Chances are that you are unknowingly making one or more of these muscle building mistakes, which is the reason you don’t see any gains.

Inadequate Protein Intake

This is often the most common reason you don’t see expected muscle growth. Sure, you are eating all the protein you can lay your hands on and have even invested in a whey protein powder. However, did you do enough research to know if it is good enough?

Cheap quality products do not offer your body adequate protein, and the result is that your body starts to cannibalize your muscles in order to get the much needed amino acids for muscle maintenance and repair. Simply put, you see no growth, thanks to muscle deterioration.

The Solution?

Find a high quality pre-workout and post-workout supplement to ensure your body has enough amino acids it needs for muscle growth along with muscle repair and maintenance.

Lack of Sleep

Believe it or not, lack of sleep reduced your stamina and endurance. And while you might think you are putting in enough efforts at the gym, you are not. When you are asleep, your body repairs itself and your muscles also grow in both size and strength. Also, lack of sleep wrecks havoc on your metabolism; which affects muscle growth.

The Solution?

Aim for a minimum of 8 hours of sleep so that you facilitate muscle growth and feel more energetic at the gym too.

Over Training

It doesn’t really matter whether you want to pump up your biceps or want killer abs; overtraining any body part is never good for your overall muscle growth. You might see results immediately, but will soon hit a plateau and also increase chances of muscle injury threefold.

The Solution?

Work on a whole-body workout that maximizes total muscle growth and then use simple exercises to get muscle definition in desired areas.

Not Making Use of Tension

If you only hoist weight but do not use tension, you will hit a plateau and stop seeing muscle gain very soon. “Heavy low repetition work performed with plentiful rest between sets is not the way to gain quality size. Divorce yourself from this type of notion and any preoccupation with handling continual maximum weights, be it in singles or low repetitions where weight and not work is the motivator”, says Bill Kazmaier, former World Champion Powerlifter.

The Solution?

Don’t concentrate on lifting more load as this increases chances of joints and connective tissue injury. Use a combination of lighter weights and tension on the muscles you want to train instead.

Lack of Variety

If your workout routine hasn’t changed since Day 1, that is the reason you are not building muscle mass. “Variety is the key to muscle growth”, said Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia. Your body gets used to a particular workout and range of motions, so after a few weeks it stops responding to them. As a result you see no muscle growth, even though it causes repetitive stress.

The Solution?

Make sure you keep your muscles challenged by changing your routine often.

Now that you know the top 5 reasons you aren’t seeing any muscle gains, hopefully you know exactly what you are doing wrong and can make amends right away.

I love a good core workout so here’s one for you. Get ready to gasp!