Hypertrophy over age 40

[alewisdvm]

Hey all,
Age: 42
Height 5’9”
Started at 180 and body fat of about 25% in December
CW: 165
GW: 155

So, still in cut. I am doing a upper/lower split and get in to gym 4x/week. So plenty of lifting.

Question:
So, as expected not much lean muscle gains during cut. But, I am wondering what happens when I shift to 200-300 cals over maintenance?

With the same lifting program because there is now extra calories (especially protein) I should be able to get hypertrophy?

[grubman]

Question:
So, as expected not much lean muscle gains during cut. But, I am wondering what happens when I shift to 200-300 cals over maintenance?

With the same lifting program because there is now extra calories (especially protein) I should be able to get hypertrophy?

You should, yes...common sense dictates that sometimes it’s not as cut and dry in practice, so you’ll have to be prepared to monitor your logs and tweak things, both in your diet and workout routine to support forward progress...but yeah, that’s how it generally works.

[Garage Rat]

Yes you can.
Protein should be at least one gram per pound of bodyweight to hinder any muscle loss.
When you shift to your calorie surplus as you mentioned be patient with gains.
They won't happen over night but in the long haul.
Take progress pics every month,increase weight and rep on exercises.
Training has to be intense enough to stimulate muscle growth.
Is your program intense?
I say this on many posts ,have a training and diet journal to be precise on what your doing and eating and make adjustments where necessary.

[alewisdvm]

Yes you can.
Protein should be at least one gram per pound of bodyweight to hinder any muscle loss.
When you shift to your calorie surplus as you mentioned be patient with gains.
They won't happen over night but in the long haul.
Take progress pics every month,increase weight and rep on exercises.
Training has to be intense enough to stimulate muscle growth.
Is your program intense?
I say this on many posts ,have a training and diet journal to be precise on what your doing and eating and make adjustments where necessary.

Thanks. Yeah, I would say training is fairly intense. I definitely reach failure on most working sets in the 8-10 range. I also have been tracking all workouts past 3 months in bodybuilding.com app.
I definitely fall short on the protein intake during the cut. It is sometimes very difficult to get that much protein but still keep myself in the 1700-1800 calorie range, So, I probably have sacrificed some muscle mass, but its worth it to me to get to the body fat % I want and start with solid base.
I am being good about lifting 4x/week (doing a upper/lower split) and NOT just doing a bunch of cardio for calorie burn.

[smokinal]

delete

[armies]

I'm 42 too, and natty, and let me tell you, I hope you understand the importance of getting stronger over time, yes eating more will help gain size (and strength), but size won't come to you unless you are progressing on all your lifts, that's the key to success

[Paulie_G]

Although I've been training for 20 years, I didn't get serious until my mid 30's, and my best hypertrophy gains were in my early to mid 40's.

[bradstearns]

If you are new to lifting, let's say less than 18 months, you can gain significant muscle mass while being in a calorie deficit. The training stimulus outweighs the body's reactions to being in a calorie deficit state. This is especially true if you are overweight to begin with. Many of my clients, and many studies show, and I have demonstrated, that this is very possible, if not common.

Once you have accumulated some training years, you probably will need to be in a slight calorie deficit to gain any appreciable mass. The key thing is to increase your calories judiciously. You don't want to accumulate fat as you go. Further, the amount of protein that you consume is key. Not only will high protein consumption reduce muscle loss while in a calorie deficit, it is the key to muscle protein synthesis as you go into surplus. 1.6 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight on a daily basis should be sufficient for most athletes.

Also of note is that the branched chain amino acid leucine seems to act as an on off switch for muscle protein synthesis. Recent research has shown that a minimum dosage of about 2.5 g of Leucine is needed to start the muscle building process, maybe slightly higher for adults over 40. You should get about this amount in a standard scoop of whey protein. Other protein sources will not be so high in this key amino acid.

Optimally, you should be getting your protein in at least 3 to 4 separate feedings per day.