How muscles are pumped up biology. How our muscles grow: mechanisms for activating muscle growth. Why Rapid Muscle Growth Doesn't Happen
That assimilates and processes food faster than the female. At the same time, without exhausting training and with sufficient activity, young people gain better mass. Simply put, if you just relax a little and increase the amount of calories you consume, they will immediately be deposited in the hips, abdomen and waist. In this situation, there is a more uniform weight gain, and not an increase in unnecessary fat. This rule applies to fairly active and healthy men.
Dubious sports nutrition is clearly not an assistant in gaining muscle mass. If the main goal is to gain weight quickly, it must be taken into account that the rate of gain depends on the regimen and genetics. Just eating extra calories will not help you achieve the desired result. You will need a comprehensive approach to this problem. Proper nutrition, load alternation, weekly rest, good sleep are the best solution to achieve your goal.
Proper nutrition
First of all, it is recommended to abandon the use of semi-finished products. It is important to eat high-quality complete protein. At least 2 servings of fish or meat, cottage cheese 5-6% fat, egg white should be present on your table daily. Average intervals between meals should be no more than 3 hours.
A set of muscle mass occurs due to weight gain and regular training in the gym (2-3 sessions per week). It is worth noting that the recommended duration of each lesson should be 40-45 minutes. It is necessary to eat a sufficient amount of protein foods in combination with useful amino acids, vitamins, trace elements, fats and carbohydrates. It is also recommended to drink at least 2 liters of water during the day. Before going to bed, protein and protein shakes are acceptable.
Glutamine and creatine are the most useful supplements for gaining muscle mass. They are perfect for solving your problem. Glutamine strengthens defenses, improves the immune system. Creatine effectively increases the level of muscle energy and endurance. Experts recommend using these supplements in combination with high-carbohydrate drinks.
To quickly gain muscle mass, you should exclude from the diet foods enriched with animals and other saturated fats (sausages, butter, margarine, lard, fatty meats, etc.).
Before going to bed, food should be rich in protein and easily digestible. In this case, sour-milk products, fish, poultry, vegetables are perfect.
This article is for those who want to increase the volume and improve the shape of the muscles. Surely, you have thought about why some guys have such powerful and voluminous muscles, as if they were pumped up by a pump, while in us, ordinary mortals, they seem flat and not so voluminous.
You may not be able to keep up with those who have a genetic predisposition to develop muscles, famous stars such as 4-time Arnold Classic winner Flex Wheeler, Mr. Olympia, however, you can significantly increase the volume of your muscles using the suggested here tricks.
The duration of the load refers to the amount of time for which the muscles are in a tense state during the execution of the approach.
Whether the effort is isometric, eccentric, or concentric, the contraction of the muscle results in its tension. But for muscle growth, it is not the time of tension that matters. We are interested in the effect of prolonged tension caused by clamping of blood vessels.
The blood vessels during muscle contraction are compressed until they are completely clogged, thereby limiting blood flow to this muscle. This effect of tension is obtained if you step on a garden hose.
The longer the muscles are under load, the longer the blood flow to it is limited. But the heart still pumps blood, and due to squeezing of the vessels around the working muscle, blood accumulates in the tissues. After the set is completed, the muscle relaxes and blood flows into the muscle.
The longer the vessels are clamped, the greater the volume of blood rushes into the muscle. To feel this process, you can try to do push-ups for 5 seconds and pay attention to how the muscles are poured. Then you should rest for about two minutes, and then do push-ups for 30 seconds, and again feel how the blood rushes to the muscles.
This process is called hyperemic supercompensation and is known to bodybuilders as "pumping" ("pump"). The rapid influx of a large flow of blood in the muscles increases the pressure.
In the movie Pumping Iron, Arnold noted that a good rush of blood to the muscles is just an incredible feeling. But more important to you should be that the influx of blood puts pressure on the dense, tough sheath of the muscle - the fascia.
The fascia is very difficult to stretch, but over time, and it begins to give in to the pressure that comes from within and stretch, allowing the muscle that it surrounds to actually and visually increase in volume.
And although this information is scientific, we are interested in the results, not science. In the experience of most bodybuilding coaches, the increased duration of the load on the muscles increases their volume. Although, of course, this does not happen in a short time.
According to the experience of Western trainers, a higher speed of movement in repetitions and the use of more weight allows you to involve more muscle fibers in the work.
That is why, instead of using less weight and intentionally slowing down movements, it is better to move, even concentric, quickly, but choose a weight that can be done for 45 seconds.
With a set duration of less than 30 seconds, this will not generate enough blood flow to create good intramuscular pressure. On the other hand, to complete a set lasting more than 60 seconds, you need very little weight, which is also not good. Therefore, the optimal time is considered to be 45 seconds.
No. 2. Doing more work
Your body has an incredible ability to adapt. It does its best to adapt to any load and become more prepared for certain tasks. This also applies to high volume training.
Training volume refers to the total number of repetitions and sets. This is the total amount of work that muscles perform during exercise. More energy is needed to do more work. The energy for muscle contraction is provided by muscle glycogen, a store of carbohydrates stored in muscle tissue.
Let's assume that you want to use the above principle of stretching the fascia. You do chest exercises for sets of twelve reps. The chest muscles will use significantly more glycogen to perform ten sets of twelve reps than two sets of twelve reps. It should be remembered that only the glycogen of working muscles is consumed.
With a sufficient increase in training volume, thus, depletion of glycogen stores in the muscles occurs, an interesting phenomenon occurs. The body begins to strive to replenish glycogen stores in order to successfully cope with such loads next time.
