My biggest muscle building mistake, not pushing harder than last time. In my early lifting years I wasted so much time in the gym just going through the motions but not actually pushing myself.
I’m in this phase right now. Still heavy af but my gains are insane number wise. I am not consistent at all. and I still get better. Like I took a month and a half break and went from a 245 deadlift to 315 XD and a 260 squat to 315 squat. Granted I probably worked out like 4 months total for the year. but now I am hoping to lose some weight and try to keep my lifts
1. Don't overestimate your calories (1:55) 2. Eating too much low-calorie foods (3:20) - More higher fat meats - Start using quality oils - Eat fast digesting carbs - Avoid nutmilks - Use condements 3. Stop being oppsessed with being shredded (6:45) 4. Don't rely too much on supplements (8:40) 5. Focus less on isolation, more on compound (9:35) 6. Document work outs to progress (10:35) 7. Don't egolift and focus on contraction (11:40) 8. Rest properly between sets (13:45) 9. Don't do too much in the gym (14:45) 10. Eat enough protein (15:25) 11. Drink more water (17:10) 12. Sleep enough (18:05) Ending question: Are you REALLY small or are you comparing to others? (18:25)
I have severe insomnia, I had to use some occult techniques not many people know about to start making gains, because I can not sleep for days at a time or only sleep short little bursts here and there. Certain breathing techniques, meditation techniques, and very high quality exercises (that involve being done very slowly and with control) that don't really cause you to become overly sore or waste much energy yet cause the muscles to grow tremendously.
The best part about Will's videos is that he makes these Oscar worthy jokes so casually and seamlessly, doesn't even let the audience know he's made a joke. Truly a man who knows he's funny. Subtle humor.
The most overlooked topic in the gym is pushing through something that is hurting. If you feel something is off, go light for the day, pt that knee or shoulder or whatever it is, don’t get injured because once you’re injured, there goes possibly months of gains
Biggest mistake was not training for myself. Training used to be purely physical and I used to train as a means to an end. If I got this physique this person will like it or if I were stronger/faster it will help this team. I’m not saying those aren’t valid reasons, but they were external motivators. Now my training is so much more. It’s literally a part of who I am. I enjoy and look forward to training as it is essential to my physical and mental well-being. I do it first and foremost for myself. I’m my biggest motivator and fan. I like the way I look and am proud of the effort I know I put in to get where I am.
From the book Atomic Habits, "When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don't have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy". Changed my perspective on going to the gym. Love the process and the results will come, and you get to be happy while getting there
My biggest mistake starting out was focusing on accessory movements and not compound movements. When I made the switch it was amazing seeing the results.
My biggest mistakes to build muscle were thinking that the more I train the more muscle I will gain, which is true to some extent if you don't overdo it, and being scared to gain a little bit of fat, meaning I didn't want to eat too much
It's the opposite for 99% of people (and probably you as well). They try to train "scientifically" and they don't train nearly as hard as they should. If you're young and going to school or working in an office you can train 7 days a week.
@@geraldfisher6475 If you spread the muscle groups up in the week You can make sure they all recover even if you're training 7 days a week. The one rest day is more to let your nervous system rest and to absorb more calories. So you could have your push pull legs but on Sunday maybe do a bit of cardio or forearms just to keep you active. It's just about programming well.
Biggest mistake I made was focusing on exercise that everyone else did, not what worked for me. I’ve changed my routine to what works for me and I see much better gains than I did previously.
Jack Pinzone takes time. For example I hate bench press because I workout by myself and I always get wrist pain due to the angle. But I found out I much prefer Dumbell bench press as the wrist angle works for me and I can go further down and bail pretty easily if the weight is too much. I also prefer preacher curls over standing Dumbell curls because I can focus the tension on the bicep more doing preacher curls and it’s harder to cheat the weight up
This was the video I needed right now Will, I’ve hit a plateau in my muscle gains and you made me realize why it’s happened, it’s from being obsessed with staying lean! I would never eat enough to stave off getting fluffy, I know your channel is a lot about weight loss, but I’d love more videos dedicated to us hardgainers too!
