Nothing will change your life like working out. But there’s nothing more frustrating than when you’re in the gym lifting weights and not seeing the gains you want. I will review some of the biggest muscle-building mistakes that kill your gains.
How you’re killing your gains
- Comparing yourself and your gains to guys taking performance-enhancing drugs – nothing kills motivation and makes you feel worse about yourself than when you compare your progress to theirs. The only person you should be comparing yourself to is the dude you were yesterday. It’s about your journey and your progress.
- Relying too much on equipment as opposed to free weights – free weights and equipment are two different animals. There’s a time and a place for the machines, which are great at isolating specific muscles. But there’s nothing that will pack on more lean muscle than free weights.
- Not doing the three big lifts – squats, dead-lifts, and bench press will activate all the muscles in your body. They increase testosterone levels and will work every single muscle in your body to make you bigger and stronger.
- Doing the same workout every day or every week for the same muscles – when your workouts become routine, your muscles are not getting challenged (aka muscle memory), and you’re not going to progress the way you should. Modify your workouts, whether reps, exercises, or the order of the exercises.
- Not dialing in your diet –besides working out, the most significant factor that dramatically impacts the amount of muscle you put on is your diet. Your basil metabolic rate needs to be considered so that you can add additional calories to gain muscle. Check out my calculations. Dirty bulking adds extra calories, but you will gain little muscle and actually gain sloppy man boobs and love handles because most of the weight gained is fat.
- Not prior planning your diet –Factor has been a game-changer for me. It’s super easy and straightforward to stick to a healthy eating plan, and you won’t have to deal with cooking and prepping headaches. They take all the guesswork out. Use code ALPHAM120 to get $120 off Factor. These meals are AMAZING! Quick, healthy, and delicious.
- Not getting enough sleep – sleep is one of the most undervalued aspects of bodybuilding and fitness. If you’re not sleeping enough, your testosterone rates will decrease. You also will not give your body time to rebuild the muscle fibers damaged during working out.
- Doing cardio PRIOR to working out – when you’re working out, your body breaks down glucose and glycogen, and by the time you’re done weight lifting, your body is empty. This time is ideal for getting on the treadmill or StairMaster, walking, hiking, or doing whatever you need to do to get in 30 minutes of cardio. I recommend doing cardio every day.
- Not utilizing progressive overload – it’s the act of gradually and systematically putting more of a strain on your musculoskeletal system by increasing weight, frequency, and the number of reps. The act of consistently increasing the load and strain will get you stronger and build the muscle you’re looking for.
