You are a regular at the gym. You use the necessary supplements to promote muscle growth and you make the extra effort to eat healthy.
Nevertheless, you are unsatisfied with the results you have been seeing or more accurately, not seeing in your physique. This is a common scenario for many people. It is easy to fall into a drab exercise routine in which you go through the motions without putting much thought into how your body is responding to each workout. You do the same exercises with the same resistance because you’re in a comfort zone. You like those exercises because you are good at them. Well, that is a clear sign that it is time to mix up the way you train.
Progressive overload training is one of the best ways to build strength and size no matter what exercise you use. It’s not so much about the actual exercise, but all about how you approach each one. The concept behind this training method is quite simple. You must progressively challenge your muscles in order to see gains. Think of each one of your muscles as having a mind of its own. In school, we progressively become smarter by challenging our minds when learning new material as we move through each grade level. If our teachers were to teach us the same lessons over and over we would never be challenged and in turn, our minds would never grow. So, when you do the same exercises in the gym over and over it’s no wonder why your muscles do not respond.
So the next step is to uncover the techniques needed to challenge your muscle groups.
Increase Resistance – Once you reach a level where you feel less challenged with a particular weight, it’s time to increase. Set a goal for how many reps you want to get out of each set. Once you find you are able to reach more repetitions than your goal number, increase the load.
Increase Sets – You also can ramp up the amount of sets in a particular exercise as a way to shock your muscles. If your comfort zone is 3 sets in an exercise, push it to 4.
Increase Repetitions – Instead of increasing the load, you can increase the amount of repetitions. Push yourself in order to get those extra few reps. Those challenging last reps will tear down your muscle fiber very effectively. Remember to use a spotter when lifting to exhaustion.
Increase Frequency – You can combat stubborn muscle groups by working them more than once in a week. This is a great way to help even out your physique. Although it is very important to listen to your body, do not train a muscle unless you feel it has had ample recovery time.
Increase Exercises – Go for an extra exercise or two on a muscle you feel needs greater improvement. Sometimes those last exercises make a huge difference in forcing your muscles to grow.
Increase Intensity – This method is as much mental as it is physical. Enter the gym with purpose. Hit every repetition with total focus. While you are in the gym, channel all of your efforts towards the task at hand. By doing so, you will see incredible results. Most athletes will tell you, weight training is 90% mental and 10% physical.
Decrease Rest Time – Monitor and then decrease the amount of rest between each set. This will force your body to work harder and eventually adapt to this level of exertion. This will then lead to greater gains in the gym. Read Fitlode’s article on German Volume Training if you are interested in utilizing decreased rest time as a catalyst for muscle growth.
So take advantage of each of the above workout-boosting training techniques. See which methods you like and incorporate them into your routine. Then use the methods you don’t like and use them even more. Chances are those will give you the best results. If you don’t like them, it’s probably because they are challenging. Never be satisfied and never walk out of the gym without feeling as if you pushed yourself to the limits.
Check out Fitlode’s Product Reviews for the Best in High Performance Sports Nutrition.
Protein powders are an excellent way of providing the body with the nutrients it needs to perform well before and after training.
Protein powders are the secret weapon in any serious trainer’s arsenal. Whey protein is a rich source of essential amino acids and is a natural, pure and a high quality protein. Whey protein isolate is the purest form of whey protein and provides high performance nutrition for the body to help with cellular repair, muscular growth, healthy bones, increased energy and metabolic maintenance.
Whether you want to bulk up or lose weight, dietary supplements will help you reach your goals faster, safer and with better results. We review only superior market brands to ensure you’re getting the weight loss management and high performance nutrition advice you need. These brands are backed by scientific research and have shown proven results.
ALLWHEY Tri-Stage Whey Protein Matrix
ALLWHEY’s patented formula NitriCore™ is a new 3-Stage extended protein delivery system that ensures 100% whey protein is extracted to deliver a high-quality source of whey protein per serving. The NitriCore™ delivery technology helps to dramatically increase levels of nitrogen retention in muscle tissue and builds muscle fast.
ALLMAX Nutrition
2 lb
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ISOFEMME Protein Smoothie
As part of the Body Transformation System, ISOFEMME is a sinfully delicious protein smoothie created exclusively for women. It’s a convenient way to increase your dietary protein intake and meal frequency. What more could a woman ask for with just 3.5 g of total carbs, zero added sugar, no estrogenic proteins, virtually zero grams of fat and just 120 calories per serving!
ALLMAX Nutrition
2 lb
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MUSCLE MAXX Protein Shake
This muscle building protein shake combines the goodness of protein to fuel muscle growth and recovery with Omega-3, 6 and 9 essential fatty acids, and a complete spectrum of vitamins and minerals to flood your body with the anabolic nutrients required for explosive gains in lean muscle mass. Recommended for competitive athletes.
ALLMAX Nutrition
1 lb
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R-ALA Antioxidant
For recovery and protection against exercise-induced oxidative stress, R-ALA promotes the uptake of glycogen by optimizing insulin activity and helps speed up the amount of nutrients shuttled to your muscles. R-ALA can be combined with creatine to create a powerful and anabolic compound. R-ALA is also an extremely potent antioxidant, so powerful it is known as the Universal Antioxidant.
ALLMAX Nutrition
60 Capsules
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