10 Reasons Why You're Not Building Muscle
If you're not getting the results you really want from the gym, or you're frustrated because you think you could (and should) be doing better, I’ve put together a simple muscle-building “troubleshooter” you can use to find out what's holding you back.
Reason #1. You don't have a goal that motivates you. Before you even set foot in the gym, you need to know why you’re doing it and what you want to achieve. It helps to have your goals in writing, so before you go to bed tonight, pick up a pen and a piece of paper and write down exactly how you want your body to change. Even better, tear out a picture of the way you want to look from a magazine and keep it on your bathroom mirror so you see it every day.
Reason #2. You're training too often. While some people get good results with split routines that involve training different muscle groups 5-6 days per week, they're in the minority. For most people, lifting weights 3-4 days per week is about right. If you're pushed for time, you can get results with a program that involves hitting the weights just twice a week (see Maximum Muscle Turbo for an example of a highly effective 2-day-per-week muscle-building program).
Reason #3. You're doing too many sets. You can't take a high volume (20-30 sets per muscle group) workout used by a heavily drug-assisted champion bodybuilder and assume that someone who trains without the same level of pharmaceutical assistance will get the same results simply by following the same program. It just doesn't happen.
"Pro bodybuilders do workouts that could kill the average guy,"
says Jason Ferruggia, author of Muscle Gaining Secrets. "The amount of sets and reps they do and the number of days per week that they train amounts to far more volume than most of us could ever hope to recover from. That's because steroids drastically enhance your ability to recover from training and when you're using them by the boatload you can do everything wrong and still gain muscle."
Reason #4. You're not getting stronger. There are two main factors that stimulate muscle growth – progressive tension overload and metabolic fatigue. Progressive tension overload involves adding more weight to the bar over a given period of time. Let's say that you start out lifting 100 pounds for 3 sets of 6 repetitions. Every month, you add 5 pounds to the bar. In 12 months time, you'll be lifting 150 pounds. And your muscles will have become bigger and stronger to accommodate the extra weight. If you're not getting stronger, you're probably not getting bigger either.
Reason #5. You don't train hard enough. The second stimulus for muscle growth is metabolic fatigue. This is all about "going for the burn" and training in a way that makes your muscles feel like they're on fire. In other words, you need to push yourself when you’re in the gym. If you're the type who likes to sit on the leg press while sending a text (and I have seen someone do this on more than one occasion), or you give up when your muscles start to hurt, then you’re not going to see much in the way of results.
Reason #6. You don't give your body a break. Although it’s important to push yourself when you’re in the gym, your body isn’t a machine and will benefit from a rest now and again. Without it, your progress will eventually stall and you might even end up going backwards. The simple way to do this is to take a week off for every 4-6 weeks of hard training. An "off" week (sometimes called a deload or unload) doesn't mean doing no exercise at all. Rather, reduce the number of sets by 50% while maintaining the weight and number of repetitions used in the previous week.
Reason #7. You don't keep a training diary. If you're still lifting the same weights in 12 months time as you’re lifting now, chances are you won't have gained much muscle either. With a training diary, you can see instantly if the time you're investing in the gym is delivering results. It will also make it very clear if you're doing nothing more than simply repeating the same workout over and over again and going nowhere slowly. See The Best Muscle Building Exercise... Ever for more about how a training diary will help you get better, faster results.
Reason #8. You're not eating enough. When it comes to gaining muscle mass, what you do in the gym is only half the story. You also need to eat enough of the right foods. And the mistake almost everyone makes when they’re trying to gain weight is that they don’t eat enough.
So how many calories do you need each day if you want to build muscle without gaining large amounts of fat?
1. Firstly, calculate your lean bodyweight. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds at 15% body fat, you have 30 pounds of fat and a lean bodyweight of 170 pounds.
2. Multiply your lean bodyweight by 20. Using a lean bodyweight of 170 pounds, that gives you 3,400 calories per day.
If you find that you’re not gaining any weight, increase your calorie intake by around 250 calories per day until you start gaining weight. But whatever you do, don’t resort to one of those crazy 6,000 calories a day diets. You can’t force your body to gain muscle faster than your genetics will allow simply by stuffing yourself with food. All that'll happen is that you'll get fat.
Reason #9. You don't eat enough protein. To gain muscle at a decent rate, you also need enough protein. The optimal protein intake for muscle growth lies somewhere between 0.8 and 1.4 grams of protein per pound (roughly 1.7 to 3 grams per kilogram) of bodyweight, with several studies showing greater gains in lean mass at the higher end of that range.
Reason #10. You make things more complicated than they need to be. Once you have a decent training and nutrition program set up, the key to long-term success is to stick with it. Don’t let yourself get distracted by every new "wonder" program or exercise device that you read about. Wobble boards, vibration plates, Swiss balls and the like do have their uses. But it's a lot more important to work hard on the basic exercises than to spend your time (and money) on the latest fad that the magazines are getting excited about. Train hard, be consistent and the size will come.
About the Author
 Christian Finn holds a master's degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.
If you want better, faster results from the time you spend in the gym, click here now for instant access to his step-by-step muscle-building and fat-burning workout routines.
Related Articles
|
| 
