Why can't I gain muscles?

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icebreaker3d

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I weigh 117lbs and I am 5' 7". I was in a weight training class last year. I have nothing to show for all my hard work. The amount I can lift has increased, but nothing shows. I have a really high metabolism. I can eat ANYTHING I don't gain weight. This summer I was hoping to go to a local gym and work out. What should I do differently? When I was in weight training I did box squats, dead lifts, power lifts, curls, pull ups, chin ups, leg presses, bench press, inclined press, etc. What can I do differently?
 
Hate to break it to you, but it's all about the food. Increase your caloric intake a ton, and eat consistently throughout the day, not just three big meals. That coupled with a nice routine and you should gain weight.
 
Food

There are a lot of factors. But Diet is very important. You need a diet low in fat, just enough carbs, and high in protein. I take creatine supplements from time to time and my muscles are huge. Creatine is overhyped, but I believe it is important to a certain extent.
 
I ate a lot of chicken, meat, tuna, rice, beans...things of that nature and I grew more than I expected when I first started working out. I'm about 5'6 and a year and a half ago I was 120 pounds, now I'm 151. All good weight too. Eat big!
 
Like others said, it's all about diet. seriously. i've been in the same boat as you for many years. just recently i've been making absolute sure i get around 4000 calories, and i've been doing 2-3 full body workouts a week. i gained 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks, and i've been getting compliments already. no it's nothing huge, but i can see the changes already. trust me it's all about the diet. make sure you eat a lot of good foods, and for me, at least half a gallon of milk mixed with protein powders have worked incredibly well.
 
Dont forget to include fat in your diet DONT CUT IT OUT. and before anyone says "oh blah blah blah the only way to get big is to have carbs and protein" do some research. Macronutrient in the form of fat helps with testosterone levels. Just watch the fat that you eat. Mono and poly unsaturated are the good fats that are easily obtainalble from a good diet. The calcium in milk also affects mysosin filaments and calcium is the signal transporter for muscle contraction. Eat more but dont eat to much protein 50-55% of your diet should be carbohydrate. Dont forget that even excess protein can be stored as fat.
 
i'm too lazy to make a new topic for this, but what do you guys consider a 'protein rich' meal? The most protein rich food that i can find in my fridge is tortellini (a pasta) with chicken pieces. Has 13g/100g proteins. And i eat a lot of that. A lot of pasta in general... but i don't think there's too much proteins there.

And to answer your question, i guess you have to eat a lot as said. It's harder than you think. It requires a LOT of determination and hard work, sorry :p
 
protein rich.. 20/100g maybe.. thats what i consider to be a protein rich food.. but i guess it depends.

and yeah, eat. im 75kg now. 190 cm tall.. i used to be 68.5 kg when i started working out.. no gains.. then i started eating ALOT.. and now im 75 kg:p still gaining:p last time i stood on the scale i was 80kg.. but that was day time..
 
have you noticed extra body fat with your gains or have you kept it down?

what i really want to know is if i up my kcals per day from 2300 to 2600 will i still be able to burn off this fat i so so badly want to shift?
 
benelson101 said:
have you noticed extra body fat with your gains or have you kept it down?

what i really want to know is if i up my kcals per day from 2300 to 2600 will i still be able to burn off this fat i so so badly want to shift?
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If you up your calories, and if your lifting consistently, you should retain muscle mass and still be able it burn off fat. 300 calories isn't much, and it depends on what you add the 300 with and also when you put it during the day. If it's a greasy slice of pizza right before bed, it probably won't do much for you.
 
Protein rich foods = chicken, meat, beans, tuna, pasta, nuts...all i can think of now.

When I put on 30+ pounds I actually lost fat from what I can see because I also started running.
 
If you are upping your calories and want to make sure you don't put on any fat, make sure you eat protein rich foods, along with good amounts of fruits and veggies. Staying away from anything fried or microwaveable is a good start. Also, make sure the carbohydrates are in the form of complex, not simple, carbs. Examples would be whole wheat pasta's and breads, multi-grain cereals, and nothing with white flower or simple sugars (white sugar or anything that ends in syrup).
 
Pasta is actually a VERY high carb rich food. Its amazing how little you have to eat in order to get enough carbs in a meal.

