Seeking Advice on Enhancing Upper Body Strength and Muscle Mass

Question

I'm looking to develop a workout plan that utilizes full gym equipment, focusing particularly on my upper body. My forearms and biceps are relatively thin, and currently, I can manage 13 reps x 3 sets with 6kg dumbbells (6kg-6kg in both hands) for both biceps curls and shoulder presses. I feel that my upper body strength is quite low.

On arm days, my routine includes biceps curls, shoulder presses, tricep extensions, and occasionally hammer curls. Despite this, I haven't seen significant gains in strength or muscle mass—a 10-20% improvement would be notable. Do you have any suggestions on how I could enhance my strength?

I've dedicated one day each week to focus on different muscle groups. For my chest day, I perform exercises like chest press, incline chest press, and cable chest fly. Sometimes, I also adjust the cable pulley to different heights to target the upper, middle, and lower parts of the chest.
Another day is set aside for core workouts, where I currently use sliding plates.
Back workouts occur on a separate day and include deadlifts and various cable exercises. Lastly, I have a leg day featuring squats, leg presses, and weighted leg extensions.
Some more Info:

I've been following this workout routine for a month now. A few years ago, I adhered to it consistently for over three months. Although my strength improved slightly—I was able to lift 8kg dumbbells for curls—there wasn't a significant increase.

I'm incorporating more protein into my diet and trying to eat healthily, but I only manage to do so about four days a week. I'm wondering if adding protein powder might help with strength gains. I am a 38-year-old male.

Answer 1

To enhance your strength as a beginner, there are a few things that you should pay attention to:

• Progressive overload: You should increase your training volume from one session to another, be it by adding reps, weight, doing a slower eccentric, whatever works for you. The volume should bring you close to failure most of the time.
• Protein intake: You need to eat sufficient protein for your body to build muscles, I won't get into specifics but you could check this question or others on this site to have an idea.
• Sleep: The body needs time to recover and build muscles, it depends on the individual but usually sleeping 7-8 hours a day is highly recommended.

You should also aim to train each muscles at least twice a week, which is more easily done with a full body workout, or a pull/push split than a one body part a day split, especially for beginner.

That being said, one month is not a long time to see significant progress, the most important thing is to be consistent over a long period of time and to be realistic. Going from 6 to 8kg curls in 3 months is quite significant.