Mistakes during the hypertrophy process
Text by @rodrigoschroder
Common mistakes during the hypertrophy process
1️⃣ Skipping meals! We need an anabolic environment. Unlike when losing lean mass, when we want to decrease the amount of circulating insulin, to gain lean mass we want to increase circulating insulin, which brings us to a second mistake:
2️⃣ Being afraid of carbohydrates! Some people are afraid to increase the amount of carbohydrates in their diet WHILE FOLLOWING A MUSCLE-GAINING DIET and simply don’t eat carbs because they’re afraid of gaining weight! Carbohydrates from good sources such as oats, firm-cooked potatoes, and even rice are important. You may gain some fat if you’re a natural athlete, but that brings us to the next point:
3️⃣ Gaining fat while following a lean-mass-gaining diet is normal! It’s better to make solid gains and then lower your body fat percentage. Right? But ideally, you should always stay at no more than 15–18% for men and 20–24% for women. Obviously, you can gain lean mass and lose fat, but you won’t make HUGE gains in lean mass.
4️⃣ Not giving your muscles the rest they need: if you train legs hard on Monday, for example, and can train legs again on Wednesday, I have two things to tell you: 1st, you’ll hinder muscle hypertrophy, because muscle “repair” happens during rest, and consequently, so does hypertrophy. 2nd, if you can train the same muscle group on Monday and Wednesday, you haven’t applied the necessary intensity and/or volume—in other words, your workout is garbage!
5️⃣ Alcoholic beverages: they increase cortisol and decrease testosterone.
6️⃣ Inadequate sleep: Want to grow? Sleep! If you see someone big who sleeps very little, 3–4 hours a day, THEY’RE VERY LIKELY TAKING ANABOLIC STEROIDS and supplementing with GH!
7️⃣ Skipping steps! Don’t skip steps! Don’t think that taking steroids will let you skip steps. They may be the cherry on top for the 0.01% who really need them, or the filling in a spoiled cake that ruins everything for everyone else!
Mistakes that keep you from gaining lean mass
Women are increasingly taking over gyms across our country, and that’s amazing!
With more and more women entering the fitness world, we’ve come to realize that each gender makes, let’s say… unique mistakes at the gym. Questions about reps or weights are common, as is uncertainty about the hypertrophy process.
One of the most common mistakes men make is going overboard with the weight or duration of their workouts. Women make this mistake too, but it’s far from the most common one.
Women have tremendous potential when it comes to training. All women, regardless of age, genetics, height, or knowledge level… Just avoid these common mistakes in women’s training.
It’s important to get the support you need to get started and keep achieving your goals.
