Why am I plateaued in gym?

[AnxietyDisord3r]

I'm thinking it's all the stress I'm under sabotaging my gains.

So, I'm in the gym for 20-40 minutes at least 2-3/week. I do treadmill and I do weights. I've mostly been focusing on my upper body although I do some squats and leg presses as well. I've been pushing dumbbells from the floor as recommended here because I had top surgery in May. I do some other exercises as well but this is the one I've been focusing on. I don't do bodyweight any more because I was getting too many muscle spasms and cramps. At first I was making great gains, going from 20lbs per arm to 25 to 30, but I'm stuck at 30. I am trying to get up to 48 reps but I've gone from doing 36 easily to struggling to get to 30. I've tried doing 40lbs to failure to try to stimulate muscle growth but I really didn't see any change. I do 12 reps and then wait 30 secs. It seems like the first 8-10 reps are very easy, but after that 30 second pause I really struggle to the point where I can't lift the weight any more. My breathing gets more difficult and I feel like all my glucose is used up. I've tried eating more an hour before working out without any change. I've also tried eating something as recovery. I've been eating a lot of meat recently so I shouldn't lack for protein.

During this period my T dose went up slightly but it felt like it went down.

I practice good sleep hygiene but seem to suffer anyway due to working some extra hours at work and some GERD I've had recently. But that's only this week and I've been plateau'ed for weeks.

This honestly is reminiscent of my experience in the gym prior to T where progress if any was excruciatingly slow.

[Dena]

There is a sad truth about T and that is not everybody can develop muscles from it. My father, brother and I had relatively slim arms and I could never chin myself or do more than a few pushups. My body appears to be more of a runner's body than a weight lifter's. This could be the reason why you are having difficulty gaining strength and may be better off with endurance instead of bursts of strength.

[FTMax]

What are your goals, aside from increasing the amount of weight you're lifting? Overall fitness, weight loss, physique? I can give better advice if I know specifically what you're working towards. In general, diet and a varied workout routine are what help offer changes to physique. So if you're repeating the same workouts every time you go to the gym, that may be why you've plateau'd and you'll need to incorporate different movements that target different muscles. If your workouts already are varied, nutrition choices are probably where you need to focus.

As far as the fitness aspect and putting up more weight, a consistent strength building program is what I would recommend. There are plenty out there to choose from. StrongLifts 5x5 is what I did to get used to the physical requirements in my current job (I went from no lifting whatsoever to getting my current job where I regularly have to move 200lbs). It is an easy program to do if you have access to a barbell. If you don't, Men's Fitness has a decent dumbbell program here:

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/dumbbell-workout

As far as other factors, getting consistent about your sleep like you mentioned is good. Sleep is vital to muscle recovery. Other things you could think about that are similarly in line with that:

- Are you drinking enough water?
- Is your caloric intake appropriate for your goals, and how did you calculate this?
- What is your meal plan like and are you spacing out your meals appropriately? In that line of thought, are you making smart choices about what kinds of foods to be eating when? (ie. Carbs early in the day, protein post workout, etc.)

If you're overweight or you have a higher body fat percentage, cardio would be much more impactful in terms of seeing a difference in your physique and potentially helping with the shortness of breath when you're getting over exerted. Most of the programs I've looked at that have a diet and exercise component recommend 4 days of lifting (2 upper/2 lower - spaced out) and 3 days of light cardio for people who fit that description.

Again - can give better advice with more details, but hope this helps a bit! I've dropped 40lbs and cut my body fat by 8% getting ready for bottom surgery, so I've definitely been there. Plateaus suck.

[AnxietyDisord3r]

FTMax, you seem to know a lot about this, so maybe you can help.

My bodyfat percentage is quite high, so I do a lot of walking to try to keep my belly down. I'm not really trying to lose weight but I don't want it to go up because it's obviously going to be more fat.

I want to improve my musculature and bulk up a bit, especially my upper body. What kind of movements do you think I should be doing? I'm trying to be really careful because I am prone to getting muscle spasms. That's why I've cooled it on doing pushups for now.

I'm thinking about switching to bicycling to work, do you think that would help?

[becky.rw]

Careful with aerobic exercise if you are trying to build mass...   You can bike and not lose mass, but you kinda need to approach it as an interval experience, where you're either catching your breath/recovery phase, or driving your output well into the 85%+ of max HR range. (a monitor is hugely helpful here, your perception of effort will lie to you, because your brain is built to discourage you from doing exactly what you need to do here.)

On the lifting and building side, always remember, the actual lifting stresses, damages, and provides a stimulus to the muscle.  Sleeping and eating are what build the muscle tissue in response to the stimulus.   Which is why it is so extremely hard to build muscle mass and lose weight.  The general approach in all lifting is to eat well in excess of balance, sleep hard, and lift to a program; then when the build is acceptable, you cut, mostly by spending many hours on a stationary bike and eating steamed chicken breasts to the point of wanting all chickens deleted from the world.

