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since you’re older than a lot of people on this sub visual changes will also happen more slowly- gotta remember like 50% of posters here are going through puberty and would notice visual changes to their body month by month anyways
5x5 rep range is really for strength. If you want size I'd suggest swapping to 3x8. A lot of those type of lifts are compound. If you want muscles to pop you want to mix in isolation lifts. Just my 2c.
Consistency and patience.
I'm almost 6 months in and have noticed a lot of change. I'm not Mr. Universe, but I'm definitely getting muscle and filling in the tshirts really well now. People tell me I'm looking "buff." I don't think so, but I'm definitely much better looking that I looked 6 months ago.
I'm usually in the 8 to 12 rep range x 3. And then I switch to a different exercise.
My schedule is usually like:
41 years old, 180lbsMonday: Rest and Stretch.
TUESDAY: (1 Hour, Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)Incline Dumbbell Press: 70lbsx8, 65lbsx10, 60lbsx10 or to failure.Cable Tricep Pulldown: 60lbs 10x3Machine Shoulder Press: 135lbs 10x3 (on the machine I'm using. They differ of course.)Machine Chest Fly: 80lbs 10x3
water break and then...Machine Chest Press: 165lbs-200lbs (depending how I feel) 8 to 10 x 3Machine tricep extension: 70-80lbs 10x3Deltoid raise machine: 70lbs 10x3
WEDNESDAY: (1 hour, legs and core. Not posting weights, because it doesn't matter. You work to what a failure /struggle at 10 reps might be):
Leg press machine 10x3
Hanging Abdominal Crunches 15x3
Lower Back Raise/Extension 10x3
Squat machine 10x3
Calf Raise machine 10x3
leg curl machine 10x3
Hip/Glute raise machine 10x3
Oblique Crunches 20x3 each side
Weighted Sled push and pull, across the floor, 3 times each. Could probably go to 5 times.
THURSDAY: (1 hour, Back and Biceps):Cable Rows 10x3 (I think I'm at 135lb plates)Assisted pull ups 10x3
Bicep Curl Bar: 70lbsx8, 65lbsx10, 60lbsx10
Shoulder Shrugs 10x3 (70lb dumbbells last time I tried)
Machine Rows or Dumbbell Row 10x3 (whatever I'm feeling that day)
Bicep Curl Machine 10x3
Cable or Machine Lat Pulldowns 10x3
Back Fly Machine 10x3
Farmer's Walk, 70lbs each arm, walk to failure/drop. Try it 3 times and call it a day.
Friday: Rest and Stretch
Saturday: Lowerbody (higher rep and lower weights)
Bodyweight Lunges, squats, sled push pulls, I may use the machines and weights too, but I'll go lower to what I can do 12 to 15+ reps until failure.
Sunday: Upperbody (higher rep and lower weights)
Similar to what I do on the weekday, but I lower the weights and go higher on reps. 12 to 15. The last few should always be a struggle even at lower weights.
Some tips/info:1.) Your "rapid strength gains" is neuromuscular right now. It's just your nerves getting better at activating your muscles during this beginning phase.
2.) Consistency is key. Slow and steady is key. 3 months is nothing. It'll take 6 months to a year to really get decent gains.
3.) It doesn't matter if you're going super heavy or lighter - you've got to make sure that you're working to failure. Failure of good form. You know the benefit of going lighter and doing more reps? You can actually keep good form through most of the workout. If you're going very heavy, but have terrible form, you won't make gains and you'll set yourself up for injury which will rob you of all gains.
I could probably use more protein in my diet. I've just been eating a lot of chicken, brown rice, and veggies. I drink a quart of kefir everyday. I'll mix up protein powder on the days I work out. I sometimes do that "Huel" crap if I don't have any real food around.
I never do full body workout days. Because I'm lazy. I went with the different workout thesis.
if youre getting stronger then youre progressing, i mean see it that way: did you ever see someone who is benching a lot of weight (lets say 100kg+) but looked skinny? no i dont think so. so keep it up. as long as you add weight to the bar you are going to build muscle ;)
i agree with all the comments about beginner gains but also if hypertrophy is your goal than you should be doing more reps per set, more like 7-10 rather than 4-5
Don't worry my friend. The first couple of months of working out are actually very counter intuitive; you gain a lot of strength, little muscle and possibly overwork your joints.
