5 Reasons You're NOT Growing

What’s going on Nation! Today we’re going to expose the 5 fundamental muscle-building mistakes that are holding you back from maximizing your muscle gains!

And I am not talking about the people who are trying to maintain a certain look, I’m talking about the guys in the gym that’ve been lifting weights for years TRYING to make gains, but still look the same as the day they first walked through the door.  So if this sounds like you and you want to start building some solid muscle then make sure YOU really pay attention and for those of you who MIGHT be seeing gains, but they’re slow.. you better pay attention too.

Let’s dive right into mistake number 1!

Mistake #1 – You THINK You’re Eating Enough

There’s no point EVEN TOUCHING on the next 4 mistakes if you do not fix this one first! Your training might be truly flawless with no weak points whatsoever, but you will not gain an ounce of muscle if you do not eat properly to support those gains.

And I’m not just talking about adding some protein shakes to your meal plan. Well, protein and amino acids in general, are the building blocks of muscle, but you need more than just adequate protein to reach your muscle-building potential. Here’s everything you need to know:

• You Need To Be Consuming Enough Protein. How much? 1 gram of protein per pound of lean bodyweight should be enough, but if you want to be on the safe side, you could go even higher than that to about 1.5 1grams per pound of LEAN BODYWEIGHT and remember that LEAN BODYWEIGHT is your total weight minus your fat.

• You Need To In A Caloric Surplus. Protein consumption alone means nothing if it’s not accompanied by a slight caloric surplus. Otherwise, protein is simply just used for your energy needs. Only after your body is getting enough energy, and only then, excess protein can be allocated toward building new muscle tissue.  Now, I know some of you guys are going to bring up “Positive Nitrogen Balance” because there are some videos on YouTube explaining that you can build muscle without being in a surplus of calories.However I HIGHLY disagree and if you would like to see an in-depth video on that be sure to comment below and will make that video!

• You Need To Be Consuming Enough Carbs. Why’s that important? Well, carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of energy. If you do not provide your body with the fuel it needs, how can you expect to have the energy required to smash your workouts, break PRs and become stronger or bigger?  The easy answer is...you can’t.

• Your Meal Plan Needs To Be Clean. This simply means that the protein, carbs, fat and calories that you’re tracking are just numbers on your muscularstrength.com app. These numbers are just quantities of “how much” you ate, but you need to ensure that the QUALITY of your food sources is enough to maximize your muscle-building potential. Remember that getting your macronutrients from high-quality sources of food means you’re also getting indispensable micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals that play a VITAL role in muscle- building and your health in general.  This is why when people say things like “protein is protein bro” and they eat shitty processed food all day, look ripped as hell, and claim IIFYM you should know by now they’re on drugs.  Don’t fall for the gimmicks.

So now that you’ve got your meal plan in order and you’re adhering to it every single day with dedication, we can move on to the next mistake that’s killing your gains!

Mistake #2 – You’re Performing Too Many Exercises!

Guys, more is not always better. PERIOD. Performing 5, 6, 7, or even sometimes 8 exercises for one body part is the VERY DEFINITION of killing your gains.  You go to the gym to STIMULATE, not ANNIHILATE your muscles.  It seems that most of us have this image in our head that our workouts need to last 90 minutes and we need to just keep hammering out different exercises until the time is up.

Well, you definitely don’t want to leave anything left in the tank but you’ll be able to see much more growth and track your progress performing 5 – 10 sets on a compound movement that will be responsible for the majority of your muscle growth versus rushing through 3 sets per exercises on 6 different exercises.

I literally see guys in my gym rushing from barbells to dumbbells and to machines as fast as they can, trying to perform all the exercises they know for a specific body part, thinking that the more they do, the more benefits they’ll get. Don’t be like those guys.  For example, a standard dumbbell bench press targets every single fiber of your chest for growth. You don’t HAVE to do incline bench press and decline bench press and flys and pushups and dips and cable presses and pullovers just to see growth.   In fact, if you were to focus on two or maybe 3 exercises per body part and try to become stronger on those exercises you would see much FASTER growth.  Remember to always work SMART, not hard...which actually brings me to the next deadly mistake to your gains!

