One of the most common questions I get asked is “how do I grow faster” or I have been lifting for a bit now and I have seen some growth but its been slow”. The common reason for this is the over exaggerated expectations of many on what actually happens in the gym, and how long it takes to see big changes. A lot goes on in the body during strength training, some of which we are still yet to quantify, correlate or identify. There is no doubt that it is one of the best things you can do for your health, and in some corners has is believed to be even more important than cutting out sugar from your diet or cardio. It improves bone health, helps with metabolic regulation, cardiovascular function and (the holy grail) increase in muscle everything (mass, recruitment, endurance etc.).
So why are you not growing and why you should not blame genetics at least for 99% of the population?
1. You are not lifting heavy enough.
This should come as no surprise. Everyone knows a person in the gym who has been doing the same 40lbs dumb bell chest press for the last couple years. News flash; that’s a huge mistake. Progressive overload is essential to growing in the gym. This means systematically increasing load and or reps over time. Here is why this is important. Your body makes adaptations as you lift weight. It gets better at recruiting muscle fibers, gets bigger and stronger. Your bones, joints and tendons get stronger as well. This growth is determined by the amount of stimulus they receive. In other words, if all you lift is 40lbs dumb bells for a certain movement, you would get to the point where that would be the level of adaptation you would get. Those 40lbs dumb bells would stop providing enough stimulus to elicit muscular growth, and instead be a means of maintaining what you have built. So challenge yourself, push the envelop further every now and again to maximize your progress in the gym.
Tips:
Increase reps every week
Increase your load by a little every 2- 3 weeks
2. You are not training hard enough
Now this ties in to the earlier point, but sadly following the CDC’s recommended exercise load is not going to provide enough stimulus for growth. Sadly you need to put down the phone and push yourself when you get in the gym. Now I am not saying that every time you get in there you should go the no pain no gains route, but it should be often enough.
For example, I have 1 day every 3 weeks where I am like “on this leg day, we crawl home” or “on this chest day I do not want to be able to do a single push up at the end”. These heavy, hard days are needed to take your training to the next level. You are not going to grow if your training is comfortable.
Tips:
Train with a crazy friend or gym bro once in a while, say every 2 - 3 weeks.
Hire a trainer. If this is out of your budget to have one all the time. Hire one and train with them once every 2 - 3 weeks and tell them that on this day you want them to absolutely crush you. Be sure to tell them your max loads and what you have been doing and how you have been progressing so far.
3. You don’t lift effectively (workout structure)
Your training has to be well structured regardless of the training split you choose to implement. Push, pull legs, chest legs back legs arms etc it has to have a structure that fits your schedule. I cringe every time someone tells me that they did biceps and legs or bi’s and tri’s on a Monday. Why? You are not training effectively. When you train arms on Monday, you reduce the amount of work you can do on a back or chest on a Tuesday or Wednesday (if you train hard enough). Biceps and triceps are supporting muscles, and as such blowing them up before you train a bigger muscle group will weaken your performance on those big days.
Tips:
Try push pull legs or chest, legs, back, legs, arms as a workout split
If training full body 3 times a week, put your smaller muscle groups (bi’s, tri’s, shoulders) as your finisher or on the third day.
4. You are not eating enough or eating the right things
Not going to drag this out but “PROTEIN” get your protein….. Recent studies have shown that you can build muscle on a low protein diet, but it is not as effective as when you eat more protein. For the general public it does not matter the source as much as how much protein you get.
Tips:
Try to get 1 gram of protein per pound of lean muscle mass per day.
5. You are comparing yourself to the wrong people (genetic factor based on prime form)
Now this is a big factor in any area of life especially fitness. You are not on the same race track as everyone else. I have been lifting weights and training pretty much all my life, and its crazy how many times I get asked how long it would take to look like me. The short answer is, it would take a while, hiring a trainer would only reduce how long it would take but would not obliterate that hurdle of time.
The body has to make a lot of changes to grow, changes it really does not want to make. The process of exercising and training is the process of mastering your body and getting in tune with its many limitations and pushing it to be better.
Bad genes or not, it is fair to assume that 99.99% of people are not at their true genetic peak form. That is, with the hand you have been dealt, are you the very best form you can be? With your “sub-prime” genetics where do you rank on that scale? Did you push your body to be the best version it can be?
Don’t let genetics be your excuse, genetics plays a big role for that <1% of people trying to be at the top of the fitness pyramid, for the rest it is usually an excuse. Sure some people have the genetic potential to look like Goku, but most have the genetic potential to look like the average gym goer but don’t. Almost all of the genes associated with obesity are only found in less than 1% of the population yet a lot of people blame genes for their current situation. On the opposite end of the spectrum individuals called “double muscled” also only account for less than 1% of the population. These individuals have a mutation in the myostatin gene that lead to reduced or absent myostatin activity.
So, basically, lift heavy, lift more, lift smart, eat your protein and be patient. Excuses don’t build muscle, hard work does!
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