add about 300 calories and observe your weight for a few weeks. It will fluctuate up and down as normal, but you should see an overall upward trend if you're eating enough.0 -
jaimesparkman wrote: »JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
In the long run i'd like to do bikini. at least once, give it a shot. I thought you were supposed to eat a lot of carbs and protein?
That guy has no idea what he is talking about.0 -
jaimesparkman wrote: »fivethreeone wrote: »How long is "a while" that you've been eating this much? If a month with no gain, then add 300 calories and observe for a few weeks. Bulking for a female should be pretty slow, as we are more prone to gain fat than muscle, so you should be aiming to gain about 2 lbs per month.
since the beginning of summer so like 4 or more months:(
Then it sounds like you are eating at maintenance. The number MFP gave you is just an estimate. Bump it up as the others said and see where you go from there. Also, your maintenance will be a range and you may find you have to go higher than you first expected to start gaining.0 -
JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
Right, she's trying to bulk so she should do cardio...so that...she has to eat more?
And she's eating 2200 cals and not gaining, so let's say she goes to 2500 cals. You say she should only have 80g carbs and 130g protein?
That leaves her with a grand total of 1660 cals left for... fat. So....67% fat? Awesome, bro.0 -
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fivethreeone wrote: »jaimesparkman wrote: »JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
In the long run i'd like to do bikini. at least once, give it a shot. I thought you were supposed to eat a lot of carbs and protein?
That guy has no idea what he is talking about.
Agreed.0 -
JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
She only weighs 104 lbs, more protein than that is overkill.0 -
lol what??JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
just no: no. and more no.
carbs make the bod grow.
HIIT just means she has to eat more food. most people drop almost all forms of cardio wilst bulking- because cardio = calorie burn = more food. at some point- that gets old.
Protein is significantly more important for weight loss than bulking- in order to put on muscle- one must eat carbs. ALL THE CARBS- which means all the bagels and all the sushi- and all the pizza. NOMNOMNOM
Secondly: I agree with all the people who said more food.
If you aren't gaining- then you aren't eating enough. Usually there is an initial jump- and people get all excited that they are gaining in the first 2 weeks. But it's a glycogen. It levels out. Add another 150 calories every 3 weeks. If you gain to fast... stop adding.
Usually you can tell in 2-3 weeks if it's going up. If it's not at the end of 3 weeks- add another 150.0 -
fivethreeone wrote: »JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
Right, she's trying to bulk so she should do cardio...so that...she has to eat more?
And she's eating 2200 cals and not gaining, so let's say she goes to 2500 cals. You say she should only have 80g carbs and 130g protein?
That leaves her with a grand total of 1660 cals left for... fat. So....67% fat? Awesome, bro.
:laugh:
-1 -
Need more detail about your work outs. What do you do on "leg" day? If you're not incorporating a free weight program revolving around bench, squat and deads, then I suggest you find a program that does. And eat.0
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Two things:
One, eat more. Obviously you're eating at maintenance or you'd be gaining. Try to up the calls by 200/week until you start gaining at an appropriate level.
Two, I'd look into a better lifting plan. By reading the description it looks like you're missing out on whole muscle groups? This isn't the time to wing it though, finding a balanced lifting plan is important because it's really easy to forget certain muscles (especially ones we can't see).0 -
Following on with Jeff's comment, what program are you following and what exactly are you doing? Part of the lack of progress with your lifts may be a program issue.jaimesparkman wrote: »My training is a basic bodybuilding style training and it usually looks something like this-
monday-legs
tuesday-shoulders
wednesday- biceps and triceps
thursday- rest
friday- chest
saturday- active rest like yoga or something
then i begin to repeat, again this is just a rough example i usually do each muscle group at least once per week. I only do 5-10 min of cardio to warm up.
I do 8-10 exercises. I go as heavy as i can. 3 sets per exercise (usually), 8-12 reps. I like free weights better than machines. I'm squatting 105, dead lifting 155, and benching 65. I have been lifting weights for over 1 year and I have gotten very serious about it in the past 4-5 months... just no progress.
