My Muscles Don't Grow Anymore

We all have times when we just don't grow as fast as we'd like. What can you do about it, and why does it happen?

If you've been training for more than six months, you probably seen your lean body mass increase rapidly in the first few months, but now you think your muscles have stopped growing, it's normal. Building muscle takes time, effort, planning, discipline and routine.

But it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman there could be a wide range of reasons why you suddenly see and feel that your muscle doesn't grow anymore. Below you will see that we have selected 8 primary reasons why your muscles would stop growing.

Reason #1: Not Eating Enough

Proteins, carbs and fats are the basic requirements for building muscle. Your body burns more calories to build and repair muscles, without eating excess calories any weight training done will not affect your lean body mass. Feeding yourself the correct caloric balance of nutrients requires planning and discipline.

Reason # 2: Not Eating Enough Protein

Studies show that it is usually women who skimp on their daily protein requirement, but anyone who is pumping iron to build muscle needs to eat a minimum of 1.2 grams' protein for each pound of body-weight. You need to select different types of protein in your daily meals to enable the full spectrum of all the amino acids you need to build quality muscle.

Reason # 3: Not Training with Enough Intensely

Sports science has now conclusively proven that you need intensity to build stronger, bigger muscles. Lifting with purpose, consciously pushing more power into each movement, training heavy and hard is the only way to grow muscles. You need to train outside your comfort zone, otherwise you're wasting time.

Reason # 4: Not Resting Or Sleeping Enough

Training breaks your muscle fibers, this needs to be repaired and sports science now tell us that your human growth hormone (HGH) levels will be at their highest when you're sleeping. If you don't sleep enough your cortisol levels rise. This is a catabolic hormone and will just lead to muscle breakdown.

Reason # 5: Inconsistency

To build muscle on a continuous basis you need consistency, muscles don't grow without correct nutrition, correct training and the correct amount of rest or sleep time. Giving 100% when you train will not result in muscle growth if you only give 40% when you're outside the gym. It requires planning and discipline.

Reason # 6: Too Much Cardio

Cardio is crucial if your objective is to lose fat, but if you're doing cardio and you're not eating more calories you'll simply be overtraining. The correct type of cardio should be done when your objective is specifically fat-loss.

Reason # 7: Not Training To Build Muscle Mass

Building muscle comes from progressive resistance, this means consistently adding resistance so that your muscles learn to adapt to lifting a heavier weight. Without pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone your muscles will not increase in size or strength.

Reason # 8: Not Supplementing Correctly

Supplementation should only be considered when all the others factors listed above are taken care of. You need to be aware of balance when supplementing. Start with a simple multi-vitamin, adding fish-oil will reduce inflammation and improve joint function. Whey protein powder and creatine offer a broad range of nutrients required for consistent muscle growth.

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