Why You Aren't Getting Stronger or building Muscle_part 3

WHY YOU AREN’T GETTING STRONGER OR BUILDING MUSCLE

(Part 3- Workout Mistakes)

There are a lot of workout programs and routines out there. Magazines, the internet, books and endless suggestions from your friends, relatives and complete strangers flood you with programs. Unfortunately most won’t fit your goal or situation.  Programs that work for pro’s and intermediates may not work for beginners (at least not for very long) and vice versa. A workout that works for someone else may not be for you.

Learn the basics and stick to them but learn to adjust as you go.

Make Sure Your Program fits Your Goals

Different goals require different workouts. Sets, reps, weight, rest periods and frequency are very different for strength gains than for muscle gains or stamina. And it can be very hard to chase two goals at the same time. Often you end up failing at both. Find a program that matches your goals, your body type, your schedule and works best for you. Not someone else.

Read "Seven Individuals Not to Rely On for Fitness Advice"

You’re doing the wrong exercises

 Usually, the lifter is either doing too many isolation exercises and not enough compounds, or only doing exercises they “like”.

Big compound movements recruit the most muscle fibers and place the most stress on the body. You’re not going to get bigger or stronger without them. Want bigger arms? Do dead lifts and squats.

 You have a muscular “system” and a nervous “system” and a endocrine (hormones) “system”. Not a bicep system and a quads system. Compound movements work the whole system.

Make sure these exercises are in your routine. Then add isolation exercises.

1.     Dead lift

2.     Wide grip pull up

3.     Chin up

4.     Rows

5.     Bench press

6.     Dips

7.     Shoulder press

You’re doing the Right Exercises but Doing Them with Poor Technique

Bad technique leads to muscle imbalances, ineffective workouts and, very often, injury.

Good form is paramount. Practice good form first, especially on the compound lifts, and then add weight.  If you move a higher weight by cheating on the movement you’re just fooling yourself and stroking your ego. You will fail. Besides that, you look foolish.

You’ve been doing the same Workout too long

When you find a program that works stick with….until it doesn’t.

Your body adapts very quickly and eventually you will hit a plateau. The body needs new and/or different stimulus to continue to grow stronger. At about 4 weeks (for most people) you’ll start to see some slow down in progress. Usually a few tweeks to your present program will get you over those. See some examples HERE

At around 10-12 weeks most people will need to make major changes to their programming to fight the “Adaptive Response” and spur additional gains.

You’re Not Focused on “Progression”

Progression simply means continuously increasing the stress on the body so that the body continuously adapts by getting stronger or bigger or both.

Progression is what makes the whole fitness thing work. Without progression you won’t grow bigger, or stronger, or faster or more athletic. Progression is what tells your body “you have to improve to adapt to this new stimulus”.

Try to progress in some manner every week; more weight, more reps, more time under tension, a different range of motion, a different exercise. If you don’t you’ll quickly stagnate.

It sounds silly but the fact is without progression you will not progress! Is that so hard to understand?

Your Workout is Too Long

If you workout runs more than 60 to 75 minuets you may be exceeding your body's ability to maintain the necessary intensity and/or the body's ability to recover properly.

At 60 minutes or so you testosterone(muscle building hormone) level starts to drop and Cortisol(muscle breakdown) hormone increases. When cortisol  level exceeds testosterone level you start breaking down muscle. In addition, your glycogen  level can drop rapidly causing fatigue, loss of mental focus and a rapid drop in energy. In short, you lose the ability to maintain the intensity needed.

Or you are simply wasting too much time between sets and exercises.  You're just going through the motions and accomplishing nothing. To put it in simple terms, “Half-Assery”

Read "More Exercise Is Not Always Better"

Get your nutrition right, then your recovery and you’re 90% closer to growth in size or strength or fat loss. Then the workout.

Miss any of those pieces and it will be slow going.

Questions or comments? Use the comment section below or email me at alphaedgefitness@gmail.com