Working Out But Not Gaining Muscle: Here's Why
Working Out But Not Gaining Muscle: Intro
So, you're currently working out but not gaining muscle.
Well, luckily for you, throughout this “Working out but not gaining muscle” article, we're going to discuss common questions and topics such as:
Why you're working out but not gaining muscle.
"Why am I not getting stronger?"
How do you know if your muscles are growing?
What are the signs of gaining muscle?
How to look stronger.
And more!
By the end of this "Why am I not getting stronger" article, you'll understand that the muscle gain process is impacted by various factors such as workout routines, nutrition, recovery, and individual differences.
So sit tight, and let's get stuck in.
Note:
This article about why you think you can't gain muscle does not consider medical conditions. That's different from what I'm qualified to speak about.
Assessing Your Workout Routine
Regarding how to look more muscular, depending on your experience levels, workout routines will significantly impact how well you do.
Mostly because whilst you're in your earlier days of resistance training, you can easily get away with following a poor workout routine and still see success, as your body will be susceptible to muscle growth - hence the term "newbie gains". Although the more experience you accumulate over time, the more a quality workout routine will matter for why you can or can't gain muscle.
Anyway, there are many options for picking which one to follow.
A few splits you've probably heard about are:
"Bro splits", e.g., arm day, leg day, back day.
Push, pull, legs.
Upper and lower.
Truth be told, for all levels of experience, the workout split you should go for will depend on a few things, including, but not limited to, the frequency you can work out, your experience with working out, how much time you have to work out and what you enjoy most.
Another critical factor to remember is that you'd ideally want to work each body part twice a week, which is one of many reasons I wouldn't recommend a bro split. Ironically, this is one of the most common splits amongst males starting out.
Furthermore, when it comes to your workout routine, and generally speaking from over ten years of experience within the fitness industry and training various backgrounds of people, including my Kairos Online members, some of whom also presented the same question of "Why am I not getting stronger?" before starting with me, there's a recurring theme:
Again, males often start with "bro splits". There's also a tendency to skip legs.
Females often start by exclusively training the lower body. When they do train the upper body, they'll often skip the chest.
Generalising? Yes, but again, this isn't without good reason or experience. This is a common theme encountered in over ten years of industry involvement.
"But Leo, what's this got to do with anything?"
This has been highlighted in this section of the "Working out but not gaining muscle" article because you will only be as strong as your weakest link.
If you consistently skip out muscle groups, then given sufficient time, your chances of getting injured will increase dramatically due to muscle imbalances.
This then means that if you're injured, you'll either:
Have to modify your training a bunch.
Take a break from working out, which, therefore, will have a significant impact on why you can't gain muscle.
So moving forward:
Pick a workout routine that allows you to train all body parts twice per week, with "Upper", "Lower", and "Full Body" being a personal favourite for those who attend the gym 3x weekly.
Train all muscle groups. Of course, you can prioritise some over others but don't skip any entirely.
Consider downloading the free workout plan on my website by clicking here.
Training Volume
Training volume is a critical factor in building muscle and will undoubtedly help when it comes to how to look more muscular. This can be covered via both frequency and sets. I will mainly speak about the total number of sets within this section, as workout frequency was already covered in the prior section of this "Why you can't gain muscle" article.
So, how many sets should you use to optimise muscle gain when working out? This might differ from what you want to hear, but it depends.
It depends on you as a person because everyone is different. By this, I mean different life stressors, genetics, experiences with working out, and more. So the only way to be absolutely sure is via trial and error.
Although a few guidelines you'd do well to consider that the research currently suggests are:
Beginners would do well to aim for roughly 10 to 12 weekly sets per muscle group.
If you're past the newbie gains phase, 10 to 20 working sets per week per muscle group are optimal for muscle gain. This includes advanced individuals too.
Maintaining what you've built is much easier, with some research showing you only need up to 1/9th of the volume you typically do.
This nicely brings up the next point: that more set volume doesn't necessarily need to go up the more experienced you become. In fact, since you're lifting more weight, that naturally increases the amount of volume you're doing.
