Top Reasons Why You Aren't Building Muscle
I hear and get asked all the time as a trainer...
"I've been working out for a long time why am I not building muscle or getting stronger?"
I can completely relate to this... During my high school lifting years I hit many plateaus
After expanding my knowledge and experience in the gym there are some common themes I notice with this concept
Top reasons you are not building muscle or getting stronger
1. You are performing the same exercises and workouts with the same weight, sets and repetitions
It is important to be patient when you are on a workout program... Changes will not happen overnight
With that said, it is still important that you have diversity in your workouts...
Even if you perform the same exercises, it is important at the least you switch up things like the number of sets & reps you do, the weight your moving, changing your rest times, including supersets or performing unilateral versions of the movement...
Your body builds a tolerance to the stimulus you place on it, eventually it will adapt to your program and you will stop seeing progress
2. You are not staying consistent with your workouts
You cannot expect to workout on only the days you feel like it and expect to see changes. The body just not operate that way, you must stay consistent.
It is going to require discipline. Some days you will be sore, tired, short on time, or something else might be limiting you, but you still need to find a way to make this become a daily routine just like taking a shower or brushing your teeth.
3. You are either overtraining or undertraining
Both of these are no good. Not giving your body and muscles enough time to recover translates to not letting your muscles grow. Plants need water, but too much water will prevent them from growing, it's the same concept with training our muscles.
Undertraining will simply not give your body enough stimulus to trigger muscle growth. You need to place your body under stress at a high intensity levels to see muscle changes.
4. You have a poor diet
You can never go to the gym, have an amazing diet, and achieve amazing results...
You can also go to the gym 5 days a week, train hard and consistent, and if you have a poor diet see literally no results at all.
Many people have heard nutrition is more important than exercise. While they are both important, nutrition plays a much bigger role for seeing physical changes to your body than working out does.
5. You are not getting enough sleep
When you sleep is the prime time your muscles grow. This is where your body is at it deepest state of rest and believe it or not, this is where real muscle growth occurs, not the gym. If you don't get good quality sleep or enough sleep your muscle growth will suffer.
6. You do not have an efficient workout structure
When you walk into the gym, the first thing you should do is perform a dynamic warm up, whether it be a variety of priming movements or some type of cardio, get your body and muscles prepared. You should never jump right into a workout with no warm up.
The structure of your workout program is just as important. You should always perform compound lifts that use the entire body before single joint movements. For example, on leg day you should be doing your squats and deadlifts before quad extensions and hamstring curls.
7. You are not using proper form
If you are not training muscles properly according to the origin, insertion, and function you will not see results. If you do not train certain muscle groups they will not grow. If you do not do exercises with proper form not only are you increasing your chances of getting injured, you will also not see muscle muscle growth. Kipping, using momentum, not controlling the descend portion of the lift, and not bracing your core are all major contributors to this.
8. You are not drinking enough water
Muscles are composed of nearly 80% water! If you do not consume enough to meet your bodies demands, your muscles will not grow bigger or stronger.
If you had a lightbulb moment where one or more of these faults resonates with you, don't get frustrated
Let this be a learning curve and allow you to mature more in the gym
If you struggle with one or more of these concepts, Platinum Training is here to help! Message us or check out our website to get started