Are you hitting the gym regularly but still falling short on your gainz? Are you eating clean but somehow the scale refuses to budge? You may be putting in the work and eating better, but there are some important variables you may be overlooking that will make a big difference in transforming your body. Here are some common mistakes that may be holding you back.

8. You're not drinking enough water.

Humans can only survive three days without water. Even a mild state of dehydration negatively affects most body functions. Water is necessary for proper organ function, detoxification, muscle hydration, and fat burning. Your hydration level has a tremendous effect on how well you can train and recover.

Many factors affect your hydration level such as heat exposure, activity level, sodium intake, and stress. To know how much water you should be drinking on a regular basis, take your bodyweight in pounds and cut that in half. Drink that number of ounces per day. For example, someone that weighs 200lbs should be drinking about 100oz of water daily to function optimally.

7. You're not eating enough protein.

Protein is not a hype. It's quite literally what we are made of. Every tissue in the body is made up of proteins. Your immune system is made of proteins. Neurotransmitters are made of proteins. Hormones are made of proteins. The list goes on and on, so there is really no disputing that protein is essential. For the task of making gainz and transforming our bodies, protein is our main tool. A higher ratio of muscle to body-fat is the typical goal. The building blocks of muscle are amino acids, which come from proteins.

So how much should you eat? For a novice trainee who doesn't have a lot of meat on his body yet, 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight should be enough to provide the raw material for growth. The more muscle you have, the more protein it takes to maintain that balance, and if you're looking to gain more mass, you would aim for about 1.5-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.

6. Poor exercise selection.

This is a problem especially for those who choose to work out in commercial gyms chock full of one-dimensional isolation machines. When it comes to stimulating muscle, you must choose the best “bang-for-your-buck” exercises. Simply put, choose the exercises that either move your body through space or allow you to move the most weight. These tend to be multi-joint, compound exercises such as the squat, deadlift, pushups, pullups and so on. Do you think you can overload your triceps more by doing skull-crushers or bodyweight dips? The skull-crushers will isolate the triceps, true. But you will move more total weight doing dips and you will use more muscle which leads to a significant increase in anabolic hormones. These are the hormones that make you feel great, add muscle to your frame, and tell your body to burn fat for fuel.

5. You use the same exercises constantly.

Humans are complex beings who thrive in complex environments. Our brains thrive on new and varied stimulus, and the body is the same. You can't expect to illicit change or adaptation by going through a cookie-cutter routine of bicep curls, bench press, and crunches for months on end. The body needs variety of motion and variety of intensity. Change up your routine every 4 weeks, if not more often, and don't be fooled into thinking you need machines to get a good workout. Start learning how to use your body. Learn how to crawl to train your core. Learn how to pistol squat. Start training for handstands. The sky is the limit and your body will respond quickly to new training techniques.

4. You're training each muscle once a week.

This seems to be a common issue for trainees that get their workouts from bodybuilding magazines. The most successful bodybuilders typically have over a decade of training under their belt, and they probably did not begin their training using the high-volume routines they're using at their peak. They have developed a monster work capacity over the years of consistent training. Now the only way they can see an adaptation is by hammering each muscle individually with high-volume.

If you're a beginner or intermediate level trainee, it's more likely you need FREQUENCY to see changes in your body. Your muscles will develop steadily if you give them frequent challenges. Your body needs to see that this is not a one time thing, this is a constant battle to which it needs to adapt! This means, if you're a beginner, you will probably do well training your entire body three times per week. Three full-body workouts still leaves two days to work on your weak points, cardio, mobility, or skills. If you've been training for a year or more, you should be able to handle more weight and more sets in a workout therefore you could train each muscle only two times per week.

3. You're not moving enough weight.

To make the body transform, you have to provide stimulus. To provide stimulus to the body, you must provide a CHALLENGE. If you lift a weight ten times with no noticeable effort, it's too light! The weight you use should require you to stay mentally engaged and keep your muscles tense in order to move the weight safely. There should be sweat, labored breathing, and maybe even some muscular discomfort when you're truly challenging yourself. This challenge should be ever-evolving throughout your training program. The weights should always increase over time as your strength increases.

2. Not enough sleep.

Sleep is where the magic happens. All the stress you've put on your body during training and all the building blocks you've provided with some carefully planned nutrition can be put to use as sleep processes heal and restore the body. This is the time when the majority of anabolic hormones do their work to build muscle and burn fat. If you're missing out on sleep (time or depth), you're missing out on gainz. Aim for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in a cool, pitch black room.

1. You're not present.

If you really want results, you have to SHOW UP. I don't mean you make it through the workout, I mean your mental presence throughout the workout. Call it mindfulness, ruthless focus, mind-muscle connection, whatever. You have to go into each workout with the intention of making progress and truly give it your all. If you're checking your smart-phone or chatting it up with your buddies, you're probably not focused on making improvements. To get the best workouts, you need to stay “in the zone”, feel the muscle contractions on every rep, and be sure you're doing more quality work than you did last time.

It's easy to make fitness a routine and fall into the rut of mindless sets and reps. You may feel accomplished because you make it to the gym 3 times a week, but the goal should be getting results. If you're not seeing the changes you're looking for, maybe it's time to make some changes. It's not easy to transform the body, but with a few adjustments you can get the most out of your program. You simply have to find out what works for you, and what doesn't.