Common sense states that if you aren’t getting back much from an investment, then chances are, it wasn’t a good investment in the first place. There is nothing more frustrating than not earning back from your investments, and going to the gym is no different. Lifters often become disappointed when the amount of time they spend at the gym is not correlating to gains in strength or size. Unfortunately, we cannot continue to add weight to our lifts exponentially, and often times lifters hit a hypertrophy plateau. Their training is just not cutting it anymore and they become stuck trying to exceed their one rep maxes. If you find that your progress has stagnated, or that your progress has hit a complete plateau, try implementing these training tips.
Tip 1 – Do not limit your exercise selection
“Wait, I don’t have to do deadlifts to build an awesome back!? I have a previous injury to my knee which prevents me from performing heavy squats, so that means I can’t build big legs, right!?”
Contrary to popular belief, the big three (squat, bench and deadlift) are not requisites for building a hyper muscular physique. One of the great things about bodybuilding is that there aren’t any specific movements that are mandatory. This is not powerlifting where you have a specific movement that you must focus on perfecting in your training program, but rather a chance to enjoy a variety of different movements. As a matter of fact, targeting the same muscle groups via varying angles and different movement patterns is crucial for muscular hypertrophy. By not limiting yourself to a few select movements, you may be indirectly benefiting more than you think. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the big three lifts for bodybuilding. I think they are great training movements (for many reasons) and I often feature them in my training programs and build the remaining movements around these key exercises. That being said, they are not the end all, be all of lifts for bodybuilders. With regards to improving muscular hypertrophy, exercise selection should not be limited to compound joint movements, but rather include various single joint isolation type movements. They should be dynamic in nature, progressive (think overload principle) and multi-planar.
Tip 2 – Don’t sacrifice form for weight
I work evenings at a University’s fitness center and let me tell you, I see this day and in and day out. Everybody watches a YouTube video and thinks they are Ronnie Coleman and can deadlift 800lbs. They are imitating Rich Froning and trying to rep out complex Olympic lifts with more weight than they can handle. All the while, they give no concern to the form they are using. Simply put, it’s not just about moving resistance from point A to point B or picking things up and putting them down. There’s much more that needs to be considered when we are referring to muscular hypertrophy.
First off, let’s consider time under tension and its implications in muscular hypertrophy. Hoisting large amounts of weight with no regard to form not only places you at an increased risk of injury, but by implementing a large amount of momentum, you reduce the force of the muscular contraction. This reduces the effectiveness of the exercise, thus reducing your gains. Time under tension can be defined as the amount of duress or strain placed on a muscle group, throughout a range of motion, as the muscle attempts to resist and overcome the resistance. Research shows that prolonged tension within an exercised muscle group can essentially create a hypoxic environment. This is caused by the compression of blood vessels within the muscle group being trained. Sound familiar? This is the basis for blood flow occlusion training. (For more on blood flow occlusion, check out my article on the guiding training principles 101.) It is this hypoxic environment which maximizes the anabolic response to training in the form of both increased metabolic stress and cellular swelling. In laymen’s terms, it maximizes the pump, which contrary to what most think, is a valuable contributor to muscular hypertrophy. (For more on how the pump can contribute to muscular hypertrophy check out my article Maximize Your Pump)
You should be aiming to maximize time under tension in the negative phase of the lift. The negative phase of a lift is nothing more than the “eccentric phase”, or the lowering of the weights during exercise. Implementation of a lifting cadence or tempo may be beneficial, but is not always a requisite, pending the goal of the program and type of movement being performed. In most cases, I recommend that clients perform each lift under full muscular control. For me personally, this translates to a cadence of about 1-2-3 (1 sec up the concentric phase, a 2 second static hold and a slightly accentuated negative of about 3 secs). I typically use this cadence on my isolation movements or on machines exclusively. When it comes to major compound lifts or Olympic lifts, I obviously may forego the use of this cadence and perform the lifts as explosively as possible. Speaking literally, I am not sitting there counting the seconds in my head. I find that if you focus too much on a tempo during training, it affects your concentration during the set when you should be focusing on form and hitting your desired rep range for the incumbent set. When creating emphasis during the negative phase of the lift, you will be increasing the likelihood of experiencing DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). DOMS is caused by damaging the structural component, known as the Z disc, which acts as an anchor for the contractile protein actin. It is this loss of structural integrity caused by accentuated negatives, that is at the root for the symptoms associated with DOMS.
Now before we move onto our next tip, let’s not forget the often neglected neuromuscular adaptations we gain from training. As we learn to perform certain movements over time, via the adaptation process, we become more efficient at performing that specific task. This contributes to an overall greater training response as we are “optimally” able to synchronize the muscle fibers involved in that particular movement. This is caused by an increase in neural cross bridges and lends even more reason why you shouldn’t sacrifice form for weight. We don’t want to learn faulty movement patterns for the sake of moving a few extra pounds with sloppy form. Factors affecting the acute neuromuscular responses to resistance exercise will be covered in a future article.
