The Essentials of Bodypart Specialization: Chest Training
Let’s face it – seeking out the right information can be confusing whether you are a bodybuilder or just an ...
Let’s face it – seeking out the right information can be confusing whether you are a bodybuilder or just an ...
Most hard working bodybuilders, from rank beginner to seasoned pro, will experience some degree of training-related muscle soreness. Whether experienced ...
Of the major neurotransmitters, acetylcholine just might be the most important from a muscle building standpoint. As a major neurotransmitter ...
In the last two installments of this series, we laid out and explained concerns and guidelines for buying fruits, vegetables, ...
One of the most frustrating and damaging metabolic conditions a person can have is insulin resistance. On one end, insulin ...
The ‘BURN’... both masochistically loved and hated at the same time. We’ve all felt it. We’ve all heard varying opinions ...
In the pursuit to naturally increase T-levels, many have turned to testosterone boosters. Today we address their validity, while laying ...
Leucine is the most important of the BCAAs. When it comes to signaling muscle building (protein synthesis), Leucine is King ...
In their eagerness to increase strength and build muscle, most devoted iron trainees will ceaselessly pound down the protein, carbs, ...
First off, congratulations if you understood my pun. Folic acid or Folate is also known as vitamin B9. The name ...
Popularized in the mainstream media & bodybuilding world, how does the G.I of a food actually apply when seeking physique ...
For many of us, carbohydrates seem to be the most important and most debated macronutrient when speaking on building muscle. ...
Imagine an image such as this….
You are in your car heading to the gym to train today. You have just finished your pre-workout cocktail and completed your personal “meditation” to become fully focused on the upcoming task at hand. You have wrapped your head around the visual details that are to be carried out each rep, set, and movement for the workout to come. You imagine having experiences of neurological overload, hyperemia, and physical fatigue.
You finish the workout. In hindsight, you realize the last 70 minutes could have been better. The “pump” wasn’t quite there. There may be a bit of energy left in the tank. You wonder if you did enough sets or if the weight was heavy enough. You question what you are doing. You wonder if the workout will create muscular growth.
Don’t be this guy! Take care of the little things leading up to the workout, within the workout time, and after the workout. Try these four great techniques to validate that your body has no choice but to rebuild and grow!
1. Your Pre-Workout Supplement Sucks!
Peri-workout nutrition is the perhaps nutritionally the most important asset to guaranteeing that you properly set up your body to combat muscle breakdown and muscle rebuild. A peri-workout protocol refers to the nutrients taken pre, during (intra), and post training. Too many times athletes rely on the new and best selling N.O. and then follow up the workout with a large amount of whey protein. This just isn’t going to cut it if you want to build quality muscle in a manageable time. Including a proper peri-workout schedule will be one of the best assets to your training.
Not only will you not have to spend as many hours in the gym, but you will absolutely train with more intensity and greater pumps. Here is an example of proper nutrient timing for a peri-workout protocol:
90 minutes pre workout: Eat a well balanced meal (fat and protein dominant)
30 minutes pre workout: Coconut oil, Essential Aminos, Coffee or Caffeine
Intra workout: Drink mixed supplemental carb and BCAA with 1 liter of water
Post Workout: Repeat above
60 minutes post-workout: Whey Protein Isolate and a carb dominant meal
Please note: Macro nutrients measurements will vary from person to person depending on body type, current settings, and fitness goals.
2. Keep The Tension!
It’s true that there are too many individuals who have sloppy technique. The biggest problem in the training world is that beginner’s, and even those more advanced trainees, constantly compare themselves to elite athletes (in this case, world class bodybuilders). What seems to be forgotten is that these men or women do have genetic advantages. And, that is not an excuse; it’s a fact.
Some athletes have the physiological ability to put on large amounts of muscle no matter the form or technique. Most of us do not have that luxury! Therefore, there must be a more educated approach to training. The answer to this approach is max tension.
Tension is the concept of maintaining muscular stress throughout the entire range of movement. I like to think of a line graph when envisioning tension. A person who holds tension the entire movement, throughout the entire set can be thought to have a line graph that would look like a completely straight horizontal line. On the other hand, a person who loses tension at each end of the strength curve can be thought as having peaks and valleys to their line graph. You want to be person #1.
