Pay Attention! There's Going to be a Test and You've Been Warned.

PAY ATTENTION!

THERE’S GOINIG TO BE A TEST.

AND YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

No, I’m not going to give you a test. The test is going to come in a few weeks when, after working your butt off and watching you’re nutrition, you haven’t gained any muscle. You look the same and there’s no new muscle to increase your metabolism to help you shed fat.

Then you start with the excuses. It must be my genetics. I’m too old to build muscle, blah, blah, blah….

I see it almost every day. Men and women who are trying to shed fat or improve their physique doing the wrong things at the wrong time and wondering why the results don’t seem to match the effort.

Very often it’s because they are lifting too heavy for their goals. If you want to be a power lifter or a strength competitor lift heavy every day. If the goal is just move the most weight possible that’s what you practice. But if you are trying to re-composition you body you have to leave your ego at the door.

I like lifting heavy (though I’m a long way from being a power lifter). And I do it on a regular basis. You need to. Just not all the time if you are trying to add muscle mass. Training heavy just doesn’t do a lot if you are trying to change the way you look. Go back and read http://www.alphaedgefitness.com/2016/02/why-we-use-different-setrep-ranges_3.html

Building muscle is about time under tension. (TUT) It’s about volume (weight x reps x sets) and good form and concentrating on the exact muscle you’re trying to coax into growth.You simply cannot feel the muscle contract and maintain good form if you’re using too much weight. And you’re not going to be able do enough volume for growth if are struggling with too much weight.

Your body is going to protect itself and call upon whatever auxiliary muscles and joints necessary to do so. As a simple example, if you’re doing benches for your chest and lifting too heavy you triceps and anterior deltoids are going kick in to help. That takes the mechanical stress of the pecs and spreads it around. As a result, your pecs (the muscles you are trying to stress) aren’t going to get the mechanical stress they need to grow.

Right weight, slow tempo, mind-muscle connection, good form and enough volume to trigger muscle growth. That’s how you add muscle.