Weight gain alone won't be exactly fun for your fitness-loving buddy, what you'd prefer is to gain lean body mass! And quality muscle gain is never as easy as you think.
Perhaps you use larger weights to stimulate your muscles, but the practical approach is often a matter of tweaking and varying between training reps, intensity and rest periods between sets. In case you don't already know this, we've put the details here today.
one of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to muscle hypertrophy (the scientific term for muscle growth) is that the only way to train bigger muscles is to lift bigger weights, and that leads to another problem. In fact, the key to increasing muscle hypertrophy is to increase the strength of the muscles being worked, although genetics will also play a role in building muscle.
Of course, lifting heavier and heavier objects over time is itself a way to increase strength. The downside is that working out with large weights can lead to muscle, joint and tendon pain and injury, and ultimately fatigue.
when using strength techniques, less weight can be used so that the body does not get injured. It also gives you a break from your usual training style, helps you break through bottlenecks and gives you the ability to strengthen the brain-muscle connection.
When one starts to focus less on the weight that can be lifted and more on movement technique, one can be on the right path to maximising the body's muscular potential.
why does this idea still exist?
The idea that "More weight = more muscle" Has not died out for several reasons.
The first and most obvious reason is that when a person first starts training regularly, the body usually synthesises a lot of new muscle very quickly. Without understanding how muscle hypertrophy works, logic would dictate to keep increasing the weight ...... Until you injure yourself or reach a bottleneck.
fitness whizzes will also see athletes doing strength training in the gym and online and compare them, thinking that they can do 10 reps of bench press with a 100kg barbell when they could, but for most of them it is unrealistic to compare themselves to a professional bodybuilder.
One has to train very hard to achieve such results. One can train hard and train hard, but unless one has excellent genes, the chances of making it into this elite group of athletes are unlikely.
some peeps would argue that if they also trained with big weights like powerlifters, they too would grow up to be professionals. Without the genes of an athlete, one can train to be amazingly fit, just not up to the level of a professional athlete.
It's the intensity of the training that builds muscle, not just the weight
what builds muscle? Intensity. Intensity is different for everyone, one can make faces, grunt and throw weights around, and at the end of the day, intensity is subjective. Only you can feel how hard you are training, no one can get inside your head and body and experience what is being experienced.
is reducing reps and constantly adding weight the way to increase intensity? Of course it is. But after a while, muscle strength and mass will no longer grow and bottleneck, and adding more weight will only damage the joints. That's why it's best to add the following 4 techniques to your training.
Some other techniques for increasing strength, they're not as attractive as that, but they work, and frankly, if trained hard enough, can seriously challenge the muscles!
1. Shorten the rest period between sets
this is one of the easiest ways to increase intensity - how long to rest between sets? Set yourself a time and try to reduce the rest period, shorten it while having to reduce the weight lifted.
We all see guys in the gym doing max weights with 3-4 minutes rest between sets. This wouldn't happen if the rest period was reduced to 30-45 seconds. Less weight, but more intensity... Still train hard!
2. Changing the speed of the movement
vary the speed of the movement. Here are a few ways to do this.
Machine bench press: Choose a weight that completes 12 reps. Repeat 3 times at normal speed; on the 4th rep, count 5 seconds to push up the barbell, then 5 seconds to lower it; do the next 3 reps at normal speed; slow down for the 8th rep. Do 3 more reps at normal speed; slow down for the 12th rep. Doing this will feel a dramatic intensity in the muscles.
l barbell bend: Lift the weight (centripetal part of the movement) slower than usual for a count of 5 seconds. Squeeze through the movement at the highest point of the movement and lower at a normal speed during the centrifugal phase. The further the count goes the more care needs to be taken not to let muscle fatigue make the centrifugal phase sloppy.
Be controlled when lowering the weight, otherwise you won't feel the muscles training and you may even injure yourself. In the next set, complete the centripetal phase at a fixed pace while taking 4-5 seconds to complete the centrifugal phase. Alternate the speed of the centrifugal and centripetal phases.
3. Fatigue the muscles before the central nervous system
principle: Imagine it is monday (world bench press day) and complete a few sets of dumbbell flyes before lying down for the barbell bench press. This way the pecs are already feeling a bit of burn before the first set of bench presses. So it will not be possible to complete the same weight as usual ...... Nor will it be necessary. A lighter workout will still feel like a lot of intensity.
Pre-burning the muscles allows you to train at a lighter weight and still train twice as hard, this will limit the forces on the joints and tendons and it will also train the muscles before the central nervous system gets fatigued.
4. Decreasing sets
nothing burns more muscle than losing weight in the middle of a movement and continuing to do it. Perform as many movements as possible on one universal machine and if you find that you cannot perform the movement well, reduce the weight and continue.
Use this technique on machines, ropes, barbells or dumbbells, and if you've never done a decreasing set before, switch to lighter and lighter dumbbells as the lactic acid builds up, and enjoy!
when you hit a bottleneck in your training and get bored, try these techniques. You should also make some good gains when you will feel sore again the next day.