@@Dan-fz4zv i’m slim fat, meaning I look skinny but boy do I have a belly. I’m 22 177cm and 72kgs with 20% body fat and I eat only 1800 cals a day to build muscle and lose weight. I train hard but I feel like my progress is slow because of this deficit. Oh and I eat 1g of protein per 1lb of bodyweight. Should I up my calories?
@@Dan-fz4zv i always keep hearing that I should add more calories but as far as my understanding goes, isn’t protein the only thing you need to build and repair the muscle? I want to give adding more calories a try but I’m afraid I gain more fat
When I started working out, my two main mistakes were lack of sleep and not eating enough (not being in a caloric surplus). I always thought I was eating enough and was disappointed because my weight stagnated. Then I got my first diet plan created (I think it was on nextleveldiet iirc). I realised that my previous food intake was way below my needs, although I thought I'm good. At the beginning it was hard to eat 3500 kcal in a day, but I got used to it. I started noticing real gains and it felt amazing. I wish I'd understood the importance of diet earlier.
@@MultiStar84 That depends on what would you usually eat. I had the same problem as him, and I ate what I thought was a lot, but I'm used to eating fairly healthy. Never put sugar anywhere, I don't like soda, don't like a lot ot sauce on my food and I don't eat anything like candy or cookies or cakes. I just got my first meal plan too and holy shit is it hard to eat all of that, I sometimes skip 1 of the meals, and It's only 2200-2400kcal a day, I'll need to up it to abour 2800-3000kcal in a couple months, I just hope that my body will get used to it and it'll get easier.
I just started trying to gain muscle about a month ago and through watching your videos I feel like my form and basic information about nutrition is like someone that’s been doing in for 3 months. That may sound slim to a lot, but I’ve been able to avoid so many bad habits starting off. Thanks!!
The biggest mistake I made when training to gain muscle was thinking when lifts got hard that meant it was time to end the set. Now I’ve learned pushing past when things get hard is when gains are made. I always try to get to failure now and that has made the biggest difference.
Have a friend who does this, been telling him for years tgat he needs to go harder. After 6 years consistent still cant bench pass 165lbs. Im a on and off lifter and bench near double he does. Still won't listen to me lol
Well you don't have to go to failure to gain muscle. Its even better to stay a bit away of failure until the end of your mesocycle. You proberly were training at a 5/6 RIR and then you don't gain a lot of muscle
Failure isnt the smartest actually especially for people that aren't advanced. If you are a beginner/intermediate you are much better off sticking to rpe 7-9 ( 3 to 1 reps until failure ) depending on the lifts. Failure most of the time means that you will need to deload way sooner than you should have.
That last question was pretty spot on for me. I'm 5'6, 160~ or so, and i thought i was small/weak/whatever. Biggest issue I had was comparing powerlifting numbers to people heavier, older, and on gear. looked back at my age group, weight class, and IPF, and still found higher numbers but i felt a lot less alien to it. Plus, I started examining my physique a little closer and honestly considering i used to be 25 pounds lighter and not as lean, I've come a long way. Gainz take time, and I'm not even 20 yet. Not saying that I can't improve now, but I can count on time to give me more tools to improve. Thanks, Will, found you a few days ago and now I'm binging! great content, and great jokes
@@ricebum8808I am at the opposite side; I am 27, feeling like I missed out massively on the opportunity for a massive physique and healthiness at my age now. But I have started again, and have been going now since April 1st! Very proud of myself and now I can envision myself in a couple of years, or 5, or 10, and so on. I think that was what I had lacked in the past, a vision. Props to you, Krossxeye660, for already starting the journey so early!
My biggest muscle building mistake was that I thought that in 5 months or less I was gonna see huge results, and that was disappointing. But now I know it’s a slow journey but I like it.
Hey Will, I’ve been watching your videos for about a year and a half now and I just wanted to say how much you’ve impacted my life. I’m 15 and when I started watching your videos I was just getting into working out and since then you have inspired me so much and now Im very happy with the body I always wanted thanks to you. I have never missed a single video and I wish you all the best.
Biggest game changer is tracking your lifts each and every workout! Also having a deload week every month helps massively as it’s impossible to see crazy gains in weight and reps every workout so having a deload week focusing on form and really feeling the muscle has helped me dramatically:)
That such good advice, plus as you drop to a lower weight you can do more reps which helps your muscles look nice a lean, while going heavy will help you pack on that mass. How often do you personally incorporate a deload week?