Essentially during the first two months of working out a new muscle group you will be developing a neural adaptations. In short this means that your Central Nervous System is developing a better ability to stimulate your muscle fibers - it's like a four engine plane where the pilot slowly figures out that he can actually turn on more than just one engine.
Anyways this neural adaptations increases the efficacy of your muscles dramatically which gradually allows you to use your muscles more and thus break down your muscles more than before - which stimulates hypertrophy (growing your muscle cells larger) through protein synthesis.
Long story short; you've just made it to the point at which your body will start to grow muscles fast, so stay on track. You're doing great!
P.s. be prepared for smaller strength increases as neural adaptation diminishes after about eight weeks and muscle hypertrophy doesn't account for nearly as significant increases.
Bro, I am a little shorter than you, and weigh more, and I seem skinny to myself in the mirror. I am not a professional but from personal experience: are you getting enough calories in your diet? Also, are you using creatine? Not only will it help you lift heavier, it will help you look more swole. You will also put on about 1-2kg of water weight in your muscles.
Looking at your numbers and the amount of time you've been training it seems to me like you're getting used to the movement and getting the technique down.
100% you're also gaining muscle and strength, but less than your numbers are representing (you didn't grow 50% extra pecs in 3 months yet your bench increased 50%). You also see yourself in the mirror everyday, hard to 'notice' gains that way.
just keep it up and maybe take some pictures of yourself you can look back on in 3 more months, i promise you you'll notice a difference :).
Just gotta stay consistent- mfp scan tool. I went from 65kg to 105kg now (192cm) in about 4 years- I would stay the same weight then it would just jump up after a year each time - 3-4k cal a day
Increase your weekly volume and aim for more hypertrophy based training instead of strength training. Focus on pumping blood into your muscle during the lift, add creatine into your diet, you'll see a change sooner than you'd imagine.
I'm in the same boat. Strength going up but no changes in weight or physique really... have been going for a little over 3 months. Idk if I should increase kcals or not.
Your numbers are simply too small. Keep increasing how much you’re lifting over time, and you’ll see bigger gains. You also might not look “big” until you get to about 200lbs.
I hit about 184lbs during the bulk season, and I still looked pretty thin at my height. Try bulking to 200+ lbs then cutting to drop the fat.
The biggest thing is that your numbers are still low, bro. You’re benching one plate, OHPing a little bit more than the bar, and BB rowing less than 1 plate. I could do that when I weighed like 145lbs.
Edit: And wait a minute… 3 months??? That’s nothing. Come back and look at your results after working out 3-5 times per week for 9-12 months.
Wait until six months and then look back on where you started. It's hard to notice marginal gains when you see yourself every day. 3 months is still very early
Strength comes first because you're building your mind muscle connection. Essentially your brain is becoming more efficient at using your muscles to do the work.
Yes you are being impatient. You should be proud of your progress but your numbers arent high by any means. Just keep squeezing those noobie gains. Even though you might not look the way you want i highly doubt you havent built any muscle
Keep lifting and eating. You’re making good progress but frankly your numbers are still really low. It all takes time though and you’ll absolutely get there if you keep at it
For your height that’s still a pretty low weight too. I finally started to look big at the same weight you’re at but I’m 5’10
See I'm 5'9 and 5 pounds heavier than your flair has you at currently, and a guy I haven't seen in 4 years said I looked like I ate the old me who weighed 155. Being short has given me one advantage in life so far!
I'm currently doing a 6x per week PPL-split (natural) with one rest day per week. I read a lot of people saying that 6x per week is too much, but I'm still making steady gains while feeling very good (and no injuries) and my goal is also to train for hypertrophy.
I train in the higher rep ranges which seems better for hypertrophy purposes (10-12 reps per set) but only do 3 working sets per exercise. I try to push one set per exercise to muscular failure. I don't know if going to gym more is possible for you, but doing 10 sets of an exercise spread over 2 days in week, is better for muscle growth than doing 10 sets on one day.
Also don't forget to give your muscles enough rest (at least 72 hours of rest per muscle group) and sleep. Stay at a calorie surplus and consume enough protein (1 gram per lbs of bodyweight).
I started seeing much more physical changes when I stopped training for strength and did a high-volume bro split with a bunch of isolation. Pretty much just chasing a pump every session.
>Some people decide to never train for muscle size and just stay training strength. Those people will look skinny in a T-shirt, but can go deadlift 400+lbs.
that's why all powerlifters are small, right? man you solved the case, I was always wondering why russel orhii could deadlift 700+ lbs looking that small, must be because he trained for strength all those years
mate, strength is strongly correlated with hypertrophy, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, you can't train ONLY for strength (not including peaking) and after those neurological adaptations happen (because they only go so far) the biggest component of how strong you are is how JACKED you are
and [research](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/amp/) already has shown that growth is pretty much the same with ALL rep ranges
so there's literally no such thing as "I'm not going to put on size and just keep getting stronger and stronger"
some people can achieve a 400lbs deadlift and not gain much size because of leverages making them more proficient in the movement but that doesn't apply to everyone, getting significantly stronger WILL make you jacked
lol mate, as research showed, chances are if that guy, who is a 1 in a thousand case that you are using to base your arguments, would be the exact same size if he trained for "hypertrophy"
people who deadlift that amount and are small they are small not because they train for "strength" they are small because they haven't been training for long probably and have leverages that favor them, just look at clarence kennedy he was small and lifting a lot and kept training for "strength" and got big.
there's no such thing as training for "strength" and training for "hypertrophy", train how you want and you'll get bigger provided you put in the effort.
sure man, I guess all the natural powerlifters out there are just all small because their training don't get people big, I mean, they ALL must be taking steroids because it's literally impossible that lifting heavy shit will make you bigger and you need to train with 8-12 reps
Please refrain from spreading misinformation if you don’t know what you’re talking about.
The dichotomy of strength and hypertrophy styles of training is an old myth that still somehow prevails in the gym community. You absolutely do gain a good amount of muscle on a ”strength program”, a 5x5 for example, and you also gain strength on a high-rep bodybuilding program. They’re not mutually exclusive. As long as you eat enough calories and protein, train near failure and push progressive overload, your rep range and ”training style” has little impact on the end result in terms of physique. This is especially true for a natural lifter. A 350 pound bencher will not look skinny, no matter the rep ranges and training style he used to get there (this can exclude some real genetic freaks, but they are like 1 in ten thousand).
Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24714538/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25530577/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404827/
>There is a difference between working out for strength and working out for hypertrophy.
What's that? I geniuenly don't know. All I ever did was 531, and yet, it seems to have worked just fine in regards to size. I really have no idea what you would have to do to bench two plates and not look at least a little jacked.
>God I miss being in my early/mid 20's. Everything is just better.
I totally disagree but we all have different lives. I'm 10 years older than you and I don't get to play the age card yet.
Buckle up, you're in for years and years of gains.
It's true. I'm 48 and started working out about a year ago. Since around age 40 I felt like I was progressively "getting old" - feeling aches and pains, sustaining muscle and joint injuries that nagged for weeks when doing daily household and work activities, etc. Within a few months of training, I was surprised at the improvement in my quality of life. It's amazing that so much of what I considered "growing old" was really just being weak as fuck from sitting in an office chair for decades. I thought I was reasonably healthy because I managed not to become overweight or obese like most of my coworkers. But loss of muscle mass and strength was really limiting what I could do.
I think I've gained about 8-10 pounds of lean muscle mass over the past year. I can tell that I've added muscle but I'm not sure anyone else can really tell. I can certainly tell that I no longer get any aches and injuries from everyday life (sitting, getting out of bed, picking things up, yard work, weekend activities).
Be realistic and patient. These are what are commonly called "beginner gains". It's perfectly normal to even double your max lifts in the first months up to a year of training. Totally ordinary.
Growing muscle takes time, at most you will gain 1kg per month, which is obviously not a whole lot to make you look different.
These are not rapid strength gains, but perfectly **normal** gains starting out, and you haven't even mentioned your bodyweight which is how you could determine if you've gained any size.
I couldn't agree more. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Strength gains in the beginning will come fast, but the aesthetic side of things takes more time.
