8 Reasons Your Muscles Are NOT Growing (Science-Based)

Find out exactly why your muscles are not growing. If you're not building muscle make sure that you're not making these common muscle building mistakes. If you want to ensure that your making preventing muscle loss & instead you'd like to gain muscle mass watch this video. You'll still grow muscle faster even if you're currently a skinny guy. As long as you eat the right foods to by following a solid bulking diet plan and your avoiding mistakes in the gym you will be in a great position for muscle growth.

*Studies in comments

Muscle...It's definitely not easy to build especially after you're no longer a beginner so you might be working out hard and you're eating right, but no matter how hard you try your muscles are still not growing. This is a common problem faced by many guys that workout a lot, but hardly experience any results even if their workouts are already challenging. And really it comes down to 8 key reasons why you're trying so hard but not seeing much growth. Starting first with a very common training mistake and that's Not Training Each Muscle Often Enough. A survey of 127 competitive male bodybuilders found that more than two-thirds of them trained each muscle group only once per week. This is what's known as a bro split where you work pretty much one muscle per day and it allows you to really focus on that muscle and break it down for an incredible pump. But is that optimal? Well, the answer is no, as shown by multiple studies. Specifically in one of these study's researchers observed the difference in the rate of muscle growth between training a muscle once or three times per week with a similar total training volume between both groups. And the results showed that those who trained each muscle three times per week gained much more muscle than those who trained each muscle less often. In another study, participants either performed all their weekly exercise volume in one giant full-body workout or they spread out the same training volume so they did the same amount of sets and reps, but they divided that volume into three smaller full-body sessions. And Once again, those who trained more often gained significantly more muscle. The once-a-week subjects increased their lean body mass by 1%. While those that trained each muscle three times per week gained 8 percent. And like I said many other studies also show similar results. (24) One reason why it's better to train each muscle more often than once a week is that if you do a ton of sets and reps all within one day you'll inevitably have lower quality sets. After you've done a few heavy sets for a specific muscle, the amount of force you'll be able to produce during later sets will decrease significantly. On the other hand, if you spread that volume out over the week, you'll be able to perform better for each set because you'll be less fatigued. Another reason why it's better to train your muscles at least 2 times a week is that protein synthesis generally only stays elevated levels for up to about 72 hours after a workout. So, if you're training each muscle only once every seven days, you'll only trigger growth for up to 72 hours that week and during the other 96 hours of the week, you would miss out on gains.

Now another not so commonly known reason why you're not building muscle is that You’re Not Consuming Enough Cholesterol. That's right Not consuming enough cholesterol can definitely slow your gains. A 12-week long strength training study found a linear dose-response relationship between dietary cholesterol intake and lean body mass gains or in other words muscle growth). This means that the more cholesterol they consumed, the more muscle they gained. In another study, researchers compared a high cholesterol diet of  800 milligrams per day to a low cholesterol diet of fewer than 200 milligrams per day And the high cholesterol group had almost a three times higher muscle protein synthesis rate for 22 hours after intense resistance training than the low cholesterol group. This showed that the higher cholesterol diet was beneficial for muscle growth. The researchers concluded that cholesterol may aid muscle growth by helping your body cope with inflammatory responses, and enhancing cellular communication. Now, this is all of course within good reason, there are good sources of cholesterol and there are also bad sources of cholesterol so make sure that you stick to eating enough healthy sources of fat to optimize muscle growth. Moving on we have the next very common mistake that will prevent you from building muscle and that's not focusing on getting stronger...

[GravityTransformation]

Hope you guys enjoy the video! All 21 references with studies can be found below.

1. A survey of 127 competitive male bodybuilders found that more than two-thirds of them trained each muscle group only once per week

2. Those who trained each muscle three times per week gained much more muscle than those who trained each muscle less often

3. Many studies show that training each muscle more often than just once a week is much better for growth

4. Protein synthesis generally only stays elevated levels for up to about 72 hours after a workout
See Fig 1

5. A 12 week long strength training study found a linear dose-response relationship between dietary cholesterol intake and lean body mass gains
See Fig 1A

6. Researchers compared a high cholesterol diet of 800 milligrams per day to a low cholesterol diet of less than 200 milligrams per day. The high cholesterol group had almost a three times higher muscle protein synthesis rate for 22 hours after intense resistance training than the low cholesterol group.

7. The more weight the participants could bench-press The more mass they had on their pecs
See Graph in Fig 1

8. There's an extremely tight relationship between fat free mass or in other words muscle mass and performance

9. In powerlifters, there's a 86 to 95 percent correlation between a lifters muscle mass and their strength and performance in the key power lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bench press
"Performance of the SQT, BP, and DL was strongly correlated with FFM and FFM relative to standing height (r=0.86 to 0.95, P≤0.001)."

