Why mass does not increase: 4 mistakes in muscle growth

Author: Stanislav Mikhailovsky - bodybuilding coach at bestbodyblog.com.
2021-02-22

It may seem that mistakes in gaining muscle mass are only made by beginners. In reality, everyone makes blunders in this challenging endeavor. If this were not the case, the question of why mass isn't increasing would not be so popular among natural bodybuilding enthusiasts. What mistakes hinder natural mass gain, and what should be prioritized in training? Let's figure it out together.

1. Neglecting Basic Exercises

Basic, compound, fundamental. Call them what you want, but these exercises maximize the rate of muscle mass gain. This group includes all exercises performed with barbells or dumbbells. However, any workout program aimed at muscle growth should consist of 80% squats, deadlifts (Romanian or otherwise), pull-ups, dips, and bench presses—both lying and standing. This applies not just to training the back, legs, or chest. Arm training or shoulder workouts should also be based on exercises performed with free weights.

No matter what modern fitness advocates obsessed with machines might say, regularly performing these old and boring exercises significantly impacts strength growth and increasing the volume of any muscle group.

Note: If you're not gaining mass, forget about machines for the next 5-6 weeks and focus on barbell training. Trust me; the results will pleasantly surprise you.

The beauty of barbell movements is that they engage the most muscle fibers, leading your body to produce a substantial amount of anabolic hormones in response. This includes testosterone, growth hormone, and IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1).

In other words, when we squat, bench, or pull, we signal the body that we need larger muscles to handle the heavy load. The body responds to these signals by increasing muscle size and strength. The answer to the question of why mass isn't increasing can often be very simple: there are too few basic exercises in your program.

Conclusion: Mass is not gained due to an insufficient number of basic exercises in the training scheme.

2. Lack of Exercises for the Lower Back

How to quickly build abs? This question concerns almost every visitor to the gym. Of course, there’s also interest in biceps and chest, but the question of how to increase the strength of the lower back or the back extensors is of little interest to anyone. And I’m not criticizing anyone; I used to be like that for a long time myself.

The problem is that without strong stabilizing muscles, especially in the lower back, you can safely forget about gaining mass. For squatting with a decent weight (and, importantly, standing back up), for deadlifting heavy weights, or even for curling the barbell for biceps standing, you need a strong lower back.

Yes, abs are great; the abs are also muscles that stabilize the core, but everyone works on their abs, young and old, while only experienced athletes train their lower back. Sometimes it’s enough to just watch those genuinely big guys in the gym to understand a simple truth—the strength of the chain is determined by the strength of its weakest link. Put simply, to gain mass, you need to squat/press/pull well, and to do that, you need strong and resilient assisting muscles, including the lower back.

Therefore, exercises like back extensions (hyperextensions), leg raises with the torso secured (reverse hyperextensions), barbell bends, and the good old "superman" should definitely be included in the routine of anyone looking to get bigger.

Conclusion: Training the lower back contributes to improving strength in all basic exercises with axial loads and genuinely accelerates muscle hypertrophy.

3. Training to Failure in Every Workout

This mistake in mass gain is the flip side of the coin for natural mass gain. Alongside those training with a casual approach, in any gym, there are 1-2 fans of heavy training, influenced by Arnold movies. There's nothing wrong with those videos, but consistently training to failure is a curse for all newcomers and sometimes even for advanced gym-goers. It may look impressive, but the benefit of such extreme training is usually zero.

Beginners who are just starting with strength training cannot generate enough strength to get real benefits from training to failure. As a result, strains, muscle pain, and multi-day fatigue become their regular companions after just one week of such training, and the desire for ultra-heavy workouts fades on its own.

In the case of experienced bodybuilders with greater strength and endurance, things are different. According to research conducted with a group of 20 athletes, training to failure indeed stimulates an increase in anabolic growth hormone levels, but alongside it, cortisol (a catabolic hormone) levels also rise. This ultimately leads to decreased strength, central nervous system exhaustion, overtraining, and even a reduction in muscle mass.

This raises the question: how should one train to increase muscle volume rather than lose it? First and foremost, focus on a slow but steady increase in working weights following a pattern of two steps forward, one step back.

Adding just 1.25 kg or 2.5 kg of weight to the bar can provide the body with a stimulus for development and compel it to give 105%. However, in the next session, you should decrease the weights and work at only 70% of your capabilities. Then, increase the weight again, slightly more than last time, and then reduce it again. And so on. Cyclically varying the workload allows for gradual but stable progression without overtraining or stagnation. An increase in strength indicators is a sign that muscles are growing, not fat. This is because an increase in strength indicators always correlates with an increase in muscle mass.

Conclusion: No weight progression means mass doesn't grow. Training to failure leads to mental exhaustion and decreases in mass. The golden mean for muscle growth is a wave-like increase in weights and constant changes in load intensity.

4. Insufficient Recovery Between Workouts

What is most important for mass gain: training, nutrition, supplements? All these factors are important without exception, but the most crucial is sleep. Many people in the gym think they grow during workouts. However, this is not the case. The visual increase in muscle volume during exercises is merely an illusory feeling of "muscle pump," caused by blood flow to the working muscle, and it fades quickly after the workout.

Training is intended to provide muscles with a stimulus for growth, while hypertrophy of muscle fibers only occurs during sleep. A lack of sleep and a stressful lifestyle lead to increased cortisol levels – a catabolic hormone that has a destructive effect on our body tissues. This is why it is essential to provide the body with at least 7-8 hours of sleep each day.

Note: Alcohol also raises cortisol levels. It creates a deceptive sense of relaxation; however, remember that alcohol is a toxin for our bodies, so the body experiences stress while clearing it from the bloodstream. This applies not only to strong alcoholic beverages. Beer contains many phytoestrogens (plant analogs of the female sex hormone), which create a negative hormonal environment, especially in men, leading to fat accumulation in typically feminine areas – around the hips and abdomen. Additionally, one glass of beer contains about 250-350 empty calories, which can quickly raise blood sugar levels and hinder growth hormone levels.

Conclusion: Recovery is an equally important aspect of the training process. The better we rest, the faster we grow. Avoiding alcoholic beverages improves recovery quality and increases the chances of mass gain.

Conclusion

Of course, these are far from all the mistakes that hinder muscle growth; they are just the most significant ones. It is these mistakes that most often obstruct mass gain and slow progress for natural bodybuilders. Therefore, I hope my discussion helps you change your approach to building your training process and significantly accelerates muscle mass growth.

Author: Stanislav Mikhailovsky, bodybuilding coach bestbodyblog.com.