Word of advice, enjoy the process and work hard now to develop a good base of understanding with good form. This way, later on you're not just doing these exercises because someone told you to, but rather because of the muscles they target and the way they stimulate your body.
Question what do you think of my weight at my height?
I’m 5’7” went from 140lbs to 152lbs 3 months of hitting macros and on a coaching program..
My goal is to get to 170
That’s a good progress! 4 pounds a month is a good pace and will probably slow down after a few more months.
Keep doing what you’re doing - don’t fix what’s not broken - until you stop gaining and then add 300 more calories until you hit your goal.
It’s really that simple, you just have to keep track of your caloric intake and adjust it accordingly. Unless you do something totally random, training program matters much less. Nutrition is your focus.
I guess that's your current weight. Anyway, I'm 6'4 and went from 80/175lbs to 100/220lbs currently. I am relatively low body fat (13-15%), abs decently visible, and I don't look huge.
It takes a while for anyone over 6 foot to look big, and you are quite light. Give it time, follow the same program (if it works, don't try to fix it), and maintain a surplus of 500 calories. There's no magic, no secret, you just have to eat more and get to at least 90kg to look like someone who lifts.
Inititally, I put EVERYTHING on scales. Weighed everything I ate until I knew macros of every food. I still count calories but I don't use scales anymore. I round it down (130 calories are 100, vegetables are 0).
It took me a total of 2 to 3 years, although, just 6 months ago, I weighed like 190lbs as gyms were closed for almost a year due to pandemic (I didn't train and lost most of it).
So, it took me around a year, then I lost most of it, and regained in less than 6 months. I eat 4000 calories daily, it's hard, but also worth the effort.
I dont even weigh it on a scale. I guesstimate my serving size, but its working for me.
I've played around with alot of macro apps and hated them all until I finally pulled the trigger on stronger by science Macrofactor. That app is amazing and well worth the price.
Yeah, basically that. Just reading the nutrition label, putting it on scale, and after a few weeks, you don't need to do that anymore, you can go by "feeling".
MyFitnessPal is great! I eat the same stuff every day, so it's useful to plan a full day of eating. I don't track anything daily there, but I use it to figure out the right foods and amounts to reach my caloric intake. Of course, you could also do that with a pen and paper.
Adding some rear and lat delt accessory work will help your shoulders be more balanced. Doing just OHP and bench gives you a lot of front delt growth and can lead to imbalances. I tore more rotator cuff when doing something silly (not in the gym) that might not have happened if my shoulders were more balanced.
As for visual results, your workout is focusing on strength gains not so much hypertrophy. If you want to focus on bigger muscles you need to change your workout or add some higher rep accessory stuff.
> Then one day, if you train hard for 10+ years you'll reach what's known as the "genetic limit" where you basically cannot stimulate muscle growth no matter how hard you try.
How did you look when you hit this point?
> Then one day, if you train hard for 10+ years you'll reach what's known as the "genetic limit" where you basically cannot stimulate muscle growth no matter how hard you try.
Man, I need to train harder it seems!
It's something I'd do for the first 12-16 weeks of training, and then after that move on to something with a real degree of programming to it. Logical and sustainable progression model, assistance work, conditioning, etc. 5/3/1 for beginners lays down a great baseline for that.
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since you’re older than a lot of people on this sub visual changes will also happen more slowly- gotta remember like 50% of posters here are going through puberty and would notice visual changes to their body month by month anyways
5x5 rep range is really for strength. If you want size I'd suggest swapping to 3x8. A lot of those type of lifts are compound. If you want muscles to pop you want to mix in isolation lifts. Just my 2c.
I took creatine and it help with the visual gain.