[AnxietyDisord3r]

Well, I was eating good and trying to push the lifting, mostly going for more and more reps but upping the weight once I hit 48 reps, but the sleep has been the fail point in this equation.

FTMax suggested (I think) that my cardiovascular health isn't the best and I think he's right about that.

I've been walking at a speed (usually on treadmill, sometimes I jog a bit too) to get my sweat out but not to exhaust me because I'm not trying to stress things. Maybe HIIT approach would be better?

I haven't made any attempts to 'cut' because I feel like I'm nowhere near my strength goals. I'm embarrassed my how little I can lift. I can move about 50% more than I could pre T. Pre T I had chicken arms. I can't do a single pull up.

[becky.rw]

Maybe HIIT approach would be better?

For building muscle and keeping it, I'd stay away from that low intensity walk on the treadmill, HIIT is much better for your purposes, even if you have to use long recovery intervals.    That's basically how I achieved my first 6 minute mile, was 45 minutes of hard intervals on the track, 3 days a week.   It took, I guess about 4 months, but after the first month or so, the weekly progress was very obvious and sufficiently encouraging to keep me going.  A modern HR monitor is indispensable for this.

You'll burn the same amount of calories, walk/run at anything other than a sprint burns at a nearly uniform rate of 100 kcal/mile traveled for most humans.   treadmill to real world is about a 2% incline for comparison.

I haven't made any attempts to 'cut' because I feel like I'm nowhere near my strength goals. I'm embarrassed my how little I can lift. I can move about 50% more than I could pre T. Pre T I had chicken arms. I can't do a single pull up.

Give it time, when I started as a teen desperate to fit in and not get smushed, it took quite a few months before my base started to change (5'8", 110lbs); I wasn't lifting or eating very effectively though.

nb... I want that 110lb body back SOOOO bad!  lol

[FTMax]

Agree with Becky about HIIT. I think it's a better fit in your situation, and I think you'd be accomplishing a lot more in the same period of time. This site has a list of 3 very easy, no equipment necessary HIIT workouts that are all different lengths of time. I think based on where you've said you're at, starting with the 20 minute workout would be appropriate, and then you could scale up to the 30 minute:

http://dailyburn.com/life/db/hiit-workouts-for-beginners/

I like these because they're all body weight and reps for time. The time doesn't change, so if you're consistent about what you're doing, it's very easy to see improvement each time you do it. Because they incorporate things like squats, push-ups, dips, etc. they may actually help you lift better as well. And I know your focus is on building your upper body, but I've been yelled at recently for excluding muscle groups that I don't want to change (my chest). Apparently not a very healthy idea. So even if you're lifting light on leg days, you should still do them so that they're not being ignored.

The big issue I'm seeing is you've got contradictory goals - you're essentially trying to maintain weight while bulking. Adding mass requires a caloric surplus, which will cause you to gain weight in most cases. There are a lot of different thoughts out there, but the most prevalent in the fitness community is probably the cutting/bulking/maintenance cycle. Essentially you go through a period with your diet and workouts where you're actively trying to generate a caloric deficit to prompt your body to utilize stored fat to make up the difference. Once your body fat percentage has dropped below whatever your threshold is (and it could be a visual threshold if you don't want to measure it), then you'd start eating at a surplus and really focusing on your strength training (remembering to take into account how much you're burning during workouts!) to build lean mass.

I'd switch up your workouts a bit - doing something physically exerting daily for at least half an hour, with equal focus given to all muscle groups and HIIT on days when you're not lifting (or biking to work on those days if HIIT seems daunting or you're worried about muscle spasms). I'd also spend some time looking into body types (endo/ecto/meso) and what considerations each one has in terms of diet choices and exercise. That could help you tailor your workouts more appropriately and develop a sample meal plan that works for you and your goals. You'll probably find a lot of articles specific to competitive bodybuilding - the same thought process applies to average folks looking for a better physique, so don't let that bother you.

[David27]

One thing I like to do is workout on the same types of machines when I'm at the gym. For example use bike brand A each time if possible. Then I track how many calories (intensity) and the distance (speed) the machine says I did. The exact number is not important to me because what I track is the change in distance and calorie burn. Every couple of weeks I try to increase the resistance of the machine while maintaining or increasing the distance traveled. Typically I only do the increase for 30-60 seconds. For example I do 6.5 minutes at 14 resistance then 10.5 minutes at 13 resistance and 4.5 minutes at 12 resistance on the elliptical. Also I give my self days off to do lighter activity such as walking, riding my bike around, and wall ball. Typically I skip cardio 1 day, walk 1 day (20 min) , gym cardio 4-5 days (30 min bike/elliptical), and 1 day to do outside cardio (60+ min). HIIT like everyone mentioned is better for loosing weight, but if it isn't feasible my more endurance focused workout may be useful.

