Let’s face it – bodybuilding is a sport of egos. You don’t spend 20 hours per week eating, cooking, training, taking supplements and/or AAS, and studying these topics because you don’t want to look good. Bodybuilders are proud of their appearances and work very hard to achieve the looks that they have. However, in these efforts to feed this healthy ego, many bodybuilders commit some common mistakes.

Swinging the weight

Poor form is perhaps the largest thief of bodybuilding progress. Any time you use your back, hips, or core to move a weight that should be moved by the body part you are training, you are limiting the stimulation that muscle group receives. A little swing is okay, if you’re only using it to bring the weight to the top, so you can emphasize the negative. And even then, it must take place after you’ve already reached failure on 6 to 8 solid repetitions. If you can’t reach 6 repetitions with good form, it’s time to reduce the weight you’re using.

Partial reps

We’ve all witnessed the obese champions in the gym with boasts of their 1,000 pound leg presses. When we happen to catch a glimpse of them training, we quickly discover their secret to moving that much weight – they don’t move it very far. People who train using only partial range of the repetition are only stimulating a small percentage of their available muscle fibers. And, since muscle fibers cannot grow unless they are stimulated, these lazy lifters are short-circuiting their own gains.

Moving through the repetition too quickly

The number one way that people can add mass to their arms is to sloooow down! Using a 4 second positive and 3 second negative repetition scheme denies swing and momentum from removing some of the workload being performed, and stimulates many more muscle fibers. Many bodybuilders lift weights too fast, and it really limits the number of fibers being recruited to complete the lift. Slow down, and you’ll find your muscles receive a much better pump, and the growth you see will be much better as well!

Not completing enough sets

We’ve all read the cleverly edited books on high-volume training, and been convinced that 8 or 12 sets PER WEEK can be more than adequate for muscular gains if we just work hard enough in those sets. We’ve all tried it, and most of us are sad to report we quickly returned to higher volume training when we just didn’t see the results we desired. If you’re only completing 6 to 8 sets for chest once per week, you’re just not lifting enough to make meaningful gains in terms of bodyweight. You might feel like you’ve engorged the muscle group with blood, and you may have. However, there’s a very good chance you’ve not placed a progressive workload on the muscle group at the same time. In other words, you didn’t give the muscles a reason to grow. They’re already big enough to accept and meet this meager workout you’re throwing at it. Instead, make every workout progressively harder, and use at least 12 sets per body part (preferably 16 to 20).

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