"Ate big to get big" was my supposed saving grace as a hard gainer. I then realized (after cutting down my bodyfat) that the 50lbs i gained from 140-190 was most definitely not all muscle 😂. Focusing on progression in the gym instead of progression on the scale is the way to go.
The biggest mistakes I made where: Not sleeping enough (Student life sucks) Being dehydrated. I thought that by drinking a lot of water while I trained meant I was hydrated enough, even though the last cup of water I drank was hours before the gym.
@@javiergarza4596 You brush your teeth everyday right? Only a few minutes but your prioritize that time to get it done right? Make training the same. 5-6 times per week for a 45 minute session, or 2-3 times a week, 2-3 hours at a time. If you make training a priority it will come above other BS.
@@rmobnation9395 having a job from 8am-3pm and college from 4pm-9pm, and that's not counting the homework that I have to do, so yeah I don't have that much time to sleep. But I'll still be grinding
“That bacon is so good it’s not just raising my cholesterol” 😂 where do you get these bangers from 🐐 solid vid as always Will. Entertaining af with all of the value still in there 👏🏼
Hi! Will the video's so damn great full of knowledge that people should know. I am bit older in these things so we suffered for long and now a days people have access to great contents like this.
Tons of mistakes I've made over the years, one of the most recent lessons I've come to accept is the importance of cardio when bulking. Most advice in past led me to believe to do less activity when trying to gain size because its counterproductive. On my current bulk, I've made progress thanks to keeping my cardio (run/bike/swim/power walking) intensity high and time intervals close to the same as my baseline weight. At 15lbs heavier, my legs have benefited the most but I think my heart efficiency has gotten better. Will be interesting to see my performance when I run my next cut of 10lb over 12wks [hopefully keeping the muscle I've added].
@@kevinhedman2314 not just the heart, imagine having s*x and breathing like you've run 100 miles cos the blood flow is not adequate to the muscles due to skipping cardio
Great tips! Also, the way the video flows and feels is amazing. Will's progression of video and speaking quality continues to raise to higher standards.
Sleep is such an under rated part of muscle building. I spent 5 years working 2 jobs, one night shift and one on-call, slept maybe 6 hours per day and almost never consecutive, usually just a couple 2 or 3 hour "sleeps" scattered in when I had time and then sleeping 12-14 hours on my occasional day off. Couldn't gain muscle for the life of me. In the last year of sleeping properly I've made about as much progress as I made in my first 5 years.
Too much volume was kind of something I was obsessed with before, and not enough of a focus on progressive overload. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but when I pulled back on volume a lot, and just focused on getting stronger every workout, things improved really quickly.
Is volume when ur doing a lot of reps?and is prog overload when ur arms or whatever part ur working on says “fuuuuck that’s enough we can’t do one more” lol
@@moonknight4053 Yeah something like that ahahahah!! I make sure that each workout now, I either have improvements on how many reps I can do, or I increase the weight; it's never just the same weight and numbers as the last session.
@@sniffingdogartofficial7257 Thanks mate, I think if the body part is saying I can’t do more after you done ur reps it is a indicator of stopping and muscle growth. I don’t know how much I should do when I am lifting tbh
I think one of the hardest things is trusting the process. A lot of skinny guys who got into working out (like me) wanted to get big as fast as possible, so they will go all out, eat like absolute crap, and in huge quantities. Yes you will get bigger, but you feel like crap and then eventually lose motivation because you have gained so much body fat. That is why adding maybe 300- 400 calories to your maintenance will gradually help you gain muscle and weight, and help you stay in good shape while doing it! You just have to stay consistent and be patient.
Love it. You are probably one of the most realistic fitness influencers out there. Your physique is obtainable for most with consistency and your take on food is key to long term health
For the algorithm. You know is Sunday with another will Tennyson at 10 am epic video banger 👀👍👀🔥 where the intros are 😁🤔🤣 & the videos are interesting amd entertaining and sometimes informative. Watching all the way from the Caribbean. How are ya will?
