Passing a Plateau techniques!

[LadiesLoveMe]

For the ones that work hard at the gym and are hard gainers like me, WE know how difficult it is to add muscle mass to our frames, at least naturally for me it is almost impossible to add even 5 pounds of weight per year.

We all read the magazines headlines and front pages with outrageous claims of people gaining 20lbs in 8 weeks and more propaganda then you would read on the Bush newsletters. I am going to enlighteng some tricks that hopefully CAN help you surpass your plateau.

Before I continue, I want to put fourth A key point to this write up, and that is:
Magazines can claim that anybody can put on 20lbs in 8 weeks, and or went from the (masterly peace of work) "The Before and The After" shots. Let's get real here for a second. Byuiing a magazine is NOT going to help your goal. Reading actual books on dieting and circuit training is what is going to give you a real sportsmans point of view. I always found the Arnold Encyclopedia very helpful to me and to my training.

NOW, In order to add muscle, you must first FORCE your body to add it. Your body won't simply add muscle to your frame just because it decided that you are special. And certainly NOT because you read it from a fansy magazine.

The body will not build if it is not exposed to stimulus. We know that promoting growth can only be achieved through subjecting the body to streanous movements. I will run through a few soon, but all I am saying is that if you just sit there, you will most likely not gaing muscle size, whereas by forcing muscles to lift weights, you then clearly stimulate it to grow.

1-resistance training can provide growth
2-repetitions is an important element in this process
3-performance of sets, in other words, repetitions again

Now for the more advanced methods:

1. Pre-exhaust (perform an isolation exercise first and immediately continue with no rest on a compound movement. ex. chest flye and then chest press)

2. Static holds (hold the resistance in the hardest position of the range of motion. ex. the top position during a leg extension)

3. Partial reps in weak range (perform a portion of the rep where you are weakest. ex. the top half of a rep of leg extensions)

4. Strip-set (after a warm-up set, perform 3 sets back to back with no rest while starting with the heaviest weight possible and each time strip off some weight to allow you to continue)

5. 1 ˝ reps (perform one full rep and then on the second rep only perform half the normal range of motion and then return to starting position to begin the next rep. ex. one full rep of lat pulldowns, pull second rep all the way down, resist weight back up but only half way and then pull back down)

The most important thing to remember her is that repetition is a key element and in combination with progressiveness, then the body will assimilate growth. it is not hard to understand IMO

If your goal is to tighten and tone muscles:

- Focus on increasing reps, decreasing rest, and changing exercises frequently
- Train each muscle group twice per week
- Perform fewer sets of many different exercises (1-2 sets per exercise)

If your goal is to increase strength and power:

- Focus on increasing weight
- Train each muscle group once every 7-10 days
- Perform multiple sets of each exercise (2-5 sets per exercise)

If your goal is to increase muscle size:

- Focus on shocking muscles by changing variables frequently (exercises, set and rep schemes, rest time, etc)
- Train each muscle group on a variable schedule (experiment by training a muscle group 3 times a week and then once every ten days)
- Perform multiple sets for a while and the perform single sets for a week or two.

Keep in mind that when it comes to training there are various variations of what works for some maybe useless to others.
Consistency, tenatiousness and a passion to the sport are the VERY least elements that you and I posses and are our drive into the never-ending challenge of "sculpting the perfect body

[$AJ]

want to know a simpler way - eat more

food.....best anabolic agent ever.

[LadiesLoveMe]

want to know a simpler way - eat more

food.....best anabolic agent ever.

That may help, but the fact is if your body becomes accustom to a given stimuli then you can eat till the cows come home and not put on a pound (of muscle)

[JustBrowsin]

ive read that scaling back your workouts in a periodized fashion can break strength plateaus. like if you bench 250 for 5 and hit a plateau there you drop down, say to 230 and hit it like this:

wk 1: 230x5
wk 2: 235x5
wk 3: 240x5
wk 4: 245x5
wk 5: 250x5
wk 6: 255x5 --broken plateau

ive never tried this yet, anybody that has?

[SchwarzeN!GGER]

Tighten and tone, huh?

[armz_ha]

go even heavier...