Why is it that I'm gaining muscle at an extremely slow rate?

Options
2»

Replies

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,588 Member
    Options
    yirara wrote: »
    Oh yes, that's an important point! Fortunately this has never happened to me. Fortunately also not with my most problematic movement (overhead press). But my muscles failed once during bench press. I just about managed to break down the falling barbell to not damage my ribcage. But then it rested there and I was stuck. :s Add some female anatomy into the mix and you're in from problems. :s I did manage to roll it downward in the end, and then let it slip to one side. But I'd rather not repeat.
    If you're by yourself, you might consider benching without collars. It's better than the alternative you just described.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,562 Member
    Options
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Oh yes, that's an important point! Fortunately this has never happened to me. Fortunately also not with my most problematic movement (overhead press). But my muscles failed once during bench press. I just about managed to break down the falling barbell to not damage my ribcage. But then it rested there and I was stuck. :s Add some female anatomy into the mix and you're in from problems. :s I did manage to roll it downward in the end, and then let it slip to one side. But I'd rather not repeat.
    If you're by yourself, you might consider benching without collars. It's better than the alternative you just described.

    Back then I didn't have any options. It was a rubbish compound gym in the Middle East. And yeah, the collars did fall off frequently. That's how rubbish this all was :D Good old times
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,442 Member
    Options
    yirara wrote: »
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Oh yes, that's an important point! Fortunately this has never happened to me. Fortunately also not with my most problematic movement (overhead press). But my muscles failed once during bench press. I just about managed to break down the falling barbell to not damage my ribcage. But then it rested there and I was stuck. :s Add some female anatomy into the mix and you're in from problems. :s I did manage to roll it downward in the end, and then let it slip to one side. But I'd rather not repeat.
    If you're by yourself, you might consider benching without collars. It's better than the alternative you just described.

    Back then I didn't have any options. It was a rubbish compound gym in the Middle East. And yeah, the collars did fall off frequently. That's how rubbish this all was :D Good old times
    I think it’s a rite of passage, getting pinned by a failed bench lift 🤣 fortunately I did it in a busy gym so someone could lift the weight off me. Unfortunately that meant everyone saw it and saw the bloke lift it off me with his pinkie finger!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,562 Member
    Options
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Oh yes, that's an important point! Fortunately this has never happened to me. Fortunately also not with my most problematic movement (overhead press). But my muscles failed once during bench press. I just about managed to break down the falling barbell to not damage my ribcage. But then it rested there and I was stuck. :s Add some female anatomy into the mix and you're in from problems. :s I did manage to roll it downward in the end, and then let it slip to one side. But I'd rather not repeat.
    If you're by yourself, you might consider benching without collars. It's better than the alternative you just described.

    Back then I didn't have any options. It was a rubbish compound gym in the Middle East. And yeah, the collars did fall off frequently. That's how rubbish this all was :D Good old times
    I think it’s a rite of passage, getting pinned by a failed bench lift 🤣 fortunately I did it in a busy gym so someone could lift the weight off me. Unfortunately that meant everyone saw it and saw the bloke lift it off me with his pinkie finger!

    Sorry for laughing, but... I am laughing badly now :D

    I have another good one. There was a woman in that compound who had hired a personal trainer for lots of money to go from utterly and totally skinny fat to super 'toned'. Trainer unpacked tiny pink weight, and even tinier pink weights (all her weights were pink!), and let her do a few exercises. Then kneeling pushups, but just a few because "hun, you don't suddenly want to look like a bodybuilder". I looked at this for a few sessions while doing my barbell lifts. I was pretty lean then and 'toned'. Decided to talk to this woman about my experience lifting before her trainer arrived. And then continued my lifts. Did bench presses (yeah, again), put barbell back onto holder while sitting up, while still holding the hands near the bar because it might roll off that rubbish equipment and onto my head. If you can't imagine this: I'm hypermobile, thus easily done. And yeah, it rolled off while my hands were behind my head. Barbell crashes onto bench, taking my hands and arms behind my back along. Woman looks shocked, trainer looks shocked. Makes a comment on how safe those tiny pink weights are. I wasn't really injured, mind. I took a day off training and then could continue without pain. As for that woman: she gave up after a month because she still wasn't toned.
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,442 Member
    Options
    yirara wrote: »
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Oh yes, that's an important point! Fortunately this has never happened to me. Fortunately also not with my most problematic movement (overhead press). But my muscles failed once during bench press. I just about managed to break down the falling barbell to not damage my ribcage. But then it rested there and I was stuck. :s Add some female anatomy into the mix and you're in from problems. :s I did manage to roll it downward in the end, and then let it slip to one side. But I'd rather not repeat.
    If you're by yourself, you might consider benching without collars. It's better than the alternative you just described.

    Back then I didn't have any options. It was a rubbish compound gym in the Middle East. And yeah, the collars did fall off frequently. That's how rubbish this all was :D Good old times
    I think it’s a rite of passage, getting pinned by a failed bench lift 🤣 fortunately I did it in a busy gym so someone could lift the weight off me. Unfortunately that meant everyone saw it and saw the bloke lift it off me with his pinkie finger!

