How to explain an increase in lifts with no body changes?

I started lifting 6 months ago and made big progress on all my lifts, but barely no changes on my body.

Beyond my case, I noticed that some "skyrocketed" in only a few months and others, in spite of several years of practice and great performances, always had a very plain physique. How can you explain this?

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  1. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    In the beginning all your strength gains can be explained by a nervous system adaptation

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      I thought this would apply only for the first month

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        It varies from person to person i guess

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          Is it still possible that after 6 months my gains are still CNS adaptation?

          • 1 year ago
            Anonymous

            No, it's not this:

            In the beginning all your strength gains can be explained by a nervous system adaptation

            guy doesn't know what he is saying. Post before and after pic and your lifts before and after, you might either not be able to notice your changes or your might just not be getting as strong as you think

            • 1 year ago
              Anonymous

              shut up man

            • 1 year ago
              Anonymous
              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                If that's actual, the pic on the right is quite obviously thicker than the left. You can see the shoulders are much more rounded on the outside, biceps/triceps just thicker, definition of any kind beginning in the chest.

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                Yes, left-hand side picture was me in August (before starting lifting, I started in September), right-hand side picture was end of Februrry

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                It’s like I said you’ve made gain just can’t notice it, your chest, and arms are bigger, shoulders have more pop to them, you also have some chest definition beginning to come on the right. How much have your lifts improved?

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                Bench press: 20kg (empty bar) -> 55kg
                Squat: 40kg -> 90kg
                Lat pulldown: 20kg -> 59kg
                Cable row: 20kg -> 50kg
                Pull ups: none -> 10/9/7/6
                OHP : 10kg -> 30kg

                I do not deadlift, I feel very uncomfortable doing this exercise and I have 0 grip

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                If you can do that many pullups then you can obviously deadlift properly...

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                FulL Rom pullups including dead hang?
                Can't really believe that numbers

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                his form must be garbage

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                No, he probably just not weigh that much, I guess he’s around 160lbs at best. Am I right OP?

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                No way that's alot of pullups for his level, he looks like he barely has any muscle how the f do you do 10 straight pullups like that

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                I'm 175cm 71kg at the moment! I started at 65kg

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                I've re-started training in december and my lifts are at a similar level now. My Squats and pull-up is worse, but otherwise we are close.

                How can you do 10 pull-ups and not have any grip? You should be able to do 60kg deadlifts, ask the trainer/someone experienced to check your form

                Physique wise i know how you feel. I notice barley any change, belly is still there, but I've gotten more female attention and positive comments from friends. You will always be the last to notice your gains

                It's just like anything else with lifting: You can't spot yourself, even your gains need to be spotted by someone else

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                I use chalk for pull-ups, otherwise my hands slip, and it is even worse for deadlift.

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                This is fine your grip will get better and you can use mixed or hook grip for deadlifts if they get too heavy for your grip. Or buy straps but I don’t advice using straps till you get to like a 405+ deadlift just for grip strength since most don’t directly train them

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                This is a really good improvement congrats OP but it was like I thought, you aren’t strong enough for a really good physique yet. Despite what IST says strength is highly correlated with size especially if you get stronger with reps from 5-12, not saying you should chase numbers but when you get to like 185lbs bench for 5+ reps and lean down to 15% bodyfat you will get a bigger chest. For deadlifts, watch a video on them you should do a hip hinge exercise and deadlifts are the easiest way to teach that pattern, once you get good form and get strong like 225-250 for 5 on them you can swap them out for more hypertrophic hip hinges like good mornings, RDLs and back extensions.

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                Oh but I know my lifts are not extraordinary, I'm not saying the opposite. I'm just observing that some people started with the same lifts as me and saw huge changes in their body within 6 months or 1 year, even though they were at more or less the same lifts as me.

                My observation is the following : some people have the same lifts but very different bodies. More specifically, some people seem to have higher hypertrophy than others. How do you explain that? For me, same lifts = same body (more or less, of course there are differences due to your frame). Well, let's say same lifts = same level of hypertrophy. In order for a muscle to support the weight you're lifting, it needs to hypertrophy. I do not see how is it physiologically possible for some people to look as if they have never hit the gym while having strong lifts. Maybe my reasoning is stupid but I need to understand these discrepancies.

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                do some romanian deadlifts instead then, go 8-12 reps.

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                Why are you so obssessed with RDL lmao, I have the same problem whatever the variation of deadlift I do

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                Great work, my dude. You've definitely added muscle. Just keep at it. Results will be visually noticeable to acquaintances after maybe 12-18 months, so just keep consistently grinding.

                Just
                Keep
                Going

              • 1 year ago
                Anonymous

                Yep, that is gains

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          it never stops - your body is finding the best way to utilize your muscle fibers. You have to get it to the point where your existing muscle fibers are no longer enough and your body's only option to move more is to add to the muscle fibers

          • 1 year ago
            Anonymous

            So does it mean someone who slowly changes has better "body optimization" I would say? The body uses other alternatives before engaging in hypertrophy?

  2. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Let me guess: you're not using any machines, you're focusing on compound movements, and you're bulking right? Gee, I wonder why you're not making any gains.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      I have compound movements as well as machines, and yes I'm bulking. So what is the problem? On the one hand people tell me "you're not making any gains because you need to eat more" and now you tell me the opposite? Please kill me.

  3. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    3 possibles I can think of:
    cns adaptation
    If you have a really high recruitment exercise that's being gimped by a weak supporting or stabilizing muscle. Then that catches up your lifts will also "skyrocket" without much perceptible change in your physique or weight.
    If you're in main-gaining territory which is usually really slow for mass gaining your numbers will usually appear to go up before you gain mass and the mass will only start to show as you plateau.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Could you specify the last two explanations you suggest?

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        that say you're doing db press or something similar and you have decent triceps development but you have really weak chest or anterior serratus or wrists they're going to give bad numbers at first but those numbers will grow really quickly because you switch to movement pattern that actually recruits them more than flat barbell bench so they're getting more growth stimulus and cns adaptation in that area.

        The whole cns thing isn't a whole body phenomenon it's muscle by muscle and sometimes movement by movement.

        The second thing about main-gaining is just your body is recomping really slow so it's more you don't notice the changes as much unless you're on gear. When you're hitting the limitations of your training there it's usually because you're hitting the limitations of your diet and started to lean out.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      > If you're in main-gaining territory which is usually really slow for mass gaining your numbers will usually appear to go up before you gain mass and the mass will only start to show as you plateau

      If you are “maingaining” you won’t gain strength, if you are too lean for muscle

  4. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Bro, unless you've been lifting for 2+ years, don't worry how your body looks.

  5. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    CNS gains. Basically your body learns how to use your muscles better, so you only get strength gains.
    In sports where too much mass is detrimental (Gymnastics, decathlon etc.), there are specialized training methods for this. The professional term is "Intramuscular coordination", ie. training the body to use more muscle fibers in a movement.

  6. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    You can get stronger without gaining muscle by increase nerve stimulation and coordination within/across the muscle cells. It could just mean you had enough muscle mass to sustain the weight with better nerve growth. Eventually there won’t be enough mass and you will have to stimulate more growth.

    But you also need to make sure you’re pounding protein daily. More than you think you need.

  7. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Your muscle cells are long and so they have multiple nuclei. As you work out you build up more nuclei and mitochondria for more energy.

  8. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    OP is a known troll

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Troll?

  9. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

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