When you walk into the gym, it is one of the first steps you can take to building your muscles and your strength, but it most definitely does not stop there!
Everything that you do, including things in your social life, your personal habits, and even the type of exercises you do, before, during, and after all of the hard work you put into the gym, can affect the outcome.
Many of these can certainly have a positive impact towards your growth, but on the flipside of that, they can also have a negative impact on all of the goals that you are trying to achieve.
If you have been putting a tremendous amount of efforts into your workout routine, but you are not seeing the results that you expected, in the list below, you just might find out some of the reasons why you might be experiencing problems in building those muscles.
After you figure out the problems that may be putting a damper on your success, then you can use your time to focus on the solutions.
1. Trying to achieve your goals by merely winging it – When a person is simply ‘winging’ it through any type of situation, there are generally no specific ideas planned on the steps you are going to take to accomplish your goal.
An example of winging it would be to take a vacation to Mexico with no luggage packed, no road map on how to get there, and no money in your pocket to finance the trip, yet you take off in your car anyways and head off to Mexico. When you go to the gym to workout with no plans of where you plan to begin, and you simply begin exercises on whatever happens to feel good at the time, is a good example of trying to ‘wing’ it at the gym.
How to fix the problem – It is very important to always have a plan in place. To do this correctly, means you will need to be continuously active in the planning process of your workout.
Your planning should include an assessment of where you are at right now, where you wish to go, as in your goals, strategy in how you plan to achieve your goals, taking the action to see that you achieve the goals you set, and keeping track of your results at various intervals so you will know your achievements along the way of reaching your initial goals. If you plan to be successful in the goals that you set, there should be no room to simply ‘wing it’.
2. Forgetting the basics – It takes a lot more than merely doing isolation exercises to make your muscles grow. There are a variety of basic movies such as squats and bench presses that require many of your muscle groups to work along with each other.
The way your body reacts to the stress of these is the anterior pituitary gland will issue more of the growth hormone into your body, which will compensate for the extra stress you are putting on your body, which means more growth. Adding variety is a good thing as long as you do not forget about the basics.
How to fix the problem – Review the exercises in your current routine and determine the percentage of these that are compound moves. Include basics to these, making sure they stay within a range of 40 to 50%.
3. Ignoring the warm up – A proper warm-up is always important before jumping into a vigorous workout. You need to ensure that you take the time for a cool-down period after your workout as well. By ignoring the warm-up and cool-down period, you are setting yourself up for the possibility of injuries occurring both during the workout and over time.
How to fix the problem – Your warm-up can simply be an easier version of the full workout that you intend to do. If you plan on using the treadmill for a good run, try starting out walking, then step it up to a jog, and then go into a full run.
If you plan to do a workout consisting of strength training, then you could begin using lighter weights, on the second set use heavier weights, then on the third set you can use the heaviest weights.
When you build the intensity of your exercises slowly, your body will respond better than it would if you jump into them at full speed. Taking a few extra minutes for a warm-up will benefit you a great deal in the long run.
4. Bad technique – When using a poor technique as you perform your exercises, it will only increase your risk for injury to occur, such as doing the exercises too quickly, or using bad form while executing the each exercise.
How to fix the problem – As you perform each exercise, begin slowly and use good form. When you are unsure of how an exercise is supposed to be performed, a trainer can assist, or many times there will be directions that are located directly on the machine you are using.
Skip any exercises that you are not able to get assistance with, you can always come back to these after you have learned how to perform them correctly.
5. Extra sporting activities – Your muscles generally will need about 48 hours to rest and adapt to various stresses that you place on them during vigorous exercising workouts. When you engage in too much activity your body will use excess kilojoules as fuel, instead of for rebuilding itself.
How to fix the problem – If you will bring your cardio workout back to a minimum of 20 minute workouts – 3 times a week, you will be able to see if it is indeed the cardio workout that is taking your muscle, and you should also be able to notice improvement in your strength. Within two or three weeks you should be able to complete more reps and lift more weight.
When your goal is for strength and an increase in muscle and you are unable to miss any extra activities you have planned, then you should pull back further during your workout by easing up on the muscles that you will be using the most during this activity.
Doing so will ensure that they have the extra time needed to recover.
6. No time for food – Eating after each workout is important. Immediately following a workout session your body is working at converting glucose to glycogen. This allows your muscles to repair and grow, and when you do not each after your workouts, your body will begin breaking down the muscle and turning it into amino acids, that will then be converted to glucose.
How to fix the problem – After each workout, be sure to eat a meal that is high in carbohydrates as well as protein. Recent studies have proven that a 4 to 1 carb to protein ratio can ultimately provide 127% more storage of muscle-glycogen than just a drink alone that is high in carbohydrates. A sports drink both before and during exercise can offer even greater results.
7. Not enough sleep – Your muscles need an adequate amount of deep sleep to be able to recover properly. Working out with an insufficient amount of sleep causes you to perform at a lower intensity that you may realize, which means your muscles are not likely to be receiving enough stress to make them grow.
