Jump to content

Not gaining much muscle mass on bulk, but lots of fat


Recommended Posts

I've been bulking since the end of April, I started at 110lbs and now weight 120lbs at 5'7" (female). I've been bulking on 200-300 extra calories (I burn around 700, and eat 2100-2200 on training days, 1800 on rest days). I lost a load of weight doing loads of cardio and running, but I had teeny amount of lean mass at the end. My original goal weight was 130, but I still had a lot of fat on my waist and got down all the way to 109lbs and still had the excess stomach fat while the rest of me was bone frail. So I decided to purchase a home gym set, including a olympia bar that reaches 300lbs, and 2 dumbells that reach 45lbs and start a bulk. The problem is that I am very weak, and even though I'm trying my hardest I don't seem to be growing equal amounts of fat and muscle. My legs have gotten bulkier (yay) and my arms are slightly larger but my gut has packed on loads of fat. I was taped by my husband about a month ago and it is around 38-+ inches and when I began it was 35-+. I have upped the weight on a few of my exercises, but not by much while some stay the same.

 

My diet consists of around 50-70g fat, 120-160g protein, and probably way to many carbs at 250-400g. I have a myfitnesspal account and I weight everything that goes into my mouth.

 

I workout 4 times a week, mon-tues-thurs-fri, wednesday and weekends are off. I usually do nothing on those days, but about 2 times a month I will hike for 8 miles on the weekend. I'm not a fan of working out, so I don't have a desire to go to the gym on weekends for cardio and also the fact that I burned myself out on it for years.

 

Training days look something like this, upper monday-thursday, lower tuesday-friday:

 

Upper (4 sets 10 reps each)

warm up- 30 pushups

lying chest flys @ 14lbs per db

lateral raises @ 10-12lbs per db

bent over rows @ 55lbs

dumbell press @ 20lbs per db

dumbell rows @ 20lbs

upright row @ 35lb plate

preacher curls @ 10lbs

tricep press @ 40lbs

shoulder press @ 14lbs per db

dips @ bodyweight

single lateral raises @ 10-12lbs

front raises @ 12lbs

rear raises @ 12lbs

bent arm lateral raises @ 12lbs

 

Lower

plank @ 1 minute

side plank @ 1 minute each

leg extension with a resistance band (3 bands comes with the set -hard, medium, easy-, I have all 3 bands on) 25 reps x 4

crunches 25 x 4

goodmornings 12 x 4 @ 40lbs

dumbell bend 25 x 4 @ 40lbs

bridges 30 x 4 @ 45lb plate

bicycle crunches 25 x 4

squats 12 x 4 @ 55lbs (I don't have a rack, I can barely get this weight over my head)

leg lifts 20 x 4

calf raises 25 x 4 @ 85lbs

sumo squats 12 x 4 @ 35lb plate

straight leg deadlift 10 x 4 @110lbs

more leg extensions 25 x 4

 

Any suggestions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you are using way too much exercises in your workouts, i suggest you to drop most of your exercises as i think you may be over working some body parts and use compound exercises like bench press and squats, deadlifts.

 

Separate your workouts a bit more to allow your body to heal and grow, i workout the same body part every 5-7 days.

 

You may benefit from incorporating an exercise like the chin up, pull up or pull down in your upper body wo because they work the antagonist(?) muscles of bench press and other pressing exercises, bench press works chest, triceps and front delts while the pull up/chin up works the biceps, lats and rear delts.

 

Edit: Sorry i didn't pay enough attention to your initial question, what comes to my mind is, due to the high amount of exercises working the same muscle groups ypu are distributing your strength in small amounts between this exercises making the work out more oriented to endurance instead of strength and mass.

 

Now endurance training is not optimum for mass gains acording to some studies i have read about and it can in turn make you lose some mass. You also have to consider that womens naturally tend to have a slightly higher body fat % so that might be helping you gain fat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you are using way too much exercises in your workouts, i suggest you to drop most of your exercises as i think you may be over working some body parts and use compound exercises like bench press and squats, deadlifts.

 

Separate your workouts a bit more to allow your body to heal and grow, i workout the same body part every 5-7 days.

 

You may benefit from incorporating an exercise like the chin up, pull up or pull down in your upper body wo because they work the antagonist(?) muscles of bench press and other pressing exercises, bench press works chest, triceps and front delts while the pull up/chin up works the biceps, lats and rear delts.

 

Edit: Sorry i didn't pay enough attention to your initial question, what comes to my mind is, due to the high amount of exercises working the same muscle groups ypu are distributing your strength in small amounts between this exercises making the work out more oriented to endurance instead of strength and mass.

 

Now endurance training is not optimum for mass gains acording to some studies i have read about and it can in turn make you lose some mass. You also have to consider that womens naturally tend to have a slightly higher body fat % so that might be helping you gain fat.

 

I haven't gotten a pull up bar yet, but I may in the future. I'm just trying to work with what I have currently, as I'm on a budget as well now. What exercises should I drop and what are more compounds I could add? The reason I did so much is because I can't really lift heavy for things like squats, so I thought adding more, and adding accessories would help me where I'm lacking. :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't gotten a pull up bar yet, but I may in the future. I'm just trying to work with what I have currently, as I'm on a budget as well now. What exercises should I drop and what are more compounds I could add? The reason I did so much is because I can't really lift heavy for things like squats, so I thought adding more, and adding accessories would help me where I'm lacking. :/

 

I think your upper body workouts should look something like this.

