Why aren’t I gaining muscle as quick as others?
I have been lifting for a year now and don’t seem to gain muscle as fast as other people. Well to start it off, I’m now a 16 year old who has the normal diet of a 16 year old. I eat a ton like any other kid but have a low fat percentage. My first month of weight lifting i went easy to get my muscles used to it. Then i started becoming more serious and tried harder workouts… with more reps and sets. My workout consisted of 3 sets of bench presses, 6 reps each, then 3 sets of dumb bell flies 6 reps each. Then i moved on to my shoulders and did the same with sets and reps. Then i did triceps with the same amount of sets and reps and did each twice like everything else. The next day i worked my lats and biceps, doing 3 sets 6 reps, then 3 sets 6 reps again. I never really saw a difference in my body until three months after. My dad always told me it was because my body is still focusing on growing so its harder to gain muscle.
After 3 months of weight lifting summer began and i did the same workouts. Then i decided to do cross country and met good friends who also weight lifted too. One of my friends, a wrestler, gave me a different workout that seemed to make a difference. It consisted of 25 pushups, 25 incclined pushups, 25 declined pushups. Then 3 sets of pull ups as many as i can. Then it worked my biceps doing 3 sets of curls with the bar 6 reps each. Then 3 sets of curls with dumbbells 6 reps each. Then i did bench press, 3 sets 6 reps each. Then dumb bell flies for 3 sets 6 reps. After that it worked my shoulders doing flies on each side, 3 sets and 6 reps each twice. Then it worked my triceps doing the rope pull downs 3 sets 6 reps each. And to finish it off i did an ab workout that just takes too long to describe. I continued this workout for about 2 months and i noticed more of a difference in my muscle than before, but nothing drastic. However, i noticed my abs had changed the most and had no idea why. Everything else was slow in muscle building but my abs seemed to gain muscle faster because in about 3 months i was close to a 6 pack.
After cross country ended, i began wrestling. I learned alot about fitness and what excercises work what muscles and why i do some muscles before others. I also noticed other people who lifted weights less than me but were much stronger. They were a year or two older than me. I asked my friend again, whos dad was a doctor and he gave his son work out plans. I always asked him for his plans because they worked the best. Instead of working all the muscles in one day, then the next, and then a break one day, his dad made him work some muscles one day, then others the next… and repeat. I have been following that because most of the people seem to do that instead of all the muscles in one day.
So the whole point of writing this thing is for me to know what i’m doing wrong and what i need to do to see faster muscle gaining. Some reasons here that aren’t that problem are… I know I have the right posture when working out and I lift everyday and take a break once a week.
Some reasons that i think are the problem but may not be… My nutrition plan, I’m a 16 year old and my body is still growing, or I’m just a guy who doesn’t have the hormones to promote good muscles.
So please tell me what might be wrong and what i should focus on.
Also, here is my progress from weight lifting in over a year’s work. (my main muscles)
Bench press: 60 Lb. to 135 lb.
Curls: 15 Lb. to 25 Lb.
Related posts:
Loading ...
Your not doing enough reps. When I was 16 I locked up for the first time and all I did was pushups in my cell for almost 3 months straight. I went from average size to being built like a mini john rambo. At 144 pounds I could out lift guys in shape twice my size. I recommend a military workout. Do hundreds of pushups and situps in sets of 25-50. Also you should run over hilly trails. This will make you stronger than UFC fighters but without the ugly huge frames people get by just lifting weights. To make it all more difficult use a pack full of dive pearls or a weight jacket. You need to do full body workouts and do it in a way that you cant remember easily how many hundreds of reps you do while doing it.
A common mistake people make when they work-out is they do not let their body rest. Some muscles require longer time to heal then others. Example, Your legs would take a longer time then abs to heal. Abs heal very quickly therefore you could workout abs everyday. The bigger the muscle the longer it would take to heal.
Make sure you get enough sleep every night. It is during sleep where your body heals itself. Make sure you get between 6-8 hours of sleep every night.
Make sure you take in a lot of proteins.Your could get protein powder at your local diet store and what it will help you do is bulk-up.
Try working these muscles together
Chest, back, abs.
Arms, shoulders abs.
Legs, abs.
You seem to know what you are doing for weight training so I am not going to go into any more details. Just remember protein, sleep and resting the muscle group you worked out.