Muscle Gain
The number one ingredient for strength training determination, but it also requires a sound strategy. You go to the gym week after week, but your muscles do not grow larger. Perhaps you're doing something incorrectly?
A good pump and a sweaty t-shirt after a workout do not always indicate that you are working hard to build muscle. Learn how to force muscle growth using these scientifically proven methods.
What is progressive overload?
Progressive overload is the most effective way to force muscle growth. Jeremy There are various types of overloading that you should be aware of in order to use it when it is most appropriate for you. Depending on the exercise, one method of overloading may not be as effective as another.
The law of overload is one of the first principles in exercise physiology, and no resistance training program would be complete without it. Mother Nature compensates for training stress by making your muscles bigger and stronger.
1. Load
If you are a beginner, the best way to force muscle growth is to add more weight to your lifts.
You will eventually reach a plateau, however, because you cannot simply add more weight to your bench press, for example, every week indefinitely. There is a limit to how much your muscles can move.
According to the logic of overload training, if someone simply benches the bar and adds five pounds per week for three years, they will break the 722-pound bench world record by 103 pounds in that time. Not at all realistic! While piling weight on the bar is the most effective overload technique, it is limited in its effectiveness. Fortunately, when adding pounds reaches a plateau, you can manipulate other variables to effectively overload your training.
2. Reps
When you think you have reached a plateau after increasing the weight on your barbell, increasing the number of reps is another effective way to stimulate muscle growth.
Even if you only add one rep to your regular set each week, you will be lifting more total weight by the end of the week.
How many reps should you gradually increase to? According to a 2017 meta-analysis, if you push hard enough, you can keep the same weight and increase to 30 reps and still get the same growth as if you added more weight.
3. Sets
When you believe you have reached a plateau after increasing the weight on your barbell, increasing the number of reps is another effective way to stimulate muscle growth.
Even if you only add one rep to your regular set each week, you will be lifting more total weight by the end of the week.
How many reps should you gradually increase to? According to a 2017 meta-analysis, if you push hard enough, you can keep the same weight and increase to 30 reps and still get the same growth as if you added more weight.
4. Tempo
The rate at which you lift weights can help you gain muscle. Slowing down your reps increases the amount of time the tension is applied to the muscle, stimulating more growth.
This is especially useful for exercises involving smaller, weaker muscle groups, such as lateral raises, where even a small amount of weight can significantly increase difficulty.
Slowing your reps with bodyweight exercises is also beneficial because it is often difficult to add more weight while performing callisthenics movements.
According to statistics, you should limit reps to no more than 6 seconds for the entire movement.
5. Form
If you do the same exercise every week, but each week you can control the weight better, use less momentum, and feel your muscles activated, you've added another method of overloading. Better form entails putting more emphasis on the target muscles, which will result in growth even if all other variables remain constant.
Overloading Tips
Overload must be approached with scientific knowledge and common sense. While bodybuilders may require more frequent exercise rotation, they frequently fail to overload when cycling between exercises. It is critical to increasing the weight that was previously used. Keeping a training journal simplifies this.