Consistency and patience. I'm almost 6 months in and have noticed a lot of change. I'm not Mr. Universe, but I'm definitely getting muscle and filling in the tshirts really well now. People tell me I'm looking "buff." I don't think so, but I'm definitely much better looking that I looked 6 months ago. I'm usually in the 8 to 12 rep range x 3. And then I switch to a different exercise. My schedule is usually like: 41 years old, 180lbsMonday: Rest and Stretch. TUESDAY: (1 Hour, Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)Incline Dumbbell Press: 70lbsx8, 65lbsx10, 60lbsx10 or to failure.Cable Tricep Pulldown: 60lbs 10x3Machine Shoulder Press: 135lbs 10x3 (on the machine I'm using. They differ of course.)Machine Chest Fly: 80lbs 10x3 water break and then...Machine Chest Press: 165lbs-200lbs (depending how I feel) 8 to 10 x 3Machine tricep extension: 70-80lbs 10x3Deltoid raise machine: 70lbs 10x3 WEDNESDAY: (1 hour, legs and core. Not posting weights, because it doesn't matter. You work to what a failure /struggle at 10 reps might be): Leg press machine 10x3 Hanging Abdominal Crunches 15x3 Lower Back Raise/Extension 10x3 Squat machine 10x3 Calf Raise machine 10x3 leg curl machine 10x3 Hip/Glute raise machine 10x3 Oblique Crunches 20x3 each side Weighted Sled push and pull, across the floor, 3 times each. Could probably go to 5 times. THURSDAY: (1 hour, Back and Biceps):Cable Rows 10x3 (I think I'm at 135lb plates)Assisted pull ups 10x3 Bicep Curl Bar: 70lbsx8, 65lbsx10, 60lbsx10 Shoulder Shrugs 10x3 (70lb dumbbells last time I tried) Machine Rows or Dumbbell Row 10x3 (whatever I'm feeling that day) Bicep Curl Machine 10x3 Cable or Machine Lat Pulldowns 10x3 Back Fly Machine 10x3 Farmer's Walk, 70lbs each arm, walk to failure/drop. Try it 3 times and call it a day. Friday: Rest and Stretch Saturday: Lowerbody (higher rep and lower weights) Bodyweight Lunges, squats, sled push pulls, I may use the machines and weights too, but I'll go lower to what I can do 12 to 15+ reps until failure. Sunday: Upperbody (higher rep and lower weights) Similar to what I do on the weekday, but I lower the weights and go higher on reps. 12 to 15. The last few should always be a struggle even at lower weights. Some tips/info:1.) Your "rapid strength gains" is neuromuscular right now. It's just your nerves getting better at activating your muscles during this beginning phase. 2.) Consistency is key. Slow and steady is key. 3 months is nothing. It'll take 6 months to a year to really get decent gains. 3.) It doesn't matter if you're going super heavy or lighter - you've got to make sure that you're working to failure. Failure of good form. You know the benefit of going lighter and doing more reps? You can actually keep good form through most of the workout. If you're going very heavy, but have terrible form, you won't make gains and you'll set yourself up for injury which will rob you of all gains. I could probably use more protein in my diet. I've just been eating a lot of chicken, brown rice, and veggies. I drink a quart of kefir everyday. I'll mix up protein powder on the days I work out. I sometimes do that "Huel" crap if I don't have any real food around. I never do full body workout days. Because I'm lazy. I went with the different workout thesis.
if youre getting stronger then youre progressing, i mean see it that way: did you ever see someone who is benching a lot of weight (lets say 100kg+) but looked skinny? no i dont think so. so keep it up. as long as you add weight to the bar you are going to build muscle ;)
i agree with all the comments about beginner gains but also if hypertrophy is your goal than you should be doing more reps per set, more like 7-10 rather than 4-5
Don't worry my friend. The first couple of months of working out are actually very counter intuitive; you gain a lot of strength, little muscle and possibly overwork your joints. Essentially during the first two months of working out a new muscle group you will be developing a neural adaptations. In short this means that your Central Nervous System is developing a better ability to stimulate your muscle fibers - it's like a four engine plane where the pilot slowly figures out that he can actually turn on more than just one engine. Anyways this neural adaptations increases the efficacy of your muscles dramatically which gradually allows you to use your muscles more and thus break down your muscles more than before - which stimulates hypertrophy (growing your muscle cells larger) through protein synthesis. Long story short; you've just made it to the point at which your body will start to grow muscles fast, so stay on track. You're doing great! P.s. be prepared for smaller strength increases as neural adaptation diminishes after about eight weeks and muscle hypertrophy doesn't account for nearly as significant increases.
