Why am I not gaining muscle mass? Top ten muscle building mistakes

One of the most horrifying things that you could get caught up into is where you are looking at yourself in the mirror after months and weeks of working out and dieting and you end up asking yourself why are you not gaining muscle mass? To grow big muscles is not an easy task. It requires a lot of hard work and patience. Let’s not hide the fact that almost all of us struggle with this problem.

The main problem starts when no matter what you do and how much you train yourself, you still don’t have a muscular physique that you want. There can be many reasons why you are not able to gain muscle mass which could be that you are not eating enough or maybe you are exercising too much. So if you have been working really hard to build your muscles but you see you have little to no progress then definitely you are making one or more muscle building mistakes. Let us find out about the ten muscle building mistakes that you are making but you are not aware of that.

Top ten muscle building mistakes:-

1. Not eating enough- Going to the gym and working out with the heavy weights would do nothing if you don’t take in good amount of calories. Working out daily would not be helpful to you in any way if you are not eating well. Without proper intake of food you will end up making muscle building very difficult for yourself.  You should always remember that calories are needed by your body to fuel your workouts and to help your muscles to grow and also repair.
2. Not drinking enough water- Your body is made up of two third of water. Apart from that, two thirds of that water is found in your muscles. It is important for you to know that your muscle cells are made up of protein and water. So if you want to grow your muscles then you need to increase your water intake. Usually people consume six to eight glasses of water a day, try to increase your intake from just consuming eight glasses of water in a day.
3. Not consuming enough protein- Consumption of protein is important for various functions in your body. Protein is also important for your muscle building and it is known as muscle protein synthesis. Your workout will breakdown the muscle fibers with microscopic tears and when they slowly repair, the muscles will build back bigger. Over the time your muscle mass will increases. To be able to repair and rebuild your muscle tissues properly you will have to take in an adequate protein supply.
4. Not stretching enough- If you start your workout or finish your workout without stretching then you are missing out an important part of muscle building. You should know that stretching at the end of a workout not only starts the recovery process of your body but also helps prepare your body for the next workout. If you are not stretching then you are leaving your muscles tight and you have risk for injury. Stretching allow your muscles to have more room to grow.
5.  Not getting enough sleep– The lack of sleep is going to seriously bother your muscle building. Sleep is what helps your body to repair and recover. If you deprive yourself of sleep, you are causing an interruption to the growth and repair process. Sleep deprivation can increase your stress hormones making gaining body fat easier so drag your energy levels down and negatively affect your working outs.
6. Not lifting enough weight– If your workouts are not challenging then you will need to increase the intensity of your workouts. Let us say if you are doing an exercise where you can do twenty+ repetitions, you are not lifting heavy weights enough. You should choose a weight that is challenging you.  
7.  Lifting too much weight– On the other side, if you are lifting too much weight then this is also not good for your body. Sometimes you are only able to perform four or five rep of lifting weights because it might be too heavy.
8. Not eating enough carbs– You might think of getting into a low-carb diet such as paleo or keto but  you should know that those diets are not for everyone. If  you are working hard, you will require energy and your body can get energy through the form of glucose from carbohydrates. These carbs will help you in the gym to lift more weights, resulting in better muscle building.
9.  Lifting with poor form– Here you need to make sure that your weight training should be challenging. You should be able to control it as you would have to go through the repetitions with good form. If you are not able to control the weights then your working out will be useless as you won’t be able to get the desired results. If the weight is too heavy and you have a sloppy form then you will end up injuring your muscles.
10.  Not getting enough nutrients each day– You might be eating some good amount of carbs and protein but you still need all the micronutrients that are important for muscle growth. There should not be any deficiency of any vitamins and minerals in your body. You should consume a good amount of fruits and vegetables. You can add a multivitamin supplement in your diet.

These were the top ten muscle building mistakes that you make while working out. Next time try to keep these in your mind when you go to workout as it would help you to build muscle mass and it will also help you gain the confidence that you always needed. It is important to have a balanced diet along side of doing regular exercises.