My biggest mistake was after a few years of making great results, I started to get WAAAAY into the science side of things and would start ditching routines for another that is "more optimal", then do it again, then again... basically I wasn't being consistent even though I was hitting the gym regularly. I just couldn't stay within a consistent routine to make progress. I had to get out of my head and back to the basics and stick to a routine long enough to see the results from it. I do love that you went over not eating enough calories. While I am someone who, if my diet went unchecked, would be an absolute obese fat mess because I can easily slam 10k+ calories a day and still eat some cheesecake before bed... my wife is the COMPLETE opposite. She struggles to eat calories and I had to find creative ways to help her get in quality calories that wouldn't destroy her appetite... and she wasn't trying to gain muscle... she wanted to lose some fat, but wasn't eating enough. I remember when I first had her track all her food throughout the day, she was getting like 1000 calories/day and almost exclusively from carbs and fat and barely any protein. It took a while to turn her diet around and for her to get used to eating higher calories and more protein. She didn't believe me that she had to eat more to lose fat until she started seeing results.
Bro your content has really been outstanding and you just keep getting on better with it. Glad I found you 8 months ago cuz just following you and actually implementing the tips you give out in every video, I've seen huge improvements to my body. so Reason #13: you're not following Will Tennyson. Keep up the good work brother!
Point 12 on perspective really hits home, everyone around me keeps saying that I look big and have plenty enough muscle already, but to me I'm not completely satisfied, strength and size wise. Of course I'm happy with what I've reached so far, especially when I compare myself to my younger self. But I'm not where I wanna be yet
Biggest mistake for me was trying to do more weight on squat when I couldn’t do it. Ended up hurting my ankle, and subsequently not training legs because of it. Now they’re about a year behind the rest of my body!
I really started to build muscle when I tracked my lifts and worked to a plan. Having structured week on week progression and being able to identify where I was advancing and where I was sticking was crucial to all of my lifts absolutely blowing up.
Been there, used to smash PRs left and right when I was younger but still looking like a "non lifter". I've been doing sets of heavy 5-8 reps (compound lifts only). Now switching my training routine to 8-12 adding isolations and looking better. Body building is definitely harder than power lifting.
My biggest mistake was not understanding what I was eating, skipping the gym for 2 years, and making excuses. The pain, the process of working out wasn’t a issue, it was the thought of being judged and having a lot of mental hurdles when really I could’ve gotten over them with a much clearer head with have coming to the gym in the first place. Remember put yourself first, you got this! It’s a process you are loved and get out of that head of yours, pick up some weights and you’ll start to love yourself and then others around you. Ps: don’t make excuses, there’s a lot you can do at home. Effort effort effort and relax
I see that all the time, for a lot of people they lift to "compete" with someone to prove their the "biggest and strongest" even though they're not, but they completely destroy themselves lifting in someone else's shadow rather than for self improvement, it's why I workout by myself with no distractions, the only person who holds me back or motivates me would be myself, I'll never be the biggest or strongest in the world, but I can be bigger and stronger than I was yesterday, good video Will
Hard gainer myself here. I've been on and off with the gym for years never really sticking to it. Lately though I've been really pushing myself hard in the gym and I've been cooking my own meals and it is thanks to videos like yours that keep me goin man. That bit you said at the end was very good to hear so thanks for all the good videos.
This may sound counterintuitive but the less I worried about counting calories and my weight on the scale and just ate what I wanted and worked out for the fun of it, the better results I got.. perhaps the decrease in cortisol from stress?
I mean I went from stressing about being lean by tracking every thing and over stressing on everything I ate, to now just eating according to hunger and still staying lean, making progress. I am no longer starving , thinking this extra bite will make me fat.
I get quite stressed tbh while tryna diet, like yo I look like a anxious person going thru a self service machine. How much protein would a 6 ft, 75 kilo man need?
My first year or two I was: A) not consistent for more than a couple months at a time (injuries) B) had a hard time eating C) too much volume (3+ hours in gym) But I’m at 150lbs whereas I started at 120lbs!! Don’t lose hope boys, even if you’re not hitting every area 100%, you will still make progress!!!
That's a huge gain, man! Congrats and props to you. I am 6 months into my first year (: started April 1st! Weighed 173 when I started, and now 187. Buuut, I've been dirty bulking like crazy LOL. Actually, it's just my normal diet 🤷♂ -- eating a pizza a day (homemade), 4 cans of soda, 4 cups of whole milk split between two protein shakes (22g scoops). The only thing that I have positively changed in my diet is drinking lots of water!
