In 2021 AC DRIVEN wants to ensure you can reach your best health and physique. To do so, adding lean muscle is important to many of us and it can be confusing for many to understand how to do this properly. Adding unnecessary weight just to say you've added weight is not the brightest approach. In fact you will have to work harder later to lose the excess bodyfat and hope you retain the most amount of muscle you've gained during your growth phase. So here's 4 reasons why most people add more unwanted bodyfat during their growth phase than they should.
1 You choose poor quality macronutrients - If you are training really hard and aren’t feeding the body quality macronutrients (fats, carbs and proteins) then forget about it. It’s like trying to build a sky scrapper out of paper; it will collapse. You need to ensure you are getting quality dense nutrients your body can use for energy, repair itself and sustain a physical active lifestyle. Eating calories just to eat calories is a horrible idea. You’ll get fat not fit.
2 Training Inconsistency - If you are eating a ton of calories because your best friend told you so or you read “eat big to get big” somewhere and it’s not working, then there is a reason for that. Training big also means training consistently. You can’t expect to add lean muscle by training a few days of the week, stop and pick it up when it fits your schedule. Make the time to consistently train hard. The nutrients you are feeding your body will help your muscular repair.
3 Unrealistic expectations - Because of the online world, most people constantly compare themselves to others and believe that muscle building is something that happens over night. You could actually be adding quality weight but because you are so impatient you decide to eat more under the idea you will get muscle faster. It doesn’t work that way. Train hard, eat quality ingredients and rest to allow the body to do it’s job. Be patient with your goals and seeing someone's before and after with years of difference can be motivating but also make you think you are doing something incorrect.
4 Your Macros are working against you - Going back to point one, first you need to eat quality foods to grow your muscles, but you also need the appropriate numbers of each to ensure quality muscle. Ensure you are getting enough protein in your diet to sustain muscle building (.8g-1.3g per lbs), quality fats to help you naturally build the hormones you need to build muscle (20-30% of your total daily caloric intake) and carbs to sustain the energy to have good workouts. Don't be afraid of eating good quality foods and don't get tempted by eating junk food that is higher in calories just to say you've added the calories. Your body and mind will feel the difference of what you put inside of it.