Working Hard But Not Building Muscle?

Have you been going to the gym and lifting regularly but just aren’t seeing the results you want? It may be because you’re only focusing on one aspect of muscle-building: lifting heavy weights. In reality, body composition changes and muscle growth come from a combination of eating a proper diet, getting enough sleep, and being active outside of your workouts. A lot of people go to the gym expecting a few workouts per week to be enough to notice changes (and for some, it is), but they neglect all of the other factors that play into body composition.

The first big thing to address when looking at body composition is diet. You do not need to track all of your macros in order to make changes, however, it does help to be aware of what and how much you are intaking daily. Protein is the biggest nutrient to look into. You should be intaking anywhere from 1.2-2.2g/kg of body weight. The more intensely you are training, the higher that number should be. It is also essential to eat enough fat and carbs to sustain training and your day to day actives. Carbs are not evil and neither are fats. They are ESSENTIAL to our bodies and eating enough of them will aid in muscle growth and fat loss.

Sleep is another big factor in body composition. If you aren’t getting enough of it, your body isn’t able to recover and will remain in a constant state of stress. This stress state tells your body to preserve fat, and it leaves no energy for muscle building. Additionally, irregular/low quantities of sleep can alter your circadian rhythm, which in turn can lead to slower metabolism. Every night does not need to be perfect, but keeping up with a consistent schedule will be beneficial.

Lastly, it’s important to look into how active you are outside of your structured workouts. If you workout for 1 hour but sit or lie down the remaining 23 hours, your body composition most likely will not change. Energy expenditure outside of working out is just as, if not more, important than that workout. Increasing daily activity levels by walking more or doing chores around the house are a great place to start. Including more activity throughout the day will also aid in getting proper sleep, so you’re killing two birds with one stone.

With all of that said, everyone is beautiful just as they are. You do not ever need to change the way your body looks. This was written for folks who are interested in how body composition works and the biggest factors that affect it.