The Real Reason You Are Not Building More Muscle
‘Why am I not getting bigger?’ is one of the most frequently asked questions around the world by bodybuilders. After all you are training hard, with good muscle building nutrition in your diet, yet your gains are still minimal. The frustration can be a huge blow to your motivation after so many months of hardwork. So, what exactly is the answer? Well, there are a few likely causes, see if any of these ring a bell with you, together they show you how to build muscle:
1) Are you consuming enough calories? For some hard gainers you may just as well insert the words ‘under eaters’. As this really is a massive cause of lack of muscle mass. Eating lots and often is the key to weight gain in bodybuilding! Consuming food every two hours is a sensible rule of thumb which will enable you to take in the required amount of calories. Make sure you snack lots on food such as: dried fruit and nuts, yoghurt, cottage cheese, cereal and milk, protein bars, fresh fruit, and protein shakes, etc
2) Are you getting enough protein? To build muscle mass fast you should aim for 1.Every day you should consume per pound of body weight 5 grams of protein. Awesome sources of protein are: chicken, fish, turkey as well as dairy products. As you want to bulk up do not by the low fat variety for every product you need the excess calories. of course you need quality calories but you can do a cutting stage at a later date to remove excess fat. making use of whey protein shakes is an excellent way to increase your protein intake, the larger tubs of course are normally better value of money.
3) Has your workout become unstimulating? If you can dictate out loud your session off the cuff then that likely means you have been using the same workout for a decent length of time already. If you do not stimulate your muscle in a variety of ways then it will stop growing. How about varying things around using, super sets, drop sets, partials, negatives and so on. You can even just reverse the order of your routine and see what difference that makes, how about 10 sets of 10 reps to failure on just one major exercise such as the bench press (get ready to be sore!) how about taking a week off from your session to allow your body to completely recover. As you can see there are endless variations, make sure you use them.
4) Are getting enough rest? Did you ever witness someone workout and then leave with more muscle than when they had entered? Never. Clearly then your muscle do their growing at home after you have pumped out. If you are not resting lots then you are limiting the amount of time available for the muscle to grow. If anything you should be giving yourself too much time to grow as opposed to too little. Try limiting your workouts to one muscle group per week. Also reducing the number of sets per body part, how about a maximum of 3-5 really intense sets per body part per workout. Why not try them yourself, you might be pleasantly suprised by your progress!
5) Is your water intake high enough? If you don’t drink plenty of water then your progress won’t be as fast it should be. To build muscle mass copious amount of water is required. Carry a bottle with you in the car and never stop drinking from it.
So the question we began with: “Why am I not growing quicker?’ as you can tell has many answers. After viewing the guidelines above don’t forget them, try and make the necessary changes today. The problem for your limited growth may well be the one point above that you do not meet. If there are more than one of these points that your bodybuilding lifestyle does not meet then urgent change is required. Of course there may well be other reasons why you might aren’t growing but they are are the usual suspects. Now hit the gym and go get massive!