Before moving on to the next section of this "Working out but not gaining muscle" article, the most critical point for you to remember is that the amount of volume you should aim for ultimately comes down to your goals, recovery, and lifestyle. For example, someone with a busy job and stressful life will likely not be able to recover and progress from doing a high-volume program compared to someone with a relatively stress-free life. Individual context is vital here.
Note:
The caveat for the guidelines mentioned above is that you want to ensure that these are all hard sets and you're taking the muscle very close or to failure to provide a proper stimulus.
The Role of Progressive Overload in Muscle Gain
If you follow me on Instagram @leoalvespt, you'll know the progressive overload drum is something I beat often.
Why? It's super essential and something you're likely overlooking. It's excellent turning up to the gym and getting a workout done - but to progress over the long term, you need to implement forms of progression into what you're doing and to play devil's advocate - how are you doing that right now?
A progressive overload is non-negotiable and can come in various forms, including lifting slightly more weight, doing more reps, having more control over the movement and increasing timing in movements that permit, e.g., the plank.
I'll attach some images explaining the concept in slightly more detail.
Are You Training with Sufficient Intensity and Correct Form?
Suppose all my experience tells me one thing about why you're working out but not gaining muscle: most beginners at the gym underestimate their strength - likely, meaning you do too, and therefore, you aren't training with sufficient intensity.
Now, it's okay not to lift relatively heavy when you're aiming to gain familiarity with a new exercise, or you're doing an exercise for the first time in a long time - although if you've been resistance training for at least a few months now, then coupled with ensuring that you're progressively overloading, you'll also want to ensure that you're taking sets at least close to failure.
Failure, in this case, is a good thing. It means you're pushing yourself sufficiently. There are two different types of failure in the world of lifting weights, which are:
Muscular Failure.
This occurs when the targeted muscle group can no longer complete another repetition, regardless of whether you're using correct or poor form. It is important to note that training to muscular failure can be intense and should be implemented with caution, taking into consideration individual experience. This style of failure is one I would generally not recommend.
Technical Failure.
This is when you can no longer maintain proper form during an exercise, even if you still have the physical capability to perform additional repetitions with a decreased range of motion or poor form. At this point, continuing the exercise with compromised form can increase the risk of injury.
Technical failure is the style of failure you'd ideally aim to be chasing, especially if you're looking to move from a beginner to an intermediate.
Anyway, if you're asking yourself, "Why am I not getting stronger?" then from here on, remember three things;
Again, many beginners, potentially yourself included, underestimate your strength levels. With the correct form, you may need to lift heavier than you are now to get to the goal physique you have in mind.
'Lifting heavier' shouldn't be something that ever puts you off, as 'heavy' is relative to you.
Whenever you've finished your set, ask yourself how many reps you felt you had left - if it was three or more reps - you went too light. That was a warm-up. Grab heavier weights and redo the set again.
Annoying? In the short term, perhaps. But these adjustments will be the most significant contributor to your progress over the long term.
Remember that the aim is to at least get close to technical failure.
Start logging your workouts. If you're not logging, you're making it up as you go along, potentially robbing yourself of progress. Remembering how much weight you did for X exercise on Y set throughout many workouts is impossible. However, this will be covered in more depth later.
The Role of Rest and Recovery in Muscle Building
It's easy to say that you're going to work out every day when you're at your most motivated, but here's a promise - if you manage to go to the gym every single damn day and weight train for 45 minutes plus, then you're not training hard enough when you're there, which could easily be a factor as to why you're working out but not gaining muscle - you're doing way too much.
Think of it like this, if you were training hard enough, you'd be taking those rest days.
Plus, it's important to mention that when you work out at the gym, lift weights, and progressively overload - you're tearing your muscles down and beating them up.
Outside the gym, your muscles recover and grow stronger on rest days, with adequate protein intake, sleep, and intelligent programming.
So the next time you're being super consistent at the gym, don't hesitate to take that rest day to ensure you progress over the long term. You have many other responsibilities, whether it's work, family, or friends.