When I'm weight lifting I'm more of a high reps lower weight type guy because I would like better endurance. I don't usually lift legs. I lift 3 days per week for about 20 minutes and I usually do the same exercises. I divide my exercises into two groups easy and challenging. I do challenging lifts with weights that are heavier and in between I do easy lifts. For example I can do shoulder raises with 17.5 lbs and I find that challenging. After those reps I immediately do shoulder flys with the same weight and I find those fairly easy. I do this to build endurance, but also to keep my heart rate up while I'm resting. Also when you build up muscle your spasms should get better. In my case my muscles are less prone to spasms.

Bulking up while loosing weight is difficult. I have been some what doing that although I have not been eating well lately. You will have to be patient, but your strength will get better. Pre-T I was doing shoulder raises, forward and to the side, using 5 lbs X 12 and over time I built up to the 17.5 lbs X 12.

[Deborah]

With high reps like that you are not going to build much mass or strength.     If you can do more than a maximum of 12 reps in one set then your weights are too light to get the results you want.  Ideally, to build raw strength you need to be doing big compound lifts and the weight needs to be heavy enough that you can't do any more than about three sets of five reps each (with long, three to five min rest breaks between each set).  If the weight is heavy enough you will need that long rest.

I highly recommend reading this book for the principals behind it all and for the all out best program you will find anywhere, "Starting Strength", by Mark Rippetoe.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0982522738/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474777200&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=starting+strength+book&dpPl=1&dpID=51MfaFsIdpL&ref=plSrch

[AnxietyDisord3r]

Thank you, Deborah, I think I can see where I am going wrong. I was hoping you would "weigh" in as the resident expert around here.

Guys, I am not trying to "cut" or lose weight. Actually I put on 5 lbs which given how my clothes fit appears to all be fat. Yuck!

[becky.rw]

Don't stress too much about the fat; its nigh impossible to gain JUST muscle mass.  You gain both muscle and fat at the same time; if you want to trim the fat later, you can.

[Deborah]

Thank you, Deborah, I think I can see where I am going wrong. I was hoping you would "weigh" in as the resident expert around here.

Guys, I am not trying to "cut" or lose weight. Actually I put on 5 lbs which given how my clothes fit appears to all be fat. Yuck!

If you don't want to buy the book then the stronglifts 5x5 program mentioned above is almost the same and is free on the internet.  I do think the starting strength program is a little better and the book will make you smart.

This is essentially the same workout that all the big name bodybuilders used back in the day to get strong enough so they could then do the specialized lifts for competitions.

Here is a good review of the book and the program.  http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/starting-strength-review-of-mark-rippetoes-barbell-bible.html

I have done the program myself and it really does work.  You will get stronger on every workout as a beginner for anywhere from six months to a year.  After that, if you are still lifting he has an intermediate book for how to program your workouts for long term improvement.

These are not easy lifts though.  They leave you gasping for air and every once in a while lightheaded.  They hurt while the workout is in progress, LOL, but you always feel really good and powerful afterwards.

It's only three workouts a week, each one lasting about an hour.  Any more that an hour lifting leads to increasingly diminishing returns.

[Deborah]

Why sets of five (heavy) reputations.

Absolute strength is gained by using very low reps (1 to 3) per set, mass is increased with higher reps (10 to 12), and local muscular and systemic endurance is developed with even higher reps (20 +). For the novice, a repetition scheme that is right in the anaerobic middle works best: sets of 5 reps. Fives are close enough to the strength end of the continuum to provide tremendous increases in strength, the primary goal of the novice. Fives are also enough reps to develop a tolerance for elevated work levels, and provide for a good amount of hypertrophy so that muscular weight gain occurs too. This mix of adaptations provides a very good fitness base that allows for progress. Fives are optimal for the novice; they effectively stimulate strength gains and other forms of progress without producing sufficient muscular or neuromuscular exhaustion to cause technique deterioration at the end of the set.

From: Practical Programming for Strength Training, 2nd Edition, Mark Rippetoe & Lon Kilgore with Stef Bradford

[AnxietyDisord3r]

I put the book on hold at the library so hopefully I will have it soon! 

[Deborah]

Check out his forums while you are waiting.  http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/

[FTMax]

If you have a smart phone, there is also a StrongLifts 5x5 app that is very nice as well

[AnxietyDisord3r]

Hey,

It seems like I can deadlift a lot more than I can squat. Is that normal?

[becky.rw]

It seems like I can deadlift a lot more than I can squat. Is that normal?

Yes.  Especially if you are talking a squat with clean form.   Deadlift should be your heaviest lift.

[Deborah]

Deadlift should always be the heaviest lift unless you are doing something wrong.  Anyone that can squat heavier is most likely only doing a half squat and not going all the way down.


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