Your training hard but your body is not responding? In this article we discuss 3 Reasons Why you might find it difficult to build muscle. #themusclefix
3 REASONS WHY YOU HAVE ISSUES BUILDING MUSCLE
#1 You Do Not Eat Enough Nutritionally Dense Food
#2 You Train Again Before Fully Recovering The Body's Energy Resources
#3 You Do Not Train With Adequate Intensity, Nor Volume
EAT NUTRITIONALLY DENSE FOOD
If you are experiencing issues build muscle, the reality is this: you are not eating enough caloric dense foods to promote muscle growth.
How many Calories does your body require to promote Muscle Building?
The answer: it depends.
Use this TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) Calculator to discover how many Calories you require daily to meet the demands of your activity level.
As a General Recommendation; try using these settings
Light Exercise + Maintenance Calories + Moderate Carbohydrates
Using the settings indicated above will almost definitely assure you are getting enough Protein to promote Protein Synthesis, Carbohydrates to Fuel Muscle Energy & Fat to assist in Hormone Production. And at the same time, your not going to eat so much food that you begin to spill over into unwanted weight gain (fat).
Now that you understand your Maintenance Caloric Intake; you now must begin building a nutrition plan that will meet your needs. Here is a very short list of top Muscle Building Foods that you can start using daily to meet your Caloric Needs:
PROTEIN: BEEF, FISH, EGGS & CHICKEN
CARBOHYDRATES: FRUIT, VEGETABLES, RICE & LEGUMES
FAT: OLIVE OIL & AVOCADO
Note: Do not make the mistake in believing Vegetables & Legumes will meet your Protein demands. They will not. By nature they are a Carbohydrate.
RECOVER, THAN SUPER-COMPENSATE
After working out, our muscle require sufficient Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats AND SLEEP to replenish 100% of the Energy Resources used during Intense Training. Only after our Energy Resources have fully recovered (100%), can they begin to SUPERCOMENSATE & initiate the metabolic processes responsible for Building Muscle.
Training again before the bodily systems have fully recovered will only serve to create deeper inroads into the body's natural energy resources and will not serve to promote an environment responsible for building new muscle.
What is the optimal amount of rest between workouts?
The Answer: it depends.
We have found 48 Hours between different workouts & upwards of 168 Hours between the same workouts. In some cases (for example: Heavy Deadlift Based Workouts) we have noticed a lifter requires 240 Hours of rest to assure Super-Compensation.
Here is the main point: if you show up to the gym TIRED you are likely not fully recovered & better off resting another day. Here is why:
TRAIN WITH MORE INTENSITY, INCREASE YOUR VOLUME
To stimulate Muscle Growth you must introduce your bodily systems to a NOVEL STIMULUS (a training Intensity & Volume the Muscular System has never experienced before).
In fact, the greater the intensity of a workout, the greater the Muscle Protein Synthesis. Remember that muscle breakdown (resistance training) stimulates the repair and growth of muscle tissue.
According to research from the University of Nottingham, workout intensities of under 40% of the 1-RM will not affect MPS, whereas intensities greater than 60% will double or triple the MPS.
Even if you exercise to failure, using Low-Intensity Exercise will do little to promote MPS & Muscle Building.
What's the saying?
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” - AE
Lets use an example to illustrate:
Lifter A
Trains the Biceps using the Barbell Biceps Curl
They use 30 lbs for 1 Set to Failure, once every week for 8 weeks straight.
Lifter B
Trains the Biceps using the Barbell Biceps Curl
They use 30 lbs for 1 set to Failure in week 1
Every week for 8 weeks straight, they add 5lbs to their 1 Set to Failure
Finishing with 70lbs in week 8
Who will have introduced their muscles to Novel Stimulus, week over week?
Who will have promoted more Protein Synthesis over the 8 weeks?
Lesson: where there is Strength Increase there is Muscle Building.
THE GOAL:
establish a new personal records in the 6-10 Rep Range
on every exercise, every workout for 8 weeks
This can be 5lbs or 1 Rep
Learn this truth: you cannot sustain the type of intensity required to introduce a Novel Stimulus on the muscular system for a long time. Your workouts must be short! (36 Minutes)
You can train Intensely (example: sprint) or you can train Long (example: marathon) BUT YOU CANNOT DO BOTH.
REVIEW
Building Muscle does not come easily.
You literally need to force growth.
A lifter cannot force growth with light weights, moderate exertion & easy workouts. The harder a person trains, the faster they will grow (given they are meeting their Caloric Requirements.). The harder a person trains, the less time they can spend training.
So Train Harder.
Rest Longer Between Workouts.
Eat MORE NUTRITIONALLY FORTIFYING FOOD!