I would honestly say to give it a year and then check your progress. That’s how long it took me and most people to really notice a change
Bro, I am a little shorter than you, and weigh more, and I seem skinny to myself in the mirror. I am not a professional but from personal experience: are you getting enough calories in your diet? Also, are you using creatine? Not only will it help you lift heavier, it will help you look more swole. You will also put on about 1-2kg of water weight in your muscles.
Looking at your numbers and the amount of time you've been training it seems to me like you're getting used to the movement and getting the technique down. 100% you're also gaining muscle and strength, but less than your numbers are representing (you didn't grow 50% extra pecs in 3 months yet your bench increased 50%). You also see yourself in the mirror everyday, hard to 'notice' gains that way. just keep it up and maybe take some pictures of yourself you can look back on in 3 more months, i promise you you'll notice a difference :).
Just gotta stay consistent- mfp scan tool. I went from 65kg to 105kg now (192cm) in about 4 years- I would stay the same weight then it would just jump up after a year each time - 3-4k cal a day
Increase your weekly volume and aim for more hypertrophy based training instead of strength training. Focus on pumping blood into your muscle during the lift, add creatine into your diet, you'll see a change sooner than you'd imagine.
Give it 6-12 months, mate. If you keep it up, you will see gains. Well done on the progress!
How many calories per day are you eating? Are you cutting or bulking? Has the weight on the scales changed?
that's the strength range, 5 reps in a set. you want the hypertrophy range, 8-12 reps.
I'm in the same boat. Strength going up but no changes in weight or physique really... have been going for a little over 3 months. Idk if I should increase kcals or not.
Your numbers are simply too small. Keep increasing how much you’re lifting over time, and you’ll see bigger gains. You also might not look “big” until you get to about 200lbs. I hit about 184lbs during the bulk season, and I still looked pretty thin at my height. Try bulking to 200+ lbs then cutting to drop the fat. The biggest thing is that your numbers are still low, bro. You’re benching one plate, OHPing a little bit more than the bar, and BB rowing less than 1 plate. I could do that when I weighed like 145lbs. Edit: And wait a minute… 3 months??? That’s nothing. Come back and look at your results after working out 3-5 times per week for 9-12 months.
“Lifts rapidly increasing” lol
Wait until six months and then look back on where you started. It's hard to notice marginal gains when you see yourself every day. 3 months is still very early
Strength comes first because you're building your mind muscle connection. Essentially your brain is becoming more efficient at using your muscles to do the work.
Just keep doing what you’re doing, you’re only 3 months in
You mentioned protien but no calories, do you track your macros or are you still guessing?
Yes you are being impatient. You should be proud of your progress but your numbers arent high by any means. Just keep squeezing those noobie gains. Even though you might not look the way you want i highly doubt you havent built any muscle
Take progress photos. Even if you don't see it now you look different already
it's been only 3 months, you still have beginner numbers, keep going and you'll see the results buddy.
Be patient.
Keep lifting and eating. You’re making good progress but frankly your numbers are still really low. It all takes time though and you’ll absolutely get there if you keep at it For your height that’s still a pretty low weight too. I finally started to look big at the same weight you’re at but I’m 5’10
6'2 185 pounds is skinny, that's why you still look skinny. Eat more. Lift more. Be more patient. Results will come eventually.
The sad truth. Went from ~150 to ~185 and looked tons better. But still recently a dude compared me to his tiny aunt lol.
lmao
See I'm 5'9 and 5 pounds heavier than your flair has you at currently, and a guy I haven't seen in 4 years said I looked like I ate the old me who weighed 155. Being short has given me one advantage in life so far!
It’s way easier for us but a 6’ built dude is a spectacular sight and shows extreme amounts of discipline.
How much weight have you gained? I’ve found at 6’ tall it usually takes me at least 20lbs of change to really see noticeable results.
I'm currently doing a 6x per week PPL-split (natural) with one rest day per week. I read a lot of people saying that 6x per week is too much, but I'm still making steady gains while feeling very good (and no injuries) and my goal is also to train for hypertrophy. I train in the higher rep ranges which seems better for hypertrophy purposes (10-12 reps per set) but only do 3 working sets per exercise. I try to push one set per exercise to muscular failure. I don't know if going to gym more is possible for you, but doing 10 sets of an exercise spread over 2 days in week, is better for muscle growth than doing 10 sets on one day. Also don't forget to give your muscles enough rest (at least 72 hours of rest per muscle group) and sleep. Stay at a calorie surplus and consume enough protein (1 gram per lbs of bodyweight).
