9 Common Muscle-Building Mistakes

It is in our physiology to be able to grow muscle in response to training. It is ingrained in our DNA and endures for the duration of our lives. In other words, lifters ought to be able to add noticeable muscle to their bodies regardless of age or experience level.

It’s time to take a step back and reflect if you’re going to the gym consistently and purposefully in an attempt to gain muscle mass but are still not seeing results. Which of these twelve typical errors is undermining your success?

#1 Not Making a Plan

Apart from the apparent necessity of setting aside time for the gym, a lot of lifters struggle to achieve their muscle-building objectives due to a chaotic training regimen. Exercises done haphazardly may burn some calories, provide a respectable pump, and release feel-good neurotransmitters, but deliberate and well-planned training is what leads to true growth.

The Issue

You leave your workouts up to chance when you don’t plan your weekly training. While some body regions may be overworked, others may receive less-than-optimal training volume (sets and reps).

In contrast to targeted hypertrophy programs, which purposefully underload a particular muscle group in order to focus more training on a muscle group that is lagging behind, unplanned training is typically uneven and produces subpar increases overall.

Unmonitored training loads can lead to a failure to identify leading indicators of success, including increasing the amount of weight lifted or the number of repetitions one can do with a particular weight. Additionally, you can overlook early warning signs of growing exhaustion and inadequate recuperation, which could otherwise be addressed with program modifications or a deload.

The Resolution

Lifters who are serious about gaining muscle need to plan their training, and starting with a proper training split is a fantastic place to start. Training splits give each workout a specific focus, which helps lifters stay organized.

Your first workout of the week might involve pushing exercises for the upper body, such as a push/pull/legs split, which would primarily target the chest, front delts (shoulders), and triceps. The second session focuses on biceps and rear deltoid (shoulder) work in addition to upper body pulling exercises including rows, pulldowns, and pull-ups. You guessed it—leg day is the third workout.

Each body component can have its intended weekly training volume assigned to it once each session has a focus, even if that emphasis is a full-body workout. The next part will address the right training volume for muscle growth, but until you plan and monitor your training volume, you will never know if you are meeting your goals.

Following the establishment of your split, you must schedule and monitor the details of each workout. At the very least, this ought to comprise:

Exercise choice

For every exercise, the desired repetition range and number of sets

The precise count of sets and repetitions completed

weight applied

Use an app on your phone to store records, or just stick with a good old pen and paper.

#2 Control Volume;

The volume of resistance training is the total amount of work done during a training session. The term “volume load” refers to the quantity of sets, repetitions, and weight used in each exercise. One important factor influencing hypertrophy (muscle increase) is volume load. 

When it comes to hypertrophy training, weekly training volume load matters more than daily volume load. In other words, the guidelines below about the proper weekly training volume still hold true regardless of whether each muscle group is worked out once, twice, or three times a week.

The Problem

When lifters exceed or fall short of the weekly effective volume of resistance training, problems arise. The link between weekly volume and muscle building seems to follow a two-tailed, bell-shaped curve, akin to many biological processes – a situation reminiscent of “Goldilocks.”

If you work at a low enough volume, you won’t advance or might even regress. Overdoing it can lead to non-functional overreaching, which is a decline in performance that only returns to baseline after a protracted period of recovery. 

The Solution

You must first determine your baseline training volume in order to prevent losing out on benefits owing to insufficient or unsustainable high volume. Add together all of the weekly sets for each main muscle group to get the approximate volume. First of all

A decent minimum aim for trained persons is 10 weekly sets per major muscle group, according to an expert consensus statement on hypertrophy. Generally speaking, weekly total sets shouldn’t rise by more than 20% every training month. Although larger volume increases may be maintained during deliberate “overreaching,” these brief intervals are usually followed by a deload, or a prearranged decrease in training volume and intensity.

