Gain frustration

883xlsportster wrote: »

You have youth and time on your side. Perhaps looking at it over more of a long term rather then short will help with motivation. Probably not the answer you seek but stay focused and think long. :-)

elite_nal wrote: »

allabouthegains wrote: »

I've been at this program for 20 days now and I seem to be getting stronger but not gaining the weight. Im eating 4000 calories or more but still can't seem to retain the weight ....??

Motivation is decreasing at this point

In addition to my post earlier. Let me just be more detailed. Yes, it’s perfectly possible to make noteworthy gains in strength without any real size gains to go along with it.

In simple terms, your body can produce gains in strength in two primary ways…

The first is through muscular hypertrophy, or growth.This refers to an actual increase in the cross-sectional area of the muscle itself. If you’re trying to pack on muscle size, this is obviously what you’re after.

The second is through neural adaptations. In this case, the body becomes more efficient at recruiting motor units and making use of the muscle mass that you already have. If you’ve been gaining strength without the size, this is the primary adaptation you’ve been experiencing.

While it’s possible that this is happening as a result of an improperly structured workout plan, it’s not very likely that this is the case. If you’re already making consistent gains in strength in the gym, you’d have to be making some pretty basic errors in your training structure in order for this to be the root of the problem.

Here are a few possible, but unlikely scenarios…

You’re mostly performing sets of about 3 reps or less – This would primarily result in gains in strength/power rather than hypertrophy.

You’re mostly performing sets of above 12 reps – This would primarily result in increases in endurance rather than hypertrophy.

You’re only performing a couple sets per muscle group per workout – This would prevent you from creating enough overall metabolic fatigue in the muscle to produce significant size gains.

You’re training each muscle group less than once every 10 days or so – You could still produce size gains this way, but it would be a much more gradual process.

You aren’t training all of your muscle groups equally – If all you’re doing is going into the gym to train your “showy” muscles (like chest, biceps and abs) the overall changes to your physique are going to be far less noticeable.

If you’re making any of these basic errors, you’ll want to fix them immediately.

Make sure that you’re sticking to a hypertrophy-based rep range anywhere between 5-12… you’re hitting each muscle group at least once a week… you’re performing multiple sets per muscle during each session… and you’re training your entire body with equal focus.

Assuming that you already have these basic training principles in place, your lack of size gains likely has nothing to do with your actual training plan at all. Then as I said earlier, your problem must be your diet. More specifically, you’re not consuming an adequate calorie intake each day.

If you’re gaining strength without the size, chances are that you’re consuming a level of calories that is either at or right around your calorie maintenance level. You’re taking in enough for your body to maintain its current weight, but are not providing the additional excess calories needed to fuel hypertrophy gains. It’s possible that you’re already aware of this, but if you’re simply “winging” your diet each day, there’s a good chance that you’ll still end up missing the mark.

For the very best results, you should ideally be tracking your individual macronutrient intake as well (protein, carbs and fats), but at the very least you’ll want to make sure your calorie intake is nailed down.

Total calorie intake is the primary, underlying foundation of your entire nutrition plan. If this basic principle is not being employed, you’re completely wasting your time in the gym.

This one simple shift in your bodybuilding program will immediately take you from a place of complete stagnation to consistently gaining brand new muscle size every single week.

Sorry for the long post. But I hope this helps.