Research has proven tension to do a number of great things to advance muscular growth. To name a few: cell swelling, up regulation of hormones (such as gh and insulin), muscular breakdown, releasing of metabolites, and production of muscle cells and satellite cells. All these roads lead to better, bigger, leaner muscle. From a skeletal standpoint, tension prohibits joints and bones from taking too much stress. Let’s face it, if you can’t train hard because of an injury, you will not grow.
The best decision you can make is to think through the muscle and not through the weight.
There is no room for ego when speaking about building muscle. Your muscle has no idea how much weight is in your hand or on your back. The one thing muscles can recognize is how hard you are squeezing them (aka: tension). So lighten the weight, work the movement through its’ entire range, and (as Ben likes to say) squeeze it like it owes you money.
3. Do A Full Rep!
Too many times the idea of getting stronger gets coupled with using more weight in working sets. Although one element to promoting muscle growth is mechanical stress, or calling on as many muscle fibers as possible; weight that you cannot physically work through a full range of motion will achieve neither mechanical stress nor provide the tension needed to promote hypertrophy.
Without a doubt a great asset to resistance training is working each given muscle group through its’ full range of motion. This does not have to be done every rep on every exercise. But, it is key to note that by the time a workout is completed, be sure that you have highlighted the entire range of motion in that muscle group. Another note is to understand kinetically what each major muscle group job is. For instance, if I am attempting to work my biceps in a full range of motion, full extension and flexion of the elbow is only one job the biceps do. To fully stretch the bicep heads you must understand that external rotation is also a movement the biceps assist in. Also, to fully contract (shorten) the biceps, you also want to add a bit of shoulder rotation toward the dorsal side in the shortening movement.
With all this in mind, it is certain that hypertrophy will occur if all lifting moves are carried out with a full range of motion, moderate to heavy workload, and a consistent amount of tension throughout the entire range. Establish the mind muscle connection with your body and watch the results skyrocket!
4. Is That All You Got?
The human body is the most complex mechanism known to man. It has the unique ability not only to withstand all daily activity and demands, but also to mold and adapt to change. All of these properties result to protect the organism in itself from outside influences that are potentially damaging. So, in essence, the human body can be thought of as a defensive machine. Training with resistance can be quite abusive on a muscular and neurological level. What we see as progress is simply the result of our bodies adapting to protect the human organism. The multiple sets and reps performed each day in the gym promote a high amount of muscle protein breakdown. As a result, the human body enforces protein synthesis to build bigger better muscle cells and new satellite cells. The physical result is larger, fuller, leaner muscles.
Understanding that weight training promotes muscle breakdown, let’s examine the idea of intensity. Eventually your body will become accustomed to the same program day in and day out. That’s because it has that rare ability to adapt right? So, to combat this, adding intensity to your workout is your best remedy. How many of us can really say that we have trained to absolute physical failure? Many of us will stop a set once we reach mental exhaustion, but not quite physical exhaustion. Experienced lifters will have their best results when they force their body to get uncomfortable frequently throughout the workout. There are a number of different methods that help achieve this goal: drop sets, time under tension, blood flow restriction training, changing set tempos, getting better at applying more tension. The list goes on and on. The key is to give it all you have! Try taking each last set of your workout to absolute physical exhaustion. This is going to promote many of the properties we have spoken about earlier in the article (hyperemia, metabolic stress, hormone up regulation, etc).
Science supports the idea that high intensity training promotes hypertrophy. Instead of going through the motions, doing the same program, and cruising through workouts, try attacking a set in a controlled manner. The results will speak for themselves!
Conclusion
Proper training can be one of the most complex topics for an avid weight lifter or bodybuilder.
There are many techniques, programs, and gimmicks that will guarantee promotion of muscle growth. Some of these work and some don’t. One thing is for sure, over time, doing the same old same old just won’t cut it if you are trying to get bigger and stronger.
Try incorporating a few simple strategies that will set your body up with the proper tools to grow, grow, grow. Train with intent and tension, push yourself with intensity, work smart and through full range of motion, and incorporate proper workout nutrients to advance the rebuilding process.
Good luck and happy lifting!