Deloads are nothing to be afraid of. Significant drops in training volume are typical during a deload. There could be a 50% decrease in the volume per week. Lifters may be hesitant to significantly reduce volume during deloads for fear of losing muscle, but studies have shown that well-trained individuals can go at least two weeks without working out without losing strength or size. You continue to train and remain active throughout a deload.

Deloads have a time limit; they usually last for around a week. Deloads facilitate recuperation following strenuous training cycles. Lifters have been observed to exhibit increased sensitivity to training volume after a deload week, which enables them to return to a moderate weekly training volume (e.g., 10 to 16 weekly sets). 

The question of top-end weekly volume may be of interest, too. Although some lifters may benefit from higher training volumes, it is likely not necessary for most to push past 20 or so weekly sets per muscle group, especially if other training variables are progressive over time.

#3 Lack of Progression

Your ideal physique will not be developed with the same repetitions, sets, and weights that created your current one. This is because, in the absence of incremental training inputs, our muscles, like other biological systems, rapidly achieve balance, or homeostasis.

THE PROBLEM 

Based on the principles of the general adaptation syndrome (GAS), which explains the way in which living things react to stress, non-progressive stimuli eventually cause biological responses to plateau. This implies that, in the case of hypertrophy training, non-progressive exercises will ultimately cease to be productive and you will no longer notice muscular growth.

THE SOLUTION

The easiest way to address non-progressive training is to make sure you are consistently increasing the weight or volume of your lifts (sets and/or reps).

A basic progression strategy for creating your own program is to begin by choosing a weight for each exercise that permits you to complete a certain number of repetitions for sets of moderate effort at the lower end of your target repetition range. This is true even though any good, pre-made program will already include progression.

Lifters who want to program neutral-grip lat pulldowns in the eight to twelve repetition range, for instance, may find that they can utilize 165 pounds (75 kilograms) for eight repetitions, with two or three repetitions left over.

She can now proceed to 165 pounds for nine or more reps or 170 pounds for eight repeats each week by either adding one repetition each set or 2.5% to 5% additional weight. Until she is unable to stay within the target repetition range, she will keep adding weight or repetitions. After that, it’s ready to restart after a roughly one-week deload period.

You may also just change your target repetition range to allow for a longer period of progression (12 to 15 repetitions, for example) if you don’t think you’re ready for a deload.

#4 Quasi-Cardio Workouts

Many intensive sessions include working up a sweat and getting the heart rate up, and most lifters enjoy that kind of training. A staple of many of these hard workouts are supersets, which pair exercises back-to-back to minimize recovery. 

However, some lifters go too far with “minimal rest.” Workout quality and performance may deteriorate if rest periods are too short, which could prevent the workout from accomplishing its main goal of muscular growth.

THE PROBLEM:

To be clear, the issue isn’t really that there isn’t enough time between sets. It’s the inevitable reduction of training volume and/or intensity that follows insufficient rest. 

Cutting down on rest times will increase the workout’s cardiovascular difficulty. Although aerobic exercise is excellent for general health, it is not the best kind of training for muscle growth. Furthermore, it’s unlikely that “lifting light weights fast” or “lifting with minimal rest” will be the best cardio for most people. Exercises that are rhythmic or cyclical—such as swimming, cycling, jogging, rowing machines, etc.—tend to be more appropriate.

THE SOLUTION:

Aside from very specialized situations like supersets, make sure you are getting enough rest in between sets so that you can sustain the appropriate training volume during your hypertrophy exercise. Rest for at least two minutes in between sets of exercises involving multiple joints and for 60 to 90 seconds in between sets of exercises involving a single joint.

#5 Tip-Toeing Around Tension

People who want to gain muscular mass use weightlifting to put their muscles under tension. Muscles undergo a complicated series of chemical, mechanical, and neurological reactions when under tension, which leads to increased rates of muscle protein synthesis and turnover. Ideally, the outcome will be larger muscles.

