Gaining strength and weight but not size?

[truepwrz]

After lifting for a while I gained about 17 pounds and about 50-75 pounds on each lift. But what I noticed just today is that my body looks the exactly the same before I gain the weight. How should I lift so I stop looking like a walking stick figure?

[Deadmeat]

http://tinyurl.com/23o4ny9

[JohnnyCache]

you probably just have self esteem problems. Unless the 50 pounds you added was, like, 300 to 350 on a hip sled.

Keep eating and lifting. And if you keep just getting stronger without gaining size, feel lucky and sandbag weightclasses

[truepwrz]

http://tinyurl.com/23o4ny9

Thanks I just realized lifting in sets of 2-3 reps is not the best way to gain weight. So I am going to try lifting 3x8-10 to see if there will be a difference in size.

you probably just have self esteem problems. Unless the 50 pounds you added was, like, 300 to 350 on a hip sled.

Keep eating and lifting. And if you keep just getting stronger without gaining size, feel lucky and sandbag weight classes

I have been gaining weight on my body but I still look like a stick figure without looking any bigger.

[FriendlyFire]

Those are good results, and you see 17lbs of added muscle. The fact you watched yourself grow slowly probably caused some of it, but you sound a bit like those anorexic girls who still think they are fat. Appreciate what you have, which should be a physique better then most people by far, and I would say keep up what you are doing if your progress has not slowed, because that's good growth for a year, even more time then that.

I mean, I assume at worst your original max bench was 185. 50 lbs lowest gain, so say 235ish. One more year you would be at least in the 285 range with that progress. If you still 'look skinny' then just freak people out by lifting a **** ton as a stick figure.

[LarsCG]

... The fact you watched yourself grow slowly probably caused some of it, but you sound a bit like those anorexic girls who still think they are fat. Appreciate what you have, which should be a physique better then most people by far, and I would say keep up what you are doing if your progress has not slowed, because that's good growth for a year, even more time then that.

Monthly or bi-weekly full figure snapshots could be one way to keep tabs on how you look/neutralising the skewed self-image a bit.

Regards,
Lars

[MMAMickey]

every month should now be Harden the **** Up Month.

Your style field says boxing. Why the **** would you want to get heavier as a boxer? Getting stronger without gaining weight would be a fucking dream for me.

I am cursed/blessed with a stocky figure which sees me put on muscle weight (and some fat) fairly easily. It also means I am very short for my weight class and find it damn hard to cut weight at all.

Think yourself lucky.

..oh and take measurements every month or so and you'll see that you probably have been getting bigger all along.

[Emevas]

How are you measuring size? Are you using a tape measurer, or are you simply "eyeballing it"?

If it's the latter, realize you see yourself everyday in the mirror, and will be unable to notice gradual changes. Don't be unscientific, use quantifiable measurements.

[Prince Vlad]

A lot of people think they can get the result they read about on supplement reviews when they start lifting. Gaining mass naturally takes a LONG time and requires a lot of dedication. 70% of your results will dependent on your diet too so make sure you pay proper attention to what and when you eat.
Lifting ultra low reps is absolutely not the way to go for hypertrophy btw. Most body building regimes revolve around 10-12 reps of compound exercises (3 to 5 sets). You also need to mix things up regularly to keep your body adapting - as far as I remember you adapt to heavy lifting after about 5 weeks or so, at that point you either change the exercises around or switch from hypertrophy to strength training or endurance etc.
Nothing wrong with wanting to add some meat to your bones but you have to make sure you are doing the right training for your sport. Diet is pretty much everything - you have to make sure you are getting the right amount of calories as well as eating crap loads of protein. Most people make the mistake of going high protein without enough carbs and wonder why they look the same after busting their asses for a couple of months.
Personally, I don't see the point in trying to be bigger than your natural weight (hard training and clean diet across disciplines) though. If you work hard and mix your routine up properly to incorporate strength, endurance, hypertrophy and crossfit (cycling every 5 weeks between programs) then you will be a lot fitter and more rounded in terms of endurance, strength, power and cardio. Something thing to think about anyway.

[MMAMickey]

cycles are unnecessary. the whole adapting to heavy lifting idea is negated by increasing the weight, otherwise known as strength training.