If, despite all your efforts, your muscle mass isn’t increasing, you might be making one of the most common mistakes in muscle building. Fix them, and progress will follow.
Here’s a brief overview of what you need to know:
- Your progress will stall if you train with the same weight and in the same rep range. Alternate the load by using heavier weights for fewer reps and lighter weights for more reps.
- Volume (the total amount of load) is key to success. Don’t expect one or two sets per exercise to lead to noticeable hypertrophy.
- If you want to gain muscle mass, focus solely on that goal. Don’t constantly switch between cutting and bulking, or you’ll end up achieving neither.
- You need to consume enough calories. If you want to gain muscle mass without overeating, aim for 36-40 calories per kilogram of body weight.
Not seeing muscle growth? You’re likely making at least one of these mistakes.
You’re Not Changing Your Sets and Reps Range
The optimal number of repetitions for hypertrophy-focused training is a topic of ongoing debate. While the research is far from conclusive, data suggests that a moderate rep range (around 6-12 reps per set) is best suited for maximum muscle growth.
This approach is often referred to as “bodybuilder-style training” because it provides an ideal combination of mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress—three key factors that contribute to muscle growth.
The problem is that most athletes believe all workouts should be done in this rep range, strictly adhering to the same training scheme. This is a misconception.
Maximal muscle development is built on a foundation of strength, which requires that at least some of your sets be performed with heavier weights in the lower rep ranges (1-5 reps per set).
Stronger muscles allow you to lift heavier weights, which optimally stimulate hypertrophy. By increasing muscle tension (progressive overload), you lay the groundwork for intense muscle growth.
On the other hand, high-rep sets (ranging from 15 to 20 reps per set) also play an important role in hypertrophy training.
Lower-intensity sets help increase your lactate threshold—the point at which lactic acid begins to accumulate rapidly in the working muscles.
The problem with lactic acid is that once it reaches a certain point, its accumulation hinders muscle contraction, reducing the number of reps you can perform.
Note: It’s actually the H+ component of lactic acid that speeds up muscle fatigue, not the lactic acid itself.
The good news is that high-rep training increases capillary density and improves the muscles’ buffering capacity, both of which help delay lactic acid buildup.
In the end, you can sustain more time under tension and better handle larger training volumes, which are crucial for achieving maximum hypertrophy.
Optimal muscle development is achieved by varying the rep range over time. The best way to do this is through structured periodization of your training. Depending on your goals, both wave-like and linear periodization methods can be effective.
While muscle growth is most effectively achieved with moderate-rep sets, low- and high-rep sets also play a vital role in building muscle.
You’re Not Using Enough Volume
In the 1970s, Arthur Jones popularized the so-called high-intensity training (HIT—not to be confused with HIIT, high-intensity interval training) for muscle building.
HIT is based on the idea that to stimulate muscle growth, only one set of a given exercise is necessary, provided you’re training to the point of muscle failure.
According to HIT theory, performing additional sets after the first is unnecessary and may even hinder muscle growth.
Other well-known figures, such as Mike Mentzer and Ellington Darden, followed Jones’ lead and supported the HIT concept, contributing to its rise in popularity. To this day, HIT remains a favored training method.
Many experts consider it a viable training strategy. There’s no denying that HIT can help build noticeable muscle. And if you’re short on time, HIT can provide an effective workout.
However, if your goal is to maximize muscle mass, HIT simply isn’t sufficient. You need a higher training volume—much more than just one set per exercise. Studies show that multi-set workouts lead to a 46% increase in strength and a 40% increase in muscle growth compared to single-set workouts.
Whether this advantage of multi-set training is due to greater muscle tension, muscle fiber damage, metabolic stress, or some combination of these factors remains unclear. What is clear is that if you want to reach your full muscle potential, you need multi-set training.
The problem is that even then, your training volume might still be insufficient.
The optimal number of sets required to stimulate muscle growth varies from person to person. It depends on many individual factors, such as genetics, recovery ability, training experience, and diet.
Additionally, individual factors are only half the equation. The size of each specific muscle also matters. Large muscle groups like the back and thighs require more volume than smaller muscles like the arms and calves, which already perform significant supportive work during multi-joint compound exercises.
Another important factor is your training program. All else being equal, split programs allow for significantly more training volume for each muscle group compared to full-body workouts.
The structure of a split program also affects training volume (a 3-day split allows for more weekly workload for a muscle group compared to a 2-day split). Therefore, training volume is best assessed on a weekly basis, rather than per individual workout.
Regardless of your planned weekly volume, optimal results are achieved through periodization. This involves strategically adjusting the number of sets throughout the training cycle. Keep in mind that constant high-volume training will inevitably lead to overtraining.
Only by using periodization can you reap the benefits of high training volume while avoiding fatigue and overtraining.
Let’s illustrate how periodization works with an example.
Suppose you’ve determined that your maximum weekly volume should be 18-20 sets per muscle group.
