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Q: I’m 19 years old and have been
training for four years. While I’ve made steady progress,
my gains have now ceased. I mean zero. I think I train properly
and follow a good diet. My question is simple: How do I blast
out of this rut?
A: Every bodybuilder sooner or later encounters
the dreaded plateau, wherein he or she falls into a seemingly
insurmountable training rut characterized by no gains. Since
gains of some kind, whether in muscular definition or size,
are a primary motivating factor in training, the bodybuilder’s
enthusiasm soon fades when stuck on a plateau. Without knowing
how to deal with such ruts, some potentially great bodybuilders
decide the sport is not for them and quit training.
A training plateau differs from training burnout, although
symptoms of both often overlap. Burnout is more of a psychological
problem, as you lose all desire to train. The most likely
cause of burnout is overtraining. Burnout is best handled
through either a short layoff or a careful evaluation of your
training.
When you hit a plateau, you may still be mentally enthusiastic
but your body just doesn’t respond. You have to be realistic,
however. While some experts say that you should make gains
after every workout, this belief is more fantasy than reality.
There will be days when you just can’t push as hard
because of low energy levels or other reasons. On such down
days, it’s probably best to consider what a top champion
said a few years ago: “My bad workouts make me appreciate
the good workouts.”
THE BODY’S BALANCING ACT - The basic
cause of a training plateau has to do with what’s called
homeostasis. This refers to the body’s tendency to reach
a certain level and remain there. Unless you push the body
or apply controlled stress, the body won’t change. This
is the basis of the progressive-overload training system,
wherein you add small increments of weight to coax a muscle
into adapting to the new stress (weight) through increased
growth.
Eventually, the body recognizes the new stress, adapts to
it, and then nothing happens. Of course, if you stop training,
your body will revert back to its natural structure. For example,
if you started out thin, you’ll again become thin if
you remove the stimulus of regular exercise.
A misunderstanding of this concept causes some people to believe
that muscles turn into fat if training ceases. Actually, fat
and muscle are two distinct types of tissue; they cannot convert
into each other. In the usual scenario, an athlete stops training,
causing his muscles to atrophy or shrink. If he doesn’t
reduce his caloric intake, the excess calories will be stored
as bodyfat. To the naked (and uninformed) eye, it may appear
as if his muscles have transmogrified into fat, but physiologically
and biologically, that is impossible.
RUT-BUSTERS - To overcome a training plateau,
the first thing to consider is the volume of your training.
Are you doing too much to permit adequate recovery? Unless
you provide yourself with sufficient rest, you may easily
slip into an over trained state exemplified by no gains. The
solution is to reduce your training volume by cutting back
on the number of sets and reps you do.
Another problem may involve training frequency. Most advanced
bodybuilders find that as they get stronger, they paradoxically
must train less. That explains why Dorian Yates trains each
muscle group only once every six or seven days. The reason
Yates continues to improve and stay ahead of his competition
is because of his keen analytical sense of the correct amount
of training needed to promote continuous gains in size and
strength.
Another way to blast out of a plateau is to simply rearrange
the sequence of your exercises. For example, let’s say
you usually begin your shoulder routine with some type of
pressing exercise. Commencing your training with lateral raises
may inject just enough variety to wake up complacent delts.
You must consider, however, that by beginning with an isolation
exercise (laterals), you’ll lose some strength when
you get to the presses later in the workout. This requires
a downward adjustment in your pressing weight. Always be aware
of any necessary new adjustments if you change your workout.
Even just switching the days you train your muscle groups
can be effective. For example, if you usually train both biceps
and triceps during a single training session, try working
these two muscle groups on alternate days. Or you can use
the popular “push-pull” split system, wherein
you train pushing muscles (chest, shoulders, triceps) one
day and pulling muscles (back, biceps) the next.
If you’re used to doing straight sets, using a technique
such as super-sets, trisets or giant sets may shock your body
into new growth patterns. A superset involves training two
opposing muscle groups, such as biceps and triceps, back-to-back
with no rest. A triset involves three exercises done without
rest between exercises; a giant set is four or more exercises
done the same way.
Many bodybuilders, such as Yates and former Mr. Universe Mike
Mentzer, advocate the “training to failure” system,
involving minimum training volume coupled with maximum intensity.
The basic belief of such training is that if you train a muscle
to failure, you are training that muscle to its maximum. This,
the theory states, promotes muscular growth in anyone regardless
of genetic factors. Along with high intensity, the system
also mandates allowing enough rest time for recovery to occur.
Simply changing the angle of an exercise can also kick start
your gains. While this theory is controversial, most bodybuilding
experts say that varying the angle of an exercise produces
enough varied stress to involve different muscle fibers. If
such fibers have previously remained dormant, the added stimulation
will produce increased gains. An example of this is doing
incline barbell presses instead of flat-bench presses.
If you’ve consistently utilized a repetition range of
8-12, try boosting your reps to 15-20. This technique is particularly
effective with larger muscle areas such as legs and back.
I once interviewed a bodybuilder who claimed to have added
three inches to his calves after commencing a calf routine
that averaged 60 reps per set. He correctly noted, however,
that most people didn’t have the pain tolerance for
this type of training.
Try the periodization method of varying your weights, sets
and reps at regular intervals throughout the year. This system
of training evolved in order to prevent inevitable plateaus
by never permitting the body to fully adapt to one particular
training pattern.
In essence, the key to busting out of training ruts is adding
some kind of variety into your training. The technique you
choose is a matter of personal preference; they are all effective.
So don’t grouse about not making any gains. Make some
changes in your training and you’ll definitely see some
progress in your physique.
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