THE PROBLEM 

One of the main hypothesized drivers of hypertrophy is mechanical strain. When sets become difficult, lifters can be particularly effective at overcoming mechanical tension. By utilizing workarounds or compensations to make the repetitions easier, they ultimately release tension from the targeted muscles.

THE SOLUTION

Establish a solid mental-muscular link and resist the need to deprive yourself of tension. Concentrate on managing the negative (or eccentric/lowering) aspect of the exercise from the start of each set. At the worst part of the motion, you might even linger a little longer. For instance, concentrate on managing the beginning descent when lowering dumbbells during a lateral raise.

Don’t cheat and prohibit any compensations as your set goes on! Undoubtedly, maintaining proper form when faced with exhaustion, scorching muscles, and imminent muscle collapse can be difficult, but it can be learned.

Dumbbell front squats, for instance, are a great leg exercise to target your quadriceps. As you lower yourself, keep your knees driven forward to transfer strain into your quads. During the last difficult repetitions, resist the urge to sink your hips.

Some machine-based exercises can help you strengthen your mind-muscle connection and boost your confidence if you are not experienced in pushing through tension or have not developed your talents yet. These exercises also come with built-in safety features.

#6 Always Testing, Never Training

Some lifters are unable to avoid training too frequently and too hard. Reaching a significant personal best or maximum on a squat, bench, press, or deadlift is, for many, the sweet spot. However, reaching your maximum is not always the same as training well. Unplanned “YOLO sets” can drain your energy, rob you of volume load, affect your preparation for training, and eventually reduce the gains you have made in hypertrophy.

THE PROBLEM 

While there’s always a place and time for maxing out in a program, it usually happens during a phase of deliberate overreaching or testing to determine working weights and percentages.

Lower volume loads, which are a major factor in hypertrophy, can be achieved by heavy singles, doubles, or even triples. 

This is because sets in the five to thirty repetition range, which are most effective for building volume load, may be subtracted from or replaced by maximum or nearly maximal low-rep sets.

If heavy maximum sets are used too often, they may lead to non-functional overreaching. After just three weeks, researchers found that trained squatters performing three sessions per week of two singles at 95% of one-repetition maximum (1RM) and three singles at 90% 1RM showed non-functional overreaching, or a lack of increases. 

In a different study, three sets of ten repetitions and seven sets of three repetitions were used in a volume load equal program. Over the course of eight weeks, all groups acquired the same amount of muscle, but the group that performed heavy triples for seven sets experienced greater overtraining-related symptoms, such as joint pain. 

In the end, rigorous training can surprise you. Heavy maximal sets could be able to provide growth and volume loads that are comparable, but they might not be as effective over time as “hypertrophy-style” sets with moderate to high repetition rates.

THE SOLUTION

When following a specific hypertrophy program, heavy, maximal effort sets (i.e., less than three repetitions) should be sparingly spaced out. You do not have to reach your weekly maximum.

For the lifter that is concentrating on hypertrophy, true 1RM testing might not even be required. Programming with multiple repetition maximums (i.e., 5RM, 8RM, 12RM, etc.) is likely more precise to the repetition target of the sets that are typically performed during training and equally as successful as programming with percentages of 1RM.

Aim to test your primary lifts between 8 and 12 repetition maximums once or twice every four to six-week training cycle. Avoid the temptation to exert the utmost amount of effort on days when your program does not require it. 

#7 PROGRAM SAMPLING: 

You could be able to achieve your physical objectives with the aid of countless training plans. But dipping into the never-ending array of exercises that are popular on social media and in fitness magazines is a surefire way to impede your development.

THE PROBLEM 

Every new workout, or variation on an exercise, challenges our neuromuscular system to perform a new movement ability. Acquiring new movement skills, or motor learning, is a process that requires time.

You will never reach the peak of the learning curve if you are continuously modifying your exercise regimen. In other words, if you don’t dedicate enough time to each exercise to optimize technique, repetitions, and loads, you won’t get the most out of your training.

