Why You Aren't Making The Gains You Want

So, you spend countless hours in the gym and have a certain time of your life dedicated to walking through those doors and picking up inanimate objects that make you happy. You are craving results but you aren't getting them. Have you ever taken a step back and wondered why? You probably have if you are reading this post. Here I will break down how you can change that predicament. Pictured above is me, the first picture was the "I love to lift and my life is all about lifting!" guy. The second picture of me with actual results is me following these guidelines while still carrying that passion for fitness. 

5. Your Form Is Bad

Bad form leads to bad contractions in the muscle. If you want the best results, do what is best for your body and control the weight with proper form. Also, bad form also doesn't allow your muscles to fully extend and contract (range of motion) which has a heavy impact on your results. Put in the proper work, get the proper results. 

4. You Do Not Rest

If you're doing 7 days a week in the church of iron, you could be hurting your gains more than helping them. Muscle growth happens outside of the gym, which already debunks your logic on hitting it 7 days a week. When you workout, you are creating these things called micro tears in the muscle itself, and the "growth" is when your body creates more muscle cells to fill in the microtears. Think of a scab, it only heals if you don't pick it. In the case of the muscle, overtraining is just like picking a scab, you aren't giving your body enough time to heal up and grow. Rest days are important and so is sleep if you want the quality gains you dream about.

3. You Are Dehydrated

 Muscle is composed of 79% water, and if you aren't hydrated you will not be able to use them to their full potential. Being hydrated will actually make you stronger since your muscles are fully saturated and are able to contract harder. 

2. You Don't Have A Clue What To Do 

If you walk into the gym without a plan, you are destined to mess around for an hour or two without fully destroying a muscle group. With walking in with a plan gives you an objective, guidelines, and a full mission to complete. Be the man (or woman) with a plan and get the results you want and deserve. 

1. You Care About The Small 25%, Not The Big 75%

25% exercise, 75% nutrition. That is the ratio of importance when it comes to your results. Nutrition is the backbone of success in the gym, so you should care about it if you care about looking amazing. A simple plan for success is to set your macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats) to a certain number, and strive to hit it daily. I'll do a simple breakdown of what I would give to a client, back when I helped transform peoples bodies. 

         1.Find your daily calories to maintain your body weight with an online calculator to start with.

         2. After you have that number, if you want to put on weight in a lean manner add 300-400 calories to that number, and do the opposite if you're trying to consistently lose weight (don't cut too many calories, you'll lose muscle) cut 200-300 calories from that number.

          3. Multiply your bodyweight in lbs and multiply that number by .83.  It will look like this (189lbs x .83= 156g protein). That makes 624 calories of my daily intake come from protein. You do not need as much protein as advertised with "bro science" trust real science. 

          4. Fill the rest of the calories with an even split in calories from proteins and fats. The smartest way to go about it is to never limit one macronutrient since they each do very different and helpful things. Adjust calories based on your goals.