Note 1:
Suppose you're struggling with workout consistency; in that case, extra rest days should be the last of your worries, as you'd already be taking rest days with all the infrequent days of working out.
Note 2:
Although rare, I've encountered individuals, potentially yourself included, who'll speak about not taking rest days like it's a badge of honour. This is a silly approach. More isn't better. Better is better.
If you could get better results by working out without any rest days, I would've done it by now and instructed some Kairos Online members to do the same thing.
Overcoming Plateaus and Adjusting Your Program
Workout plateaus for why you can’t gain muscle can happen for a variety of reasons, such as but not limited to:
You're not consuming adequate calories (more on this later).
You're not consuming adequate protein (also more on this later).
You're not progressively overloading.
You're not applying any novelty to your training, and you've been doing the same exercises and workouts for several months.
You're past the newbie gains phase, meaning you could initially get away with making progress from a poor workout program, but now that's no longer the case.
And considering we'll be covering the first two later and the fact that the subject of progressive overload has already been covered too, within this section of the "How to look stronger" article, we'll expand on the fourth and fifth points.
So, here's the thing when it comes to the fourth point; when you repeatedly do the same workout plan for months, your muscles eventually grow used to what you've been doing. There comes a point where the best thing you can do to continue progressing are small adjustments, such as aiming to work within different rep ranges and slightly different variations of specific movement patterns.
Take this practical example below of two full body workouts that you could effortlessly transition into and continue to make tremendous progress on your how to look more muscular quest:
Prior full body workout:
Romanian Deadlift for 3 sets at 4 to 6 reps
Forward Lunges for 3 sets at 4 to 6 reps
Dumbbell Row for 3 sets at 4 to 6 reps
Dumbell Shoulder Press for 3 sets at 4 to 6 reps
Barbell Chest Press for 3 sets at 4 to 6 reps
New full body workout:
Conventional Deadlift for 3 sets at 10 to 12 reps
Reverse Lunges for 3 sets at 10 to 12 reps
Barbell Row for 3 sets at 10 to 12 reps
Dumbbell Arnold Press for 3 sets at 10 to 12 reps
Dumbbell Chest Press for 3 sets at 10 to 12 reps
Note how both workout sessions aren't worlds apart. Both include a hip-hinge, lunge, row, and horizontal and vertical push. The only difference between the two is the desired rep range and a slightly different variation for each, e.g., Romanian Deadlift to the Conventional Deadlift for the hip-hinge movement pattern.
These adjustments may seem small, but they're enough to keep the ball rolling regarding how to look more muscular.
Now regarding the fifth point, you can only get away with either not following a workout plan, and making it up as you go along or following a poorly structured workout plan for so long before you start to plateau.
So moving forward, if you haven't already, you can grab a free full body workout plan from my website by clicking here. Following this will give you more structure and clarity for your progress.
Tracking and Monitoring Progress for Results
If you're currently not tracking and monitoring your progress, but then you continuously ask yourself, "Why am I not getting stronger?" then it's because of precisely that - you aren't monitoring anything. Therefore you can't know for sure what does or doesn't work.
So moving forward, here are some points to consider when tracking and monitoring your progress.
Logging Your Workouts
"Why would I need a logbook, Leo?"
You'll need a logbook so that you can track your workouts. This is preferable over using your phone because you won't have social media distract you at just a single click away. Not that you 'have' to use a logbook, but it could be an excellent tool to opt for.
Fewer distractions = more intensity = more improvements.
Although if you prefer using your phone and can't see yourself using a pen and notepad at the gym, feel free to continue. I feel there's nothing better than some classic pen and paper.
Logging can be great because if you're not logging, how can you guarantee progression in your workouts and, therefore, be sure that you'll get closer to how to look more muscular in the most efficient way possible? You can't. Nor can you solely rely on memory.
Because remembering every single weight you used, for every set, for the specific amount of reps, for every exercise you did over the past few weeks is impossible. You doing all that means you're guessing, and if you're guessing - you're missing out on progress.
