The 5 biggest mistakes when trying to build muscle

Training frequency too low

Most training plans for building muscle nowadays suggest that you only train each part of your body once a week. Often this is justified by the fact that you then have the advantage of a longer regeneration time and you can train the muscles especially hard on this one day.

You know the saying on the Internet that after a good “Leg day” you can no longer take the stairs and therefore think you have done something good for building muscle.

But this is not scientific. The muscle build-up after training lasts for about 36 hours. This means that the body would then be ready for new training stimuli and there is no reason to wait a week to get at it again.

In no other sport would you consider it sensible to only train once a week for something where you want to get better, so why then with strength training?

So what is my recommendation?

Twice a week total body training is definitely a good start and you can then definitely improve to three times a week or even every other day.

Focus on the wrong exercises

If you already spend a lot of time in the gym, you should also make the most of your time.

For this, it is not sensible to do exercises that only train one or two muscle groups.

Instead, you should concentrate on exercises that cover a large part of the body and where you can move a lot of weight.

This means that you can’t avoid the classics. Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Pull-ups, Military Press, Barbell Rows.

Even if you take it to the extreme and do only these exercises, the whole body is covered already.

If it then turns out that you still have weak points, you can always add a few sets of barbell curls at the end of the training for example.

Not enough calories

To build muscle, you need to consume more calories than you burn. Exceptions, such as overweight people or absolute beginners of training excluded.

Of course it is not sensible to eat everything in sight just to gain weight with all the force. However, people often overestimate how many calories they consume in one day.

It is therefore advisable to keep a precise record of how many calories you consume, at least for a few days, to be on the safe side.

Not to stick to a training plan

Often enough you see that especially beginners change from one training plan to another, and that after only a few weeks.

As a result, you go around in circles relatively quickly, make no progress and can’t really tell what works and what doesn’t.

In order to be able to really tell if a training plan is achieving results, you should follow it for at least three months. Then you can decide whether to stick with this one or try something else.

It’s not only about the progress you’ve made, but also about whether you enjoy training so much that you do it regularly.

This is often more important, as if another plan might be five percent more effective. So stay with what you enjoy.

Too little consistency

That brings us straight to the fifth point.

Many gym visitors have the wrong expectations about lifting. It is often assumed that after a few weeks you look like fitness models from magazines.

This is certainly also due to false advertising and dishonest statements about how some of them have achieved this muscle mass.

In addition, it often happens that you do not train for yourself to feel better because it is fun, but to impress others.

People who approach the training with this mentality will not show up in the gym after a short time. The “why” is just not strong enough.

You need a good enough reason to train even on bad days.

If you have this reason and you enjoy training and not only the results or the advantages that are supposedly connected with it, then there is nothing to prevent you from achieving your goals.

In this sense: Have fun and achieve your goals!

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Also have a look at this video which summarizes the topic really well: