Answering the question of Why am I not gaining muscle and providing reasons to how you can pack on more gains!
You may hear that you have bad genes, and/or you tell yourself that. This can be a go to when you aren’t building muscle as fast as you want to. Have you asked yourself why am i not gaining muscle lately?? Well if the answer is yes, then we have an article dedicated to providing you with tried and true methods to use to pack on muscle gains for days. Check it out!
Not Eating Enough
This is the first and most obvious thing to be fixed first. Not eating enough will hinder your muscle building gains. Plain and simple, most of us know this, no reason to elaborate. Eat more and you will gain more. Sure some fat but more muscle if you are stressing your muscle fibers enough with heavier lifting.
Shoot for eating your body weight in protein grams and around 3500 calories.
Same Routine = Same Results
You need to constantly switching up your routine. Im not just talking about the exercises that you do, I’m talking about:
- Different repetition tempos
- Pause Reps
- Supersets
- Drop-Sets
Now this doesn’t have to just be lifting more weight. It can be doing one or two more reps at the same weight, doing another 4 sets instead of 3 at the same weight and even throwing some cheat reps in at the end of your sets. Not matter what you are doing in the gym always strive to do a little more each workout.
Not Enough Compound Lifts
If you aren’t doing compound lifts, deadlifts, squats, clean and presses, bench press and leg press, etc. You aren’t going to be gaining a lot of muscle. The other lifts are great if you are looking to gain a small amount of muscle and tone. But simply put, you will hit a muscle building plateau and stay there for most likely the rest of your life if you don’t integrate compound lifts. They will add mass and make you stronger, plain and simple.
Sticking Only To The Bar
Doing your lifts like your bench, deadlift and squat with the bar can limit your range of motion. Switch it up with dumbbells. Do your presses and flies with dumbbells. Do some heavy weighted dumbbell squats and deadlifts.
Doing these workouts will increase both muscle mass as well as create better grip strength allowing you to go back to the bar more powerful. This will enable you to pull and push more weight adding more muscle to your frame.
Also, if your gym has a shrug rack, do your deadlifts with this piece of equipment for a while. It will allow you to center the weight perfectly and enable you to drive from your heels to create better deadlift form and strength,
Lifting With Bad Form
Sure you may be able to hammer curl eighties, but are you throwing your entire body into the lift? Don’t be this guy/girl my friends. Do you workouts so that you are ISOLATING your muscles that you are intending to work.
Now this also includes having a pelvis that is aligned properly for muscle function. If you have pelvis issues, it will throw off your entire center of gravity. This will make you into a quad dominant lifter, as well as not allow you to generate the amount of power and strength you could with optimal pelvis alignment. Now this is a complex issue so we created an entire article dedicated to the topic, which you can find here.
Not Enough Sleep
You should be shooting for eight to nine hours a night. If you have a busy schedule that doesn’t allow you to hit this number, than try taking a couple naps throughout the day. It’ll pay homage to your preschool nap times, help you build more muscle and provide you with better daily mental clarity.
Not Enough Water
Your muscles are 70 percent water. If you aren’t drinking enough water, close to a gallon a day, you can be sacrificing gains as well as look smaller.
Not Taking a Break
You should consider taking a week or more off from the gym. Now I know this sounds like madness and can seem friggin impossible if the gym is your outlet. But doing will result in healing the muscles you have beaten down and heal your nervous system as well. I guarantee you will come back stronger and bigger as well as have a more aggressive approach to your life, reminiscent of you when your first started lifting!
Working Out Too Long
A very small amount of the population can hit the gym for hours and a time and still grow and not become exhausted. Not taking time off can result in exhaustion which is harmful to your muscle building and health in general.
I read a cool article from my homies at Bodybuilding.com talking about how this can mean working out too many days in a row in a week, too many reps, to training only a couple days in a row and more.
Eating Crap Food
If you are eating fast food for a meal or more a day, you will limit the amount of muscle you are able to pack on. This bodybuilding my friends. You need to be dedicated to create the biggest baddest you. Eat lean meats, brown rice, vegetables, fruits and nuts. That way when you do cheat, you won’t feel bad about it and won’t be affecting your gains.
Eating Before Your Workout
If you are eating a full meal before you workout, either don’t do it, or do it a couple hours before you workout. Working out with newly ingested food will result in your blood flow dedicating itself to digesting your food, instead of going to the muscles you are working and pumping them up.
Too Much Stress
If your life is turbulent it can result in your body focus on healing your mental health instead of your physical health. Get rid of stressors or sacrifice your gains in the name of them!
Conclusion To Why You Aren’t Gaining Muscle
We have shown you why you are not gaining muscle, and provided you a list methods to use to bust through your muscle building plateaus. Now its up to you, use these tips or face the consequences of looking the same and lifting the same weight forever!
