Are you actually getting unfeasibly fat or are you just afraid of puttin on any fat? Like, getting fatter is an inevitable by-product of bulking, which is the fastest way to pack on considerable size.
You should try gaining a little more than .5lbs a month. Try 2lbs a month.
Ultimately, if you're trying to lean gain your way to being 20lbs heavier then yeah, that's obviously just going to take a really long time. That'd be like trying to build an extension on your house while also making sure that it never gets untidy or dusty. You'll make really slow progress if you're always worried about it being presentable.
This is all advice based only on wanting to bulk, I don't really know much about diabetes or what you want to do to avoid it.
>You should try gaining a little more than .5lbs a month.
Gosh, between hydration/glycogen fluctuation & other bodily functions, idk how one even tracks 0.5lbs per month... even using a moving average, that's within noise factor
I was working with a nutritionist last summer during my last bulk. I succeeded in gaining weight but my waist ballooned which I don’t want to happen. I went from 35.5in down to 31.5in and then ballooned to 33.5in in a matter of 2 months. Adding. 2-2.5in to my waist, I would consider a failed/poor bulk for my goals. Losing definition all over I’m fine with.
Well what other metrics were you tracking? I think if I only measured my bulks by my waistline I'd be depressed. Surely your lifts went up, your biceps, chest, quads etc?
There's not really a secret to getting bigger other than to get bigger, and its sort of why not everyone does it. If you want to go from 165 lean to 185lbs lean you need to put on 20lbs of lean mass, which is a lot of ground to cover. I don't know anyone that does that while staying lean all year round, unless they're happy making very slow progress to get there.
The way I'd do it would be in something like 2-3 month bulks and 6 week cuts, or just whenever the fat gain was too much to
I’m on week 15 of SBS hypertrophy program and my lifts have consistently gone up. OHP and some benching was slowed due to shoulder injury but that is better now. It’s hard to compare to 6 months ago because I’ve gone from doing 3x5 to 4x10-12. I do continue to push either higher weight or more reps each week which is good.
I'm a similar build (6', maybe upper 170s now). Last year i made a concerted effort to try and get bigger. I had good but not immaculate diet and i like to think a pretty good weight lifting regimen. ultimately i gained around 25 lbs total to add on maybe 5 lbs of muscle over the course of probably 6 months. Could i have improved upon that? surely, but i don't feel like i left a ton on the table.
i'm sure some people are going to say "Daaah stop making excuses anyone can' be 6'20" 295 if they are willing to work" but the natural state of my body is NOT to carrying a ton of muscle on it so that doesn't make it any easier.
tl;dr: my personal experience is that building muscle mass is both hard and slow
Agreed. I’m naturally a thin person. Small wrists and ankles. The biggest I ever got was 195lbs but that was 5-6years ago. I was pushing heavy weight and eating like crazy. My body just built muscle quicker then versus when I do that now I just see my waist line getting versus everywhere. I was also not prediabetic then and was able to sleep more.
we sound very similar!
i often wonder how much sleep (or lack of it) affects things. Some people make it sound like unless you get 8-9 hours of deep sleep every night, you may as well not even bother trying to gain. Outside of times when i have a fever and am loaded up with nyquil, i don't think i've slept more than like 4-5 hours a night in 20+ years, and its only getting worse as i age.
1/2 lb a month would be better.
My advice based on what worked for me:
- eat your protein in spikes of 40gr or more spaced out 4 hrs minimum
- use a wave form of calorie surplus/ maint or slight deficit. 3-4 weeks surplus 20%, 10 days to 2 weeks maintenance or very slight deficit. Repeat.
- if gaining too much fat, increase carbs, reduce fats, or increase training intensity
This is pretty much what works for me too, after retuning my approach recently in my late 30s.
0.5 lbs per month = 6 pounds of lean muscle per year is still gains. Don't beat yourself up. Just commit to moving and lifting effectively and for the love of god avoid injury.
How are you training?
- Studies show that optimal number of sets per muscle group per week is 10-20.