Mistake #3 – Jumping From Program To Program Every Week

If you’re performing a different exercise routine every time you step into the gym, you’re doing it wrong. You can’t expect your muscles to grow if you keep confusing them all the time.

You lift weights and demand more of your muscles than they can handle. Then your muscles, in return, are forced to deal with this “problem” by adapting and becoming stronger and bigger. This stimulus however needs to be consistent because if you keep changing the stimulus to a different movement pattern, your muscles will never really need to adapt, because they don’t know what to adapt to.

For example, if you try to bench press 150lbs right now and you can barely do it, your chest will have to become stronger by the next time you try it again. Then the next time you try to bench press maybe you WILL bench 150lbs, but you might be able to barely lift 155lbs. See where this is going? Good. Now, if you forget all about the bench press next week and swap it with let’s say, dips or flys, what have you really done? You’ve just confused your chest and now it doesn’t know what to adapt for.  The movement pattern is completely different.

But now this begs the question, “how long should you stay on a specific program?” Well, the answer is simpler than you think and the answer is...Until you stop making gains with it. It could be 3 months, 6 months, or even a year from now if you’re new to lifting.  But when that day finally comes in order to bust through your plateau you will need to find a new program and stick with it until, once again, you stop making gains. So if you have reached a plateau go over to my site, MuscularStrength.com, pick a program that best suits your goals and start following it today.

Mistake #4 – Lack of Muscle-Mind Connection

I talk about this in many articles and videos. Lifting weights is not simply moving an object from point A to point B. In fact, it’s very possible that you’re doing everything else, right but you’re still not growing because you’re now allowing the muscles that SHOULD be doing the work completely take over the exercises you’re performing.

For example! Let’s say you’re doing back rows. You might be using proper form and the movement might look perfect from the outside. However, most people who don’t know how to connect with their back muscles, tend to overuse their biceps, shoulders, and even forearms to pull the weight back, getting almost zero back stimulation in the process.

So, if you’re one of those guys, you need to lighten up the weight and start from scratch focusing on engaging the right muscles for each lift.  You need to start lifting with PURPOSE and let go of your ego. And if you need more help with muscle-mind connection I will link you guys to an AWESOME video I did a while ago.

Mistake #5 - Training Too Often Or Not Often Enough

Your training frequency can either make or break your gains. Ideally, you want to be engaging and challenging every muscle group at least twice a week to maximize muscle growth so you can take full advantage of the “anabolic window”.Why? Well, once you work out a specific muscle group, muscle growth will be in effect for the next 24 to maybe 48 hours if you’re lucky.  So, if you train chest today and wait until next week to train it again, you’re essentially ENSURING that it is not growing 5 out of 7 days a week. However, if you have another chest session later in the week, you’ll ensure that your chest is always growing.

Now, having said that, a PUSH-PULL-LEGS split is by far your best bet to achieve that optimal frequency. You’ll be doing PUSH, PULL, LEGS, REST, REPEAT which gives you enough rest and muscle stimulation at the same time.

Now, I know a lot of you love the gym as much as I do or maybe even more.Going to the gym every single day might be the best part of your day, but my questions to you is “when are you recovering? “

You NEED to set a bit of time aside to let your body heal and recover. You’re not a machine.  Even Goku only hits a new level of power or ZenKai boost after destroying his body and letting it FULLY heal!  He sat in that healing tank for like 40 episodes while his friends were getting beaten to death by Freeza...“I’m not ready yet guys!”

But if you absolutely NEED to do something physical on your rest days, you can easily go for a run or do some other kind of cardio, stretching, or maybe a quick abs routine at home to fill your needs!

That’s it for this article but remember…more good stuff coming soon!