Barely progressing despite doing everything right?

4

440281/

New member
Hello

33M, 75kg/165lb, 185cm/6ft here. A few years ago, I've been doing the recommended routine for about a year total, but stopped because I didn't see strong improvements. After not doing anything for a while, I've started going to a gym and have been for 4 months now. Once again, I'm barely seeing improvements.

My goal is to gain strength and muscle mass. People talk about upping their weights every few weeks, which is not happening for me. e.g. during the last 4 months, my seated chest presses went from 30kg x 8reps x 3 sets to 35kg x 10reps x 3 sets (to muscle failure). After all this time I still cannot do a single full pull-up or more than maybe a dozen push-ups.

Current stats:
  • Going to the gym Tue and Fri, 2h each, alternating between upper/lower body days
  • Sometimes rec. routine at home on Sunday
  • Getting 6-8h of sleep per night
  • No known health problems
  • Tried taking whey protein supplements
  • Eating as much as I can most days. Note: I have a weird metabolism. I simply do not gain weight by eating. Even when eating 3000+ kcal per day, I topped out at 80kg/175lb. Could that be related?
What could I be doing wrong? Thanks a lot!

Update: Thanks everyone! I think I know what I was doing wrong now. I'll try to load the same muscles 2-3x peer week and eat a lot more.
 
@440281/ There's a LOT that could be going on, but here are some thoughts. It sounds like your program isn't intense enough for quick progress. Think about it this way, you're doing 4 days of workout for a muscle group per month. I know you're doing some bodyweight at home, but if you want fast progress, you should be doing several a week. For instance, when I was making the most progress on my weighted pullups, I trained them 3-4 times a week.

Eating as much as I can most days. Note: I have a weird metabolism. I simply do not gain weight by eating. Even when eating 3000+ kcal per day, I topped out at 80kg/175lb. Could that be related?
Click to expand...

Whenever I see something like this it's a big red flag. This is pretty much not a thing. If you aren't gaining weight at a certain amount of calories- you need to eat more. You will gain weight. I recommend carefully tracking your daily calories and weight in a TDEE app. It will give you your actual needs.

Also, 3000 calories isn't that much. It's my maintenance and I'm 5'9".

Tried taking whey protein supplements
Click to expand...

What do you mean you tried? How much protein do you get in a day?
 
@vjiadis So you're saying it's not intense enough? I used to do it more often (upper body twice a week), but I suspected lack of progress was due to not resting enough. I'll try to increase intensity again, thanks!

As for food intake, I don't know what to tell you. It's always been like this. I can (and do) eat a lot compared to my peers and not gain weight. Having said that, I've never gone out of my way to try for over 3000 calories/day. How would you even do that? That's an absurd amount of food, even to me.

What do you mean you tried? How much protein do you get in a day?
Click to expand...

Stopped taking supplements a few weeks ago because it didn't seem to change my situation. During that time I supplemented about 75g of protein on top of my regular food intake (which varies somewhat in amount of protein)
 
@440281/ Personally, I find that 2x per week is necessary to maintain my strength, 3x per week for growth. And that is for a given muscle group, so I would call what you are doing 1x per week, and for me that would lead to loss as I suspect it would for most people. Also, I'm short of time, and probably spend the same time you do each week, but in shorter intense workout sessions (probably not ideal, but it works out well enough for me). For reference, my basic routine is rings for upper body 3x/week and running 3x/week on alternate days. For practical reasons, a few years ago I was doing running on the same days as rings and that really limited my rings progress.

Overall, I agree with your basic premise that the actual gain is during the resting phase, but I think you have the timescales a bit mixed up. Yes, you need a rest, but more like a day than a week.
 
@440281/ Not enough volume. This is why PPL is recommended so often. You're essentially doing the opposite of high volume because you're hitting legs once a week and upper body once a week. Try to find time either at home or the gym to hit the same muscle group again. Try 4 times a week one hour each workout rather than 2 times a week at four hours. Same time but a lot more progress.
 
@440281/
As for food intake, I don't know what to tell you. It's always been like this. I can (and do) eat a lot compared to my peers and not gain weight.
Click to expand...

If I had a nickel for every time someone has said this to me...

How do you know you eat more than your friends? Do you track their calories? Are you with them 24 hours a day?

Do you count your calories? Do you weigh your food to ensure your counting is as accurate as possible? It's highly possible, maybe even probable, that you're incorrectly counting.

For reference, I'm currently eating 3300-3400, weigh ~190 and am gaining weight on that intake.

Having said that, I've never gone out of my way to try for over 3000 calories/day. How would you even do that? That's an absurd amount of food, even to me.
Click to expand...

Three meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) of ~800 calories each. Two snacks of ~400 calories each. That's 3200 calories right there fairly easily.

Sample breakfast: 3 extra large eggs, two slices toast with 2-3 tbsps of peanut butter, one medium-sized banana

Sample lunch or dinner: curry with 6oz chicken breast, one cup cooked rice, half a cup of chickpeas

Sample snacks: one cup each of Greek yogurt and Granola, 80g of trail mix, one cup dry cottage cheese with a couple tablespoons of mayo, chopped green onions and some pepper

If you still need calories, make a protein shake with milk, peanut butter, banana, and oats, or just drink a glass of milk with each meal.

Eating like this shouldn't be too crazy, but if it's too hard, work up to it by increasing your calories gradually. If you genuinely are eating 3000/day, adding a few hundred more shouldn't be too much of a chore.

Edit: I would also recommend increasing your training frequency. 2x/week is pretty low. Follow a proven program.
 
@440281/ I don‘t understand. On the one hand you say that you can eat 3000 calories/day and not gain weight on the other you think eating over 3000 cal/day is an absurd amount.

You should really started counting calories to see where you are really at.
 
@440281/ You might want to try doing full body 3 times per week, as that is the suggestion for beginners to intermediates. If you dont have any rest issues like this, that should be closer to your volume needed.
 
@440281/ You supplemented protien but how much protien you got varied.... so it sounds like you were not being consistent with your nutrition?

3000 calories in food is not that hard to do. But making protien shakes and drinking your extra calories makes it a but easier.
 
@440281/ I recall an episode by Jeff Nippard on muscle growth where the recommended amount of exercises per muscle group per week for optimal growth was something along the lines of 12ish heavy sets per week. So if you do 2 chest exercises(pushing and fly exercise) you'd still need to do that twice a week for optimal growth.

Or if you do full body workouts like the recommended routine you'd have to do 3-4 workouts per week with 3 or 4 sets.
 
@440281/
  • Training 2x a week, once upper and once lower.
  • Sleeping 6 hrs.
  • No mention of a program.
  • No mention of how much protein/food quality.
You need to train more. You need to make the 6 hr sleep minimum 8 hrs. Make sure you eat good food and enough protein, I bet you're overestimating your calories. You need a program.

You're definitely not doing everything right. I read your "program", it's not a program. You're probably doing 1 effective set of each. Most muscle groups need 10-20 hard sets a week to grow considerably.
 
@purposelychosen86 Alright, fair enough. I unfortunately don't have an answer other than the usual advice of sleep hygene and medical help, including psychological/psychiatric therapy as insomnia can be triggered by traumatic events.
 
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