T Nation

I Feel Like I'm Going Nowhere (Help)

Bigger Stronger Leaner
#1

Hi all,

Short story. I’m 44, 5’7 and actually 140 lbs. I’ve started to train when I was 23 and stopped after 10 years.

One year ago I’ve started training again at home with bodyweight exercises, resistance bands, etc…but the pandemic came quickly and gym have been closed since here in France.

I tried to make my workout harder with a weighted vest, pull up bar, a kettlebell, etc …but I feel like I don’t gain weight / progress anymore ( basically I first lost fat and went down to 130 lbs before gaining some muscle up to 140 lbs).

I’m on a upper / lower body and train 4 days a week. I also do cardio 2 times a week (Zwift rides). I’d say I’m pretty active: I walk one hour everyday just to go to work and come back home. I also move a lot at work and sometime, even on days off, I’d do a quick HIIT with kettlebell swings.

I eat 2500 kcal a day (140 grs of protein, 300 grs of carbs and 70 grs of fat). I can’t be 100 % accurate because I eat at my company’s restaurant at noon. At home, I weight everything I eat and write everything in myfitnesspal.

Globally, I feel like I’m going nowhere because “gains” stopped and I have no other choice than training at home. I know that without lifting heavy it’s going to be difficult but I try to do my best with pull ups, chin ups, shoulder press, etc …

If I keep eating the same I maintain. If I eat more, I gain fat, etc…

If you experts have any advices or tips that would help me that would be great. Sometime I’m almost pissed off cause I take my training and diet very seriously but with almost no result.

#2

This is a common problem. Your body will really resist gaining muscle unless your activities absolutely warrant it. Most simply do not push hard enough to force their body to adapt and hold extra muscle, and of course it gets harder with age. I would also recommend training full body 3x a week: weighted squats/pistol squats + weighted push ups/1-arm push ups + pull ups/weighted pull ups. Throw in 100 KB swings at the end. On your off days, do 2x a week weight vested walks (45 min or so) and 1x a week of typical, steady state cardio. Set real goals and work towards them, based on your current levels. If you get substantially better at weighted pull ups and hard push up variations, you will get stronger.

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#3

I’d jump for joy if I made 10 lbs. of solid gains under these circumstance.

Congrats!

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#4

I’m 48 and I’d kill to lose 10 lbs of fat and then put on 10 lbs of muscle. At 140 lbs, that has to make a big difference in the mirror.

#5

Pretty much what @antiquity says

Just focus on working hard as fuck with the tools you’ve got.

Or just change your focus. Muscle gain is frustrating as fuck. Strength and fitness gain is easily measurable and quickly enhanced. You sound like you’re pretty fit already.

Focusing strictly on muscle gain is a one way ticket to a dark place for us older naturals.

And for what? So you can walk about the house feeling good about yourself because your muscles are a wee bit bigger? No one gives a fuck and neither should you. You’ll never be happy.

Get strong and conditioned, use the carbon diet app to bang on the weight and the magic will happen @strapp mate

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#6

Uh, yeah. Duh

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#7

Tbh mate if I had arms like yours I’d be walking about the house with a spring in my step

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#8

I more waddle around the house with a drag in my foot.

12oz. curls!

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#9

Some thoughts:
From the your other similar thread you said you only just changed to a new program like 10 days ago, have some patience and evaluate after 6-12 weeks. That program works great btw so you’ll be fine.

On the high rep upper day you can start bumping up the volume and play around/add a couple more sets for isolation moves something like band pressdowns and curls 5x15-20

Take at least one whole day off all excercise a week, you need to let the body recover and breathe so to speak. Especially over 40.

Eat quality lean beef at least once a week.

Spend some money on quality workout supps. Prob cant get Biotest over there but have an Essential amino drink preworkout and Hydrolysed whey post. Make sure you are getting your minerals take high strength fish oil and vit D3 with breakfast.
Something like Alpha Male product wouldn’t hurt either.

#10

Thank to all for the advices and “cheers”.

Yeah, I’ll stick to my new program and see how it goes in few weeks.

I know I need at least one day off a week but sometimes it’s hard to not do something :wink:

About supplements, I take a lot of them: multivitamins, whey, l-glutamine, creatine, D vitamin and omega 3.

I guess I need to train hard (harder?) And be patient. And yeah, at 44, gaining muscle ain’t easy.

Anyway my body changed a lot in one year. I should already be pleased with the result.

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#11

Yep, at least once a month there should be a period where you are really craving extra rest days/feeling beat down

#12

If you are really, really trying to focus on building muscles you might consider cutting back on some of your activities for awhile.

For a set period of time, plan to drop your Zwift rides and high intensity intervals. You will still get plenty of cardio with your hour walks and active job. And your body will have less work to recover from. So theoretically you’ll be more able to build some muscle.

In the short term your bike riding and kettlebell skills might regress a little. But that’s OK! It’s just a phase where you’re focusing on muscles, not specific cardio methods.

Then in the future when you are hugely muscled you can return to bikes and things.

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