Focus on a three-month mesocycle:
- In the first month, you will perform 8-10 sets per week.
- In the second month, you will perform 14–16 sets.
- In the final month, complete the cycle with a maximum training volume, performing 18–20 sets per week.
Afterward, a short period of deloading or active rest should follow to promote recovery and rejuvenation.
It’s during this recovery period that maximum muscle growth occurs. The effect of overcompensation—the supercompensation of muscle fibers—takes place.
You’re Not Focusing on One Specific Goal
Most athletes want not only to get bigger, but they also want to lose fat during their training. At the early stages, this is an achievable goal. Beginners can easily build significant muscle and burn fat simultaneously.
The same applies to those who need to lose a significant amount of excess weight (more than 15 kg), as well as experienced athletes who have taken a long break from training. And yes, using pharmacology also allows you to become muscular and lean in a short period of time.
However, if you’ve been training for more than a year or so, don’t have an increased body fat percentage, and aren’t using steroids, gaining muscle mass while simultaneously burning fat becomes extremely difficult. At a certain point, you’ll have to choose between one goal or the other.
If you’ve decided to focus on gaining muscle mass, your training should be directed exclusively toward this goal, otherwise your results will be questionable. This also involves changing the amount of aerobic exercise (running, walking, cycling) you do.
The problem with combining strength and aerobic exercises is that cardio can interfere with processes that stimulate anabolism.
This is explained by the AMPK-PKB switch hypothesis, which suggests that endurance and strength training activate and suppress different genes and signaling pathways, which have opposing effects.
Specifically, aerobic exercise regulates AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase), which plays a role in carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism, positively affecting fat burning.
The issue is that AMPK also inhibits the activation of PKB-mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), a unique anabolic mechanism critical for protein synthesis and, therefore, muscle growth.
This doesn’t mean you should completely eliminate cardio workouts. Although the AMPK-PKB switch theory is supported by many facts, the latest research suggests it’s oversimplified.
Instead of “switching” between aerobic and strength training, adaptation occurs on a continuum, with both pathways significantly overlapping.
So, while frequent, long cardio sessions may negatively impact muscle development, more moderate aerobic exercise likely won’t. And to be frank, cardio is undoubtedly beneficial for your overall health and well-being.
How much cardio is too much? It’s hard to pinpoint. As with all areas of physical activity, individual responses depend on many genetic and lifestyle factors. Also, keep in mind that everyone has an upper limit to how much exercise they can handle before overtraining occurs.
By adding a cardio component to your routine, you’re increasing the overall load on your body. At some point, these loads may overwhelm your recovery abilities and lead to overtraining.
Therefore, those aiming for maximum muscle growth should be cautious and limit the frequency, intensity, and duration of aerobic activity.
Three days a week for 20-30 minutes is probably a good general guideline, but again, this depends on the individual.
Monitor your progress, watch for signs of overtraining, and adjust your program as needed.
You’re Not Consuming Enough Calories
This mistake goes hand in hand with the previous point (You’re not focusing on one specific goal).
Athletes often limit their calorie intake while continuing to lift weights, hoping to achieve both muscle mass and definition at the same time. Bad idea.
As mentioned earlier, losing fat while gaining muscle mass is unlikely for trained, natural athletes (non-beginners). If you fall into this category, you need to consume a surplus of calories to support muscle growth.
This follows the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy is neither created nor destroyed but only changes form. Simply put, if you consume more calories than you expend, the excess energy will be stored as additional body mass.
Many guys and girls interpret this as a license to eat everything in sight. This approach resembles the old-school “bulking” and “cutting” phases. First, the athlete consumes vast amounts of food to gain as much mass as possible, then goes on an extreme calorie-restricted diet that borders on starvation.
The problem with this method is that up to 75% of the weight gained during the bulking phase is fat. Of course, muscle mass also increases, but much of it is lost during the subsequent cutting phase.
By the time the entire process is over, you’ll be lucky if you’ve retained half of the muscle mass you gained.
Even worse, repeated cycles of bulking and cutting can reset your body’s weight set point — the programmed weight your body considers “optimal” and tries to maintain. Ultimately, this is not a smart nutrition strategy.
So, what is the ideal calorie intake to gain muscle mass without becoming as fat as a sumo wrestler?
A general recommendation is to consume 36 to 40 calories per kilogram of body weight. If you weigh 100 kg, your target calorie intake should be between 3600 and 4000 calories per day.
Endomorphs typically do better with slightly lower calorie intake, while ectomorphs, especially those determined to bulk up, may need up to 50 calories per kilogram of body weight.
Once you’ve set your calorie intake, monitor your results and adjust based on your individual needs. For those who have been weight training for a while, a realistic goal is to gain 0.5 to 1 kilogram per month if you’re aiming to build muscle mass.
Don’t get stuck on the same problems. Identify the mistakes you’re making, find solutions, and soon you’ll be back on track to maximizing your muscle potential.