Tip 3 – Implement a progressive plan
That old adage “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” comes back to haunt you. One of the more common mistakes that I see among beginners, and even the experienced, is lack of progress caused by faulty training programming. (For more information on the guiding principles of training check out my previous article.) If this is the case, you may find that by simply making a few modifications to your training modalities (ie. rep schemes, training volume, or intensity) you may break past your training plateaus. The goal is to always be progressing, continuing to overload our muscular systems to elicit an increase in both muscular strength and size, which is your body’s compensatory effect from the training stress. Don’t be that guy that goes to the gym and aimlessly picks exercises at random. You’ll likely just end up looking the same year after year and lifting the same amount of weight workout after workout.
Tip 4 – Try training more frequently
This is one modification to my training which has changed drastically since I started my bodybuilding career. When I first started training, I followed the traditional one muscle group per week workout routine. I later progressed to an even more abbreviated style of training, Mike Meltzer’s HIIT training. For those unfamiliar with this style of training, it is an extremely abbreviated form of training. You train each muscle group only once per week, typically allowing 2-3 recovery days between each workout so as to allow for optimal recovery and overcompensation (ie. muscle growth). While I had some pretty good results from this style of training, it wasn’t until I started working with Cliff Wilson that I truly learned the benefits of a higher frequency of training. Training with a higher muscle frequency essentially entails training each muscle group multiple times per week. Before we delve into the benefits of training at a higher frequency, let’s answer the question that’s probably lurking through your mind as you read these words. “What is the ideal or most optimal frequency to train each muscle group?” Unfortunately I cannot answer this question for you; as how often you can train is directly related to how quickly you can recover from previous training sessions. Don’t forget that exercise is a form of stress placed onto our bodies, and everyone handles stress at different rates. This compounded with various other factors including: age, gender, exercise history (novice vs. seasoned/ experienced lifter), nutritional status, intensity level during the workout, sleep patterns, etc. will all effect your recovery rates. The best answer I can give you is to train as frequently as you can get away with, without interfering with your own levels of recoverability. I know this is a very broad answer, but if you know how to manipulate the other variables of your training, it’s not so hard.
So what’s so special about training muscle groups more frequently? Optimal motor unit activation and increased muscle protein synthesis levels are two of the best reasons. Remember those increased neural cross bridges which allow us to synchronize tasks efficiently, in the tip above? The higher frequency of training gives you the opportunity to essentially become more efficient at performing movement patterns, by way of being able to practice them more often. In addition to this, a higher frequency also has the added benefit of allowing the user to create variation in the training stimuli, as opposed to most traditional linear programs. Look at it this way, by being able to train muscle groups several times during the week, you can train for hypertrophy, max strength, and neural workouts all within the same week. You simply vary the focus of each session. Be careful though. The higher level of frequency with training is also associated with higher level of injury. Just make sure to mind your levels of recoverability and monitor exercise performance. If it starts to diminish between sessions, simply back off on the frequency or insert additional rest days into your training. Last but not least, we have the optimal effects on protein synthesis, which peak and return to baseline within 24-48 hours following a training session. By training each muscle group more frequently, you will be reducing the amount of downtime in protein synthesis for that specific muscle group. This will allow you to develop more size in the long run by having higher frequency in the peaks of muscle protein synthesis.
Conclusion:
There are many reasons why you may not be obtaining maximal gains on your gym investment, but by following these four tips, you should be able to break through your hypertrophy plateau. Get out of the mindset that there are certain lifts you have to perform to build certain muscle groups, as that is completely untrue. Form is one of the most important aspects of lifting, and having poor form can actually do more harm than you think. There is no shame in having to do less weight in order to hit perfect form, so do not be self-conscious in the weight room and risk developing an injury because you were worried about how much you could lift. Workouts often stagnate because of boredom, so to eliminate that factor be sure to implement a progressive training program that provides you with enough variability and complementing exercises. Finally, if you have all of the other plans in place and are still not able to break through your hypertrophy plateau, try training certain muscle groups more frequently throughout the week. This way you will be able to maximize protein synthesis and technique levels while mastering various lifts. You go to the gym almost every day, so you might as well get the most out of your investment!
Disclaimer
All programs and articles provided are intellectual property of James Shmagranoff. No copies or redistribution of these is allowed without express permission from James Shmagranoff. James Shmagranoff is not a doctor and nothing contained within this article is to be taken as medical advice. Always follow the directions of your medical practitioner.
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