THE SOLUTION 

Consider every activity you perform as an investment in your training. If you continue to perform an activity for a sufficient amount of time, you will see compounding interest in the form of improved muscle adaptations and technical ability.

Maintaining relative constancy facilitates increasing overload, which is a crucial component of training that works. Progressive overload for hypertrophy is achieved by progressively subjecting your muscles to higher demands over time.

#8 FORGETTING THE FOOD :

It’s true what they say—you gotta eat big to grow big. Consistent lifters are assumed to acquire muscle mostly due to elevated rates of muscle protein synthesis after resistance training. Dietary protein is the primary source of raw materials for increased rates of protein synthesis and is the most critical macronutrient for lifters who prioritize hypertrophy.

THE PROBLEM 

While the recommended daily intake of protein to maximize muscle growth is often 1.6 grams per kilogram of body mass, resistance-trained athletes may benefit from a significantly higher intake. It could be more acceptable to aim for 2.0 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass. A lot of lifters never quite make up to this goal.

THE SOLUTION 

Even though many athletes are not concerned with monitoring every macronutrient, maximizing protein intake can be the most doable and significant step. One easy way to hit your protein goal of 2.0 to 2.2 grams per kilogram body mass, or about one gram every pound of body weight, is to split your day meal intake into multiple targets.

A 200-pound lifter, for instance, may schedule four meals with roughly 50 grams of protein each. Alternatively, this lifter may have three meals at roughly 50 grams each, a shake after the workout with 30 grams, and a snack with an additional 20 grams of protein.

You must become familiar with the protein composition of the foods you frequently eat if you want to fulfill your protein objective in an efficient manner. You’ll quickly start to commit the protein contents of the foods you frequently eat to memory.

A quarter-pound of beef, for instance, contains about 25 grams, a single egg has six grams, and a small tin of tuna fish has approximately 25 grams. 

A trained dietitian, preferably with experience working with physique athletes, is the best person to approach for advice on meal plans, health concerns, and other aspects of nutrition, like scheduling nutrients.

#9 Impatience;

The truth is that muscular growth is excruciatingly sluggish. It is anticipated that young, healthy beginners—those starting a structured hypertrophy program for the first time—will increase muscle mass the fastest.

This is the phenomenon known as “newbie gains.” Gains, however, become more difficult to achieve and slower to occur as training experience rises.

THE PROBLEM 

Hypertrophy rates are quite individualized and very sluggish. A creative study design found that when participants conducted various progressive protocols on their left versus right limbs, the diversity in hypertrophy between individuals following the identical progressive training programs was 40 times greater than the variability within individuals. 

A tiny research on 24 “newbie” lifters found that after ten weeks of intense training, there was an average 10.7% increase in muscle cross-sectional area, underscoring individual diversity. Although this shift did not approach statistical significance, the average is somewhat deceiving because during the trial, slightly under one-third of the participants (referred to as “low responders”) lost muscle size, while the “high responders” had an increase of almost 15%. 

Overall, research suggests that unique characteristics matter more than the particular details of the hypertrophy program.

THE SOLUTION 

Fortunately, progressive hypertrophy exercise does not produce non-responders. However, you’d better get used to playing the long game if you are a low responder, also referred to as a “hard gainer,” or even an average responder to training.

Practice setting expectations and goals in terms of longer timeframes. For example, an average experienced lifter not enhanced by anabolic steroids might reasonably set a goal of gaining four or five pounds of primarily lean muscle mass per month.

However, for a known low responder, a more realistic goal might be to add two pounds of muscle per month. Or better yet, aim at twelve solid pounds of muscle in a year. Rather than frantically seeking the next best program or supplement, most lifters would be better served thinking about gains in terms of months, years, even decades. Settle in and enjoy the progress.

Finally, there’s one silver lining for “hard gainers.” Although they tend to gain muscle more slowly, “hard gainers” shed muscle more slowly during periods of detraining. 

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