6 Mistakes When Trying Build Muscle
I used to be very skinny and I always struggled for years to gain weight. I made all six of these mistakes in my early twenties. Since then, I have gone from 65kg (10.5 stone) to 92kg (over 14 stone).
Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes, so you don’t waste as much time as I did when I was younger.
Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes, so you don’t waste as much time as I did when I was younger.
Not Eating Enough.
This is the most common and obvious mistake people make. You can't expect to gain a significant amount of muscle if you're not eating in a calorie surplus.
I regularly have clients who are underweight claim that they eat loads of food. When I get them to track their food intake on MyFitnessPal it shows they are massively under-eating. If they were eating loads like they claim they would be gaining weight, even if it was fat. If you’re trying, but not gaining weight, you simply have to increase your calorie intake. It's that simple.
What often happens is they eat one or two large meals, but don’t eat much for the rest of the day, or they eat a lot for a couple of days, but then under eat for the rest of the week.
If you want to build muscle, you have to eat enough calories consistently.
I regularly have clients who are underweight claim that they eat loads of food. When I get them to track their food intake on MyFitnessPal it shows they are massively under-eating. If they were eating loads like they claim they would be gaining weight, even if it was fat. If you’re trying, but not gaining weight, you simply have to increase your calorie intake. It's that simple.
What often happens is they eat one or two large meals, but don’t eat much for the rest of the day, or they eat a lot for a couple of days, but then under eat for the rest of the week.
If you want to build muscle, you have to eat enough calories consistently.
Impatience
A big mistake is people try and rush gaining muscle and either give up as they don't feel they're gaining fast enough, or gaining too much fat. Building muscle is a slow process, and to gain a significant amount will take a long time. You can gain on average 1-2lbs a month when you first start out. Gaining 15lbs in the first year is realistic if you’re doing everything right, but that rate of muscle gain won’t last otherwise everyone would be huge within a few years. The next year you would do well to gain half that.
Trying to bulk up too quickly will just end up with you gaining too much fat. At my stage, I would be happy gaining 1kg in a year!
You'll need to think long term if you're planning on gaining a large amount of muscle.
Trying to bulk up too quickly will just end up with you gaining too much fat. At my stage, I would be happy gaining 1kg in a year!
You'll need to think long term if you're planning on gaining a large amount of muscle.
Not Making Progress on your Lifts
You need to be consistent and achieve progressive overload in order to build muscle. Far too many people still use the same weight for the same sets and reps forever. You can't expect to gain muscle if you're not progressively overloading on your exercises. You need to ensure you're doing more than you used to be able to do if you want to gain muscle.
Find a good routine and stick to it. Go on any fitness forum on the internet, and you’ll see beginners asking if they should change their routine, or they have already done 6 different programs in 3 months. They can’t understand why they haven’t made much progress.
Make sure you stick to your routine for 6-12 weeks.
Find a good routine and stick to it. Go on any fitness forum on the internet, and you’ll see beginners asking if they should change their routine, or they have already done 6 different programs in 3 months. They can’t understand why they haven’t made much progress.
Make sure you stick to your routine for 6-12 weeks.
Not Doing the Big Exercises
This is another common mistake you’ll see across gyms.
The big exercises use the most amount of muscle and are exercises that you can progressively overload forever. You'll never outgrow the barbell lifts.
Base your routine around these exercises,
Squats
Deadlifts
Bench press
Overhead press
Rows
Chin ups
Dips
Then after you can do the smaller exercises such as curls, flys, push downs etc. Just don't do them instead of the big exercises.
The big exercises use the most amount of muscle and are exercises that you can progressively overload forever. You'll never outgrow the barbell lifts.
Base your routine around these exercises,
Squats
Deadlifts
Bench press
Overhead press
Rows
Chin ups
Dips
Then after you can do the smaller exercises such as curls, flys, push downs etc. Just don't do them instead of the big exercises.
Avoiding Training Legs
As obvious as it should be to train your legs as it has some large muscles there and makes up around half of your body, it’s very common for people to avoid them, or training them with little intensity.When you're training legs, you're also training your lower back and core. It's a large percentage of your total muscle mass, so don't neglect training your legs
Leg training is hard physically and mentally, so people will often skip leg workouts, or put very little effort into it. I've heard people claim they don't need to train legs because they already have large legs. However, I've never heard anyone say that about upper body muscles as the workouts tend to be much easier.
Leg training is hard physically and mentally, so people will often skip leg workouts, or put very little effort into it. I've heard people claim they don't need to train legs because they already have large legs. However, I've never heard anyone say that about upper body muscles as the workouts tend to be much easier.
Relying on Supplements
People often look at supplements first before sorting out their nutrition and exercise. They are designed to supplement your good nutrition, not replace them. This subject is the one I probably get the most questions from my male clients. They are looking for a short cut that doesn’t exist. For the sake of convenience, fish oil, vitamin D, multivitamin and whey protein can be useful. However, they are far from essential.
Don’t place too much importance on supplements. Get your diet sorted first.
Don’t place too much importance on supplements. Get your diet sorted first.
6 MISTAKES WHEN TRYING BUILD MUSCLE