Not seeing the lean mass gains you've been working so hard for? You might be making one or more of these muscle-building mistakes!
"Protein, bro! Lift harder, bro!" If you're a guy, I'm sure you've heard this muscle-building advice before. But the quest for lean muscle isn't a "men's-only" goal, nor is it an easy one. Most people struggle to build mass.
Lady or dude, if you've been working and working for more muscle but haven't seen any gains, you're probably making one or more of these eight mistakes.
Achieving lean mass is rarely easy, but it's easier if you avoid the following errors.
Muscle-Building Mistake 1: You Don't Eat Enough
I give every new client a simple analogy: Can you build a house with blueprints, construction workers, but no raw materials? Nope.
Muscle doesn't appear by magic. Muscle requires the right amount of nutrients to grow. That includes protein , carbs, and fat. If you don't eat enough, your body can't use calories for repair and growth. You can lift weights until you're blue in the face, but without excess calories, resistance training won't affect your muscle mass.
I'm not saying you should order pizza and eat an entire gallon of ice cream. Plan your meals and learn how many calories you need for a small surplus. Otherwise, you might add too much excess fat. You don't what that kind of size.
Muscle-Building Mistake 2: You Don't Eat Enough Protein
Many people, particularly women, don't consume enough protein given their daily activity. For athletes and people trying to build muscle, I recommend 1.3 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For people trying to maintain good health and their current body weight, 1.0 to 1.2 grams should work.
The more you stress your body, the better your nutrition needs to be. Each source of protein—dairy, beef, poultry, seeds, fish, eggs, etc.— contains different amino acid profiles, so consume a variety of protein. Eating a full spectrum of aminos can be highly beneficial to your muscle-building goals.
Muscle-Building Mistake 3: You Don't Train Intensely Enough
If you don't train with intensity, your muscles won't get bigger or stronger.
I see many people, especially women, going too light in the gym. If you think curling those 5-pound dumbbells will tone your arms, think again. Lift with purpose and power; don't just go through the motions. Go hard and heavy enough to challenge your body beyond its normal capacity. That's when change happens.
Muscle-Building Mistake 4: You Don't Rest Or Sleep Enough
What you do in the gym causes your muscles to grow, but change doesn't happen until you're resting or sleeping. One major hormone responsible for this change is human growth hormone (HGH). Our HGH levels are highest when we sleep.
Moreover, many studies suggest an association between a lack of sleep and high cortisol levels. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone that can break down muscle tissue. It's exactly what you don't want if you're trying to build mass. Cortisol is also linked with stress, which often occurs when you don't get enough shut-eye.
You charge your phone at night, right? Do the same for your body so it functions at its best.
Muscle-Building Mistake 5: Inconsistency
In college, I remember seeing a bunch of guys training during the day. But come the night, I'd see those same guys with pizza and beer in their hands. If you're not consistent with your nutrition, training, and rest, you'll never achieve your goals. Consistency is applying all the right factors to create the optimal environment for your body to grow.
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Consistency is applying all the right factors to create the optimal environment for your body to grow.
As time went by, many of the guys I saw training weren't getting any bigger. I was. A few came up and asked me if I was "taking something," because I was having better results with less time in the gym. My answer was always the same. I told them, "You can't give 100 percent in the gym and only 40 outside of it." There

