When clients struggle to build muscle, our first instinct is often to look at their nutrition strategy – protein intake, energy availability, timing, consistency. And while these are critical foundations, we’ve all worked with clients who tick those boxes… and still don’t progress.

That’s because muscle growth doesn’t just live in macros and meal plans. It lives in context – the person’s life, stress load, recovery, hormonal state, mindset, environment, and consistency. This is where we, as nutrition professionals, need to look beyond the intake and explore the conditions around it.

Meeting the Client Where They Are

We can design the most accurate, evidence-based meal plan – perfectly aligned with their protein needs, energy availability, and training goals, but a plan that works on paper doesn’t always work in real life. If the client isn’t in the right physical, psychological, or environmental state to apply it – or adapt from it – progress won’t happen.

Before asking “Are they following the plan?”, we might instead ask:

• Is this plan realistic for their current life capacity?
• Are stress, fatigue, or recovery barriers preventing progress?
• Do they have the time, energy, or resources to apply it consistently?
• Are expectations aligned with what their current environment allows?

Screening Beyond Food

Typical screening captures dietary history, intake patterns, supplement use, and training load. These are all vital, but they don’t always explain why progress isn’t happening.

To understand whether a client is in an anabolic, adaptive state, we also need to explore the body’s readiness to respond.

From Prescription to Interpretation

Our role is not to fix every barrier, nor to step into every discipline, and it’s certainly not to have all the answers. Instead, it’s about recognising when nutrition is only one part of the picture, and when a client’s ability to adapt, recover, or progress may be influenced by factors beyond food.

Rather than simply prescribing, we help interpret and integrate. We explore what might be limiting progress – whether it’s recovery, stress, sleep, consistency, or timing and, where relevant, we help connect the dots through collaboration or referral.

Often it’s not about giving clients more information, but helping them make sense of where they are, what their body is ready for, and what conditions need to be in place for change to actually happen.

Want to Explore This Further?

In our recent Compeat Academy Live session – Not Just Nutrition: Muscle Growth Beyond the Plate we unpacked how to support clients who “eat well” but still struggle to progress.

We explored how to:

• Break down the key non-nutrition factors that influence muscle growth
• Collaborate effectively across disciplines to support adaptation and recovery
• Frame these conversations with clients to build clarity, trust, and adherence

Sometimes, it’s not about changing the nutrition plan — it’s about understanding whether the conditions allow it to work.