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That looks like a pretty advanced split and I assume you are looking at a hypertrophy workout. Have you checked out this website yet? hypertrophyspecific.com/index.html It should give you some good ideas on how to gain muscle mass.0
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JeffseekingV wrote: »Need more detail about your work outs. What do you do on "leg" day? If you're not incorporating a free weight program revolving around bench, squat and deads, then I suggest you find a program that does. And eat.
it looks something like....
start with squats, 10 reps with the bar for a warm up, 65 lb *10, 85*8, 95* 6, 105*3, 105*3, 105 *3
then dead lifts
warm up with bar, 105*10, 125*6-8, 135* 6 ish, 155*1.
then I go on to leg extensions, leg curls, glute machine, lunges, etc etc. 8-10 total exercises in total.0 -
what muscle group am I missing?rainbowbow wrote: »Two things:
One, eat more. Obviously you're eating at maintenance or you'd be gaining. Try to up the calls by 200/week until you start gaining at an appropriate level.
Two, I'd look into a better lifting plan. By reading the description it looks like you're missing out on whole muscle groups? This isn't the time to wing it though, finding a balanced lifting plan is important because it's really easy to forget certain muscles (especially ones we can't see).
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jaimesparkman wrote: »
what muscle group am I missing?rainbowbow wrote: »Two things:
One, eat more. Obviously you're eating at maintenance or you'd be gaining. Try to up the calls by 200/week until you start gaining at an appropriate level.
Two, I'd look into a better lifting plan. By reading the description it looks like you're missing out on whole muscle groups? This isn't the time to wing it though, finding a balanced lifting plan is important because it's really easy to forget certain muscles (especially ones we can't see).
What day do you do back?0 -
jaimesparkman wrote: »
what muscle group am I missing?rainbowbow wrote: »Two things:
One, eat more. Obviously you're eating at maintenance or you'd be gaining. Try to up the calls by 200/week until you start gaining at an appropriate level.
Two, I'd look into a better lifting plan. By reading the description it looks like you're missing out on whole muscle groups? This isn't the time to wing it though, finding a balanced lifting plan is important because it's really easy to forget certain muscles (especially ones we can't see).
What day do you do back?
Technically dead work the back but yes, she doesn't seem to dedicate a specific day to other back exercises besides deads.0 -
JZ_Evolution_Mark2 wrote: »I agree.. You really need to increase your protein intake. I'd say you should eat at least 130g of whey protein... and 30g of the 130g should be Casein protein eaten at night... You need to keep the carbs low... roughly 80g per day... and make sure you do HIIT each day.. Lift Heavy!!!
Are you trying to compete?
She only weighs 104 lbs, more protein than that is overkill.
Nice to see someone actually pay attention versus giving the default " More protein " answer blindly.
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JeffseekingV wrote: »jaimesparkman wrote: »
what muscle group am I missing?rainbowbow wrote: »Two things:
One, eat more. Obviously you're eating at maintenance or you'd be gaining. Try to up the calls by 200/week until you start gaining at an appropriate level.
Two, I'd look into a better lifting plan. By reading the description it looks like you're missing out on whole muscle groups? This isn't the time to wing it though, finding a balanced lifting plan is important because it's really easy to forget certain muscles (especially ones we can't see).
What day do you do back?
Technically dead work the back but yes, she doesn't seem to dedicate a specific day to other back exercises besides deads.
Yeah, but deads are only lower back. I'm thinking middle back and lats, specifically. I don't see a day that would incorporate either unless she does rows as a pull on chest day and pull ups a pull on shoulders.0 -
Hey I'm 20 and also 5"4
although I still have 10lbs for me to lose I am the same, I really want to learn to build muscle, lift heavy weights and have a fabulous derrière and legs. 0 -
I would look into a different routine. I recommend stronglifts or starting strength. Its only 3 days a week, so you wouldn't have to eat as much as you would if you were lifting 5 times a week (if thats hard for you already) but it's also a good strength, building muscle or losing fat routine. Also, try to limit the cardio. Hope this helps.0
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Op: How long have you been lifting?0
This discussion has been closed.
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