I’d say not tracking my workouts is my biggest mistake. I used to decide the weight on exercises based on how I feel that day, which gave me so much room to be lazy. Now that I keep track on my main compounds, I have a metric to keep myself accountable to at least meet what I hit last week. Definitely nowhere near where I want to be but step by step I’ll get there
Not focusing enough on the mind-muscle connection. Honestly, I just followed the exercise selection of my idols and assumed that just going through the motions and doing the same movements would get me the same results. Got a rude awakening. Making the best gains of my life now focusing on controlled reps, feeling the muscle and improving the pump whilst also taking sets significantly close to mechanical failure.
I call for a petition to have a book made including all the gem jokes and fitness related tips that Will has given us in his 231 videos. That book is going to be freaking epic. My biggest mistakes are not training intensely and not being consistent. I am changing that now. I am working on my weight loss consistently, giving equal importance to both cardio and weight-lifting. It's a slow process, but the journey is inspiring now that I found your videos. They are the only motivation I need, man.
This was a great video! Thanks for always putting out quality content. I learn a ton of new stuff every time I watch your videos. I've been using this entire past year to gain strength (not really caring about aesthetics, just tracking my bench #'s). The results haven't been good, but I want to try what you're talking about with starting/focusing on compound movements versus isolation movements.
I think the number one "WHY?" is simply not enough time. People expect to be jacked in like 6 months. Depending on your starting point and muscle building genetics it will take 3-5 years before you will be considered muscular compared to an average person.
I worked out for 6 months and was “muscular” to the average person, couldnt tell you how many compliments i got from randoms. Now, my gym friends wouldnt notice shit and call me a ramen noodle
It's all about genetic. Fat people are already muscular (developed from carrying all that blubber), so all they really have to do is burn away the fat. That's why I'll always say its easier for a fat person to look jacked than it is for a skinny person that has to build up from nothing.
@@ridhabenammar715 And your statement is a quarter truth because loose skin is exagerated and doesnt happen that much/frequently. It is all about genetics + your age + the speed you are losing the weight (the elasticity of your skin and the ability of your body to ''eat away'' that extra skin). You could weight 270 pounds and lose 85 pounds in 1 year, be jacked with 0 loose skin.
Final Advice its AMAZING, thanks for that, really important thing to know, not just for gym, in all things you are working on in your life, not comparing with others.
Diet (obsession with looking shredded), and sleep. After I finally let go of "looking shredded" and incrementally increased my caloric intake, I found that my performance during workouts improved, and subsequently so did my gains in strength and muscle. Changing my diet was a lot less difficult than letting go of the obsession I had with what my body "should" look like. And sleep is definitely underrated. When finishing school I missed many hours of sleep and found that my performance improved when I finally established a stable sleep schedule.
I think my biggest problem is focusing too much on trying to be shredder when I haven’t even established much muscle at all. I ended up getting rid of my social medias to avoid the gymshark athlete appearance and to try to focus on building a good foundation. Still struggling to get food in, but trying to make it a conscious effort.
Eat big, get your foundation. And then trim down. Basic bulk then cut. You can also go for a slight caloric increase and “maingain” but this takes slower so you must be dedicated
My mistake: doing too much exercise and neglecting recovery. I was going to sleep late and didn’t eat in the mornings. I was doing fullbody 5 times a week as a late beginner / early intermediate. The workouts were 1h30 long and even had super sets. Plus on the side I did yoga (it adds up 😂) and I was running plus swimming twice a week because I wanted to do a sprint triathlon. I had alot of free time back then 😂. I felt like I was amazing because I was doing all this stuff. But I barely progressed in my swims or runs and after 5 months more or less I was regressing at the gym. By the end I was skipping workouts and quite demotivated + tired.
@@sonnyv.3947 The main change I did is that I do the minimal possible volume that still allows me to see some progress. I want to basically do everything like get bigger + stronger + flexible and also be endurant enough to do triathlons or maybe even an iron man in 1 year. So I know my progress isn’t as fast as it could be and in the long run I won’t be able tk be exceptional at any discipline unless i sacrifice a vit if the ithers. But I don’t want that. I would rather be a jack if all trades master of none. My training now is 4 days upper lower and the sessions are no longer than 1h or 5 exercises. Two running and swimming sessions a week. And biking or yoga or some extra easy runs here and there when I can. And the way I train for my upper lower sessions is very similar to how Alec Enkiri structured his sample micro cycle in his “conjuguish method” or “hybrid athlete program” videos. So if you don’t watch Alec Enkiri I think he’s really worth your time and deserves alot more subscribers than what he has now.
