Gym-ing for months but not improving weights?

[rania]

I’ve been going to the gym twice a week since October but not really seen any improvements, not even newbie gains! Hoping someone might be able to tell me why or give some advice..?

For context I’m 24f, ~51kg, 5ft 4’, I go 2 times a week for 35-40mins per session. Each session consists of 5 mins row warm up (just over 1000m), then only arm weights. I don’t do legs as I also do triathlon training (between 10 and 13 hours a week) so calves and thighs have enough muscle as is, hence why my arms look so ridiculously disproportionate!

Cable bar arm curls (2 x15 reps 7.5kg, 2x10 reps 10kg)

Cable bar tricep push downs (2 x 15 reps 10kg, 2 x 10 reps 12.5kg)

Chest press machine (2 x 12 reps 20kg, 2 x 10 reps 25kg)

Shoulder press (3 x 10 reps 10kg, attempt 15kg reps until failure which is about 5 LOL)

And then I will do either/both cable pull downs (2 x 15 reps 25kg, 2 x 10 reps 30kg) or low row machine (the same)

Is this a bad gym workout? I do these reps as it’s at or near to near failure (one or two reps away). Yet I haven’t moved up in weights since starting and I don’t look particularly stronger either so I must be doing something wrong!
Thanks

Edit: I’ll just post this that I wrote as a reply, re: nutrition. Basically I don’t do tracking but also don’t do any diets or limit food groups etc

“Not 100% sure but I presume so. I used to track macros and calories every meal for a few months straight last year, thought I got an idea of what the food I eat looked like and what I needed, so stopped since and just kind of guess based on past tracking. But I’m definitely not losing weight, and I estimate to have quite a high body fat % especially around my middle, so I’m just assuming I’m eating enough? My approach since starting triathlon the past couple years has been recon rather than build-cut cycles, as naturally I don’t have a great body type for that (put on weight easily). Also I always try to get protein in at least one of my meals (eg meat, fish, fake meat) and if I don’t for some reason I’ll have a protein shake”

 

[rebecca17]

@rania Since you are a triathlete...

A couple books that might be helpful: roar by Stacy Sims (female performance for endurance athletes) and maximum overload (strength training for cyclists). I would not lift heavy during your tri season. Strengthening legs would still be beneficial, but save it for your off season for heavy work. MO pushed exercises that mimic the sport you are performing which would probably benefit you more than following a random program. Upper body 2x per week during your season would be fine, with 1 day full body and at maintenence weights.

Want to get a stronger upper body for cycling:
switch out your chest press and do push ups and planks
Dips are also helpful and a good compound movement

Cycling and running lower body: single leg movements, lunges, split squats, step ups - heavy in the off season. Strength and Plyometrics in the pre-tri season- forward jumps, lunge jumps, single leg jumps (probably helpful with a trx), switch the strength gains to power. Maintaince strength training 1x per week during the season.

Swimming- look at exercises that strengthen your lats (lat pull down, pullups), mid back (rows- single arm or bent over barbell), and rotator cuff muscles (YTA). I found clean and presses to be helpful as well. You could probably find some videos on YouTube to see what exercises the swimmers do. I believe there are banded single arm workouts you can find that would be more useful for swimming motions.

Anyways, just my two cents as a fellow endurance athlete.

 

[rania]

@rebecca17 Thank you for your reply! And thank you for the book suggestion, I’ll definitely check it out. I’ve never actually read any books or programmes on triathlon, just sort of started doing one day after the first lockdown lol. Maybe it’s time for some actual theory.

I’ll also look into adding in your suggestions!

 

[rel]

@rania Hard to say, but just know you’re not alone! I find building upper body strength really slow as well.

I think a lot of it for me is not doing the movement right. For example, with push-ups and pull ups I had to scale back and actually really learn how to use my back, and then I finally started to get stronger.

 

[dawn16]

@rania Others have mentioned diet/protein, but are you rotating your program? Meaning, do you change what exercises you do after every 4 weeks?

4 weeks is usually considered the ideal time to switch up what exercises you do, as 4 weeks is about how long your body takes to adapt to a routine and muscle gain only slows down from there. Changing exercises kind of "wakes" the body up like "WOAH, better build more muscle to adapt to this change" and you'll notice gains faster until the 4th week again. This article goes more in depth on training frequency/rotation.

 

[michelle14]

@dawn16 The article you linked does not support changing exercises as the only way to achieve goals. The mixed program at the end specifically does not require exercise rotation. Also the 4 weeks is about not doing frequent training of certain metabolically demanding exercises for longer than that to allow for adequate recovery, not because you need to change exercises to “wake the body up”. Similar results could be achieved with a program that includes periodic de-load weeks, even if those de-loads involve lighter weights and volume of the same exercises.

 

[rania]

@dawn16 Thanks for your reply, no actually I do the same thing every week, working on the theory that it would increase those muscles faster. Didn’t know this is not the case! So this has definitely given me something to consider

 

[michelle14]

@rania See my comment above but this doesn’t really sound right. The article they linked also doesn’t really support their claim either.

