It's your muscle building coach Lee Hayward and I hope you're having an awesome day :-)
In this e-mail we're going to finish off our Muscle Building Short-Cuts e-mail series with the 5th part of the most common workout "Short-Cuts".
In each of these e-mails we've been picking apart different training approaches to building muscle to see if they really work, or if there is a better plan
of action.
Enjoy part 5 of 5...Muscle Building Shortcut # 5 – High Intensity Techniques
A lot of bodybuilding enthusiasts think that the key to making faster gains in the gym is to simply work harder. So they increase the intensity of their workouts with various advanced training techniques such as forced reps, super sets, drop sets, and so on...
The idea is that the harder you push yourself, the better gains you’ll make. Now while there is some truth to this, there is a limit to what the body can take and how much stress it can recover from.
Is pushing past the point of muscular failure really necessary?
Is there a better way?
One of my favorite training motto's is "Stimulate, Don’t Annihilate!"
I first heard this from former Mr. Olympia Lee Haney. It basically means that you only need to train your body hard enough to stimulate muscle growth, and no more. You aren't going to get further ahead by destroying your muscles in the gym by over using high intensity training techniques.
For the average drug free lifter, using advanced training techniques and
pushing yourself beyond failure will quickly lead to burnout,
overtraining, and possibly a serious injury.
A very common scenario that you can witness pretty much any day of the
week in the gym is to see a couple of eager young lifters doing bench
presses with WAAAYYY too much weight on the bar. One guy will be getting
ready to bench while his trusty spotter is standing by ready to offer assistance.
After getting psyched up the lifter plops down on the bench
and takes the bar from the rack, he manages to struggle up 2-3 reps
using every ounce of effort his body can muster. Then
he gets his spotter to assist him with an addition 3-5 reps.
At the end of the set you have to wonder who worked harder, the guy benching or his spotter pulling the bar off his chest...?
This is a prime example of abusing high intensity training techniques. Once you
reach muscular failure with an exercise you have stimulated the muscle. Doing
more than this is overkill. Not only is it a waste of time, but it could potentially
set you back in your training by greatly increasing your risk of injury.
Doing your sets to positive muscular failure is intense
enough to stimulate your muscles to grow. Once you get to the point where you can't compete another repetition by yourself with good form, end the set. There is no point it pushing yourself beyond failure.
The key to making progress in your workouts is being consistent over the long term and training with progressive overload. After each workout make note of your lifts in your workout training journal. Then next time you do that same workout strive to improve upon your your previous performance, either adding an additional 5 pounds to the bar or performing an extra rep with the same weight.
Making small improvements like this over the long term will yield much better results than trying to do too much in a single workout.
The Real Shortcut To Fast Muscle Growth...
Gains in muscle and strength don't come overnight. They take consistency
over the long haul. By taking things at a slower more manageable pace and making
small frequent improvements week after week with your workouts your
muscle size and strength will increase at a steady rate, without having to go to extremes to get there.
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Note: if you would like
help with planning out your workouts, than you should
check out the Total Fitness Bodybuilding Workout Of The Month program here.
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