My biggest muscle building mistake is either not sticking to the same exercises and building them up or progressive overloading more than I should causing my form and reps to be comprised to a point where the form got bad and I had to do 3-4 resets where I reset the weight and build the weight back up
All this advice is literally the opposite of what I've been doing. I'm not a hard gainer, but even in the gym I find switching it up helps my muscles grow. Taking all this with a grain of salt thanks Will for a diff perspective
Wicked video as always. That last section really helped me. I'm currently undergoing tests for arthritis not long after recovering from slipped discs in my back. Had about 2 years of next to no physical activity outside of the day to day norm. My weight managed to get all the way up to 119kg (262lbs) and I felt awful and always in my feelings about it. As soon I was able to get myself back in a gym I did, I've managed to get myself down to 101kg (222lbs) in around 4/5 months doing nothing but weight training and diet adjustments. I still felt this wasn't good enough. I constantly compare myself to other fitness influencers and RU-vidrs subconsciously and didn't realise until watching this video. Thank you for the knowledge and opening my eyes. Keep up the good work Will.
My biggest mistake was thinking I was pushing hard. But not until I dropped the weight, lowered my intensity, upped my volume and really focused on that "squeeze" did I begin to notice a difference towards the positive (except for the slowly creeping number on the scale!). It wasn't until I started to actually go to failure on specific training days that I noticed huge progression. The idea for me was to do enough to feel sore, but not too much to not want to exist on this mortal plain anymore
This is pretty unrelated to the video, but I'm a pretty small guy, 5'7" 122 pounds and i started going to the gym around 2 months ago and I love it. When i was making a presentation for one of my classes (In 11th grade btw) I added some stuff about fitness and talking about how I loved it. The teacher audibly laughed when I said that and during class I played it off well, as I'm a pretty confident guy, unlike my old self. Regardless I hate being underestimated or looked down upon and I love being fit and active so this is my written promise to myself and to him that I'm going to get absolutely jacked before I'm out of highschool and show him that I do love the gym and I can do anything that I set my mind to. I love all you guys, keep up the good hard work and wish me luck.💪
My biggest mistake is definitely feeling like I have to keep upping the weight each week rather than looking at perfecting the weight I'm at with form or making the same weight harder instead. So easily done to let ego lifting takeover.
I'm dealing with the same thing and I'm not sure what to do about it I'm still lifting the same weight for over 3 weeks it's not even heavy I just feel so weak any advice?
@@asmaamoses6125 Could always be worth looking at where your diet is at, do you feel like you’re eating enough to be able to progressive overload (I.e. at least to maintenance or a smidge over that). Second, could well be worth doing a deload week to allow things to recover properly, sometimes less is more! Also worth looking at how you’re training, like Will said are you training to near failure every session? Because if so that’s not sustainable in the long term so may be worth trying to leave more in the tank 👌🏼
When I first started training I had a training partner who used to do like 3 hour days in the gym and he was fairly big so I just did what he did but saw like super miniscule gains. I later found out that he was on the sauce.
My biggest mistake was I couldn't afford myself to gain any weight. The reason is my ED I got via crash diet to get six pack. I was overweight all my life before and every single time scales up was like a way back to fatty. It took me about 2 years to believe that I can keep my new form and finally start getting some gains.
Eating disorders suck. For some reason eating a decent volume of food every single day terrifies me so i end up starving myself most days then binge then go back to starving myself again. I havent gained weight by binging but i have basically done zero progress with muscles either. Lately i've been tracking on myfitnesspal and it has actually given me courage to eat more so hopefully i can keep it up
Super valuable content. I am starting my first ever bulk and my coach told me not to be scared of gaining some weight and even some fat, it's important to eat enough (quality) calories to push it at the gym and build muscle. As a woman it's harder for me to accept that my body will be bigger... Society has really fuck*d up my brain. But I'm so excited for the months to come and the results I will see!