How to fix the problem – Set a certain time to go to bed and to wake up each day. For your sleep cycle to stay regular, you will need to do this on weekends as well. Whenever possible, try avoiding caffeine and exercise for up to 6 hours before you go to bed.
8. Not enough liquids – To build muscle, you should be eating around a gram of protein for about every kilogram of your body weight. When your body makes energy from the protein that you have eaten, it removes the molecule of nitrogen in the breakdown of the protein, which requires a lot of water to do. Therefore this action has a diuretic effect.
How to fix the problem – Divide your protein intake between 5 or 6 smaller meals throughout your day and drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water. Drinking adequate amount of water will not only put a less amount of stress on your kidneys, but it will also allow your body to utilize more protein that you are taking in.
9. Cut out the sugar – When you drink liquids that are filled with sugar, your body receives a spike in blood sugar, which means you will be more prone to ignore the more important and nutrient-filled foods that you could otherwise be eating.
The fuel you need for vigorous workouts will be zapped when the amounts of sugar you take in limits the amount of amino acids that are used for muscle building that you take in.
How to fix the problem – It is best to drink low-sugar sports drinks and plenty of water. You will also need to watch the sugar that is contained in dried fruits, some of the nutrition bars that are available, and in tomato sauce!
10. Drinking and Smoking – We all know that smoking is bad, and when you do it, you are not only risking higher chances of getting cancer, but you are also risking a stroke and various other health problems from happening.
You may not be aware of this, but smoking and drinking can also sabotage your training. The harmful substance of carbon monoxide is being put into your system when you smoke, and this prevents the muscles from receiving proper amounts of oxygen they need for energy.
Your muscles are inefficient at contracting when they receive less oxygen, which will limit the work capacity they are capable of.
When it comes to alcohol, your abs can actually become covered with a layer of fat, which can interfere with the necessary hormones they need to build properly. Your muscle mass can be decreased, and your testosterone levels can become much lower when you drink alcohol regularly.
How to fix the problem – Get rid of the cigarettes and drink in moderation. Exercising three or four times a week for approximately 30 minutes works great for controlling body weight. It also will produce psychological effects that are positive, which can ultimately take away the desire to smoke.
A drink now and then can actually improve your overall cardio health, and it will not cause harm to your testosterone levels. If you will take heed and work at eliminating these 10 problems that many people face, you will benefit from growing muscles, and you will feel much better as well!
Everything that you do, including things in your social life, your personal habits, and even the type of exercises you do, before, during, and after all of the hard work you put into the gym, can affect the outcome.
Many of these can certainly have a positive impact towards your growth, but on the flipside of that, they can also have a negative impact on all of the goals that you are trying to achieve.
If you have been putting a tremendous amount of efforts into your workout routine, but you are not seeing the results that you expected, in the list below, you just might find out some of the reasons why you might be experiencing problems in building those muscles.
After you figure out the problems that may be putting a damper on your success, then you can use your time to focus on the solutions.
1. Trying to achieve your goals by merely winging it – When a person is simply ‘winging’ it through any type of situation, there are generally no specific ideas planned on the steps you are going to take to accomplish your goal.
An example of winging it would be to take a vacation to Mexico with no luggage packed, no road map on how to get there, and no money in your pocket to finance the trip, yet you take off in your car anyways and head off to Mexico. When you go to the gym to workout with no plans of where you plan to begin, and you simply begin exercises on whatever happens to feel good at the time, is a good example of trying to ‘wing’ it at the gym.
How to fix the problem – It is very important to always have a plan in place. To do this correctly, means you will need to be continuously active in the planning process of your workout.
Your planning should include an assessment of where you are at right now, where you wish to go, as in your goals, strategy in how you plan to achieve your goals, taking the action to see that you achieve the goals you set, and keeping track of your results at various intervals so you will know your achievements along the way of reaching your initial goals. If you plan to be successful in the goals that you set, there should be no room to simply ‘wing it’.
2. Forgetting the basics – It takes a lot more than merely doing isolation exercises to make your muscles grow. There are a variety of basic movies such as squats and bench presses that require many of your muscle groups to work along with each other.
The way your body reacts to the stress of these is the anterior pituitary gland will issue more of the growth hormone into your body, which will compensate for the extra stress you are putting on your body, which means more growth. Adding variety is a good thing as long as you do not forget about the basics.
How to fix the problem – Review the exercises in your current routine and determine the percentage of these that are compound moves. Include basics to these, making sure they stay within a range of 40 to 50%.
3. Ignoring the warm up – A proper warm-up is always important before jumping into a vigorous workout. You need to ensure that you take the time for a cool-down period after your workout as well. By ignoring the warm-up and cool-down period, you are setting yourself up for the possibility of injuries occurring both during the workout and over time.
