Why Can't I Gain Muscle?

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
wannbeBIG wrote:

Not a bad idea that and I was also thinking about starting a journal on here, I can list the foods I eat daily, my weekly body weight and other monthly measurements, I’m sure people would understand more if they actually see what’s happening (or what’s not happening) with their own eyes (if people are interested?)

Not sure what kind of routine to do though - low volume and high inensity just sent me on a road back down the hill…

Ok, let’s do that. Oh yeah, did you actually get your t-levels and bloodwork done or not?
As for your routine: I’d say a standard BB 4way for now and we’ll go from there… I’ll suggest something once you have your journal up (post a link in here).

I’d like to see pics of your food first, though.

#Edit: I already edited this post but it didn’t get through for some reason…

#Edit2: There you go, X.
[/quote]

I had my test levels checked 3 times in total I think. I said ealier it was twice but thinking about it, I’m pretty sure it was 3 times in total, but the last time was 2-3 years ago - things were normal then so I’m assuming they are now.

when you say a standard “BB 4 way”, what exactly do you mean? bodybuilding 4 way split?

This last week I’ve felt like not like not going to the gym and I’ve not been enjoying it like I normally do, so I think what I’m going to do is take a week or so off from training completely and come back with some fresh optimism and hopefully a journal (and you lot) can keep me motivated.

Thanks again.

What do people think about me doing one of Chad’s routines?

[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
wannbeBIG wrote:

Not a bad idea that and I was also thinking about starting a journal on here, I can list the foods I eat daily, my weekly body weight and other monthly measurements, I’m sure people would understand more if they actually see what’s happening (or what’s not happening) with their own eyes (if people are interested?)

Not sure what kind of routine to do though - low volume and high inensity just sent me on a road back down the hill…

Ok, let’s do that. Oh yeah, did you actually get your t-levels and bloodwork done or not?
As for your routine: I’d say a standard BB 4way for now and we’ll go from there… I’ll suggest something once you have your journal up (post a link in here).

I’d like to see pics of your food first, though.

#Edit: I already edited this post but it didn’t get through for some reason…

#Edit2: There you go, X.

I had my test levels checked 3 times in total I think. I said ealier it was twice but thinking about it, I’m pretty sure it was 3 times in total, but the last time was 2-3 years ago - things were normal then so I’m assuming they are now.

when you say a standard “BB 4 way”, what exactly do you mean? bodybuilding 4 way split?

This last week I’ve felt like not like not going to the gym and I’ve not been enjoying it like I normally do, so I think what I’m going to do is take a week or so off from training completely and come back with some fresh optimism and hopefully a journal (and you lot) can keep me motivated.

Thanks again.

What do people think about me doing one of Chad’s routines?

[/quote]

Dude, no offense, but I simply can not baby this issue. Why would you “enjoy” it if you haven’t made any progress in nearly a decade? The ONLY justification for what you are describing is if you had some disease or were so genetically inept that muscle simply can not grown on you. If the latter is the case, then find a new fucking hobby. If that is not the case, then accept that it IS something you are doing wrong.

You claim you just get fat. Maybe you should go ahead and get fat. I want to see what you call fat and I also want to see you work hard and increase the weight used yet gain NO muscle in the process.

What you have described for pages is not possible without some disease process. Your body was designed to adapt to stimulus. That means it is way more likely that you are simply being a pussy than it is that there is some magical force keeping you from getting stronger and bigger.

I would blame some strange obsessive fear of fat gain before anything else.

Post your pics like the other poster asked but quit with this, “I’ve tried everything” stuff. It makes no sense for someone seeing no progress at all to even be this into bodybuilding in the first place.

I would really like to see a log. If you succeed (with the help of T-nations experienced posters), I believe that log is something a lot of skinny/weak bastards will learn a lot from in the future.

And I do belive that you will succeed, if you accept and follow every well-backed advice you get.
It takes a lot of motivation, but from your posts it seems like you really want to get stronger and bigger.

It will be hard work, but by starting that log you will have one of two outcomes:

  1. You will finally get bigger and stronger.
  2. You will prove to the whole world that you are not motivated enough.

Let’s hope we’ll see #1 !

PS: It’s NOT your hormones or genes. Either it’s your food, or it’s your training. I’m guessing it’s both. The log will show :wink:

I’m not taking offence and appreciate your input also… I do enjoy training, I like going to the gym, I like the way i feel when I’ve lifted weights… it’s obvious I need some help after so long without progressing, but the advice given to me which would work well with the average joe doesn’t seem to work with me - don’t ask me why, or how, it just seems that way.

As for being a pussy? Well my current trainer has REALLY PUSHED me in the gym, then after a few weeks, he realised what he was dealing with - someone who was gaining fat, being pushed in the gym, yet not getting stronger, then ended up regressing.

Just about adding fat - fat gain wouldnt bother me if I was gaining strength or muscle, but it just gets tedious watching my waist go from 27/28 inches to 36 inches.

I’ve weighed as much as 174lbs with a 36 inch waist before, so I wouldn’t exactly say I’m scared of getting fat.