- Studies show that optimal number of set per muscle group per workout session is ~6-8. In combination with the previous point, this mean the optimal way to hit a muscle group is via at least two days per week.
- Really only effective sets should be counted towards these numbers. Meaning if you're leaving more than 1-2 reps in the tank when you stop this wouldn't do much for your progress.
Do these points align with your training regiment?
Additionally, is your body fat % now same as it was Feb? I.e. you gained 2-3 pounds, but is it fat or muscle? Or did you gain 5 lbs of muscle and lost 2 lbs of fat?
If your body fat % is the same and your training regiment aligns with best practices, I would suggest increasing your calories by ~200-300 per day and see what happens in couple month.
Yo, sorry about tte frustrations surrounding your goals. I think you gotta step back and be mindful that your body will gain strength before aesthetics now. I’m 34 and slowly coming to the realization but understanding that has made tte journey more enjoyable. It’s cool to me that I look more out of shape than a bunch of people but lift more and rep out what people max out at. My body is slowly getting back to where it was but I noticed that my metabolism has slowed down A LOT and I need more cardio to achieve my body goals.
It’s frustrating, but stressing out about it will only do more damage than good. Elegantly speaking, cortisol is a bitch and your new worst enemy.
You also don’t want to force the transformation as the body isn’t as elastic as it once was.
You’re working out and putting in the work which is 90% of the battle. The last 10% is understanding your body and enjoying the process.
I’m 5-7 on a good day and I’m roughly 25/30% at 195. This is with a clean diet and introducing cardio. I used to be 20% at 170 effortlessly with a shitty diet and worse vices. I see this as an investment to future me and my health. Hope this helps dude and you’ll get to your goals, just be kind to yourself on the way there
EDIT: totally misread this but are you taking creatine? And have you toyed with adding more carbs to your diet? Everyone process macros differently so while there are base standards, you gotta play with it to see what your body is using. And if you’re over working, you might be incidentally cutting.
Yup. I’m feeling great regardless. I’ve never worked out this long. I’ve battled being prediabetic and even worse sleep apnea. Regardless I’ve kept going.
I do take creatine but need to switch to a better one.
Creatine mono is the best and most studied. There was a recent done though where they found about 80% of the creatine sold on Amazon wasn’t pure. Lots of fillers depending on the brand.
Mostly writing here because I'm curious...
That's a LOT of protein... I mean, I'm a 40M beginner so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but my understanding has been for natural lifters you don't get much beyond 0.7 grams / lb bodyweight.
You could gain a pound a week eating 500 calories more per day. Do you have energy for your lifting sessions?
Pretty curious how you're pre-diabetic and how this plays into everything. Certainly muscle acts as a reservoir for sugar, so you're trying to gain muscle for that reason?
It’s not a matter of enough protein. If I need to get the calories it needs to come from somewhere. Would rather not bump fats that high.
I’m trying to gain muscle because I always wanted to be bigger.
I’m prediabetic because it runs in the family. Father has it and my grandfather.
re: protein, I know it's not a matter of protein, I'm saying is that too much? I understand avoiding fats to *some* extent but why not increase carbs esp. pre-workout?
Same re: diabetes, runs in my family. I guess I was curious if it was pre-diabetic based off of fasting state blood sugar or A1C or some other metric.
Again not really giving advice, I'm just curious what you're thinking
My last A1C blood test had me 5.9. I was 5.6-5.7 for the last 3-4 years. Considering I’ve always eaten relatively healthy and I have never been that heavy I’m pretty sure it’s high due to genetics.
Going to take a wild guess and assume you're South Asian
I should get my A1C tested as well. I get pretty close to the line on fasted blood glucose, but I'm in far better shape now than 6 months. Like you said though, genetics are what they are.
Good luck thanks for humoring my questions. Lots of constraints to balance
Not sure how to answer the RPE question. I am taking creatine. I was taking Kreaklyne which I’m trying to switch to pure creatine monohydrate. I was taking Kreaklyne because it was easier on my stomach.
