6 Reasons You’ve STOPPED Building Muscle, Part II

In Part I of this article, Vince and I shared with you THREE big reasons that may be holding you back from gaining muscle.  If you missed that article, be sure to read it first by clicking HERE (page opens in a new window).  Once you’ve done that, read on to discover 3 MORE reasons you’re muscle building progress may have stagnated.

6 Reasons You’ve STOPPED Building Muscle, Part II
By Joel Marion and Vince Del Monte

Training your butt off but not really getting anywhere?  Put on “some” muscle, but can’t seem to add any more?  Simply not progressing fast enough?  If you can relate to any of those scenarios, then you’re going to love part 2 of this article as we’re getting ready to unleash three more BIG reasons why you’ve stopped building muscle.

If you missed Part I, click HERE (page opens in new window)

Reason #4: No “down-time”

Did you know that strategically taking time OFF from your training (when done in a very specific way, and when strategically setting up the rest of your training to benefit from it) can actually lead to MORE muscle growth?

It’s very true.

Simply put, your body performs and responds best when it’s pushed and then is given time to recover.  Let’s face it, you can’t go full-out, “balls to the wall” 100% all the time.  That leads to burn out and overstimulation.

But you can learn how to cycle strategic periods of “down-time” into your training, either by scheduling time completely “OFF” every so often, or by using “lighter” training periods within your training cycle.

Utilizing this one tactic alone will have a profound effect on your results, and we’ll show you how to do it properly in tomorrow’s article.

Reason #5: Nervous System Inefficiency

Fact:  You’re NOT going to gain muscle unless you can stimulate muscle tissue to grow with loads challenging enough to induce an adaptation response—and sadly, most people simply aren’t.

Why?  Nervous system inefficiency.

Perhaps the most important thing you can possibly do when it comes to building muscle is strengthen your nervous system connection.  You see, your nervous system controls:

• how fast your muscles contract
• how hard your muscles contract, and
• how many motor units you’re able to recruit

Amongst other things.

An efficient nervous system leads to faster, harder, stronger muscular contractions.

An inefficient nervous system leads to slower, weaker, haphazard muscular contractions.

Can you guess which one is going to lead to more muscle?

Fact is, most people’s nervous systems aren’t efficient enough to allow them to use loads heavy enough to adequately stimulate their muscles to grow.  And when the stimulus is lacking, trust us, the results will be lacking as well.

Fortunately, we’ll be back to teach you an easy way to fix this tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Reason #6:  Your Training is One-Dimensional

Did you know that there are three types of muscle fibers?  (Type I, Type IIa, and Type IIb)

Did you know that there are two types of muscle growth?  (Myofibril, the “protein” portion of muscle cells, and Sarcoplasmic, the “fluid” portion of muscle cells)

Did you know that you need to strategically train in a very specific way to stimulate each ONE of these 5 pathways, each of which requires a differing training stimulus?

Did you know that there are at least 7 OTHER pathways to stimulate the generation of calorie-burning lean muscle?

Most people don’t, which is why most people fail to unlock more than 80% of their muscle building potential.

To make an analogy, let’s imagine that you’re trying to grow your bank account, and your sole method of doing so is depositing your bi-weekly pay check into a checking account.

The number will continue to rise on a slow, steady basis.

But, what if that money was in an interest bearing account?  What if you took some of that money and invested it in 3 or 4 or 10 different places?  What if you set up a side business that was generating even more money to deposit in to that account?

Do you think that over a period of 6 months you’d have SUBSTANTIALLY more money than if you continued to solely rely on the “paycheck deposit” method of growing your bank account?

YES.

Similarly, there are MANY ways and avenues and pathways to stimulate and generate muscle growth, and if you’re hoping to experience optimal growth, you need to be utilizing all the different pathways.

And in tomorrow’s article, we’ll share several methods to ensure you’re hitting multiple pathways with your training.

Wrap Up

Alright, there you have it – 6 of the biggest misconceptions surrounding muscle growth and some BIG reasons why you may not be experiencing the lean muscle building results you’re after, but don’t worry, you can “fix” all of these problems, and we’ll be back tomorrow to share a bunch of solutions.

Stay tuned.

Comment Time:

In the meantime, we’re hear to answer your questions and respond to your comments below, so be sure to drop yours below.  If you’ve yet to comment on the blog, make today your first!  And if you’re a regular commenter, continue with that “action-taking” habit.  The more you act, the more we interact, the greater your results will be.  This is a community and we’re here to help you.

Talk to you in the comments section!

Joel and Vince