10 Biggest Muscle Saboteurs, Get Rid Of Them

“The man who achieves makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all - doing nothing.”

- Benjamin Franklin


Entering the weight room is the first step to building muscle but it’s not the last. What you do before, during and after a workout can either annihilate your hard work or elevate your growth to a whole new level.

Your personal habits, your social life, even which exercises you choose to do can take away from what you’re trying to build. In the following post I will try to pinpoint ten factors that sabotage your results. Add them up and they could be why your muscles have nothing to show for all your time served.

But only 1 percent of your time should be spent on problems — 99 percent should be spent on solutions. So in that spirit, after I bring each saboteur to your attention, I’ll give you a solution-oriented tip.

1. Winging it.

Peter Drucker once said that “Action without planning is the biggest cause of failure,” and I believe that statement is 100% accurate. “Winging it” means having no written goals or plans, no training journal and no way of “keeping score.” It’s when you just show up at the gym day after day and do whatever strikes your fancy, whatever machine happens to be available, or whatever you’ve become habitually accustomed to doing. Winging it is when you don’t know where you are, where you’re going or how you’re going to get there — but you start your journey anyway — no compass, no roadmap.

Fix it: Always have a plan. Strategic planning is a never ending process and includes: Assessment (where are you now?), goal setting (where do you want to go?), creating a plan or strategy (how will you get where you want to go?), executing the plan (what action steps you must take daily to reach your goal?), and measuring results (how will you know if you’re moving towards your goal and how will you know when you’ve reached it?). Boneheads “wing it.” Butt-kickers have a master plan and goals for every workout.

2. Skipping basics.

Plenty of weightlifters believe that doing isolation exercises like chest flies and leg extensions is the only way to make their muscles grow. But basic moves such as bench presses and squats force several muscle groups to work together, imposing more stress on your body for bigger gains. Your body reacts to all that stress by having the anterior pituitary gland issue more growth hormone to compensate for the extra effort. Of course you need variation, but don’t abandon basic moves in favor of intermediate isolation exercises.

Fix it: Write down the exercises in your routine to see what percentage of them are compound moves. If it’s not in the range of at least 40-50 percent, then you’re doing too many isolation exercises.

3. No warm-up.

Jumping into your workout routine without a proper warm-up or finishing without a proper cool-down is a sure-fire way to set yourself up for acute injuries during the workout or chronic injuries over time.

Fix it: The best warm-up is to simply do an easier version of whatever your full workout is going to be. For example, if you are going for a run on the treadmill, start first by walking, then jogging and then move into your full running pace. Or, if you are doing a strength-training workout, do your first set of each exercise with lighter weights, do your second set with heavier weights and your third set with your heaviest weights for that exercise.

Your body responds best (and you reduce your risk of injury) when you build intensity slowly rather than quickly. So always leave yourself a few extra moments for warming up.

4. Poor technique.

Doing an exercise too quickly or executing a move with sloppy form can increase your risk of injury. And an injury can interrupt your workout program, and make it difficult to be consistent and get results.

Fix it: Remember to do your exercises slowly and with good form. If you are not sure how to do an exercise, ask a trainer or follow the instructions that are usually located directly on the machine. If you are new to an exercise class, show up early and ask the instructor to show you the tougher moves before class starts so you know how to do them properly.

If you can’t find instructions or get assistance, skip the exercise and do an exercise that is more familiar to you. When doing any new exercise or movement, take your time and do it extra slow as this will reduce your risk of injury if your technique is not perfect.

5. Extra sport.

Engaging in sport too often can sidetrack your muscle-growth goals. Muscles usually need 48 hours of rest to adapt to the stresses placed on them during exercise. Engaging in extra activity also makes your body more likely to use any excess kilojoules it has for fuel and not for rebuilding itself.

Fix it: Pull your cardiovascular activity back to the bare minimumtwenty minutes, three times a week to see what effect it has on your body. If cardio is indeed stealing your muscle, you should begin to notice strength improvements — being able to lift more weight or complete more repetitions — within two to three weeks.

If your number one goal is to increase muscle size and strength, and not necessarily to build overall health, try pulling back further. Can’t miss a game? During your workout, ease up on the muscles you use most in your extra activity so they have more time to recover.

6. Starving yourself.

You need to eat after your workout. Right after a session, your body is hustling to convert glucose into glycogen so your muscles can repair themselves and grow. So if you’re not going to eat after your exercise, your body will start to break down muscle into amino acids to convert into glucose.

Fix it: After you work out, eat a high-carbohydrate mealand don’t forget the protein. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that a four-to-one carbohydrate-to-protein ratio can provide 127 percent greater muscle-glycogen storage than a high-carbohydrate drink alone. For even greater results, have a sports drink before and during exercise.

7. Too little sleep.

If you don’t get enough deep sleep, your muscles can’t recover. Besides, when you work out on insufficient sleep, you exercise at a lower intensity than you realize but you feel as if it’s high. So your muscles are less likely to receive enough stress to grow.

Fix it: Go to bed and wake up at set times every day, even on weekends, to keep your sleep cycles regular. In addition, avoid caffeineand perhaps exercise for four to six hours before bedtime.

8. Thirst.

For the active adult, eating about a gram of protein for every kilogram of body weight helps build muscle (if the protein is processed correctly). A high-protein meal has a slight diuretic effect — when the body uses protein for energy, it has to remove the nitrogen component of the molecule to turn it into glucose. This requires plenty of water.

Fix it: Drink eight to ten glasses of water a day and divide your protein among five or six small meals throughout the day. Eating an average of 25-30g each meal is ideal. You’ll put less stress on your kidneys and you’ll also utilize more of the protein you’re ingesting by giving your body only as much as it can use each time.

9. Sugar.

Sugary drinks can fool your body with a blood-sugar spike, making you prone to skip other, nutrient-dense foods you could be eating. Therefore, if your sugar habit limits your intake of muscle-building amino acids, it will sap the fuel you need for your workouts.

Fix it: Water and low-sugar sports drinks are your best bets. But sugar hides elsewhere. Watch out for dried fruits, certain nutrition bars and even tomato sauce.

10. Smoking and drinking.

You know smoking is foolish. You know you’re gambling with cancer, stroke and other health issues. But did you know you’re also sabotaging your strength training? Smoking places carbon monoxide in your system, which prevents your muscles from getting as much oxygen to use for energy. The less oxygen your muscles have to draw from, the less efficient they are at contracting, which can limit their capacity for work.

Regarding alcohol, it can cover your abs with a layer of lard and interfere with hormones that help build them. Drinking alcohol regularly can keep testosterone levels lower than usual and decrease muscle mass.

Fix it: Stop smoking and don’t worry about becoming a cold-turkey butterball. Thirty minutes of exercise three or four times a week helps control body weight, and produces positive psychological effects that might diminish the need to smoke. Furthermore, drinking moderately (two drinks or less per day) won’t harm testosterone levels and can actually improve your cardiovascular health.

You put in the time, the sweat — maybe the tears — but you don’t see results. Quit blubbering! It will be fine. Annihilate these ten saboteurs and watch your muscles grow with nothing holding them back.



via---- The Ririan Project