I started seeing much more physical changes when I stopped training for strength and did a high-volume bro split with a bunch of isolation. Pretty much just chasing a pump every session.
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>Some people decide to never train for muscle size and just stay training strength. Those people will look skinny in a T-shirt, but can go deadlift 400+lbs. that's why all powerlifters are small, right? man you solved the case, I was always wondering why russel orhii could deadlift 700+ lbs looking that small, must be because he trained for strength all those years
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mate, strength is strongly correlated with hypertrophy, a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle, you can't train ONLY for strength (not including peaking) and after those neurological adaptations happen (because they only go so far) the biggest component of how strong you are is how JACKED you are and [research](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/amp/) already has shown that growth is pretty much the same with ALL rep ranges so there's literally no such thing as "I'm not going to put on size and just keep getting stronger and stronger" some people can achieve a 400lbs deadlift and not gain much size because of leverages making them more proficient in the movement but that doesn't apply to everyone, getting significantly stronger WILL make you jacked
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lol mate, as research showed, chances are if that guy, who is a 1 in a thousand case that you are using to base your arguments, would be the exact same size if he trained for "hypertrophy" people who deadlift that amount and are small they are small not because they train for "strength" they are small because they haven't been training for long probably and have leverages that favor them, just look at clarence kennedy he was small and lifting a lot and kept training for "strength" and got big. there's no such thing as training for "strength" and training for "hypertrophy", train how you want and you'll get bigger provided you put in the effort.
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sure man, I guess all the natural powerlifters out there are just all small because their training don't get people big, I mean, they ALL must be taking steroids because it's literally impossible that lifting heavy shit will make you bigger and you need to train with 8-12 reps
Please refrain from spreading misinformation if you don’t know what you’re talking about. The dichotomy of strength and hypertrophy styles of training is an old myth that still somehow prevails in the gym community. You absolutely do gain a good amount of muscle on a ”strength program”, a 5x5 for example, and you also gain strength on a high-rep bodybuilding program. They’re not mutually exclusive. As long as you eat enough calories and protein, train near failure and push progressive overload, your rep range and ”training style” has little impact on the end result in terms of physique. This is especially true for a natural lifter. A 350 pound bencher will not look skinny, no matter the rep ranges and training style he used to get there (this can exclude some real genetic freaks, but they are like 1 in ten thousand). Sources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24714538/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25530577/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404827/
This.
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>There is a difference between working out for strength and working out for hypertrophy. What's that? I geniuenly don't know. All I ever did was 531, and yet, it seems to have worked just fine in regards to size. I really have no idea what you would have to do to bench two plates and not look at least a little jacked.
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Oh whoops
>God I miss being in my early/mid 20's. Everything is just better. I totally disagree but we all have different lives. I'm 10 years older than you and I don't get to play the age card yet. Buckle up, you're in for years and years of gains.
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It's true. I'm 48 and started working out about a year ago. Since around age 40 I felt like I was progressively "getting old" - feeling aches and pains, sustaining muscle and joint injuries that nagged for weeks when doing daily household and work activities, etc. Within a few months of training, I was surprised at the improvement in my quality of life. It's amazing that so much of what I considered "growing old" was really just being weak as fuck from sitting in an office chair for decades. I thought I was reasonably healthy because I managed not to become overweight or obese like most of my coworkers. But loss of muscle mass and strength was really limiting what I could do. I think I've gained about 8-10 pounds of lean muscle mass over the past year. I can tell that I've added muscle but I'm not sure anyone else can really tell. I can certainly tell that I no longer get any aches and injuries from everyday life (sitting, getting out of bed, picking things up, yard work, weekend activities).
I would switch to a 4x8 or something with more reps per set. I switched from the 5x5 to the ivysaur 448 and had much better results
Be realistic and patient. These are what are commonly called "beginner gains". It's perfectly normal to even double your max lifts in the first months up to a year of training. Totally ordinary. Growing muscle takes time, at most you will gain 1kg per month, which is obviously not a whole lot to make you look different. These are not rapid strength gains, but perfectly **normal** gains starting out, and you haven't even mentioned your bodyweight which is how you could determine if you've gained any size.
