5 Things You’re Doing To Sabotage Your Gains
Let’s be real—you’ve been showing up. You’ve been hitting your workouts, maybe even eating cleaner than before. But the progress? It’s just not there. The scale’s stuck, your strength is flatlining, and your muscles aren’t exactly popping.
Frustrating, right?
The truth is, it’s probably not a lack of effort. You might just be unknowingly doing things that are slowing your progress—or flat-out sabotaging it. The good news? These are all fixable.
Here are five common habits that can kill your gains, and how to get back on track.
1. You’re Training Hard, But Not Smart
Going all-in during a workout feels great—sweating buckets, pushing to your limit, feeling like you crushed it. But if your workouts are random or you’re just chasing fatigue, you’re leaving gains on the table.
The body builds muscle and strength through something called progressive overload. That just means you’re gradually challenging your muscles more over time—adding weight, doing more reps, or increasing the difficulty.
If you’re doing different exercises every week, or hopping from program to program, your body doesn’t get the chance to adapt and grow. It’s like trying to get better at a sport by switching to a new one every few days. Not gonna work.
What to do instead:
Stick to a simple, structured program for at least 4–6 weeks. Focus on big lifts—squats, presses, rows, deadlifts—and track your progress. Try to improve a little each week. That’s where the real gains are made.
2. Your Nutrition Isn’t Supporting Your Goals
You can train like a beast, but if your eating habits don’t match your goals, progress will stall—fast.
Trying to build muscle but not eating enough? Your body has nothing to grow with.
Trying to lose fat but constantly overdoing it on calories or under-eating protein? You’re just spinning your wheels.
And it’s not always obvious. You might think you’re eating plenty—or that your diet is “pretty good”—but without paying attention to the basics, it’s easy to miss the mark.
What to do instead:
- For muscle gain: Eat in a slight calorie surplus and get plenty of protein (aim for around 0.7–1g per pound of bodyweight).
- For fat loss: Be in a calorie deficit, but still prioritize protein to keep your muscle while you drop fat.
- Track your food for one week—just to see where you’re at. You don’t have to count forever, but awareness is a game changer.
Bottom line: You can’t out-train a half-committed diet.
3. You’re Not Sleeping Enough
Sleep is the most underrated tool in your training toolbox.
When you lift, you’re breaking your body down. When you sleep, you’re building it back up—stronger. If you’re skimping on sleep, you’re short-circuiting recovery, slowing muscle growth, and messing with your hormones (like testosterone and growth hormone).
Not to mention, poor sleep makes you hungrier, lowers willpower, and zaps your motivation. All of that makes sticking to training and nutrition way harder than it needs to be.
What to do instead:
- Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night—consistently.
- Try to keep the same sleep and wake times, even on weekends.
- Cut screen time before bed, keep your room cool and dark, and don’t overdo caffeine late in the day.
Treat sleep like part of your training—not an afterthought.
4. You’re Skipping the Basics for the Fancy Stuff
Look, it’s easy to get distracted by the flashy workouts on social media. Battle ropes, BOSU balls, wild circuits—sure, they look cool. But they’re not what builds real muscle and strength.
If you’re constantly jumping to the latest fitness trend and skipping the foundational movements, your results will always stay average.
The basics might not be exciting, but they work. Squats, deadlifts, presses, pull-ups, rows—those are the movements that have built strong, muscular bodies for decades. They work because they hit multiple muscle groups, allow you to lift heavier, and create the kind of stress your body actually needs to grow.
What to do instead:
- Build your workouts around compound lifts—the ones that move the needle.
- Save the isolation moves and “fun stuff” for the end of your workout, or use them as accessories—not the main course.
- Don’t confuse complexity with effectiveness. Simple and consistent beats fancy and random every time.
5. You’re Not Consistent (Even If You Think You Are)
This one stings a bit—but it’s true for a lot of people.
Missing a workout here, “eyeballing” your meals there, falling off on weekends—it all adds up. And the frustrating part? Most people feel like they’re being consistent. But when you zoom out, it’s more like 60–70% effort spread thin, not 80–90% locked in.
Muscle and strength come from doing the right things over and over again. Not perfectly, but consistently.
What to do instead:
- Track your training and nutrition for a few weeks. Get honest about how often you’re really on point.
- Set a routine you can actually stick to—even on busy weeks.
- Remember: The goal isn’t perfection. It’s to keep showing up, even when life isn’t ideal.
Consistency is the secret sauce. Without it, nothing sticks.
Conclusion:
If you’re putting in the work but not seeing the gains, don’t quit—adjust.
The fix usually isn’t “do more.” It’s do better—with your training, your food, your recovery, and your habits. Start by picking one of these five mistakes that hits close to home, and focus on cleaning that up first. No need to fix everything overnight.
Stack small wins, stay consistent, and trust the process. The gains will follow.
