Starting is always the hardest part of developing any new fitness routine. With strength training, you must learn new movements, figure out an appropriate schedule, strategise diet and lifestyle for the best outcome and most difficult, push past lack of motivation and use discipline to create this new habit. It’s a lot of mental and physical work. After a few months of trial and error, a consistent and sustainable regimen will lead to some quality newbie gains. This is extremely encouraging and the only option is to continue on this path. Making no changes in the gym or the kitchen but eventually the muscle growth stops?!
To honestly sum it up, it’s unfair. This is the information constantly being fed to us, as long as we are consistent, we should keep seeing progress. Lack of progress leads to lack of motivation which leads to lack of willpower. Not only will the effort of working out become less and less attractive but it’s likely a ‘what’s the point?’ attitude will develop and along with not making further gains, all previous progress will be undone. It’s important to remember that muscle takes a long time to develop and newbie gains can be slightly misleading as to how quickly you should expect changes. With that being said, there are a few things to be aware of to ensure the best possible outcome in getting that desired shredded look.
The body is amazing at adapting. This is how muscle growth occurs. Muscles must be forced to adapt in order to lift heavier. Repetitive stress on each muscle, causes the tissues to rip and adequate rest in between allows time for the muscle to repair while increasing strength and usually mass in order to be able to lift as heavy again. This is why, with strength training we never work the same body part two days in a row because the rest in between is actually when the growth is occurring. So why has your body stopped adapting? Well here are 3 possible reasons.
1. Lack of progressive overload If you’ve been doing the same routine every week for months but you haven’t seen progress in a long time, the most likely reason is lack of progressive overload. If you are always picking up the same weights or doing the same number of reps, of course your body doesn’t need to continue to adapt. If you are not continuing to challenge your body, it will not need to grow muscle. Progressive overload can be accomplished in many different ways Increased volume Increased reps Increased resistance Increased tempo Increase time Using just one of these gauges at a time while always striving to improve form should most definitely lead to increased strength and muscle after consistent effort.
2. Time under tension Making time to workout is not easy. We all have responsibilities outside of the gym or sometimes working out is seen as a mundane chore. This leads us to trying to race through our workouts or the common thought process that faster is better. With weight lifting and strength training, quality should always come before quantity. Slowing down the pace of your reps and leaving the muscle under tension for longer is the most efficient way to develop strength rather than racing through longer reps. There is a place for both techniques in your weekly routines but never underestimate the power of slowing down. The best thing about this technique is that it doesn’t require any increase in load. Meaning, if you’re at home with a pair of dumbbells and no way of increasing volume, practicing slower reps, using pulsing techniques or holds, will lead to a more effective workout and then sweet gains.
3. Lack of protein Going to the gym is only 20% of the effort required when you’re looking to change your body. The rest is all diet. When looking to build muscle or get fit, people love to disappear into fad diets, intermittent fasting, keto, no fat, paleo, veganism but the only thing you truly need to remember when looking to grow muscle is that protein is king. It is recommended that people looking to build muscle should be eating at least 1 gram of protein per 1 pound of their own weight or desired weight. That’s a lot of protein to keep track of in a day. The body can only properly utilize between 25-40 grams of protein at a time so drinking a few shakes after your workout is not sufficient enough. You should aim to have a decent source of protein (preferably lean) in every meal and even in your snacks for the best shot to grow as much muscle as possible.
Utilizing these techniques should get you back out of that plateau and even if you’re not seeing the development in the mirror, constantly aiming for progressive overload will 100% keep you motivated as you notice physical improvement in ability. If you’re already utilizing these techniques, please stay tuned for part 2!
-Make sure you’re eating enough, you can’t lose weight and build muscle at the same time. – Keep track of all progressive overloads to ensure your consistently increasing resistance is some way. – Do not skip rest days, that’s when the muscle grows!!
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