Nine Workout Mistakes That Are Killing Your Muscle Gains
Lack of focus on heavy compound movements
Compound, or multi-joint, movements are always going to give you the most bang for your buck in terms of muscle growth, and there are a couple reasons for this. First, compound movements work more muscle groups, so naturally they lead to growth of more muscle groups. Second, and arguably more important, the greater muscle recruitment triggers your body to produce more testosterone and growth hormone, which are key components in the muscle-building process. Studies have even shown training legs in addition to arms can improve the results of your arm workouts (1). The main focus of your training plan should revolve around compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and rows, while the single joint exercises like curls and shoulder raises should be given less of a priority.
2. Not enough time under tension
Muscles don’t respond to a specific number of reps as much as a certain amount of time under tension. The 10-12 rep range is generally considered the “hypertrophy range,” but this is because of the time it takes to do those reps. Studies show performing the same number of reps at a slower pace leads to greater muscle protein synthesis (2). What we should really think of as the “hypertrophy range” is about 40-60 seconds. If you do 12 reps but you do them really quickly, you’re going to finish your set well before you’ve spent enough time under tension to trigger the growth mechanisms in your muscle. Take your time.
3. Not timing rest intervals
How many times have you done this: finish a set, take out your phone, scroll through social media until you feel ready for the next set.
If this is your typical routine, you’re probably resting for too long.
When muscle size is the goal, a HUGE factor (pun intended) is hitting the muscles when they’re tired. You want to stress them before they’ve had enough time to fully recover if you want to engage more muscle fibers. Next time you finish a set, try setting a timer for 1 minute and starting your next set when it hits zero, regardless of how ready you feel. You’ll probably have to use lighter weight, but you’ll be pumping the muscles like crazy.
4. Not eating enough or not eating well enough
For hard gainers, half the battle is simply getting enough food. Weight gain (or loss) simply boils down to calories in vs calories out; if you want to gain weight, you have to consume more calories than you burn.
Getting enough protein is top of the list for building muscle, but carbs and fats are super important as well. Try finding some healthy, calorie-dense snacks to eat between meals, or add a protein shake to your daily diet. For many people including myself, it’s often easier to drink calories than eat them, so protein shakes can go a long way towards meeting your calorie goals.
Aim for each meal to include lean protein, unprocessed carbs, healthy fats, and color from fruits and vegetables. If you do this consistently and eat enough of it you’ll be giving your body the necessary building blocks for muscle gain.
5. Not enough sleep
Sleep is a massively overlooked aspect of fitness. Your body has recovery processes that are only triggered by sleep, so if you aren’t getting enough then you aren’t allowing your muscles to maximize their recovery.
Many books have been written on sleep and how to maximize it, and it’s worth doing a deeper dive into, but in simple terms you’re best off if you get a consistent amount of sleep at a consistent time, and that amount should be somewhere around eight hours.
6. Not lifting regularly enough
Consider the following two people on a three-day workout plan:
Person A
Monday: Day 1 workout
Wednesday: Day 2 workout
Friday: Day 3 workout
Person B
Monday: Day 1 workout
Wednesday: Friends are getting drinks, he’ll totally do the day 2 workout tomorrow
Thursday: Long day at work, he does one exercise then leaves
Friday: Finishes the Day 2 workout
Saturday/Sunday: Nope
Monday: Day 3 workout
Both of these guys are working out, but the first one is going to get seriously better results. If you hit Day 1 then go nine or ten days before you hit your next Day 1, the muscle groups you worked will have lost the gains they made and you’ll be starting more or less where you were nine or ten days ago. To keep those gains and build on them you need to stress the muscles again. And then again, and again, and again.
Consistency is key.
A missed workout here and there isn’t a big deal, but if missed workouts and long delays are a regular occurrence then you won’t see the results you’re looking for.
7. Too concerned with numbers/incorrect form
You may have heard the phrase, “leave your ego at the door,” but few of us ever do.
We talked about how muscles respond to time under tension rather than a certain number of reps; the same is true in terms of weight. Our muscles know tension. If they’re stressed with the right tension, they’ll adapt and grow. If the weight is too heavy and your form suffers because of it, not only are you risking injury but you’re probably not putting the right kind of tension on the muscles to see the growth you want because you’re cheating the motion.
Now there are certain times when cheating with heavier weight can be beneficial (cheat curls can be a fantastic bicep builder when done right), but for the most part it’s better to stick to weights that you can lift with perfect form.
8. No progressive overload
Many people go to the gym and improvise their workouts every time, starting fresh with each new day. Maybe do some bench presses, then see the cable machine and do some pulldowns, then try a new kettlebell exercise they saw on Instagram.
While it may seem beneficial, and you may think by doing this you’re “shocking the muscle” into growth, you’re actually hurting your gains by not letting your workouts compound on each other. Instead, you’ll see much better results by repeating the same program every week for four to six weeks. As you repeat the workouts, your muscles are able to adapt and improve their performance from one week to the next. Ideally you’ll be able to add either weight or reps each time you repeat a workout, and this consistent stress triggers the muscles to grow little by little.
9. Not utilizing slow eccentrics
All parts of a lift are not necessarily created equal, which means you may be missing out on potential gains by treating them as such. Slowing down the eccentric portion of a lift (the lowering phase) can increase muscle fiber damage, metabolic stress, and hormonal response to the lift (all good things) (3). Try mixing up the tempo of some of your exercises and going slower on the way down. Using bench press as an example, start from the top and slowly lower the bar to your chest as you count to five before pressing it back up as normal. Repeat each rep this way until you finish your set.
This is another method where you’ll have to use considerably lighter weight, but by the end of your set you’ll feel the difference and you’ll see growth. But beware: the extra micro tears you’re creating by doing this will make you extra sore, so be sure to stretch afterwards, get enough post-workout nutrition, drink plenty of water, and get plenty of sleep.
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