- When it comes to building muscle naturally,
we know that this doesn't happen overnight.
This is a very slow process.
And the more muscle you have,
the harder it becomes to gain new muscle.
Now, what this also means is that a couple of mistakes
can make a difference between
seeing progress and being stuck.
And in this video, I'm going to share with you
a couple of training mistakes
that I see guys make all the time
and that I've also personally made on my own journey
that have slowed down my progress.
And if you avoid these mistakes,
I promise you that you're going to start
seeing some solid gains, so let's dive right into it.
The first training mistake most people make
is doing too many exercises
and too many sets in one workout.
When it comes to training,
most people believe that more is better.
And I used to be one of those people.
I still remember one of my first workout programs
when I started, I had chest on Monday,
which included five different exercises.
I would start with a flat barbell bench press.
Then I would do an incline press.
Then I will do a decline press, then some chest flys.
And then I would add some dips
toward the end of the workout.
And sometimes I would even add a quote-unquote finisher,
which was extra sets of pushups.
So realistically, I was doing between
15 to 20 sets of chest in one single session.
And what really happened is that
halfway through that session,
I was just going through the motions.
My chest was already completely exhausted
from the first two, three exercises
and everything beyond that was just
basically me trying to survive the workout.
And now looking back, I know that
I didn't need to do 15 to 20 sets of chest in one session.
And all I needed was to pick two chest exercises,
do three, four quality sets for each
and do that twice per week.
And when I started training like this,
I took the barbell bench press and the fly,
combine that in one workout.
And then do the incline press and dips in another workout.
And my results started improving fast.
I started getting way better progress to load
much easier than before, my form improved dramatically
because I was doing these movements
in a less fatigued state.
And most importantly, my chest started growing again,
which was my most stubborn body part
and still is to this day.
Now, most guys think that they need more volume
and more sets, but what they really need
is higher quality workouts.
So higher training effort and better technique.
Now, if you're someone who is very advanced,
that you've been training for 7, 8, 9 years, 10 years,
and you've been pushing yourself, you've been consistent.
Well, yeah, then you could benefit from doing more volume,
but for the most part, if you're the average gym goer,
who's not seeing muscle growth,
it's an issue of quality, rather than more quantity.
Now, speaking of execution and quality,
one thing that I see hold so many guys back,
aside from not hitting the like button on my videos,
we you can definitely do right now,
is that they're giving up on their sets too early.
What I mean by this is that as soon as the set
gets uncomfortable, most people drop the weight.
They stop the set.
And while training like this as a beginner
can get you some gains, those newbie gains won't last.
If you want to maximize muscle growth,
you need to learn how to take your sets to form failure.
Form failure is a point in the set
where you can no longer do
any more reps with good technique.
And it's that proximity to failure, really,
where muscle growth is stimulated.
And a common sign that you're doing this
is some reps slow down.
So as you're pushing and pulling,
no matter how hard you do that, throughout the set
you're going to notice that your rep speed will slow down.
And when you're doing your lower body exercises
for higher repetitions,
this becomes very, very uncomfortable.
And this is where lifting becomes a mental battle.
Where most guys lose, because it becomes painful.
It is hard to stay focused
as it gets more and more uncomfortable.
And people that are making really good gains in the gym
are those that are able to stay focused.
Those that are able to make every rep count
and able to take those sets close to form failure,
and close to muscular failure,
while maintaining good technique.
It's that focus within the set itself, rep by rep.
And another sign that you're really giving it
some solid effort is some rep drop-off.
So for example, let's say you did 225
for 10 on the first set.
12 would be your absolute maximum.
Well, it's unlikely that you're going to be able
to repeat that 10, 225 on the third and the fourth set.
So it's likely that it's going to drop down
maybe to eight or seven, and that's totally fine.
Because as you accumulate more fatigue,
that point of failure is easier and easier to reach.
So it's no longer 12 reps, now it became 10,
then it might become nine, even eight.
So as you're training,
you will reach that point a bit sooner in the set.
And that's totally okay.
It means that you're doing a good job,
that you're pushing yourself
and that you're really giving it your absolute best.
And you will see some solid growth from this.
Now, the third mistake that I see a lot
is a lack of training intent.
I'm a big believer in consistency.
I think showing up is definitely the foundation of success
because it enables you the opportunity to succeed.
But just showing up isn't enough.
And that's kind of what a lot of people
in the gym are doing.
They're there, but they don't really have any purpose.
They're not being deliberate with their actions.
And if you're in that type of situation,
if you don't know where you're headed,
it is very important that you take a step back
and define some short-term and some long-term goals.
I still remember when I first started out,
even after a couple of weeks of going to the gym,
I started paying attention
to what people around me are doing.
Those that looked like there were ahead of me.
And I saw a guy benching 225.
I saw a guy doing pull ups,
which I was really impressed by.
I saw guy a squat a weight that I found
really impressive at the time.
And this really inspired me.
And I decided to set some of my own goals.
I decided to bench one plate on each side.
I decided to do one single body weight pull up,
which really was something I've never been able to do.
I decided also to learn how to squat properly,
never learned that before.
And this gave me a new level of purpose to my workouts.
I started becoming way more engaged.
I was researching more about training, about form.
I was asking people for tips.
I was getting into conversations with people.
I was observing when someone was doing it with correct form
and learning on the spot.
I think way too many people just don't have the intent,
they don't have the purpose,
they don't have the clarity of what they're working toward.
And this leads to lower engagement, lower motivation.
And honestly, if you don't know what you're working toward,
how can you get excited and motivated about it?
You're not going to enjoy it as much.
So I highly recommend setting those goals
and really focusing on this.
And at the end of the day, we have to remember
that this is a long-term process.
There's no guaranteed gains in 28 days programs or whatever.
I mean, this is going to take time.
So you better learn how to enjoy the process
and improve yourself over time.
And it's really about combining
good training effort with a solid program,
combine that with some solid nutrition
outside of the gym and good recovery.
And that's really going to put you in a position
where you will be able to reach your goals.
And what's going to help with that is making sure
to hit that subscribe button below,
enable notifications by hitting the bell icon.
If you want to work with me as your coach,
check out the description below for details.
Also gonna leave another video here for you at the end,
that's going to help you a ton.
Check out that video and I'm going to see you right there.