Not gaining muscle

justinpgreenaway · October 2019

Hi

I am 46 years old and am trying to gain muscle. I used a PT for 6 months and am reasonably knowledgeable on nutrition and training. Overall I have been training now for just under 12 months.

I spent the first 6 months with PT and cut my weight to 67KG (I am 5ft 6") with some muscle increase. I have since increased my calories to 3000 with a 40 Carb 30Fat 30 Protein Macro split in order to gain some weight / muscle.

Nutrionally I am hitting my 3K per day calories and roughly meeting my Macro goals - I am eating well in respect to consuming fats sourced from natural sources, meat/fish, unprocessed carbs etc.

I am a natural ectomorph and with age probably means gaining muscle is quite difficult for me.

Training wise 3-4 times per week with lots of compound exercises (High and low rep ranges), free weights, and some isolation exercises. I factor in drop sets, supersets etc and have a varied workout routine.

Essentially over the last 3 months (since I upped my calories to 3K to gain weight) I have put on 2% body fat (15 to 17) so I am definitely consuming additional calories but my muscle gain was very minimal after 6 weeks and after measuring today is actually slightly less than the previous 6 weeks.

I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong as the muscle gain is not as much as I'd hoped.

Some thoughts that crossed my mind are

1. Do I need to up my calories even more (2% BF gain over 3 months so not excessive calorie intake at present but will doing this just accelerate BF and still not add muscle?
2. Do I need to adjust my macro split (increase protein maybe)
3. Am I over training or not training enough (I have some niggling pains / injuries so if anything I think I may be overtraining).
4. How accurate is the measuring machine (I use fitness Quest at the Gym group)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Justin

Machafin · October 2019

Why did you choose that macro break down? Just curious as to what helped you determine that. I would suggest changing to 40/30/30 (protein/carbs/fat) and see if that gives you any results.

I did a quick calculation on your caloric need and came up with your numbers, so I don't think you need to increase your calories yet. Perhaps your metablism is faster than average for your parameters so that may need to be considered in the future.

I do not think you are overtraining, I perform anywhere from 7-10 workouts per week and seem to be fine. Make sure you are getting enough sleep as to not hinder recovery.

I am not sure what the measuring machine you are referring to is, but if it is for bf%, I wouldn't worry too much. I just used your age, height, weight, and gender (you are male correct?) and came up with the same caloric need as you use.

wiigelec · October 2019

Progressive overload?

erickirb · October 2019

I disagree about needing more protein, you can eat more, but in a surplus carbs are king (provided you get adequate protein (1 gram per lb of lbm is sufficient). I typically eat 50c/25p/25f in a bulk and 45c, 30p, 25f in a cut, to keep my grams protein about the same, so slight cut in fat and more carbs cut.

As for BF% changes... how are you measuring? If you are doing something other than hydrostatic weighing or Bod Pod under the same conditions (hydrated, before eating, etc) the results are really unreliable. Use the mirror, strength gains, and measurements to track instead. What was your estimated BF% when you got down to 67kgs?
For reference, my profile pic is me at 64 Kgs at 5'6" at an estimated 10% BF%... If you were over 12-15% BF% your body would be more primed for adding fat along with the muscle, depending on BF% you may want to consider cutting down to 62-63 KGs before bulking it that puts you in the sweet spot

What program are you following? If it is something you put together yourself, I would suggest switching to a tried tested and True program. I like PHUL or something along those lines.

tcunbeliever · October 2019

You are already gaining fat, so you have a calorie surplus, adding even more calories will not put that surplus into muscle.

You are probably getting enough protein already.

How much has your work (weights x reps) increased over the 3 months? How frequently are you able to add weight or reps to your routine? Are you pushing to failure on each set?

The workout is really what you need to tweak to see muscle growth. I try to increase at least one lift per week, either increasing weight or increasing reps. Generally I base what I'm increasing on how I feel at the end of a set - did I feel like I could do more and still complete my future sets? Did I get to the end of the sets and still feel like I could bang out more reps? If so, time to increase something.

The number one stimulation for muscle growth is increased work over time. If you want to be bigger, then you need to be stronger, and your muscles need to do more work than they did last week or last month. You will get some strength gains through adaptation, but more work will also stimulate muscle growth.

For metrics, take your own as well as using the gym equipment. Measuring tapes and calipers are cheap and it only takes a few minutes to take a set of measurements and write them down on paper, or store them in your phone, or store them in your MFP account as a custom metric.

Of course, all of this is my opinion, it's worth what you paid for it.

gequalsmoney · October 2019

Muscle growth takes a long time. I would suggest training 4-5x a week. You need more volume and patience. Takes years to build.

jdog022 · October 2019

There is nothing on this planet that can measure your muscle gain in 6 weeks. The machine is nearly useless. Muscle growth is painfully slow. Several months especially your age. I’m 38 and had to bulk for 11 months to see anything noticeable. Track your lifts and reps

Progressive overload, proper program and much more patience

justinpgreenaway · October 2019

Thanks All, some good advice to think about.

It's probably a combination of unreliable machine measurements and my over optimistic expectations for how quickly I will bulk. Seems that my calorie intake is good and am happy with my nutrition so I have the basics in place.

I think muscle growth at my age is probably more difficult to achieve that it was 20 years ago and I do have a fast metabolism.

I track using Jefit, train to failure and progressively overload on at least some exercises during the week. I am slowly getting stronger and regularly breaking PB's so I based on this I am progressing.

It knocks you back when after 3 months of upping your calories and training well, that the measurement machine then tells me I've made zero progress!! Made me question whether I was doing something drastically wrong.

Think I need to take the results with a pinch of salt. May try adding a bit more protein although sounds like I'm in the right sort of ballpark in terms of daily consumption so think I will look to review and tweak my workout routine, and maybe cut post christmas!!

jdog022 · November 2019

I think you on the right track especially if your lifts are progressing. But my advice would not be a cut post Xmas. Bulk for a long time if you can stand a little fluffyness. Several months. Many many people make the mistake of bulking for short a time, cutting and essentially spinning their wheels for years

pdmatthews · November 2019

I’d agree that progressive overload is key. You’ve got to force the adaptation - to grow new muscle you need to be doing more than you previously could. Small surplus and try to stay in it as long as possible - if you hit stalls chuck 25g more carbs/100 cals in. Train hard and repeat

Not gaining muscle

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