Why You Look the Same After Training for Months

4. You don’t eat right, but not the way you think

We’re not saying you’re eating too many cheat meals, we’re saying you’re simply not eating enough. The amount of calories and macronutrients you should consume daily should match the intensity of the training you are doing.

If you are sure you are eating whole clean foods with a fine macronutrient ratio then it’s very likely you’re simply not eating enough. Here’s a small checklist for you to check out:

• The protein amount you should be aiming for on a daily basis if you want to get good results is 0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
• You should switch to complex carbs like oats and brown rice which can supply you with a slow-releasing energy and prevent insulin spikes.
• You shouldn’t avoid good fats. They are excellent for boosting your testosterone levels. Eggs, avocados, macadamias are excellent choices.
If you follow these guidelines and still not seeing the results you desire even though you are training fiercely, then it’s time to increase your calorie intake.

5. Focus on the negative part of the movement

If you have a hard time getting “pumps” in the gym lately, it’s likely you haven’t tried doing negatives. You may not only change the exercises in your routine but the way you execute them also. Negative reps are an excellent way to force your muscle to recruit all the remaining muscle fibers and put your muscles to a stimulus they’ve never experienced before.

Negative reps basically consist of slow execution of the eccentric part of the exercise movement. You can apply to them to any exercise you like, but for this article, we’ll choose the biceps curls. You may wanna start with a lower weight when doing negatives. They’ll make you humble.

• Start by doing a standard biceps curl and pause at the top of the lift.
• Now, lower the weight slowly to its starting position, while resisting gravity.
• You’re done.

The reason why negatives work is because training for size requires that you keep the muscle under a constant tension, meaning you increase the time under tension (TUT), which is an important parameter in measuring progress in bodybuilding.

6. You’re fond of booze

Who doesn’t like a nice glass of scotch or a bottle of cold beer? Who doesn’t want to party? But too much of it can seriously derail your progress, and weight gain is the least of problems. Consuming large amounts of alcohol can tremendously lower your testosterone levels. Especially beer.

One of the essential ingredients of beer is hops. It might seem like natural healthy source, but they actually wreak havoc on your testosterone levels. The reason for that is that hops are highly estrogenic. One study confirmed that they were so bad that the women who harvested them and had to pick them up with their hands actually experienced menstrual problems.

Consuming alcohol in big quantities has been correlated to boosting the activity of aromatization which is the process in which testosterone is converted into estrogen. That’s a thing you should most definitely avoid. It will destroy your entire hormonal balance and will prevent you from making even the slightest muscle gains.

Conclusion

If you’ve been unable to bust through your plateaus for the past couple of months, it’s likely you’ve been making the aforementioned mistakes and have stopped your progress altogether. They are very common even though you may think otherwise. It’s very easy to get comfortable with your training program and miss out on some fantastic muscle growth opportunities. It’s not just your training and nutrition that you will need to change, but this also requires that you change your lifestyle too. Incorporate these tips for about three months and we guarantee you’ll definitely see excellent results.