You exercise regularly and eat right but the muscles, for some reason, stopped growing in volume and becoming stronger. Why is this happening? The reasons may vary, but alcohol treatment center near you we found some for you.
1. You Sleep Little
Let’s start with the simplest thing. There is no question of getting results of any exercise if you do not get enough sleep. It’s not just that you don’t give your best in training on those days when you didn’t sleep well. Lack of sleep also leads to increased cortisol levels (stress hormone), which in turn disrupts growth hormone production.
What To Do
Try to focus on how much you sleep and go to bed on time. To do this, turn off all gadgets at least half an hour before bedtime.
2. You Are Low In Protein
Here, too, everything is quite simple; muscles do not grow unless you eat enough protein. They are the main building block for muscle tissue; thus, their deficiency may cause lower muscle mass.
What To Do
It will help if you consume enough protein when you exercise to build body mass. For example, a man needs to eat about 1.5-1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
3. You Drink Alcohol Too Often
There is nothing wrong with occasionally having a glass of beer or wine. But remember that if you drink a lot, it can damage more than just your brain and liver. To break down ethyl alcohol, your body will use antioxidants, which are essential for muscle growth.
What To Do
If you can’t completely stop drinking alcohol, drink no more than once a week. Limit yourself to three drinks. This will make it easier for the body to remove alcohol from the body, and you will feel at ease the next day. But if you can’t do this too, look for some alcohol treatment center near you to help you get rid of this addiction.
4. You Are Doing Too Much Cardio
The fact is that cardio training primarily contributes to the burning of excess calories and weight loss. If your goal is to gain muscle mass, but you still run for several hours a week, your body will burn extra calories that should have been used to build muscle tissue.
What To Do
If your goal is to gain muscle mass, then cardio and high-intensity training should not take more than 30% of the workout time. Practice strength training exercises three to four times a week. You can do cardio as a warm-up or standalone workout, but not at the expense of recovery.
5. You Exercise Too Much
By training more than necessary, you fail to develop and expose yourself to the risk of injury. Many people think that the more they do, the better the results will be. But this is far from the case. Our muscles do not grow during training but after it.
What To Do
Try to rest from your workouts at least twice a week. You can then go back to the usual exercise routine.
6. You Are Eating Too Few Carbs
Although some people give up carbohydrates but cutting back on carbohydrates altogether in the diet is also not a good idea. Eating too few carbohydrates can reduce the amount of glycogen your muscles need to withstand stress. Lack of carbohydrates also leads to increased fatigue. In this state, you are unlikely to be able to give all your best in training at 100%.
What To Do
Include only complex carbohydrates in your diet and eat them every day while giving up fast carbohydrates. You don’t need them to increase muscle mass.
7. You Are Drinking Too Little Liquid
The moment you set yourself the task of gaining muscle mass, you most often think about training and how much protein and carbohydrates you need to eat daily. Moreover, most often, you forget about water altogether. But with a lack of fluid in the body, muscles cannot develop normally. Digestion also suffers, which, in turn, affects how the body absorbs nutrients.
What To Do
Try to drink small portions of water regularly. There is also a simple formula for calculating the required amount of fluid for an athlete. Divide body weight by 30, this way, you get the number of liters you need to drink every day. For example, if you weigh 90 kilograms, your norm is three liters of liquid.
8. Your Workouts Don’t Change
The body quickly gets used to stress. So if you work on the same exercise for a long time, you are unlikely to notice any dynamics.
What To Do
As soon as you notice a lack of progress in your training, try to change the exercise. Or the time in which you train, get more rest or do new exercises. Experts advise you to make changes to your training program every six to eight weeks. And also focus on exercises and sports that you never did before.
9. You Take Too Much Stress
At the very beginning, we talked about the fact that cortisol disrupts the production of growth hormones. But it also leads to increased appetite and increased levels of body fat.
What To Do
Try meditation, yoga, outdoor walks, herbal tea, or something else. In fact, there are many ways to deal with stress. You just need to find something that suits you. The main thing is not to seize stress and do not fight it with alcohol. All of this will only make the problem worse.
10. You Do Exercises For Certain Muscles
You will never achieve results if you only focus on certain muscles. It’s impossible to gain weight and look cool when you think of the belly cubes you are going to show at the beach in the summer. The back and legs are our most voluminous muscles. By training them correctly, you will achieve results in other muscle groups.
What To Do
Choose a training program that will work equally on all muscle groups. Try to approach this with the utmost responsibility and consult with a trainer before you start exercising.
We are hopeful that you now know the reason behind lower growth in the body’s muscle mass. By knowing the right reasons, you can take corrective measures to cure the problem.
