5 Reasons why you might not be seeing gains

Are you finding yourself getting frustrated that you’re not seeing gains, even though you think you’re putting a lot of sweat equity in at the gym?  Whether you’ve been working out for many years or you’re new to lifting weights, muscle gains can be a challenge.  Try not to get frustrated about being stuck because typically these gains you’re looking for can be caused by a number of reasons, but these reasons can be easily avoided if you take the time to assess what you’re doing and make some changes.  Like I said, there can be a number of reasons, but here are just 5 things you can look at when it comes to what you’re doing that might be preventing you from achieving those gains.  Take a look at these and see if any of these will help you out, and remember, STAY POSITIVE, you can achieve those results you look for!

1.     Keep a workout log

Are you tracking your workouts?  How many of you are guilty of not keeping a workout log?  You can’t see me, but I’m raising my hand.  I was guilty of this for the longest time.  I thought that I could keep things straight in my head, but sometimes it’s just hard to remember what you did for weight and reps the last time you did squats, bench press, or any other exercise.  Write down what you did for weight, reps, whether it was too light, too heavy…keep a log so that you can track your workouts and use it to challenge yourself the next time you do that same exercise.  Because if you’re doing the same weight each time you do that exercise, your muscles will have no reason to grow.

2.     Are you doing low reps?

Take a look at how many reps you’re doing.  Are you doing 1-6 reps?  If you are, then this is a good way to increase strength, but you might see little in muscle gain with this approach.  Try working in the 8-12 rep range.  This is a great range to work in for a few reasons.  It’s the best anabolic rep range, the best range for increasing muscle hypertrophy, and another reason is that when you use heavy weight and only able to muster out a few reps, your form can get bad.  Which leads me into number 3.

3.     Check your form

How many times have you been in the gym and see somebody putting way too much weight on the bar and only being able to do maybe half of a rep?  If you are guilty of this, do yourself a favor and drop some of the weight.  Don’t drop it too much where you find yourself exceeding the 12 reps that I mentioned above, but low enough to where you’re finding the last rep to be difficult.   I do want to add though, that there are times when you switch up your routine, you will have a few instances where you will be doing a low rep range, for maxing purposes, but I will cover that in another session.   When you lose form because the weight’s too heavy for you, you end up recruiting other muscles and sacrifice working the muscle you’re trying to target.

4.   Stress

Are you stressing out about things that aren’t important?  What I mean by this question is this.  You find yourself comparing your physique to somebody else’s more defined physique.  This can be a huge mistake on your part.  Sure, you may look at someone in the gym and say, “I want to look like that!” but something you really should be focusing on is yourself.  Don’t compare yourself to anyone else because your ability to gain muscle is largely based on your genes, which you don’t get to choose.  So just compare yourself to yourself and by lifting this unnecessary stress from yourself, you will allow your mind to focus on what you set out to do, to be a better you, not that guy or that girl.

5.    Recovery

Recovery is important to gaining muscle, because every time we workout out we’re damaging our muscles, and it’s during this recovery is when our muscles are being repaired, which is where your gains are coming from.  There are some simple things to help with recovery.  Drink a protein shake or a post-workout drink (creatine or BCAA’s) right after your workout.  Protein is a major macronutrient used to repair muscles, and by drinking a protein shake immediately after a workout, the protein can reach the muscle in about 30 minutes, whereas protein in the form of solid food takes more time to break down and be delivered to the muscle.  And sleep.  Sleep plays a big role in recovery because we get our biggest growth hormone spike during our deep sleep, which we release HGH (human growth hormone) which is an anabolic agent that promotes muscle recovery and growth.

Now there are more factors that could be holding you back from achieving the muscle gains you’re seeking, but let’s just start with looking at these 5 and addressing any of them.  I will continue to offer you more suggestions in the future.  Remember to stay positive everyone and don’t get discouraged, I’m confident you will see the results you want!


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