Whatever your fitness goal is, we all get discouraged when a heavy training regime brings us no or very little effect, especially if we can’t figure out why. Well, fear no more because DNAFit are here to bring you some mistakes that you may be making in the gym that are the reasons why your muscle building exercises aren’t working at their optimum level.
Not eating enough
You’re training hard and doing a great job. Increasing your athletic ability, building muscle fitness and focusing heavily on exercise and fitness training but you’re only seeing minimal gains, why? Simple fact is you haven’t been focusing enough on your nutrition and the massive role it plays in training. It takes time but one thing to prioritise is your diet.
No, you aren’t going to get fat. When you’re training the nutritious food you’re eating isn’t going to be converted into fat but energy to burn during those intense sessions, becoming lean muscle. Increasing the size of your meals and regularity of your eating habits, with a diet that is conducive to muscle gains, will set you on the way to achieving the size you’ve only dreamed of.
Doing too much too early
Making sure not to do too much too early and getting into the zone on a steady progression will get you seeing muscle building gains at every stage of your athletic bodybuilding training. Be patient and the results will come. Soon you’ll be mixing it with the big boys and lifting weights that looked daunting in the beginning, to say the least. You’ll also be less likely to pick up injuries, which are the most damaging to your fitness goals.
Not doing the right exercises
Building muscle makes you stronger, fitter and healthier and you need to do the correct exercises that build muscle across the board. The most important exercise to do is squats. Squats work the entire body and if you manage your loads correctly, they’ll become your best friend, even though you might feel a little stiff the next day. Other important exercises to do when your goal is to build muscle are deadlifts, leg presses, bench press, dips, rows and chin-ups. These all test the body’s limits and make it stronger from your core – outward.
Lazy gym
This is obvious but don’t fool yourself, at one point even the most dedicated exercise fitness fanatics can lose their motivation a little. But in order to continue to build muscle you need to stay dedicated; meet new likeminded people, try a new programme (but stick to it) and include rest days so that when you don’t go to gym you’re craving it even more. Staying focused to your task is the only way you’re going to achieve your results and succeed at building strong muscle.
Too many supplements
Taking a course of supplements that are focused on building muscle is fine but you need to take the role of actual food and a balanced diet into account. Consult a nutritionist and see what is going to work for you, then use it in conjunction with that mass-building diet that has you chowing down on lots of food, more times a day, for the best results.
Alcohol lowers metabolic rate of the body
In terms of building muscle, alcohol not only affects testosterone levels following exercise but also lowers the metabolic rate of the body. Thus your body won’t be able to use its energy the way it should be and you won’t see any significant results. It’s also not too easy to be all optimum fitness and working at a high level if you’re training with a hangover, but that should go without saying.
Not pushing yourself enough
You want to build muscle but have reached a stage where you’re happy with your body. Well, either you’re happy and stay at the plateau or kick things up to a new level. For muscle building you need to kick it up a notch. You won’t see any more results if you don’t make an effort to reach the next level. If you’re comfortable with certain weights then you need to be lifting more, not so that you’re uncomfortable but so that you’re constantly challenging yourself and marching past your peak.
Going with what everyone else is doing
Finding out what works for you is crucial if you want your training to be as effective as possible. There’s no-one-size-fits-all when it comes to diet and exercise and we all start to realise that. Your body has its own needs which might be slightly different than everyone else’s. This is why some of us gain weight from even looking at a McDonald’s and others can have the occasional fast food and still be in the top shape.
It obviously depends on your lifestyle but your genetics play a role in here too. Genetic testing for fitness and nutrition is becoming more and more popular for athletes and can give you an insight into your nutritional needs as well as help you maximise your fitness potential.