Logging also allows you to ensure progressive overload and see which exercises aren't progressing that you could swap out.
Scale Weight
Consistently taking scale weight can help measure muscle gain by ensuring you're not gaining body weight too fast. Because chances are, if you're rapidly gaining weight every week, you could be gaining excess weight in fat. Therefore this could be an indicator that your calorie surplus is too aggressive.
The ideal way to take scale weight is by:
Taking it every day. Because more data means you have more accuracy. You would then figure out your average weight from within each week.
Take scale weight in consistent conditions, e.g., first thing in the morning, after using the toilet in a fasted state. This allows you to eliminate any external variables that can and will impact your scale weight.
You then compare your average from week 1 to your average within week 2, and so forth.
Body Composition Scales
Before moving on to the nutrition section of this "How to look stronger" article, it's important to also speak about body composition scales, which measure body fat percentage, muscle mass, weight, and other biometric data points. Although these can have a time and place, I'm not the biggest fan because many people, potentially yourself included, use these as a gold standard - although you have to understand that these scales also have their flaws.
Because even though it can potentially provide some helpful information, your hydration levels, food intake, whether you need to use the toilet, etc., will impact the result it gives you, so unless you're taking it at the same time every day, in consistent circumstances, which is tough to do considering it's unlikely you'll own one of these at home, then you'll want to take readings with a pinch of salt.
On the other hand, if you own one at home, don't compare back-to-back readings. As mentioned above, always look for longer-term trends, e.g., week to week or month.
Are You Consuming Adequate Calories?
It's interesting because there are three common ways this calories section of the "How do you know if your muscles are growing" article could potentially be taken down:
You're scared of consuming too many calories because you fear you will gain fat. So you often stay within a calorie deficit, where you feel safest.
You understand that consuming more calories is necessary. However, you go way overboard with it and don't have an upper limit. You associate more calories with more muscle gain.
You have no regard for your nutrition at all.
You'll want to be mindful of these mistakes regarding why you think you can't gain muscle and how to look stronger.
The ideal environment for your body to be in regarding muscle growth is a slight calorie surplus.
Here's an analogy for you;
Think of your muscles as a flourishing garden you want to cultivate and grow. Just like plants need water, sunlight, and nutrients, your muscles require the right fuel for optimal progression.
Think of your calories as essential nutrients, providing the energy and building blocks for muscle development.
Suppose you, as a gardener, provide just enough water for the garden (maintenance calories). In that case, the plants will survive but won't experience significant growth. However, when you generously water the garden, give them the vitamins necessary, and place them in sunlight (a slight calorie surplus), the plants receive an abundance of nourishment, leading them to flourish.
It's the same way that being in a slight calorie surplus supports your muscle-building journey, promoting optimal protein synthesis, enhanced recovery, and efficient muscle growth.
So remember that just as a well-tended garden will flourish, your muscles will also blossom with strength and size when you supply them with the extra calories they need to thrive and reach their full potential.
Although, of course, you can overdo it too, because just like a skilled gardener who maintains the perfect balance for their plants and flowers and doesn't go overkill on the water, sun, and vitamins, monitoring your calorie surplus ensures that your muscles grow steadily, avoiding excessive fat gain and yielding the physique you desire.
If you need help determining how many calories to aim for when building muscle, click here for my calorie calculator.
Are You Consuming Adequate Protein?
Bringing us nicely to the next section of "Working out but not gaining muscle"; protein intake, which I commonly find my Kairos Online members struggle with before starting with me.
Your protein intake is crucial when it comes to building muscle. The reason why you want to maximise protein intake whilst building muscle is due to several factors:
Protein is the building block for muscle. If you lack protein, you'll have a tough time building muscle; worse, you may even lose muscle depending on the severity of how much you're chronically under-consuming.
As mentioned previously, the ideal environment for muscle growth is a slight calorie surplus, and if your protein intake is inadequate whilst in a calorie surplus, this will result in unnecessary fat gain.
Protein helps with muscle recovery and growth.
