What are the most common mistakes made when trying to gain muscle mass?

    It's easy to gain bodyweight.  It's hard to gain LEAN bodyweight (i.e., muscles) without added fat.  Here are the most common mistakes many make when trying to gain muscle mass:

• Eating too much food at each meal

Your body can handle only so many calories at once.  Unless you have an extremely fast metabolism, there's no need to dramatically increase your caloric intake.  If you stuff yourself in a seemingly desperate attempt to gain muscle mass, you'll be in for a rude surprise:  bodyfat gain!  Eat more food but do so gradually (e.g., 200-400 kcals per day) and check how your body responds by observing your physique in the mirror every week.  If you begin to notice more girth around your midsection, it's time to level off your caloric intake.  On the other hand, if you still look good, continue on with your caloric intake but keep an eye out for any changes.

• Not eating enough carbs and protein, especially at breakfast and after training.

The two most important meals of the day are breakfast and after you train.  Failing to provide your body adequate fuel at these times can be detrimental for muscle growth.  The objective of eating a large meal at breakfast is to stimulate your metabolism via a boost in anabolic hormone release.  After training, your muscles act like a vacuum and suck up any nutrients provided, especially within an hour after your workout.  

• Not consuming enough carbs

We know how important protein is in supporting muscle mass, but carbs are also imperative in order to drive the amino acids (from protein) into your muscle tissue.  This is true, particularly after training when your muscles are essentially starving for the nutrients needed.  Your carb intake needs to be adequate to stimulate enough insulin secretion and the resulting glucose, amino acids, and creatine uptake into muscle tissue to support muscle protein synthesis.  Consider taking in about 40g of whey protein mixed with about 80g of high-glycemic carbs (e.g., orange juice) post-training.  By the way, chocolate milk fits the bill perfectly since it contains a wonderful combination of whey protein (from milk) and sugar (from chocolate).

• Not consuming enough protein 

To gain quality lean body mass (i.e., muscle), you need to eat plenty of protein from lean foods (e.g., turkey breast, chicken breast, fish, yogurt, milk, cheese, cottage cheese, and eggs).  In order to get adequate branch-chain amino acids (BCAA's) into your body, be sure to eat your protein during each and every meal.  This will protect your muscles from being catabolized for energy during hard training sessions.  

• Failing to allow for adequate recovery time

This is probably the most common mistake people make.  People still mistakenly believe that if some weight training is good, then more is even better when it comes to gaining muscle mass.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Unless you give your body the rest it needs to recover from a hard training event, the risk of overtraining can go up dramatically.  Essentially, you'll be digging yourself a deeper and deeper hole if this behavior continues.  No matter how good your nutrition is, it will NOT offset a lack of rest.  

• Not eating prior to working out

Although your nutrition post-workout is paramount, what you eat before training is also important.  Your body needs the carbs and protein in order to fuel your muscles and lessen the risk of catabolism during your workout.  Consider taking in about 20g of whey protein and 40g of carbs pre-workout.

• Not adequately fueling your body with protein while you sleep

The key here is to consume casein protein to provide your body a slow-digesting protein to sustain your muscles for a longer duration as you sleep.  In this way, you will keep your body in an anabolic state in which adequate amino acids fuel your muscles.  

• Not being consistent in your nutrition and/or training program

Do I really need to expound on this topic?!  Enough said.    

Brian Danley, CFT
"Motivation is what gets you started.  Habit is what keeps you going."

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