After going to the gym, the muscles get bigger for a couple days, but if I don't work out again for a while (ie. a week), they get smaller again.
Is this an issue about muscle mass and/or diet? I mentioned diet because I am a hardgainer type, and can't gain weight that easily. I want to keep that muscle size and grow them bigger, and not decline much. Is the only way to keep the size to consistently go to the gym? Sometimes I get too tired from work / school to dedicate much time to the gym.
Muscle size ups and downs
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HOUSTON TEXAN
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Christopheel
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Sounds like a diet problem.
You will get some anabolic growth for about 2-3 days dpending on Muscle size, as the fibres will need good time to repair, and during such time will respond to things like Thyroid GH releases, especially during sleep, and also from Nutrition, helping to allow recovery, binding together and possible strengthing of the fibres and microtears.
However after that time, insufficient diet could yield Catabolism, where the muscles have slighty progress ot a level you don't sustain.
Catabolism or Atrophy eventually will happen to some degree, and potantiall after a 3 day period, it may set in anyway, as a week could be long enough to start Atrophy, depnding on the way you train, how hard, what ways, volume, etc etc, in conjunction with how much growth % you get after a workout.
However diet can reduce the atrophy you get, after muscle recovery is 100%, and for about the 3-4 days prior to the next workout, and therefore help to promote more gains.
Fact is though it's almost 99.99% certain atrophy of a muscle trainined a week apart will never occur. Even big guys who do stuff like 12-15 sets on Chest, probably get some regardless of diet and Protein consumption, but it's most likely for them, along with diet, 3 steps forward 1 step back, so overall good net increases.
So diet definitely needs attention. If you change training, you may risk overtraining / going stale, or cutting effectiveness, therefore giving you a lower % PWO growth, and slowing your progress.
You will get some anabolic growth for about 2-3 days dpending on Muscle size, as the fibres will need good time to repair, and during such time will respond to things like Thyroid GH releases, especially during sleep, and also from Nutrition, helping to allow recovery, binding together and possible strengthing of the fibres and microtears.
However after that time, insufficient diet could yield Catabolism, where the muscles have slighty progress ot a level you don't sustain.
Catabolism or Atrophy eventually will happen to some degree, and potantiall after a 3 day period, it may set in anyway, as a week could be long enough to start Atrophy, depnding on the way you train, how hard, what ways, volume, etc etc, in conjunction with how much growth % you get after a workout.
However diet can reduce the atrophy you get, after muscle recovery is 100%, and for about the 3-4 days prior to the next workout, and therefore help to promote more gains.
Fact is though it's almost 99.99% certain atrophy of a muscle trainined a week apart will never occur. Even big guys who do stuff like 12-15 sets on Chest, probably get some regardless of diet and Protein consumption, but it's most likely for them, along with diet, 3 steps forward 1 step back, so overall good net increases.
So diet definitely needs attention. If you change training, you may risk overtraining / going stale, or cutting effectiveness, therefore giving you a lower % PWO growth, and slowing your progress.
for someone who finds it hard to put on / hold muscle, frequency should be your focus over intensity / wt used...while training you provide the stimulis for muscle growth...depending on your nutrition and rest post training, hopefully the muscle fully recovers and is ready to go again 48hrs later...any later and this you risk your newly stimulated muscles shrinking back to their size from not being stmulated again..remember 'use it or lose it"...this is why full body workouts every second day is the best way to go for 95% of the population
if nutrition or recovery is not adequate then atrophy will more than likely occur before your next session and you'll simply grow, shrink, grow, shrink etc spinning your wheels and getting no where
if nutrition or recovery is not adequate then atrophy will more than likely occur before your next session and you'll simply grow, shrink, grow, shrink etc spinning your wheels and getting no where
this is exactly what happened to me at some time in the past when i was not paying much attention to nutrition (the only thing i did was eating frequently enough). At that time i was isolating body parts. How more of a fool could i be.... but it's not only fault, it is that the trainers in gym give you routines which are 80% isolation so that you don't wonder what all these machines they have are for.
major fault is that i didn't become an active member in this forum earlier where everything i've tried works.