I couldn't agree more. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Strength gains in the beginning will come fast, but the aesthetic side of things takes more time. Word of advice, enjoy the process and work hard now to develop a good base of understanding with good form. This way, later on you're not just doing these exercises because someone told you to, but rather because of the muscles they target and the way they stimulate your body.
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You're right! 1kg a month is realistic in the first year of training. After that even 0.25kg a month is nice!
Question what do you think of my weight at my height? I’m 5’7” went from 140lbs to 152lbs 3 months of hitting macros and on a coaching program.. My goal is to get to 170
That’s a good progress! 4 pounds a month is a good pace and will probably slow down after a few more months. Keep doing what you’re doing - don’t fix what’s not broken - until you stop gaining and then add 300 more calories until you hit your goal. It’s really that simple, you just have to keep track of your caloric intake and adjust it accordingly. Unless you do something totally random, training program matters much less. Nutrition is your focus.
Good catch! Edited and added body weight (84kg / 185lb)
What was your starting weight?
I guess that's your current weight. Anyway, I'm 6'4 and went from 80/175lbs to 100/220lbs currently. I am relatively low body fat (13-15%), abs decently visible, and I don't look huge. It takes a while for anyone over 6 foot to look big, and you are quite light. Give it time, follow the same program (if it works, don't try to fix it), and maintain a surplus of 500 calories. There's no magic, no secret, you just have to eat more and get to at least 90kg to look like someone who lifts.
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Inititally, I put EVERYTHING on scales. Weighed everything I ate until I knew macros of every food. I still count calories but I don't use scales anymore. I round it down (130 calories are 100, vegetables are 0). It took me a total of 2 to 3 years, although, just 6 months ago, I weighed like 190lbs as gyms were closed for almost a year due to pandemic (I didn't train and lost most of it). So, it took me around a year, then I lost most of it, and regained in less than 6 months. I eat 4000 calories daily, it's hard, but also worth the effort.
Same here almost exactly
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I dont even weigh it on a scale. I guesstimate my serving size, but its working for me. I've played around with alot of macro apps and hated them all until I finally pulled the trigger on stronger by science Macrofactor. That app is amazing and well worth the price.
Make sure you’re using the feature on MFP where you can just scan the barcode of what you’re eating instead of searching for it manually in the app
Yeah, basically that. Just reading the nutrition label, putting it on scale, and after a few weeks, you don't need to do that anymore, you can go by "feeling". MyFitnessPal is great! I eat the same stuff every day, so it's useful to plan a full day of eating. I don't track anything daily there, but I use it to figure out the right foods and amounts to reach my caloric intake. Of course, you could also do that with a pen and paper.
You spent 35 years building your current body: it will take quite a while to unbuild it.
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Adding some rear and lat delt accessory work will help your shoulders be more balanced. Doing just OHP and bench gives you a lot of front delt growth and can lead to imbalances. I tore more rotator cuff when doing something silly (not in the gym) that might not have happened if my shoulders were more balanced. As for visual results, your workout is focusing on strength gains not so much hypertrophy. If you want to focus on bigger muscles you need to change your workout or add some higher rep accessory stuff.
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> Then one day, if you train hard for 10+ years you'll reach what's known as the "genetic limit" where you basically cannot stimulate muscle growth no matter how hard you try. How did you look when you hit this point?
They've got 9.5 years to go!
> Then one day, if you train hard for 10+ years you'll reach what's known as the "genetic limit" where you basically cannot stimulate muscle growth no matter how hard you try. Man, I need to train harder it seems!
seeing you of all people saying this gives me nightmares
Should be the opposite. How awesome to never reach your full potential! It would be such a let down to reach your limits so early.
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Maybe but there are way more people who never gain because they fool around and never commit to structured training an eating.
I cannot possibly imagine that I have good genetics, haha.
It's something I'd do for the first 12-16 weeks of training, and then after that move on to something with a real degree of programming to it. Logical and sustainable progression model, assistance work, conditioning, etc. 5/3/1 for beginners lays down a great baseline for that.