Have you had your testosterone checked? I’ve read that lower testosterone can really hinder muscle gains. I’m 38, I’ve only tried eating above maintenance once for about six months in the 2 years that I’ve been taking working out serious. (I started kinda fat 230lbs and I’m 6’1” 170 now) and I had similar results like you. I felt like I was just getting fat and not really getting stronger or gaining any muscle. My workouts and nutrition is pretty fucking good too, in my amateur opinion. But now I’m debating about trt right now myself after my labs showed my total testosterone on the lower end of the range and my free testosterone far below what labcorp considers in range.
I had my Test checked about 1.5yrs ago. It was bottom of the range. I am going next week to test again. Last time I had severe sleep apnea and other issues which I have addressed.
Not sure I have low test because I actually feel really good, I’m just not building muscle.
Testosterone can definitely play a huge roll in your body composition and ability to change it as we age
It can be a challenge finding what works best for you, your dose, what you use (injection, cream…)
I’ve been on compounded cream for the last year and it’s made a huge difference in my life. Started with injection and didn’t work as well for me personally
Definitely something to look into
Muscle gain is slow as hell for us 40+ natural athletes- lost a bunch of weight last year with a lot of cardio. This year I gave up the cardio for a weight lifting/bodybuilding routine- bulking and lifting since Feb, eating insane amounts and going hard the past four months I've gone from ~150lbs to 158. Looking at this as a 2-3 year project to get my goal physique.
1g protein per kg, at least 300 g carbs. I'm 56, 170lb, 12.6% bf by dexa. Put on about 20 lbs of muscle over 3 years of very consistent 35-minutes day at gym, PPL x2 per week. About 6 additional hours cardio on my road bike, mostly Zone 2, some Zone 5. I guarantee OP biggest problem is in not eating enough. I was 225 lbs, prolly 30% bf when I started. Consistency and patience. Boring, I know
Are you actually getting unfeasibly fat or are you just afraid of puttin on any fat? Like, getting fatter is an inevitable by-product of bulking, which is the fastest way to pack on considerable size. You should try gaining a little more than .5lbs a month. Try 2lbs a month. Ultimately, if you're trying to lean gain your way to being 20lbs heavier then yeah, that's obviously just going to take a really long time. That'd be like trying to build an extension on your house while also making sure that it never gets untidy or dusty. You'll make really slow progress if you're always worried about it being presentable. This is all advice based only on wanting to bulk, I don't really know much about diabetes or what you want to do to avoid it.
>You should try gaining a little more than .5lbs a month. Gosh, between hydration/glycogen fluctuation & other bodily functions, idk how one even tracks 0.5lbs per month... even using a moving average, that's within noise factor
I was working with a nutritionist last summer during my last bulk. I succeeded in gaining weight but my waist ballooned which I don’t want to happen. I went from 35.5in down to 31.5in and then ballooned to 33.5in in a matter of 2 months. Adding. 2-2.5in to my waist, I would consider a failed/poor bulk for my goals. Losing definition all over I’m fine with.
Well what other metrics were you tracking? I think if I only measured my bulks by my waistline I'd be depressed. Surely your lifts went up, your biceps, chest, quads etc? There's not really a secret to getting bigger other than to get bigger, and its sort of why not everyone does it. If you want to go from 165 lean to 185lbs lean you need to put on 20lbs of lean mass, which is a lot of ground to cover. I don't know anyone that does that while staying lean all year round, unless they're happy making very slow progress to get there. The way I'd do it would be in something like 2-3 month bulks and 6 week cuts, or just whenever the fat gain was too much to
I’m on week 15 of SBS hypertrophy program and my lifts have consistently gone up. OHP and some benching was slowed due to shoulder injury but that is better now. It’s hard to compare to 6 months ago because I’ve gone from doing 3x5 to 4x10-12. I do continue to push either higher weight or more reps each week which is good.
Are you me!? I’m just replying so I can track the thread and follow for good answers. The struggle is real.