I’ve been posting on here a couple of years and during that time I’ve questioned myself - am I really pushing myself? can I push myself harder? I admit then I’ve never worked as hard in the gym in terms of going to failure and beyond failure until I started training with the trainer I’m using now, but i’ve never gone backwards like I this before training that way.

Have you posted on ironaddicts.com before? I remember seeing a user with your name, dunno if you’re the same person though?

But thanks again for adding your thoughts. there’s nothing more I’d like than to see me make decent progress both in strength and size.

[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
I admit then I’ve never worked as hard in the gym in terms of going to failure and beyond failure until I started training with the trainer I’m using now, but i’ve never gone backwards like I this before training that way.
[/quote]

Wait…you have lifted for this long, claiming you have tried everything…yet training to failure is just now something you tried? If you regressed from that, then your diet is the issue. That isn’t a maybe. It is a fact. You fear fat gain so you don’t eat enough to gain any muscle mass.

Get over it or quit lifting. No personal trainer can give you motivation. None of them can watch you 24 hours a day to make sure you eat enough either.

Sorry, I didn’t mean that (seems I’m going to have to be extra careful with how I word my posts with you!!) - I’ve never used beyond failure techniques as much as I have with the trainer i’m using now, not that I was using them loads.

I was using ironaddict for 20 months prior to that and his methods didn’t include training to failure - he’s against hardgainers training to failure.

So my diet’s to blame for my regressing? even though I was gaining fat and getting 250 grams of protein a day?

Like I said previously - I don’t fear fat gain, when I first started training I weighed 115-120lbs or so, I’ve been as high as 174lbs, that’s a fat increase of 55-59lbs.

I added 10+ inches to my waist while trying to add muscle + strength, and you think I’m scared of getting fat?

I’m far from scared, I just don’t fancy going on another 10 months cut getting rid of it all.

Getting fat whilst gaining lean size and strength is one thing, but just getting fatter and fatter and fatter without gaining lean size or strength is another.

[quote]pinkponyz wrote:
I would really like to see a log. If you succeed (with the help of T-nations experienced posters), I believe that log is something a lot of skinny/weak bastards will learn a lot from in the future.

And I do belive that you will succeed, if you accept and follow every well-backed advice you get.
It takes a lot of motivation, but from your posts it seems like you really want to get stronger and bigger.

It will be hard work, but by starting that log you will have one of two outcomes:

  1. You will finally get bigger and stronger.
  2. You will prove to the whole world that you are not motivated enough.

Let’s hope we’ll see #1 !

PS: It’s NOT your hormones or genes. Either it’s your food, or it’s your training. I’m guessing it’s both. The log will show ;)[/quote]

I’m glad that people are taking an interest in this and hopefully it can help anyone who finds themself in a
similar situation.

I’m determined to gain something, and motivation isn’t really an issue… but occassionally, like today, I lack motivation, but don’t get me wrong, days like these rarely rear their ugly heads… maybe once every few months.

Fair enough if you think it’s my training or diet - I dont think it’s my diet, but my training? I think I may need to do something very unconventional given what’s happened so far… I just don’t know what! and I’m open to suggestions!

[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
So my diet’s to blame for my regressing? even though I was gaining fat and getting 250 grams of protein a day?
[/quote]There’s only one way of finding out: Start a log and do exact logging of your food and training. There are lots of ways you can screw up your diet even though you get enough protein per day.

Stop trying to justify what you tried and didn’t or what works for you or not, and start logging EXACTLY what you do, and accept the advice you will get.

I will start logging it all!

I’m going to take a week off and then I’ll really get stuck into it.

[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:

I’m glad that people are taking an interest in this and hopefully it can help anyone who finds themself in a
similar situation.
[/quote]

If anyone else finds themselves in this position, they need to first kick their own ass for being that much of a wimp in the gym that they never even reached failure before some personal trainer told them to after YEARS of training.

[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:

I’m going to take a week off…[/quote]

Good start!!!

Wayz to get musclez
oatz
deadz
squatz

Have you not read my post?

I was refering to beyond failure tecniques.

Of course I’ve trained to failure, but I havent done in about 2-3 years because ironaddict was training me and he’s against training to failure - I stuck to what I was told, seemd like a good idea at the time.

the first few years I used failure, and got nowhere with it, I trained to failure a lot whilst on gear also, I also used drop sets… but never used other beyond failure tecniques until I trained with my trainer, mostly because I train during the day, and on my own.

you’re now coming cross as an asswipe, so I’d rather you keep your opinions to yourself.

cheers.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
wannbeBIG wrote:

I’m going to take a week off…

Good start!!![/quote]

It might actually be a good start. A beginner never got the ability to lower the weights and start slightly lower than his max lifts, so he will have the opportunity to make progress even further. Look at it as “mental deloading” and preparing for what’s to come.

You are free to disagree, but I think it is a good start.

wannbeBIG: Use that week off wisely. Go get yourself a food scale so you know how much you eat. Try out new sorts of meat, fish and veggies, or new recipies. Find out where you can get milk, meat, fish, nuts, etc. the cheapest so money wont stop your progress to become big. Make a schedule of your days, so you will get enough sleep every night and make room for eating often enough. Quit smoking sigarettes or weed, drinking or whatever bad habits you may have. Just to prepare yourself for the battle that is to come, and the success that will follow.

