Knowing your anatomy and physiology, it should be fairly easy to build muscles. All one needs is the correct amount of stimulation for muscle growth plus the right nutrients to supply the building blocks for such growth and you should do fine.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of mistakes that people, especially newbies, make when it comes to building muscles. Here are some of the mistakes you’d definitely want to avoid.
Forgetting the Basics
Most beginning bodybuilders have this notion that the only way they can build and strengthen their muscles is by engaging in highly specific, more advanced isolation exercises.
As such, they do only leg extensions and chest flies as well as other muscle group-specific exercises every time they hit the gym. This is a bad move since the growth of your muscles is dependent on pituitary gland activity.
You should always include exercises that target multiple muscle groups at a time such as doing squats and bench presses.
Not Resting Enough
People think that if you exercise very often, you will have big muscles in no time. That’s why some folks will be hitting the hoops or ride their bike or engage in other physical activities right after a bodybuilding session or schedule it every other day.
That’s not a good way to build muscles. You need to give your muscles plenty of rest – about 48 hours – for them to adapt to the stresses that your exercises subject them to. This will allow you to increase the intensity of your muscle-building exercises.
Not Eating Correctly after Workout
After your workout, your muscles will try to use up every available glucose to turn this into glycogen that will be used in muscle repair and growth.
Unfortunately, if there isn’t any glucose left in the blood, the muscles will have to turn to amino acids to convert into glycogen. Amino acids are your building blocks for muscles.
As such, it is imperative that you load up on your carbs within the first 30 minutes after an intense bodybuilding workout.
Not Getting Enough Sleep
We all associate sleep with rest. What we don’t realise is that this period in our daily lives is also a chance for our muscles to repair itself and grow.
Moreover, not having enough sleep can make you feel sluggish, a bit weak that you really won’t feel like exercising at all. Or, you may still have the motivation to exercise but at a much lower intensity. This is no way to go if you want to keep building your muscles.
Sugar, Alcohol, and Tobacco
Eating sugary foods can cause glucose spikes that will make you ‘skip’ other, more nutritious foods that your muscles need. Smoking, on the other hand, reduces the amount of oxygen that can be utilised by the muscles for growth.
Drinking alcohol too frequently and excessively can have a negative effect on your testosterone levels. So, stay away from alcohol, quit smoking, and avoid sugary stuff.
Learning from these mistakes can help ensure we’re on the right road to more effective muscle building.