Protein helps with feeling fuller for longer too, which helps because if you consistently walk around hungrier than necessary, then this could result in the consumption of excess calories, fats, and carbohydrates - likely leading to more fat gain.
Not to mention the abundance of other health benefits protein intake comes with, e.g., healthier skin, hair, and nails.
So overall, how much protein should you aim for? Well, you'd do well to either aim for a target of either:
0.7-1g per lb of your bodyweight
A gram per centimetre of your height
Start with whichever one feels less overwhelming.
So overall, if you feel like you can't gain muscle until now, you know what to do if you've not been paying attention to your protein intake.
Pro tips:
- Ensure you have a protein source at each meal - about 30g minimum is a great target.
- Front-load most protein at breakfast, so you're not playing catch up throughout the day.
- Unable to stomach some sources of protein? Opt for a powdered protein or a protein bar.
- If you get bored, then start varying sources.
Genetics Cannot be Overlooked
I hate to say it because it's often used as a scapegoat for why you think you can't gain muscle and a way out for when the going gets tough. However, it'd also be wrong for me to omit it entirely; genetics.
Here's what should be made clear about genetics; genetics isn't to blame if you're not gaining muscle.
If you're not gaining anything, it'll be due to workout planning, nutrition, or a lack of consistency. Perhaps even all three. Genetics won't stop you to that much of an extent.
The reason it's being bought up is because of the off chance you are building muscle; however, you're frustrated at your "lack of progress", whereas you're actually doing fine. You're only not pleased because you're comparing yourself to people around you with superior muscle-building genetics. This could be in-person or, even worse, across social media.
Accept that when it comes to in-person, and even when everything is matched, e.g., workout programming, nutrition, and consistency levels, some people will have an easier time building muscle - it is what it is.
Although social media is even more of a slippery slope. First, you must remember that social media pushes only the top 1% of physiques, and therefore muscle-building genetics, to the explore page. Secondly, more people are taking steroids behind closed doors than you think, all whilst being dishonest about it too.
Remember, if you are making progress, that's all that matters. If you're getting frustrated, feel free to look at ways of optimising your approach, but realise that continuously comparing yourself to the next person will likely only do more harm.
Seeking Professional Guidance: When to Consult a Fitness Expert
While embarking on a fitness journey, knowing when to seek the assistance of a fitness expert, e.g., myself, can be a game-changer for achieving your health and fitness goals.
Now, you could potentially think something along the lines of…
"Leo, of course, you'd say that. You're a coach. We're not falling for that sales tactic."
To that, there are two things I can say;
I know the value of what a personal trainer can do, so much so that I've hired personal trainers and online coaches to educate myself and help me continue making progress. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't do otherwise. That's how much I know my service is worthwhile and a long-term investment.
Good personal trainers possess knowledge, experience, and expertise in designing personalised workout plans and nutrition strategies and addressing specific challenges.
If you are new to exercise, have specific fitness goals, or face obstacles in your progress, a coach can provide valuable guidance and motivation. Coaches can also assess your fitness level, tailor workouts to your abilities, and ensure proper form and technique, reducing the risk of injuries.
Embracing the support of a coach can empower you to make the most of your fitness journey, unlock your full potential, help keep you accountable and achieve long-lasting, sustainable results for a healthier and fitter lifestyle. Not reaching out to one could be what's ultimately going to keep holding you back.
Click here to enquire about working together and becoming a Kairos Online member.
Conclusion
Before finishing this "Working out but not gaining muscle" article, it's important to emphasise that patience and persistence are essential when building muscle.
Once you've passed your newbie gains phase, gaining muscle becomes a more challenging process that continuously requires more consistency and a thoughtful approach.
Understand that this journey takes time, and that's okay because if it was easy, it wouldn't feel as rewarding once you did achieve it.
Otherwise, that's it. I hope this helped.
Speak soon,
Coach Leo
P.S. If you found this article helpful, please share it with at least one other person you know. I'd appreciate that immensely, and I'm sure they will too.
