7 Reasons You’re Not Building Muscle

#1 You are training way too often

Sounds like a trick, doesn’t it? You’re not gaining muscle because you’re actually training? It’s true. In fact, it’s a very common mistake that can even lead to a serious disorder. I get it: You commit yourself to getting in shape and you hit the gym with so much passion that you don’t listen to your body when it’s screaming for a break. No pain, no gain, right? Wrong! You need to train on a schedule that allows for breaks. Overtraining won’t build muscle. It will actually eat away at your gains through a process called catabolism. 

The lesson:

Depending on your fitness goals, training three to four times per week is more than sufficient enough for most people. Let’s face it: Not everyone has the same needs in the gym as an Olympic athlete! Remember: Each workout should not last more than an hour, unless, of course, you are training for an endurance event like a marathon or obstacle challenge like tough mudder or a Spartan race. Doing muscle building exercises that work on multiples of muscle groups and multiple planes of action, three to four times each and every week for an hour, is enough to get you the results that you want. Being in the gym for two to three hours each time for six days a week is damaging your body instead of improving it. 

Final thought: Since overtraining is a very serious disorder, make sure to track your time in the gym and give a friend or trainer access to that log to ensure that you aren’t going down a potentially damaging road.