How to fix the problem – Your warm-up can simply be an easier version of the full workout that you intend to do. If you plan on using the treadmill for a good run, try starting out walking, then step it up to a jog, and then go into a full run.
If you plan to do a workout consisting of strength training, then you could begin using lighter weights, on the second set use heavier weights, then on the third set you can use the heaviest weights.
When you build the intensity of your exercises slowly, your body will respond better than it would if you jump into them at full speed. Taking a few extra minutes for a warm-up will benefit you a great deal in the long run.
4. Bad technique – When using a poor technique as you perform your exercises, it will only increase your risk for injury to occur, such as doing the exercises too quickly, or using bad form while executing the each exercise.
How to fix the problem – As you perform each exercise, begin slowly and use good form. When you are unsure of how an exercise is supposed to be performed, a trainer can assist, or many times there will be directions that are located directly on the machine you are using.
Skip any exercises that you are not able to get assistance with, you can always come back to these after you have learned how to perform them correctly.
5. Extra sporting activities – Your muscles generally will need about 48 hours to rest and adapt to various stresses that you place on them during vigorous exercising workouts. When you engage in too much activity your body will use excess kilojoules as fuel, instead of for rebuilding itself.
How to fix the problem – If you will bring your cardio workout back to a minimum of 20 minute workouts – 3 times a week, you will be able to see if it is indeed the cardio workout that is taking your muscle, and you should also be able to notice improvement in your strength. Within two or three weeks you should be able to complete more reps and lift more weight.
When your goal is for strength and an increase in muscle and you are unable to miss any extra activities you have planned, then you should pull back further during your workout by easing up on the muscles that you will be using the most during this activity.
Doing so will ensure that they have the extra time needed to recover.
6. No time for food – Eating after each workout is important. Immediately following a workout session your body is working at converting glucose to glycogen. This allows your muscles to repair and grow, and when you do not each after your workouts, your body will begin breaking down the muscle and turning it into amino acids, that will then be converted to glucose.
How to fix the problem – After each workout, be sure to eat a meal that is high in carbohydrates as well as protein. Recent studies have proven that a 4 to 1 carb to protein ratio can ultimately provide 127% more storage of muscle-glycogen than just a drink alone that is high in carbohydrates. A sports drink both before and during exercise can offer even greater results.
7. Not enough sleep – Your muscles need an adequate amount of deep sleep to be able to recover properly. Working out with an insufficient amount of sleep causes you to perform at a lower intensity that you may realize, which means your muscles are not likely to be receiving enough stress to make them grow.
How to fix the problem – Set a certain time to go to bed and to wake up each day. For your sleep cycle to stay regular, you will need to do this on weekends as well. Whenever possible, try avoiding caffeine and exercise for up to 6 hours before you go to bed.
8. Not enough liquids – To build muscle, you should be eating around a gram of protein for about every kilogram of your body weight. When your body makes energy from the protein that you have eaten, it removes the molecule of nitrogen in the breakdown of the protein, which requires a lot of water to do. Therefore this action has a diuretic effect.
How to fix the problem – Divide your protein intake between 5 or 6 smaller meals throughout your day and drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water. Drinking adequate amount of water will not only put a less amount of stress on your kidneys, but it will also allow your body to utilize more protein that you are taking in.
9. Cut out the sugar – When you drink liquids that are filled with sugar, your body receives a spike in blood sugar, which means you will be more prone to ignore the more important and nutrient-filled foods that you could otherwise be eating.
The fuel you need for vigorous workouts will be zapped when the amounts of sugar you take in limits the amount of amino acids that are used for muscle building that you take in.
How to fix the problem – It is best to drink low-sugar sports drinks and plenty of water. You will also need to watch the sugar that is contained in dried fruits, some of the nutrition bars that are available, and in tomato sauce!
10. Drinking and Smoking – We all know that smoking is bad, and when you do it, you are not only risking higher chances of getting cancer, but you are also risking a stroke and various other health problems from happening.
You may not be aware of this, but smoking and drinking can also sabotage your training. The harmful substance of carbon monoxide is being put into your system when you smoke, and this prevents the muscles from receiving proper amounts of oxygen they need for energy.
Your muscles are inefficient at contracting when they receive less oxygen, which will limit the work capacity they are capable of.
When it comes to alcohol, your abs can actually become covered with a layer of fat, which can interfere with the necessary hormones they need to build properly. Your muscle mass can be decreased, and your testosterone levels can become much lower when you drink alcohol regularly.
How to fix the problem – Get rid of the cigarettes and drink in moderation. Exercising three or four times a week for approximately 30 minutes works great for controlling body weight. It also will produce psychological effects that are positive, which can ultimately take away the desire to smoke.
A drink now and then can actually improve your overall cardio health, and it will not cause harm to your testosterone levels. If you will take heed and work at eliminating these 10 problems that many people face, you will benefit from growing muscles, and you will feel much better as well!
