Troubleshooting: Build Muscle Mass

‘Why am I not getting bigger?’ is one of the most often questions asked globally from bodybuilders. After all you are training hard, with good muscle building nutrition in your diet, yet your gains are still minimal. The frustration can be a huge blow to your motivation after so many months of hardwork. So what is the answer? Well, there are a few likely causes, see if any of these ring a bell with you, together they show you how to build muscle:

1) Are you eating lots? Some hardgainers are really just undereaters. Lack of muscle mass is often due to this. The key to building muscle mass is frequent high calorie meals! Consuming food every two hours is a sensible rule of thumb which will enable you to take in the required amount of calories. Make sure you snack lots on food such as: dried fruit and nuts, yoghurt, cottage cheese,  cereal and milk, protein bars, fresh fruit, and protein shakes, etc

2) Are you getting enough protein? To build muscle mass fast you should aim for 1.Each day you should get per pound of body weight 5 grams of protein. Superb source of protein for muscle building are: chicken, fish, turkey as well as dairy products. Eat lots of everything and do not be too concerned about eating low fat products, you need the calories remember. of course you require decent quality calories but you can do a ripping stage at a later date to remove excess body fat. A further great way to take on board quality protein is to get your hands on the large tubs of whey protein.

3) Have your routines gone stale? If you can dictate out loud your session off the cuff then that likely means you have been doing the workout for quite a while now. Your body is not going to grow if you are not providing stimulating workouts with lots of variety. Trying playing around with things like drop sets, partials, negatives, aided lifts and such like. You can even just reverse the order of your routine and see what difference that makes, how about 10 sets of 10 reps to failure on just one major exercise such as the bench press (get ready to be sore!) or just give yourself a week off from training to allow your body to fully recover. There are endless variations that are possible make sure you use them.

4) Are you getting enough down time? Did you ever see anyone walk into a fitness centre workout and then come out having put on half a stone of muscle? Never. Clearly then your muscle do their growing at home after you have pumped out. If you are not resting lots then you are limiting the amount of time available for the muscle to grow. If anything over compensate and give your body more than enough time to grow. Try limiting your workouts to one muscle group per week. Also reducing the number of sets per body part, how about a maximum of 3-5 really intense sets per body part per workout. Give them a go and the results will be the validation of them!

5) Is your water intake high enough? If you are skimping on the water then you really are limiting your progress. A lot of water is required in order for your to build muscle mass. Take a bottle of water with you, leave it in the car and always sip on it.

So the original question: ‘Why am I not getting bigger?’ as you can tell has many answers. Answer the list of question in this article and if you need to adjust something then start doing it today. The problem for your limited growth may well be the one point above that you do not meet. Some alterations are needed if any of these points are not being properly dealt with. Of course there are heaps of other reasons why you might not be growing but the above are the usual culprits. Now hit the gym and go get massive!