You
go to the gym or workout at home on a regular basis, but don't
seem to be making any progress. You perform set after set, rep
after rep, but nothing happens.
Your shape does not change, for better . You had done so
well when you first started to exercise, but now you have reached
a training plateau�
Virtually everyone
who works out with weights will, at one time or another, reach a
training plateau. When this happens, each trip to the gym, Infact
every workout feels like you're reliving Groundhog Day. One
workout just melds into the next and you begin to wonder if you'll
ever again make any gains.
If your workout has
hit a snag, don't despair. By implementing the following
strategies, you can blast through a plateau and take your physique
to new heights.
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CREATE
A GAME PLAN
You wouldn't embark
on a road trip without mapping out your destination. If you do,
you're bound to get lost. Yet, in effect, this is often the way
women approach their workouts, either due to lack of adequate
knowledge or lack of time. It is all too common for a person to
aimlessly wander around the gym thinking, "What should I do
now?" Clearly, such an approach is inefficient. There is an
old adage that states: Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. With
respect to exercise, never was a saying more apropos. Without a
definitive game plan, it is only a matter of time before you hit a
plateau.
The first step in
creating a game plan is to clarify your fitness goals. Determine
what you want to get out of your training efforts. Is it more
size? Better symmetry? Enhanced definition? Each of these
objectives requires specific training protocols and, thus, a
different game plan. By defining exactly where you want to go,
you'll have a much easier time getting there.
Once you have
qualified your goals, you then can formulate a routine. It is
important to plan out each workout in advance. You must know
precisely what you are going to do prior to entering the gym.
Decide on the exercises, sets and reps that you will perform.
Write them down, if necessary. Account for any possible
contingencies. In this way, nothing will be left to chance.
During training,
avoid any interruptions or distractions that might arise. Now is
not the time to socialize or daydream. Save these activities until
after you've completed your last set. All of your energies should
be focused on carrying out your game plan. Remember, your time in
the gym is precious. If you want to make ongoing progress, make
sure that every moment is spent productively.
VARY
YOUR ROUTINE
It
is amazing how many women go to the gym and perform the same
workout from one session to the next. Day after day, month after
month, year after year, their routines don't change. How boring!
When training becomes mundane, apathy is bound to set in.
Ultimately, motivation wanes and a plateau is sure to follow.
The best way to
avoid complacency is by constantly varying your exercise regimen.
Variety is the spice of training. Not only does it help to keep
your workouts fresh, but it also fosters more complete development
of your physique. You see, the human body is a very resourceful
entity and readily adapts to a repetitive stress. When the same
stimulus is applied on a regular basis, the body doesn't respond
as well to the stimulus. Only by keeping your body off guard will
you continue to reap muscular rewards.
One way to vary your
routine is by utilizing a wide array of exercises. You should
strive to perform different movements every time you train. For
instance, if you normally perform bicep
curls, cable curls and
concentration curls for your biceps, change your routine to
include hammer curls and
incline_bench_curl in your next session.
In the following workout, you might employ preacher curls . There
are dozens and dozens of different exercises at your disposal-make
use of as many as possible.
Another way to
interject variety is by changing the composition of your routine.
If, for example, you work your back and chest on Monday, shoulders
and arms on Wednesday, and legs on Friday, switch things around so
you train shoulders, chest and triceps on Monday, legs on
Wednesday, and back and biceps on Friday. Or perhaps split your
routine into four days, performing shoulders and triceps on
Monday, back and hamstrings on Tuesday, chest and biceps on
Thursday and quadriceps and calves on Friday. You could even
employ a total body workout where each major muscle group is
trained with only one basic exercise. As you can see, by using a
little ingenuity, the possibilities for variation are endless.
GO
ALL OUT
When
you first start training, results tend to come rather easily.
Virtually anything you do is a new stimulus to your body and, as
long as your technique is reasonably sound, you are apt to make
rapid progress. However, after a while, your body becomes
accustomed to specific load patterns and results begin to slow
down (remember the adaptive nature of the human body). Hence, in
order to elicit further gains, you need to train harder and
harder. If you don't, a plateau is inevitable.
To avoid this fate,
your muscles must be stressed beyond their physical capacity. By
nature, the human body strives to maintain stability-a phenomenon
called homeostasis. If your training intensity doesn't
sufficiently tax your body's resources, there won't be enough of a
stimulus to force your body from its homeostatic state. Only by
progressively overloading your muscles will they be compelled to
produce an adaptive response and grow beyond their normal
potential.
As a rule, you need
to take each set to the point of momentary muscular failure-the
point at which you cannot perform another rep. Failure must be
achieved physically-not mentally. The extreme discomfort
associated with intense training can cause a person to give up
before muscular failure actually is reached. However, to achieve
optimal results, you must push past the pain threshold and
completely fatigue your target muscles. Anything less and results
will be compromised.
An excellent way to
generate increased intensity is by the selective use of forced
repetitions. Forced reps allow you to go "beyond"
failure, taking your body as far as it can go. The only caveat is
that you need the assistance of a spotter. When you reach the
point of muscular failure, have the spotter gently help you to
pump out an extra rep or two. It's important, though, to limit the
amount of forced reps to no more than two per set. Any more and
your partner will be doing the majority of work.
ALLOW
FOR ADEQUATE RECOVERY
Contrary
to popular belief, weight training doesn't build up your
muscles-it breaks them down. Intense anaerobic exercise places
tremendous demands on your body, resulting in a catabolism of
muscle tissue, depletion of glycogen reserves, production of
free-radicals and overall fatigue of your entire neuromuscular
system. Adaptations to these stresses take place during rest.
Provided that you have trained hard enough to stimulate muscular
gains, your body will use the recovery period to repair, replenish
and regenerate itself, growing bigger and stronger in the process.
If recuperation is shortchanged, you're destined to hit a plateau
or even regress in your training efforts.
Without question,
rest is a critical component of exercise. It is almost as
important as training itself. All too often, women mistakenly
subscribe to the theory that if a little bit is good more must be
better. They go to the gym and pound their body on a daily basis,
rarely taking a day off. Don't fall into this trap! The accrual of
muscular mass is your body's way of preparing to cope with future
high-intensity stresses. By training too frequently, your body
never has the chance to adequately recover from the extreme
demands being placed on it. Inevitably, you will become grossly
over-trained and muscular growth will be brought to a grinding
halt. With respect to weight training, less can be more!
But how much is too
much? Since everyone has varying recuperative abilities, this is a
difficult question to answer. However, a good rule of thumb is to
allow 48 hours between intense training sessions. This generally
will be sufficient for your body to replenish its energy stores
and facilitate neuromuscular repair. Accordingly, WF it is best to
schedule workouts on three, non-consecutive days per week (i.e.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, etc), with off-days reserved for light,
relaxed activities. While you can experiment with other
combinations (i.e. two-on/one-off, two-on/two-off, etc), be very
conscious as to how your body recovers between sessions.
When in doubt, it is better to under train than to overstrain.
Designed
and Developed by WF Team and updated on
5th December, 2001
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