10 Reasons You Are Not As Big As You Want

Habits are something we all have, some good, and some bad. What we do everyday molds our physiques, every decision bringing you an inch closer or farther away from your goals.  Because in reality that is what building a big muscular body is all about, a game of inches.

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us” – Aristotle-

To reach your fitness goals you are not only going to have to make the right decisions, but make them on a daily basis. Consistency is very important; however, some people

Workout --Fail!

are consistent with the wrong choices. That is why I included a list below of the top 10 reasons I think most trainees are not  where they want  to be physique wise.

 1. You do 3 full body routines a week, completely ignoring split routines and focusing on specific hypertrophy training.  These routines are so common in bodybuilders and other athletes looking to gain mass because they work, even a upper body and lower body split is more effective for building mass then full body routines.

2.  You consider anyone training more then once per DAY  a steroid freak. Training twice a day is not only possible for natural trainees, but it is very effective in putting on lean muscle mass.

3. You let the weight just drop after every concentric phase. When performing bench press for example, many trainees almost totally avoid the eccentric phase’s benefits for hypertrophy gains by just letting the weight FALL and not controlling it. By doing this you miss tapping into high threshold motor units which are the ones with the biggest opportunity for hypertrophy gains.

4.  You worry about keeping a perfectly carved six-pack year round.  A fact that surprises many people is the majority of men you see on the front of magazines cannot look like that year round.  You need to be eating a surplus of calories to build muscle, I personally do not agree with bulking up 20-30lbs of fat for 10 pounds of muscle, however you do need to expect some fat gain with the muscle gain if you are not a complete beginner, or extremely genetically gifted. Abs on a guy with 12 inch arms can’t be that impressive can it?

5.  You are not eating enough protein on a DAILY basis to actually build the muscle you are training to try to achieve. Protein is the building block for muscle and without it all the training in the world cannot save you. It is up to you to make sure you get enough protein on a daily basis for optimal gains. A standard by most coaches is 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.

6.  You do not keep a training journal. The most surefire way to make sure you are headed in the right direction and making real gains is to keep track of your progression. Progressive Overload in a high enough rep range will practically guarantee you get bigger. Just think about it, if you start off doing EZ curls with 50lbs for 8-12 reps and  6 months later you can do 110lbs 8-12 reps don’t you think your biceps would of gotten bigger as well?  And at the same time if you now use 60 more pounds on t Tricep Press Down and French Press I can bet you added  a lot of mass to your arms.

7.  Your workout changes up about as much as you change the light bulb in your closet.  Variety is the key to success my friend, it keeps us motivated and interested, while better working the muscles.  Lets say you only do tricep press downs to work your triceps, a great exercise, but it only hit 2 heads of your triceps(  The Tri means 3 total heads ).   Therefore, in theory you are practically screwing yourself out of 1/3 of the growth potential there.

8. You do not look in the mirror enough. Sure, it may seem conceded and egotistic to some, but is it really?  Is a sprinter self-centered for checking his stopwatch after a sprint?  You see when you look in the mirror it is important for you to notice your weaknesses as much as your strengths. Sure you may have great peak on your biceps because you perform a lot of close grip ez bar curls hitting the long head of the bicep, but what about your  tricep long head? That is the part of the tricep, which gives you the “hang” when hitting a double bicep pose. If you notice that is a weak area for you maybe you should hit some overhead tricep extensions your next arm day. See what I mean ? Maybe the mirror is more useful to you then you think!

9. You do too much cardio and not enough weight training.   All that  extra cardio is doing is burning off more calories and endangering your muscle gaining efforts. Moderate cardio is fine, but you need to keep it in check for optimal muscle growth.

10.  You read every day about how to gain muscle, but then argue which way is right and end up doing NOTHING.  Just like the lottery, you need to be in it to win it when it comes to building muscle.

As always, remember knowledge is power in the delicate dance of gaining muscle, and good luck in your fitness goals.

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Brad Kelly writes a weekly article every Monday.  He  is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer, Performance Enhancement Specialist, and Corrective Exercise Specialist out of Panama City, Florida. Driven by a passion to help others he not only trains locals, but also performs online personal training and writes fitness articles to reach as many fellow fitness enthusiasts as possible.