I’m going through my second consecutive 12 weeks muscle building training. On average, I train 4x week for just over an hour.
I’m a 50 years old man
I eat healthily (95% of food is home cooked with a balanced diet) and I don’t drink much alcohol.
I don’t seem to be able to put on muscle mass. I’ve started taking creatine before training (6-7 weeks ago) but I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference.
One thing I may lack is protein, as I think I’m daily intake is probably below par.
Could that be it? Is there anything else you would recommend?
I’m a losing motivation as it doesn’t seem like it’s having any impact…
It should absolutely be possible to gain some muscle in 12 weeks at 50 - but a few fundamentals really matter.
Do you know roughly how much protein you’re eating? For muscle gain, around 1.6–2.2 g per kg bodyweight per day is usually recommended. If you’re below that, progress will be affected.
Are you actually in a small calorie surplus? Eating “healthy” doesn’t necessarily mean eating enough to grow.
Is your training providing enough resistance and progression? For hypertrophy, muscles need to be challenged - more reps over time, harder variations, added weight, etc. High reps or cardio alone aren’t enough for visible growth.
How are you measuring progress? Scale weight can be misleading - you might be losing fat while gaining muscle and the weight could stay the same. I’d recommend progress photos and measurements.
Creatine can help performance, but it doesn’t compensate for low protein or calories or lack of overload.
If those basics are covered, you should see changes within 12 weeks.