You need at least 1g protein per pound of body-weight per day to maintain and build muscle. If you weigh 70kg/155lbs, that’s 155g protein per day. The easiest way to get this amount is to eat whole protein with each meal.
Some of you are on a tight budget, still student, living in expensive cities or just frugal. These can make it hard to get the protein you need to build muscle. This post will help you “” the 10 cheapest sources of protein to build muscle.
1. Canned Tuna. 40g protein/can. Buy tuna in spring water or brine. Don’t worry about the mercury: 1 can chunk light tuna per day is safe.
2. Whole Eggs. 7g protein/egg. Lower your body fat rather than throwing the yolk away if you have bad cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol isn’t bound to blood cholesterol, and the yolk contains half the protein and vitamins A/D/E.
3. Whey. 1 scoop ON whey is 24g protein/30g serving. At 2 scoops/day, a 10lbs bag will last 10 weeks for 84,99$. You don’t get cheaper than this. But don’t rely on whey only because it’s cheaper. Vary your protein intake.
4. Ground Beef . 25g protein/100g. Buy 80% ground beef and rinse the fat if lean beef is too expensive. You can reduce the fat content by as much as 50%.
5. Milk. 30g protein/liter milk. If you’re a
skinny guy , want to gain weight fast and don’t bother gaining some fat, drink 1 gallon raw milk per day. Don’t worry about the saturated fat. Stay away from milk if you want to lose fat .
6. Frozen Chicken Breast. 25g protein/100g. Cook the frozen chicken breast using a George Foreman Grill. Consume the chicken breast
within 2 months of freezing for optimal tenderness & taste.
7. Cottage Cheese. 12g protein/100g. Cottage cheese is more expensive in Europe than in the US. We buy Quark cheese: 10g protein per 100g, cheaper than cottage cheese and a better taste.
8. Ground Turkey. 25g protein/100g. Expensive cuts are made from turkey breast. Cheaper cuts can contain skin, which increases the fat content. Rinse the fat like for ground beef.
9. Canned Mackerel. 23g protein/100g. Canned mackerel is high in omega-3 , contains less mercury than canned tuna, and tastes a lot better too.
10. Calves Liver. 20g protein/100g. Low fat and nutrient dense. Contrary to what you might believe, liver is safe. The easy way to cook them is with onions and garlic.
Bonus Tips. Buy generic food. Buy in bulk to get discounts. Freeze everything. Get a job if you don’t have one. Increase your income if you do. Cut expenses. The following meal plan gets you +200g protein per day.

THE EFFECTS INADEQUATE REST
Getting inadequate sleep each night will play a number of negative roles that will make building muscle very difficult. Not only will lack of sleep not allow enough time for your muscle to grow, it may also:
Decrease energy levels
Decrease testosterone levels
Decrease growth hormone levels
Increase catabolic (muscle destroying) hormones
While we sleep, we go in and out of four phases of sleep. This is known as the "sleep cycle", and is very important to the bodybuilder, since this is the time at which the body releases the growth hormone. Sleep deprivation disrupts the sleep cycle, and can be responsible for the effects mentioned above.
The bottom line: inadequate sleep will essentially make building muscle nearly impossible. It encourages your body to lose muscle, and gain body fat! Not a good thing if you are trying to build muscle. Get as much sleep as you possibly can. If you are sleep deprived, catch up on your sleep.

Importance of Rest and Recovery in Muscle Building
To allow the body to build muscle tissue, rest and recovery is essential. The two components of rest and recovery are adequate sleep each night, and adequate time in between weight training workouts.
Adequate sleep - it is important to sleep as many hours as possible each and every night. Many people don't realize just how important sleep is when it comes to building muscle and gaining weight. If you don't allow your body to get enough sleep each night, you are neglecting a very important part of your muscle building program that could completely erase all of your muscle building efforts in the gym.
Adequate rest between workouts - It is very important to incorporate "rest days" into your weight training program so that you allow time for your muscles to recovery in between workouts. Try to avoid weight training on consecutive days, even if you are targeting different muscle groups.
Don't forget that your body only builds muscle tissue when you are not weight training. Simply put, you build muscle while you are sleeping, not while you are at the gym! If you weight train and don't get an enough sleep, or train too often it can become nearly impossible to build muscle.
The Effects of Inadequate Rest and Recovery
Whether you do not sleep enough each night, or do not allow enough rest days between your weight training workouts, you will be compromising your muscle building efforts tremendously. Rest and recovery are extremely important, and should be a top priority if you are serious about your muscle building goals.