I recomend the exercises made in 5x5 or 3x10 sets and reps.

Upper body.

 

Pressing: Two exercises per workout is enough.

Bench press in the elbows tucked in form to not emphasize just the chest.

Dips.

Shoulder press.

 

Pulling:

Chin up(more biceps)/Pull up (more lats). Both can be made with assistance.

If you cant make enough reps of those then you can make rows.

Underhanded row.

Overhanded row.

 

Legs:

Squats (try them with wide stance to work your hip adductors).

Step ups with weight as you said you cant get to load more your squats.

Deadlifts.

Hip thrust and single leg hip thrust more info here.

 

Drink a carbs and protein shake after your WOs.

 

If you gain mass and keep gaining considerable amounts of fat with this plan, i would suggest to drop some calories as the fat gains suggest a high calorie surplus.

 

I hope someone with more experience can shed some light though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi!

 

So you got some workout tips already. Me, I think the way you have our exercises laid out is okay. BUT, I've found much much better results for me by NOT doing 3-4 reps of any exercise in serial fashion. Meaning, used to hit the gym, and for example would knock out 3 reps of an exercise and then move on to the next.....so, biceps curls, 1 set of 10 reps with say 30lbs, rest, then set 2 with 35lbs....rest then set 3.... (repeat for bench, etc.

 

My results like what you described...very slow to grow in strength with moderate growth in size.

 

Enter the 21st Century...and a new approach with MUCH better results. I would suggest keeping your sequence of exercises but do them SEQUENTIALLY (1 set, then move on to the next exercise, and then the next), repeat. ONLY do each 'cycle' 2x. Try that for a month and see how it goes. Best to write it all down too...weights, and # of reps. Depending on your goals, if looking for strength/tone pick weight that you can do 10-14 reps. If you're looking for size, 8-10 reps. Maybe reorganize your sequence to avoid working same muscle group in a row. Lastly, minimize rest periods between exercises.

 

I'd make a few changes to your warm up (get your heart rate up a bit!) with some jumping jacks, arm-circles, and add in some planking pretty much every day, even non-workout days. burpees, lunges, variety of pushups (standard, narrow, wide, diamond..)

 

Now to the even more important part...food.

 

If you're packing it on in the wrong places that would likely be both a combo of not just how much you're eating but also what you're eating and when. For your size, your calorie count sounds a bit high to me on workout days. I'd suggest consider targeting an average 2000/day, and more focus on the what/when you eat around your workouts. All about balance, too much carbs as you mention AND too much protein can both result in added body fat esp around your middle. I can't really say one way or the other on your comment about macros or whether your grms of carbs are too much -- I'd be more curious about the SOURCE of your carbs?

 

Most excellent mantras to entrench in your mind is 'to either eat for what you just did, or for what you are about to do'. Likewise, don't eat till your full, eat till you're satisfied. And you should be eating something like every 2-4 hrs based upon your activities. In general, plan for a few more carbs in your before-workout meal, and a bit more protein on workout days, with intent of getting a good dose on the evenings after working out so your body has fuels to rebuild/recover.

 

Do share a few examples of your typical meals for some more suggestions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I haven't gotten a pull up bar yet, but I may in the future. I'm just trying to work with what I have currently, as I'm on a budget as well now. What exercises should I drop and what are more compounds I could add? The reason I did so much is because I can't really lift heavy for things like squats, so I thought adding more, and adding accessories would help me where I'm lacking. :/

 

Just read this part. You CAN add in some combo exercises using just dumbbells. One from Les Mills...Clean/Press w/squats...

 

Feet shoulder width apart. Can do lots of these so a kind of light weight. Start with weights down by your side, as you pull them up as if you were getting into shoulder press position, do a squat as you move the weights up so that you're in your squat as the dumbbells arrive at your shoulders. Stand up out of your squat as you lower the weights back down (first rep -- arm movement can look sort of like doing hammer curls with a pause at your shoulders.

 

2nd set....after getting down in your squat as the weights reach your shoulders, slight pause, then execute dumbbell press as you stand up and straighten your knees. Squat again as you bring the weights back down to your shoulder, finally, straightening your legs as you lower the lower weights back down to start position. Repeat....

 

3rd set...pause when you get weights overhead following shoulder press...squat again, and then back up..keeping arms up over head, then as you lower weights back down to shoulders squat again...reverse curl back to start...repeat repeat repeat..

 

These should both get you breathing pretty hard as a combo exercise and also exhaust your shoulders while working your legs and core.

 

Notes: During the 'clean' part, work to keep your elbows in. Also during squats portions focus on your form...bending properly with butt sticking out as opposed to bending over at the waist....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carbs prevent the fat you eat from being burnt.

 

I suggest dumping the oils and focus on whole food fats... Hemp seeds, flax seeds, organic avocados from California, etc..

 

Try fasting for 18 hours on a day you don't work. Eat the day before, don't eat anything for breakfast, lunch, etc.. Drink as much water as you feel like. The point of the fasting exercise is to learn when you're really hungry. You'll get a sense of your body from a different perspective. Your journey; your call.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...