Why am I not gaining Muscle ?

There are a wide range of reasons you may not be making the gains in size or strength from your training sessions at the gym. You will often hear gym goers complaining about being “Hard Gainers” and blaming their genetics but is this the real problem ? In reality, genetics is the least important reason for not making progress with building muscle size or muscle strength.

Go to the gym with a plan

I see many young lifters going to the gym to train without having a consistent well written training program. You see them aimlessly wandering around the machines and free weight area completing random exercises. Your training program needs to be consistent and progress needs to be tracked. A well tracked record of your workouts is a great way of finding problems which can then be corrected to keep your progress moving in the right direction.

The wrong training plan

So you have a plan to achieve your goals but is it the right plan ? Are you trying to gain size but have a training program more suited to building maximum strength ? or are you training like a bodybuilder putting on size when your actual goal is a strong light weight body suited to other athletic endeavours? It is important to make sure your training matches your individual goals to achieve the desired outcome.

Is your plan to gain strength ? Do you live in Gympie or the Cooloola region ? I can help you with writing a training plan to match your goals. Gympie Powerlifting Contact. 

More is not always better

Spending to much time in the gym almost every day of the week often with the same training routine everyday is counter productive, the human body need time for recovery before it can grow and become stronger. Keep training sessions short and intense.

Lack of sleep

Related to spending to much time in the gym, lack of sleep is another problem that leads to lack of progress. You break down muscle in the gym but repair and build muscle when you sleep. Major growth hormones are also regulated and released during sleep, in particular HGH (human growth hormone) an anabolic agent that promotes muscle growth and recovery is released during the deep sleep phase.

Nutrition

You will find studies for and against all forms of common diets from KETO to SAD (Standard American Diet), Paleo, Vegan and more but what they all have in common to achieve both growth in muscle size and strength is needing to consume adequate protein for your muscle mass without having to much protein which can an will make you fat just like carbs and fat can.

Quantity is very important for building both strength and size, you will not build size without consuming enough total calories, for some this will be a lot more than you may expect if you have a very fast metabolism. To be sure that you are eating enough, it is important that you track your intake, most people are not good at estimating serve sizes and nutritional content.

Don’t Stress

Stress can alter your hormone balance and set back your progress towards the body you desire. It is not worth stressing over that lifter on the neighbouring bench in the gym who is bigger and stronger than you. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that a lifter is only bigger and stronger than you because the have been injecting steroids or growth hormone or some other concoction, chances are it is hard work that got them to where they are now and if you don’t stress and worry about somebody else and concentrate on YOUR progress you can see improvement in both size and strength, it may take years (progress does not happen overnight) but with dedication, training, diet, recovery and minimal stress you can achieve your Bodybuilding, Powerlifting, General Strength or Athletic goals.