None of my bulks (lean or dirty) ever seem to result in any muscle gain, and I honestly really don't know what I'm doing wrong at this point

[mella]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Your rest periods seem really low and volume really high. I'd suggest you do 4-6 sets per bodypart per session with around 6-12 reps and 0-1 reps in reserve with 2-5 minute rest periods depending on the exercise (lateral raise vs squat).

When training this way you might notice that you cant do 4 sets of 5 without dropping the weight for the later sets, this is fine beacuse this assures youre not sandbagging your sets and are getting most of them.

More stable exercises are usually better, so hack squat > barbell squat and machine chest press > dumbbell press. Most important is to have high effort and try to progress in reps every session. Try to get around one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and 250-500 cal surplus (around 250-500g weight increase per week). Sleep atleats 7 hours and take rest days when feeling really beat up.

 

[wwjosh19]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Don’t be scared to get fluffy, push the bulk more.

But also as some others have mentioned, diet doesn’t look like it’s adding up.

 

[runningfromlawlessness]

@daughteroftheonetrueking You absolutely made progress.

It looks like your diet has been covered below. It could use come cleaning up. Calories are calories to an extent. Whole foods will yield better results. I'll leave it at that.

A 4x5 or 5x5 is a great strength gain format. It's not the most effective for hypertrophy. Play around with lighter weight and higher rep ranges in the 10 to 15 area.

Last thing. Your progress was over four months and it's noticeable. Your profile says 1 to 3 years experience. If you've been consistent, you're past newbie gains. If that's truly the case, welcome to the grind. This is where the real work begins.

 

[jleahj86]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Bulk more before you cut, clean up the diet, get more protein, and train with a higher intensity. You will grow.

 

[msallyjm]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Your bulking diet looks fine; it seems like not a ton of protein, but you're 140lbs give or take, so this looks reasonable to me.

I would add more % protein during the cut, to see if I could keep more gains.

I would look at a periodized program for the lifts that are stalled; bench and squat. Instead of the same rep count, that should vary over time.

Also, you... added 90 lbs to your RDL. That's awesome. The problem is your photos have shorts covering the one area you seem to have whoa gained.

I'd find a coach; if you're that serious, hell yeah, that's worth it.

 

[tigran1245]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Dude awesome, you take amazing workout notes so this is gonna be easy. Your workouts are focused on hitting rep ranges and increasing the weight on that hopefully by week. That’s an awesome way to get strong, but it’s not gonna be great with hypertrophy. I did the same thing for awhile, and it really changed when I started writing the weights down first (before the set) in my log and aiming for achieving failure with my reps. Now this isn’t every set but at this point it’s a good majority of them. Now I’m focused on getting another rep of bench on 185 instead of how heavy I can bench 5 times. Finally you seem super rigid on your workout plans and you have a ton of unique exercises in the plan. I’d rather you try to focus on mixing it up and trying new things in the gym that might feel even better than what you’ve been doing. Never stop experimenting, there’s always something better you can be doing, and we are all on the journey to find out what works best for us in conjuncture with our current circumstances.

 

[charliee937]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Those 1:30 rest times aren't good unless you're like supersetting and alternating between chest and back to save time. I'd probably lose 2 reps per set with those rests. That adds up.

 

[mike230]

@daughteroftheonetrueking One thing I'll mention is that not all protein sources are equal. For example, only 65% of protein on peanuts is used for muscle building (or can be,) while 100% of it in whey, eggs and chicken can be used.

Usually, if you're not gaining weight...you're not eating enough. I'm not going to shit on you for eating poptarts (though, there are better sources for simple sugars after a workout.) It's hard to clean bulk and it takes a special kind of asshole to pull it off. People on here would have a canniption if they saw what I lost weight on and get muscle with.

Honestly, at the end of the day, calories and just calories. If you're mostly clean, you'll be fine. There's some nitpick here and there (not all kinds of protein are created equal and you should focus more on a decent mixture of simple/complex carbs then fat after protein goals are met.)

 

[josephbenhur]

@daughteroftheonetrueking honestly, the diet is horrendous. You need more protein in every meal and that pop tart meal doesn’t cut it as a meal. More as a snack honestly. It’s okay though, all you need to do is up the protein!

Edit: I also struggle with chest growth but don’t feel demotivated! My squat and legs are insane for 9 months progress but i think it’s more of a bulking issue and protein in my situation. Yours is definitely protein!

 

[juanmz28]

@josephbenhur Your not counting the protein right. Don’t guestimate, you have to look at the volume.

 

[giacmosuaviet]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Eat vegetables. That's not the reason you're not gaining, but still, eat some damn vegetables

 

[daughteroftheonetrueking]

@giacmosuaviet I eat vegetables, I usually just don't log them since the calories are usually on the low side, that's why they're not listed on the diet I posted. I also take a multivitamin everyday.

 

[devoem6181]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Stop eating so much white bread and muffins, lol!

 

[melita8]

@daughteroftheonetrueking

1. Work-out.

I checked your workout and I guess it 6 days/week.
I think it’s not bad and seems like your lift are increasing, so that’s good.
Also, I would substitute ab rolls for a weighted ab exercise, like cable crunches.

But how is your progressive overload structured?

When do you deload?

1. Diet

You aim to 2 lbs/month so maybe aim for 1 lbs/month by reducing your kcal surplus.

1. Lifestyle

How many hours a day do you sleep?

Are you stressed?

Have you checked your hormones?

 

[daughteroftheonetrueking]

@melita8 Sorry for the late response.

Thanks for the reply. The workout was actually 5 days a week. ULPPL. I'll definitely add the weighted ab workouts. Think I'll overhaul the entire workout in general.

My progressive overload method was anytime I hit a target rep range on my first set, I increase the weight by 5lbs next time. Basically, I use just my first set to determine whether or not to increase the weight next time.

I never deloaded to be fair. It's only recently that I actually started learning more about them. I knew about them before the bulk but thought it was something only professional bodybuilders used.

I could try 1lbs a month for my next bulk. Thought about it before this last bulk but thought it might be harder to track, that's why I went with 2lbs. But I'll give 1lbs a go. Guess I can weight myself maybe 3 times a week and track the average.

I usually sleep about 6 hours but that's because I physically can't seem to sleep more than that. I just automatically wake up after 6 hours, no alarm or anything, and usually don't feel tired again for the rest of the day. I know I'm supposed to get at least 8 but I keep waking up after just 6 hours.

As for stress, I don't think I am stressed but I'll make a note of this one. I'll look into how stress affects muscle growth.

I haven't checked my hormones. Could you specify what hormones in particular, so I can note it down? Thanks for the reply again.

 

[melita8]

@daughteroftheonetrueking Thanks for the very detailed response.

As for your training, seems good.
I would increase weight if I can get my last set to hit my target rep doe.

As for hormones, Testosterone, Estrogen, pretty much the whole hormonal profile.

You could ask an endocrinologist, urologist or TRT clinics.

 

[mgh]

@melita8 Great comment, fuck knows why you were downvoted

 

[melita8]

@mgh Thanks.

It is what it is.

 

[daughteroftheonetrueking]

@mgh I thought they were good questions too. Definitely got me thinking a bit.

 

[juanmz28]

@melita8 Why would decreasing cals help someone gain more muscle?