    Sorry for laughing, but... I am laughing badly now :D

    I have another good one. There was a woman in that compound who had hired a personal trainer for lots of money to go from utterly and totally skinny fat to super 'toned'. Trainer unpacked tiny pink weight, and even tinier pink weights (all her weights were pink!), and let her do a few exercises. Then kneeling pushups, but just a few because "hun, you don't suddenly want to look like a bodybuilder". I looked at this for a few sessions while doing my barbell lifts. I was pretty lean then and 'toned'. Decided to talk to this woman about my experience lifting before her trainer arrived. And then continued my lifts. Did bench presses (yeah, again), put barbell back onto holder while sitting up, while still holding the hands near the bar because it might roll off that rubbish equipment and onto my head. If you can't imagine this: I'm hypermobile, thus easily done. And yeah, it rolled off while my hands were behind my head. Barbell crashes onto bench, taking my hands and arms behind my back along. Woman looks shocked, trainer looks shocked. Makes a comment on how safe those tiny pink weights are. I wasn't really injured, mind. I took a day off training and then could continue without pain. As for that woman: she gave up after a month because she still wasn't toned.
    🤣 oh that’s brilliant! I’m hypermobile too so I share your pain - it’s gets me into all sorts of weird situations.

    I’ve tripped over weights, dropped them on my feet, hit equipment with the bar (I’m used to the Oly 15kg one so I’m thrown when I have to use the 20kg ones as they’re longer), apologised to my own reflection in a mirror in front of my PT… you name it I’ve done it.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,562 Member
    Options
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    claireychn074 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Oh yes, that's an important point! Fortunately this has never happened to me. Fortunately also not with my most problematic movement (overhead press). But my muscles failed once during bench press. I just about managed to break down the falling barbell to not damage my ribcage. But then it rested there and I was stuck. :s Add some female anatomy into the mix and you're in from problems. :s I did manage to roll it downward in the end, and then let it slip to one side. But I'd rather not repeat.
    If you're by yourself, you might consider benching without collars. It's better than the alternative you just described.

    Back then I didn't have any options. It was a rubbish compound gym in the Middle East. And yeah, the collars did fall off frequently. That's how rubbish this all was :D Good old times
    I think it’s a rite of passage, getting pinned by a failed bench lift 🤣 fortunately I did it in a busy gym so someone could lift the weight off me. Unfortunately that meant everyone saw it and saw the bloke lift it off me with his pinkie finger!

    Sorry for laughing, but... I am laughing badly now :D

    I have another good one. There was a woman in that compound who had hired a personal trainer for lots of money to go from utterly and totally skinny fat to super 'toned'. Trainer unpacked tiny pink weight, and even tinier pink weights (all her weights were pink!), and let her do a few exercises. Then kneeling pushups, but just a few because "hun, you don't suddenly want to look like a bodybuilder". I looked at this for a few sessions while doing my barbell lifts. I was pretty lean then and 'toned'. Decided to talk to this woman about my experience lifting before her trainer arrived. And then continued my lifts. Did bench presses (yeah, again), put barbell back onto holder while sitting up, while still holding the hands near the bar because it might roll off that rubbish equipment and onto my head. If you can't imagine this: I'm hypermobile, thus easily done. And yeah, it rolled off while my hands were behind my head. Barbell crashes onto bench, taking my hands and arms behind my back along. Woman looks shocked, trainer looks shocked. Makes a comment on how safe those tiny pink weights are. I wasn't really injured, mind. I took a day off training and then could continue without pain. As for that woman: she gave up after a month because she still wasn't toned.
    🤣 oh that’s brilliant! I’m hypermobile too so I share your pain - it’s gets me into all sorts of weird situations.

    I’ve tripped over weights, dropped them on my feet, hit equipment with the bar (I’m used to the Oly 15kg one so I’m thrown when I have to use the 20kg ones as they’re longer), apologised to my own reflection in a mirror in front of my PT… you name it I’ve done it.

    All of this! But especially the bolded! 🤣🤣🤣
  • Nephelys
    Nephelys Posts: 27 Member
    Options
    We've completely drifted off of OP's question, and I feel like I'm the one who initiated it, sorry OP!

    I was reading your stories and am both amused and terrified lol. I've never had a big gym fail. Apart from falling and sprawling miserably on the ground in the middle of the room because of an area that was 2cm higher, I don't even know how I did it... but my God, the embarrassment. My gym is 99% guys, and it's not uncommon for me to be the only woman, so I really felt like I was embracing the "dumb and clumsy girl" label. One guy came up to me in a panic and asked me a bunch of times if everything was okay, it was nice but really too much for a simple little fall 🤣.

    I'm hyperlax too, and it's sometimes linked to proprioceptive dysfunction, so I often bump into objects around me. And it happens to me a lot at the gym since there is equipment scattered all over the floor. Fortunately people rarely notice it, unfortunately my toes and ankle don't like that!
    yirara wrote: »
    There was a woman in that compound who had hired a personal trainer for lots of money to go from utterly and totally skinny fat to super 'toned'. Trainer unpacked tiny pink weight, and even tinier pink weights (all her weights were pink!), and let her do a few exercises. [...] As for that woman: she gave up after a month because she still wasn't toned.

    This sentence made me laugh and roll my eyes even more. Unbelievable to get no results by doing nothing in a very short period of time! Who could have predicted this! I'm curious to know what she said to you when you went to talk to her? Before your majestic moment at the bench press! :D
    Frankly, if I hired a coach, I'd be offended that they were putting out pink weights just because I'm a woman especially if coupled with this attitude. I'd offer to stick them up deep where I think and it'd be bye-bye immediately. What a douche!


  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,021 Member
    Options
    Funny how a decade or so ago building muscle in a deficit was debated and now people complain with questionable nutrition why they haven't put on muscle. The reality is, it isn't easy and for the vast majority, it's never going to happen. Cheers
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,708 Member
    Options
    neanderthin wrote: »
    Funny how a decade or so ago building muscle in a deficit was debated and now people complain with questionable nutrition why they haven't put on muscle. The reality is, it isn't easy and for the vast majority, it's never going to happen. Cheers
    It's a long road. It took me a good 4 years to put on a decent amount of muscle to even consider competing and even then I was still "skinny" on stage.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

Categories