10. Doing multiple sets per exercise led to 40 percent more muscle growth than doing only one set per exercise
See Fig 1

11. Doing four to six sets per exercise was superior to two to three sets, and two to three sets were better than doing only one set.

12. “Muscle hypertrophy follows a dose-response relationship, with increasingly greater gains achieved with higher training volumes.”

13. A 2012 meta-analysis found that adding cardio to a resistance training routine reduced muscle growth effect size by 39 percent
See Graph

14. Cardio decreases Mtor and increases AMPK. This is a bad combo for muscle growth

15. Participants who ate a small surplus packed on five times less fat than those who consumed an extra 600 calories (larger surplus)
See Figure 1

16. Ensure that you're consuming at least 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight or 0.73grams per pound of body weight per day
See Figure 5

17. Deep squats, as opposed to partial squats, led to much more muscle growth on the quads
See Fig 4

18. Other studies also show similar results that a full range of motion is better for growth than partial.

19. Working through a full ROM produces a higher level of muscle activation

20. You might miss out on stimulating all parts of a specific muscle if you go for partial reps

21. Overloading muscles in their stretched position, which is something that you do with full Range of motion exercises, seems to be particularly important for muscle growth

[DiskoKDiskoL]

Didn't mention the only time your muscles actually grow; while recovering/sleeping. Good sleep is crucial.

[anilbaksh]

Here you go! You are welcome!
1.Full body workout 3times a week.
2. Include a higher good cholesterol in your diet.
3. Progressive Overload.
4 .Training volume or more sets of exercises.
5.Avoid overdoing Cardio exercise.
6.A Calorie surplus diet.
7.More Protein in you diet.
8. You are not training through a full range of motion.

[Tanishq.A]

1 reason my muscle is not growing:
I don't workout.

[mrsaagar]

I appreciate your videos a lot. Make sure to watch the whole vid guys, here's a summary but the necessary details are in the video!

1. Not training each muscle group often enough
2. Not consuming enough (healthy) cholesterol
3. You NEED progressive overload
4. Not doing enough training volume
5. Overdoing cardio
6. Not being in a calorie surplus
7. Not getting enough protein
8. Not training through a full range of motion

[delciojoaogermanosantos]

I love how this guys use scientific articles to support the credibility of his words.

Impeccable work.

[jondean]

I like this guy. He explains everything in just 12 minutes. Clear, scientific proven, easy to understand digest. I see how much effort he put behind of this video. Respect. Wish you good luck bro. . .

[winston]

I like this guy, 30 seconds in and he already started telling us what we came for

[LucasPunsalan]

“You should get a good amount of protein and greens”
My Mom: “Eat your lasagna and finish your coke”

[aldrin]

Agoge diet personalized plan makes it simple. Choose the food you like and they give you personalized meal plan with tips, training plan and healthy recipes.

[TheColdBlooded]

Man yet another great video! I'm an old man who's new to weight training and I watch you, and take your advice much more than any other channel. I love the scientific approach and non-endorsed no BS facts you provide. Keep up the amazing work!

[mechanicgray]

I dont think this guy waisted 1 word. Great video.

[darraghconnolly]

I'm going back to my full body routine working every other day, thanks for confirming

[mindmusclemeditation]

#5 needs to be a little more specific to the term “Cardio”

Doing 30 minutes of light cardiovascular activity such as a jog or light elliptical/ arc trainer work with a heart approximately 100-130 beats per minute will boost muscle growth. It will help your body have proper cardiovascular health which in turn will make the body deliver nutrients more efficiently. It will also boost neurological and cognitive health which boosts hormones levels, again adding in muscle mass growth.
Too much cardio is of course bad for muscle growth.

The term Cardio needed a more adequate explanation.

[gagitai]

Dude I dunno what to say. This channel is literally a freakin' science+fitness channel! I respect your researches and explanations. Thanks a lot

[happyrana]

I don't know why Sergio Ramos is telling us why our muscles are not growing

[ChrisB-jybq]

I can agree with most of this except no.1. If you hit a muscle group hard enough, proper form, proper weight then there's no need to hit it more than once a week.

[surrealistidealist]

All extremely helpful! Thank you! Thanks especially for the links to the studies! ❤

[sparky]

Jeff Cavalier: "Guys, researching scientific reasons for why you're not building muscle is killing your gains."

[lornabalanlay]

This is by far my most favorite video of gravity trandsformation .. I learned a lot more in here 😀