 

[danielfromcanada]

@rania So, something I would consider... do leg workouts too. All cyclists and runners will see benefits in threshold and endurance power from doing leg workouts in the gym.

 

[dawn16]

@rania You need compound lifts, not the muscle isolation movements you’re doing.

You need overhead press & handstands, bench & dips, barbell row & pull-ups. I would also very highly recommend doing leg and full-body lifts as well. It will improve everything including your triathlon training.

 

[rania]

@dawn16 Thank you for your suggestions, I’ll have to look up their form and add them to the roster

 

[sunnsideup]

@rania It's totally up to you, but I've found doing some single leg dumbbell work to be complementary to running & cycling, especially for injury reduction. Some examples are:

• Single leg Romanian deadlifts (start with both legs if maintaining form is too difficult)
• Single leg glute bridges
• Bulgarian split squats or lunges!

I also recommend doing some lat work for your swimming - those are the muscles that should be working the hardest for your stroke. And yoga is pretty great for your goals too.

Search through subs like /r/swimming and /r/running for strength routine ideas if you're interested.

 

[rania]

@sunnsideup Thank you for your reply! The reasons I’ve been avoiding leg weights are 1) Trying to match up the proportions of my big ol’ thighs and calves with my pathetic noodle arms and 2) my legs are quite prone to injury, especially my knees (I’m loose jointed, and bad knees run in the family, my right knee even partially dislocated once just jumping into the sofa!). In fact it actually mildly hurts my knees just to do a normal squat. At the moment I’m stuck in a loop where I build my weekly mileage up to 40km following the 10% increase rule, one of my knees acts up, I fall back to 20km per week, repeat. It’s so frustrating!

 

[rebecca17]

@rania Strength training will actually strength your joint. They even recommend it for patients with arthritis, i.e. physical therapy. You don't have to lift heavy either. Even bodyweight squats or lunges will do a lot for you. The cross training will also help with prevention of overuse injuries that you would get from running. You may also want to build slower instead of jumping up 10%, maybe do 5% instead

Ex: I have a bad left shoulder. When I go more than a month without doing upper body exercises, it hurts. It'll hurt reaching back to get my seat belt! I weight train, doesn't bother me a bit. I am pretty sure I tore my labrum in high school while weight training or playing softball. So, the joint is not as stable as it should be. The strengthening helps my mobility, keeps it from hurting, keeps the muscles taught around the joint to stabilize it.

 

[sheldonl]

@rania Not an expert with the weight training, but for the diet - you should be getting a good source of protein in every meal (and snack!) not just once a day! There’s an exact ratio to your weight someone else commented, but in order to get like 100g-ish of protein in a day, you need to be eating like 30g every meal which takes a concerted effort

 

[rania]

@sheldonl Thanks for your reply, yes this seems to be one of the main culprits, I’ll have to start tracking at least my protein!

 

[truerhema]

@rania I had a ton of trouble with arm strength too, until I started bringing 1-pound weights to the gym. I kept two of those in my locker, and used them when going up in weight for arms. The smaller increments helped bridge the gap.

 

[nathan2018]

@rania You’ve gotten lots of great advice, OP, but I’ll add: if you can’t add weight or reps to progressively overload, add sets.

 

[thatgirloncfforums]

@rania a few things: First, i think someone else also mentioned using dumbbells instead of the cable machines. i personally have found that i've made better progressing when i switched to using free weights or a straight bar with weighted plates rather than the cable machine. Second, along similar lines, your post implies that those arm-focused works out are the ONLY ones you do - if that's correct, variety really helps to build muscled. so you could alternate cable workouts one day, free weights another. Third, again for myself I found that i couldn't just build my biceps when i wanted to, that didnt work i had to do the whole upper body especially chest. It seems like you dont have a chest isolation workout and if that's true I'd add that. also there are a million varieties of shoulder workouts so make sure you mix it up to hit all the parts of the shoulder muscles. (also for context i'm about your height, weigh just a little more, but i'm much older lol)

good luck!

 

[rania]

@thatgirloncfforums Thank you for your reply! You’re right, the overhead press and the swimming is really carrying my shoulder work, ill have to add some more shoulder/chest exercises. Also I’ll copy this that I replied with to someone else:

“Though I don’t doubt dumbbells might be more efficient, it’s a bit difficult for me as, shamefully, I don’t really want to venture into the free weights section of the gym - especially as I won’t really know if what I’m doing is correct form! It’s always full of huge guys who are quite intimidating, no women or average looking people in sight.

This is why I don’t really follow programmes or anything as they always seem to include free weights. Once I get the chance I’m hoping to save to get some for home, but until then I’m stuck unfortunately.”

Again, this is quite shameful for me, but I just know I wouldn’t be comfortable working out in that section. Maybe it’s just my particular gym that I go to.