I’m always weighing my food! and I’m always busting my electric scales!! lol - I have a habbit of spilling liquids on the buttons! lol

I don’t smoke weed, although I used to up until the age of 21 and I rarely drink - usually special occassions; I’ve drank alcohol 4 or 5 times this year and only been drunk 3 times. I don’t smoke cigarettes either.

I get to sleep at the same time each night, though stop up later on a Friday night by an hour or two.

Good, then those things are in order. Then it’s “just” fixing your diet and training that’s left. Looking forward to see you working your ass off in the gym and in the kitchen in that upcoming log :wink: Maybe it will be an eye-opener to some of the other guys that feel they can’t gain any muscle.

i’ve put 55lbs on my bench, 100lbs on my deadlift, 70lbs on my squat and gained 25 lbs of muscle while keeping my bf the same.

the only reason i didn’t gain more, is because i plain and simple didn’t eat enough

[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:
waylanderxx wrote:
Invictica wrote:
So wait, I ask my question again. Anyone in here 5’6 200lbs+ at 10% BF thats natural? Otherwise everyone 5’6 falls short of expectations given in this thread.

Where did this come from?

Anyways, wannabebig. You said you’re doing 4 lifts a day only 2 days a week. I’d say thats your problem right there. I do 5 different exercises per MUSCLE GROUP, devoting an entire day to just 1 group, (the exception being I do bi’s/tri’s together). You really need to up your volume, frequency, and intensity.

If I had the same workout program as you I’d probably be in the same boat. I don’t know what kind of dumb fuck trainers you are working with but they obviously don’t have a clue.

After having no sucess with higher volume, I’ve been cutting it down, so that’s the reason why I was on this routin - you call my trainers “dumb fuckers” but isn’t it logical to cut the volume if I’m not getting anywhere with higher volume? How does that make them “dumb fuckers” exactly?

Initially I was gaining strength on this routine albeit lost strength, then I started going backwards pretty fast - I dropped 17lbs on deads from one week to the next two and I lost 8 reps on chins - I think that’s an indication that my body can’t cope with training to failure?? a lot of hardgainers have frail CNS apprantly, so if that is the case, the training to failure a lot is probably the wrong thing to do.

So I’m not sure what to do or try next - low volume, high intensity doesn’t seem to work, and neither does higher volume without training to failure.

You said I need to up my volume, frequency and intensity - well you can scrub “intensity” off that list, I know that It’ll not work, going from experience, high intensity just sends me backwards even on low volume.

  • ironaddict says hardgainers shouldn’t train to failure, so I trained for a long time without training to failure and although I didn’t regress like I did when trained to failure, I didn’t progress either.

He also says that hardgainers usually can’t use a lot of volume - low volume without training to failure are his methods when it comes to training hardgainers, and he’s trained many hardgainers.

I then read articles stating that hardgainers should use low volume + high intensity on other websites… but that probably applies to people who arent genuine hardgainers… I dunno…

I was thinking about trying one of chad’s routines to see how I get on… any suggestions?

[/quote]
Man you have an excuse for everything, I don’t know what else to tell you.

And if your trainers aren’t dumb fuckers why are you on this site asking for advice? Why aren’t you asking your know it all trainers? I used a PT once, my size and strength regressed. I’ll never use one again.

Wannabebig - I was wondering how you were going since a year ago or so.

Your lack of progress is a mystery (still).

Do you do stretches? I am wondering if you have tried extreme stretches as in DoggCrapp training. I am wondering if maybe you have really tight fascia or something that has limited your growth these years. Just a thought. Otherwise, I’m all outta ideas.

Also change your name frome wannabebig to GonnaBeBig

[quote]wannbeBIG wrote:

Like I said previously - I don’t fear fat gain, when I first started training I weighed 115-120lbs or so, I’ve been as high as 174lbs, that’s a fat increase of 55-59lbs.

[/quote]

174lbs is frikking TINY - how fat could you possibly be at 174lbs?

Also, that is not a fat increase of 55 lbs … some of that would have been muscle.

I think you need to gain “fat” up to 250lbs - that is 75lbs heavier than you have ever been - and see if your strength increases.

For those who do not know, wannabebig has been going on like this for years - not progressing, and posting his lament.

I would love to see what finally changes things - if anything does - it could be entirely psychological, in which case, we got no hope. Possibly wannabebig enjoys the gym, working out, “the feel of it”, NOT gaining, complaining about it, feeling stuck and frustrated, and fears muscle gain. MAYBE.

But maybe also he is lacking one simple thing that we cannot deduce from his posts. Maybe he needs to stretch. Maybe he has an undiagnosed slight allergy to a food he eats that has minimal symptoms but runs his body down all the time and makes it damned hard to recover and grow.

Maybe his form is total crud - POST VIDEOS - POST PICTURES - if anyone can find out what is wrong, the thousands of people here can - but you don’t help much without pictures and videos of your lifts. Stick them up.