Current Events > Weight training, but no weight gain?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I do a lot of reps, and I am seeing muscle growth. But weight is actually down.

If you wanna gain weight, do less reps for more weight. And eat more.

You could be losing fat.

Probably exerting more calories than what you're taking in. Maybe up you calorie intake.

Use less reps and move more weight. Anything over 6 reps is counter productive to muscle growth.

Need to eat a lot of high quality foods to build more muscle.

Body recomposition is an extremely complex process, but if youre aiming for hypertrophic development, high reps is a bad strategy.

The biggest factor is how much you eat. You have to eat way more than you normally would.

Lots of reps means you aren't lifting at your max. High reps and low weight = loss, low reps and high weight = gain.

You are probably not eating enough. If you are losing weight, you lose strength as well. Thats normal. Only time thats not an exception is during the newbie gains period.

TC didn't ask but since everyone's been chimimg in, I thought I'd reference an expert on reps:

https://athleanx.com/articles/how-to-perform-reps-for-most-muscle-growth

Are you just starting out? That's not uncommon then. How long has this been going on? What is the weight difference? How many do you consider high reps?

There's a lot of factors here and it could be a combination of a bunch of stuff. Long story short, if you look in a mirror and like the differences that you're seeing and you aren't hurting yourself, then you're doing fine. You can address other issues later.

You're toning your muscles right now and bringing out the definition in them.

As everyone else is saying, you have to intake more. You cant gain weight if you're not putting enough mass into your body.

A_Good_Boy posted...

Use less reps and move more weight. Anything over 6 reps is counter productive to muscle growth.

This isn't really true. You can still gain muscle with more than 6 reps. The main thing is that if TC wants to gain muscle mass, he shouldn't be eating a calorie deficit each day.

Some info on this stuff for you TC:

https://www.builtlean.com/high-reps-vs-low-reps/

I do about 20 reps on single arms. 45 reps on a bench press variation with a dumbbell.

Need more protein consumption

coolcono posted...

I do a lot of reps, and I am seeing muscle growth. But weight is actually down.

This is possible, especially if you are new to lifting. If you eat a little more than the calories it takes to maintain, and in some cases, at maintenance. But one can't do this forever and will need to bulk to gain mass for strength and muscle mass.

I'm assuming you are actually lifting more too, right?

A_Good_Boy posted...

Use less reps and move more weight. Anything over 6 reps is counter productive to muscle growth.

Yeah, I don't know you are talking about... 5-6 reps is geared towards powerlifting/strength and 8-12 is a good balance between strength and mass. More than 12 is for endurance.

Arcanine2009 posted...

This is possible, especially if you are new to lifting. If you eat a little more than the calories it takes to maintain, and in some cases, at maintenance. But one can't do this forever and will need to bulk to gain mass for strength and muscle mass.

I'm assuming you are actually lifting more too, right?

I jumped from a 50 pound dumbbell to a 70 pound dumbbell.

coolcono posted...

I jumped from a 50 pound dumbbell to a 70 pound dumbbell.

That's good. You likely are gaining more muscle and strength from that. Also, your central nervous system is getting used to the exercise.

You most likely shed bodyfat which made the muscle you already had more visible. Generally you can't build muscle optimally while in a calorie deficient unless you are extremely overweight.

coolcono posted...

I do about 20 reps on single arms. 45 reps on a bench press variation with a dumbbell.

45 reps? Are you talking total? Or is that per set? I know I said that there's nothing wrong with doing more reps, but if you're reaching 45 in a single set. You could definitely turn up the intensity. And the last 1 or 2 reps of your set should be a struggle.

NoxObscuras posted...

45 reps? Are you talking total? Or is that per set? I know I said that there's nothing wrong with doing more reps, but if you're reaching 45 in a single set. You could definitely turn up the intensity. And the last 1 or 2 reps of your set should be a struggle.

This.

I'd aim for 8-12 reps at least, TC.

Eat the smaller dumbells.