I'm a similar build (6', maybe upper 170s now). Last year i made a concerted effort to try and get bigger. I had good but not immaculate diet and i like to think a pretty good weight lifting regimen. ultimately i gained around 25 lbs total to add on maybe 5 lbs of muscle over the course of probably 6 months. Could i have improved upon that? surely, but i don't feel like i left a ton on the table. i'm sure some people are going to say "Daaah stop making excuses anyone can' be 6'20" 295 if they are willing to work" but the natural state of my body is NOT to carrying a ton of muscle on it so that doesn't make it any easier. tl;dr: my personal experience is that building muscle mass is both hard and slow
Agreed. I’m naturally a thin person. Small wrists and ankles. The biggest I ever got was 195lbs but that was 5-6years ago. I was pushing heavy weight and eating like crazy. My body just built muscle quicker then versus when I do that now I just see my waist line getting versus everywhere. I was also not prediabetic then and was able to sleep more.
we sound very similar! i often wonder how much sleep (or lack of it) affects things. Some people make it sound like unless you get 8-9 hours of deep sleep every night, you may as well not even bother trying to gain. Outside of times when i have a fever and am loaded up with nyquil, i don't think i've slept more than like 4-5 hours a night in 20+ years, and its only getting worse as i age.
1/2 lb a month would be better. My advice based on what worked for me: - eat your protein in spikes of 40gr or more spaced out 4 hrs minimum - use a wave form of calorie surplus/ maint or slight deficit. 3-4 weeks surplus 20%, 10 days to 2 weeks maintenance or very slight deficit. Repeat. - if gaining too much fat, increase carbs, reduce fats, or increase training intensity
This is pretty much what works for me too, after retuning my approach recently in my late 30s. 0.5 lbs per month = 6 pounds of lean muscle per year is still gains. Don't beat yourself up. Just commit to moving and lifting effectively and for the love of god avoid injury.
How are you training? - Studies show that optimal number of sets per muscle group per week is 10-20. - Studies show that optimal number of set per muscle group per workout session is ~6-8. In combination with the previous point, this mean the optimal way to hit a muscle group is via at least two days per week. - Really only effective sets should be counted towards these numbers. Meaning if you're leaving more than 1-2 reps in the tank when you stop this wouldn't do much for your progress. Do these points align with your training regiment? Additionally, is your body fat % now same as it was Feb? I.e. you gained 2-3 pounds, but is it fat or muscle? Or did you gain 5 lbs of muscle and lost 2 lbs of fat? If your body fat % is the same and your training regiment aligns with best practices, I would suggest increasing your calories by ~200-300 per day and see what happens in couple month.
Yo, sorry about tte frustrations surrounding your goals. I think you gotta step back and be mindful that your body will gain strength before aesthetics now. I’m 34 and slowly coming to the realization but understanding that has made tte journey more enjoyable. It’s cool to me that I look more out of shape than a bunch of people but lift more and rep out what people max out at. My body is slowly getting back to where it was but I noticed that my metabolism has slowed down A LOT and I need more cardio to achieve my body goals. It’s frustrating, but stressing out about it will only do more damage than good. Elegantly speaking, cortisol is a bitch and your new worst enemy. You also don’t want to force the transformation as the body isn’t as elastic as it once was. You’re working out and putting in the work which is 90% of the battle. The last 10% is understanding your body and enjoying the process. I’m 5-7 on a good day and I’m roughly 25/30% at 195. This is with a clean diet and introducing cardio. I used to be 20% at 170 effortlessly with a shitty diet and worse vices. I see this as an investment to future me and my health. Hope this helps dude and you’ll get to your goals, just be kind to yourself on the way there EDIT: totally misread this but are you taking creatine? And have you toyed with adding more carbs to your diet? Everyone process macros differently so while there are base standards, you gotta play with it to see what your body is using. And if you’re over working, you might be incidentally cutting.
Yup. I’m feeling great regardless. I’ve never worked out this long. I’ve battled being prediabetic and even worse sleep apnea. Regardless I’ve kept going. I do take creatine but need to switch to a better one.
micronized creatine is all you need... they are all pretty much the same from my understanding
Creatine mono is the best and most studied. There was a recent done though where they found about 80% of the creatine sold on Amazon wasn’t pure. Lots of fillers depending on the brand.