If you are not gaining weight you are doing one or a mix of the following:
  • You are not eating the right foods. Not enough protein, or too many carbs, or not enough fat, or not enough water etc...
    Also, you might not be eating FREQUENTLY enough. Your body is more likely to store unwanted fat if it is not fed often. I would say for anyone who is serious about training.. 6 meals a day minimum. Every 3 hours (max wait time) you should be eating. Constant nutrients means your body will not go into survival mode and store fat for later.
  • You are over-training.. Let your body heal after you thrash it, you arent growing in the gym! You grow when you rest and eat. Bench pressing 3 times in a week might be fantastic for the guy beside you who is f*cking with his test levels but for the average joe, that is just too much. I personally lift 3 days per week. I hit each major muscle group ONCE and I rest the sum'bitch for 6 days until the next week. HARD workout...REST..
  • You are undertraining. You go to the gym enough, but you dont really use vigour and are not sufficiently stressing your muscles.
  • You suck at training.. LOL. You dont use good form and you think that your 2 -1/2 hour workout was productive because you got lots of lactic acid build up.
  • You are in a rut because you do the same training week in, week out. Switch up your workout plan frequently.
  • You just need to rest! Yes.. Take a two week break. No training.. No supplements. You can eat smart, but allow yourself some free license to binge (a little). You will return to the gym with renewed drive and your body will be begging to be USED!
  • You are training sore. Sure lots of people get DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).. But how many of you guys go to the gym and train a muscle that still kinds hurts? You know why it hurts? Because it is still torn. Your body has not had suficient time to heal up. If you are lifting heavy enough to cause muscle pains in the following days, you are likely pushing yourself pretty hard. It is counterproductive to push weights when you are still sore. Let your body heal.
  • You aren't getting enough sleep/rest (sort of ties in with overtraining a little). Sleep is important. You must rest. If you lift a lot, then go out late all the time, your body will be like "Aww jeez man, wtf!? give me a break!" lol.
(**note, this list will not apply to everyone. Many people will say that they bench 3 times per week and are okay with that.. SOme people dont eat as frequently.... This is merely an outline of what someone who ISNT gaining should look at)

THere are more, I just cant think of them right now. I hope that will give you an idea of some aspects of your training/diet to think about.
 
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your pasta is a carb source with a pinch of protein.

You need to eat meat, chicken, fish, eggs, protein powder, cottage cheese and skim milk.

Yer not eating enuf food, and not enuf protein.
 
So why wont the fat shift???

I have a lot of wobbly (!) fat on my ass and need to shift the last bit around the waist. I have the late night cravings problems, cereal often finds its way into bowl, but im trying to get as strict as possible for this week onwards. weekends are also tough as the routine of work helps me time my food - plus at weekends the family tend to have 'nicer' foods around.


This is my life -

todays food is (this is a typicalish template)

8.00 - 16.6g Protein Whey shake with Flax Seed, Packet Oatmeal made with nonfat milk and spoon honey.

10.00 Eat Natural Fruit & Nut Bar

11.30 1 Whole Egg And 2 Whites on 1 slice Granary Toast

2.30 Chicken with 1/2 can baked beans

5.00 Tuna with lowfat coleslaw

6.30 Honey and Almond Bar (usually have pre wo banana but i forgot to buy them)

7 will be workout till 9 ish, followed by 32g protein shake

9.30 Chicken/Lean beef fillet with houmous and veg


Im happy with my current upper/lower split, routine is balanced etc etc. Always not sure about the amount of cardio i should do though.

Workout is

Sunday (yest.) Upper 1 Hour
Monday - Lower 1 hour, 26 min HIIT
Tuesday -Fasted jog am - Upper 1 Hour
Wed - Off, may have hour swim
Thursday - Lower 1 Hour, 26 min HIIT
Friday - Morning Fasted Jog - Upper 1 Hour
sat - off
sun - off

so what am i doing wrong??
 
benelson101 said:
Workout is

Sunday (yest.) Upper 1 Hour
Monday - Lower 1 hour, 26 min HIIT
Tuesday -Fasted jog am - Upper 1 Hour
Wed - Off, may have hour swim
Thursday - Lower 1 Hour, 26 min HIIT
Friday - Morning Fasted Jog - Upper 1 Hour
sat - off
sun - off

so what am i doing wrong??
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What is this, is sunday rest or not? Here is what I think...again. Upper, Lower, Rest, Upper, Lower, Rest, Rest. You can keep your cardio where it is.
 
Champr23 said:
Trust, niceone, you can train while you are sore just as long as its been 24-48 hours.
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This really depends on your body type. Ectomorphs shouldnt train more than once or twice the same muscle in a week.
By your logic, I could bench press eavery day at 4:30 pm and consistently grow.. There is no egg timer on recovery, it happens when it happens.

I suppose there is a major variable here.. What does one consider sore.
Hard to depict that over the net though. Basically if you stretch the muscle and you feel that BURN.. it is still healing. ANd working out a muscle that is not healed is not productive. Sure, you can lift just fine through the burn, but that doesnt mean you are doing yourself any good.
Listen to your body, it usually knows best.
 
busyman said:
What is this, is sunday rest or not? Here is what I think...again. Upper, Lower, Rest, Upper, Lower, Rest, Rest. You can keep your cardio where it is.
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it depends on what im doing at the weekend. I had the last football match on saturdays so did a light workout last friday and made up for it sunday.

Should i have the two days rest? I may be starting biking for a few hours with a friend on saturdays, for pleasure more than the excercise.
 
now random statement, but in my opinion, id rather Be strong as hell and look lyk a sissy, then look strong and be a sissy, just keep working at strength really, do resistance lifts for definitions
 
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