So, i'm currently able to sustain muscle mass and lose body fat by weightlifting only twice a week (chad waterbury's 10x3 for fat loss).
When i try to bulk up again, we'll see how things go.
I read somewhere that recovery peaks 24h after training and is sustained till 48h when it starts to drop (is that true?). But when you are doing full body workouts 3/week i suppose that if your diet is right, you are always progressing. (???)
major fault is that i didn't become an active member in this forum earlier where everything i've tried works.
So, i'm currently able to sustain muscle mass and lose body fat by weightlifting only twice a week (chad waterbury's 10x3 for fat loss).
When i try to bulk up again, we'll see how things go.
I read somewhere that recovery peaks 24h after training and is sustained till 48h when it starts to drop (is that true?). But when you are doing full body workouts 3/week i suppose that if your diet is right, you are always progressing. (???)
yes it's true...if recovery methods are adequate than you should have recovered in 48hrs after each session (muscle repair, nervous system etc) so once it has recovered it needs to be stimulated again or it will slowly start to shrink back to regular size
3/week is good but every second day is probably a little better if you can swing it
3/week is good but every second day is probably a little better if you can swing it
I might be overtraining a little bit, because arms and chest usually cannot recover within 48 hours, but more likely around 72 hours. From what I picked up in this thread, I should focus more on frequency and not intensity (swanso5), and I have to do full body workouts instead of isolating parts too much (HOUSTON TEXAN, ballas38, swanso5). Thanks Christopheel for your ideas about nutrition and poor workout plan.
I think another problem is that I'm not getting adequate rest. I can only sleep about 4-6 hours a night, mostly due to workload, so Thyroid GH releases cannot occur as frequently (Boss Man). So more sleep is required too right Boss Man?
I think another problem is that I'm not getting adequate rest. I can only sleep about 4-6 hours a night, mostly due to workload, so Thyroid GH releases cannot occur as frequently (Boss Man). So more sleep is required too right Boss Man?
GH release normally occurs for about 2 hours at night, so getting 6 hours sleep is not going to affect that I don't think, unless it's time released, as opposed to occuring for 2 hours straight, and I don't know for sure which.
Though you could be gettimg more sleep.
You might be wise to try something like Glutamine as an option, assuming there's no real issues with the bed you sleep in.
Though you could be gettimg more sleep.
You might be wise to try something like Glutamine as an option, assuming there's no real issues with the bed you sleep in.
yeah a combination of all of them for sure...most important one is sleep at the moment though
follow this:
- train mon/wed/fri
- compound exercises only
- 12 sets per workout max
- 1hr per workout max
- 15 calories per pound of bodyweight
- 7hrs of sleep every night minimum
nothing fancy for now just change your behavioural patterns a little to get used to it and give your body a chance to "catch up" to the demands you're putting on it
follow this:
- train mon/wed/fri
- compound exercises only
- 12 sets per workout max
- 1hr per workout max
- 15 calories per pound of bodyweight
- 7hrs of sleep every night minimum
nothing fancy for now just change your behavioural patterns a little to get used to it and give your body a chance to "catch up" to the demands you're putting on it
Oh I am doing legs for sure, but just not as frequent as upper body. I just don't like the feeling where legs feel wobbly after working out lol.
I bought some mass gain drink at GNC yesterday. Hopefully it'll be effective. After working out for months and eating more, I still haven't gained much weight.
I bought some mass gain drink at GNC yesterday. Hopefully it'll be effective. After working out for months and eating more, I still haven't gained much weight.
Thats what I'd say, when you work out your muscles get torn up and they swell a bit. What you're experiencing is normal and it's a sign that your workout is doing its job.Boss Man wrote:Sounds like a diet problem.
You will get some anabolic growth for about 2-3 days dpending on Muscle size, as the fibres will need good time to repair
Muscles actually gain mass, when they repair, not when you work out.