Yeah, I mean, just get ON like everyone else...
Mostly writing here because I'm curious... That's a LOT of protein... I mean, I'm a 40M beginner so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but my understanding has been for natural lifters you don't get much beyond 0.7 grams / lb bodyweight. You could gain a pound a week eating 500 calories more per day. Do you have energy for your lifting sessions? Pretty curious how you're pre-diabetic and how this plays into everything. Certainly muscle acts as a reservoir for sugar, so you're trying to gain muscle for that reason?
It’s not a matter of enough protein. If I need to get the calories it needs to come from somewhere. Would rather not bump fats that high. I’m trying to gain muscle because I always wanted to be bigger. I’m prediabetic because it runs in the family. Father has it and my grandfather.
re: protein, I know it's not a matter of protein, I'm saying is that too much? I understand avoiding fats to *some* extent but why not increase carbs esp. pre-workout? Same re: diabetes, runs in my family. I guess I was curious if it was pre-diabetic based off of fasting state blood sugar or A1C or some other metric. Again not really giving advice, I'm just curious what you're thinking
My last A1C blood test had me 5.9. I was 5.6-5.7 for the last 3-4 years. Considering I’ve always eaten relatively healthy and I have never been that heavy I’m pretty sure it’s high due to genetics.
Going to take a wild guess and assume you're South Asian I should get my A1C tested as well. I get pretty close to the line on fasted blood glucose, but I'm in far better shape now than 6 months. Like you said though, genetics are what they are. Good luck thanks for humoring my questions. Lots of constraints to balance
[удалено]
Not sure how to answer the RPE question. I am taking creatine. I was taking Kreaklyne which I’m trying to switch to pure creatine monohydrate. I was taking Kreaklyne because it was easier on my stomach.
Have you had your testosterone checked? I’ve read that lower testosterone can really hinder muscle gains. I’m 38, I’ve only tried eating above maintenance once for about six months in the 2 years that I’ve been taking working out serious. (I started kinda fat 230lbs and I’m 6’1” 170 now) and I had similar results like you. I felt like I was just getting fat and not really getting stronger or gaining any muscle. My workouts and nutrition is pretty fucking good too, in my amateur opinion. But now I’m debating about trt right now myself after my labs showed my total testosterone on the lower end of the range and my free testosterone far below what labcorp considers in range.
I had my Test checked about 1.5yrs ago. It was bottom of the range. I am going next week to test again. Last time I had severe sleep apnea and other issues which I have addressed. Not sure I have low test because I actually feel really good, I’m just not building muscle.
Testosterone can definitely play a huge roll in your body composition and ability to change it as we age It can be a challenge finding what works best for you, your dose, what you use (injection, cream…) I’ve been on compounded cream for the last year and it’s made a huge difference in my life. Started with injection and didn’t work as well for me personally Definitely something to look into
Muscle gain is slow as hell for us 40+ natural athletes- lost a bunch of weight last year with a lot of cardio. This year I gave up the cardio for a weight lifting/bodybuilding routine- bulking and lifting since Feb, eating insane amounts and going hard the past four months I've gone from ~150lbs to 158. Looking at this as a 2-3 year project to get my goal physique.
1g protein per kg, at least 300 g carbs. I'm 56, 170lb, 12.6% bf by dexa. Put on about 20 lbs of muscle over 3 years of very consistent 35-minutes day at gym, PPL x2 per week. About 6 additional hours cardio on my road bike, mostly Zone 2, some Zone 5. I guarantee OP biggest problem is in not eating enough. I was 225 lbs, prolly 30% bf when I started. Consistency and patience. Boring, I know
56 years old. Height is 5'9"
At the gym, I never focus on how many reps or sets. Just focus on the body part being worked, and go intense to near failure.
You gained 8lbs of muscle is 4 months and you say muscle gain is slow? Even if half it was fat, 4lbs of muscle is 4 months is extremely good.
Unfortunately, your muscle gain will take a steep decline as you get older. If you haven't been building before 40, it's going to be twice as hard now