The process of a short-term increase in muscle glycogen content is called glycogen supercompensation. At the same time, the muscles are temporarily able to store a larger amount of glycogen than usual, say, instead of 100%, it stores 120%.
With regular repetition of the stimulus, i.e. with the systematic depletion of glycogen stores, the body gradually acquires the ability to accumulate an increasing amount of this substance. And this means that this pattern can also be used in the long term.
And, despite the fact that we are not so concerned about the amount of glycogen in the muscle, but its volume, containing more glycogen, the muscle looks more voluminous and rounded.
You won't be able to see changes after 1-2 high volume workouts, but results will become noticeable over time. After 8 weeks of high volume training, you may find that your muscles are getting bulkier. But there are exceptions to this rule. With a relatively high volume of your training, you will not even notice major changes, because your body is adapted to such loads. The same applies to the duration of muscle loads.
The second reason for the weak effect of this technique may not be in the load, but in the diet. If you don't eat enough carbs, especially after exercise, when your body's ability to store glycogen increases, your body won't have the material to store muscle glycogen.
Remember that glycogen is just a store of carbohydrates, not fats or proteins. Just like filling up a gas tank with gasoline, you need to fuel your body with enough carbs to replenish your glycogen stores.
It should be noted that with the constant accumulation of more glycogen in the muscles, this also puts pressure on the fascia surrounding them, and gradually stretch it.
It must be remembered that the intensity and volume of work must be inversely proportional to each other, this is required for the complete restoration of not only the muscles, but also the nervous system. That's why you shouldn't be tempted to push every set of a high-volume program to failure.
No. 3. Optimizing the length of breaks between sets
Like the first strategy, optimizing the rest time between sets can increase blood flow as well as increase pressure in the muscle.
Let's pretend you're doing a killer approach. Muscles swell as if the skin will soon burst. Then you want to rest for three minutes, giving the body time to replenish the creatine phosphate stores in tired muscles, remove lactic acid and hydrogen ions. In the next approach, to achieve good performance, this is very useful.
But to maintain high intramuscular pressure, 3 minutes of rest is a lot, since a significant part of the blood that creates this pressure drains from the muscle during this time.
We should not forget that the fascia consists of a strong, rigid tissue. In the report on a small pressure in a short period of time, it does not stretch. In order for it to stretch, it is necessary that the muscle exert more prolonged pressure on it.
That is why, in order for the fascia to stretch as much as possible and increase the volume of the muscle, you need the muscle to remain filled with blood for as long as possible.
This technique has its advantages and disadvantages. If you start the next approach too early, you will not be able to perform it at full strength. As previously mentioned, it takes a certain amount of time for the products of its work to be removed from the muscles and for the restoration of the supply of creatine phosphate. This is required to complete a decent number of reps in a set.
On the other hand, a very long rest can relieve the pressure that is placed on the fascia.
In this case, you need to carefully listen to your body. You should pay attention to how swollen from the influx of blood and dense the muscles became after the set, and try to catch the moment when this effect disappears. So, you can rest exactly as much time as necessary for optimal stretching of the fascia.
It is imperative to note in the training diary the number of repetitions performed in the approaches. If you completed fifteen repetitions in the first approach, and only six in the next, then this means that you did not rest enough.
By observing the sensations in the muscles and comparing the number of repetitions in further approaches, you can choose the optimal length of rest between sets.
But if you do not want to sometimes bother your own brain by focusing on sensations, then you should rest for 45 seconds. 30-60 seconds is the optimal time to recover between sets. With less difficult exercises, such as barbell curls, 30 seconds will be enough to recover. When performing more tiring exercises, such as squats, it is better to rest for 60 seconds between sets. Naturally, if you have enough strength to do squats with a minute of rest between sets.
No. 4. Stretching a muscle while it is filled with blood
Doing stretching exercises is very useful, and at any time. Stretching is one of the most underrated techniques to help increase muscle performance, improve muscle appearance, and prevent injury.
Stretching can loosen the contraction of the muscles by the fascia or keep the muscles in a stretched state for as long as possible, this will also help stretch the fascia.
To increase the tensile pressure on the muscle membrane, you need to stretch when the muscles are still filled with blood. In other words, it is necessary to do muscle stretching exercises no more than thirty seconds after the end of a long approach. And it is necessary to keep the muscles in a state of stretching longer than usual. You can stretch for sixty seconds, or longer.
But, since due to static stretching exercises, a decrease in muscle performance in further approaches is possible, then you need to stretch after the last approach of the exercise for a certain muscle group.
Stretching the muscles is another, no less significant effect. By holding the position of a fairly strong stretch for a long time, this allows the stimulation of the growth of new sarcomeres and muscle lengthening.
If you can lengthen the muscle by growing sarcomeres, it will become visually voluminous, especially in a tense state.
This method, like any technique associated with stretching the fascia, needs time and consistency in use. It should be written in the training diary that it is necessary to stretch after training, otherwise you can forget about it. And you should tune in to the fact that you will begin to notice changes after a maximum of three months. With enough patience following this strategy for six months, you will definitely see results.
No. 5. Isolation of lagging muscles
This strategy helps to increase the volume of muscles not by stretching their shell, but by focusing loads on the target muscle group.
The whole point of training is to expose the muscles to unusual loads for them, and then allow them to adapt. To develop weak muscles, you need to make sure that these muscles do the main work. This is the only way to force these muscles to adapt and develop.
For example, if for some reason the main work is done by triceps when doing a bench press to develop the pectoral muscles, then it is they who will become stronger and larger.
In such cases, there are several methods to make sure that not the triceps, but the pectoral muscles do the main work and take the stimulus to growth. One technique is to pre-fatigue the chest muscles with isolation exercises before performing the bench press.
For example, you can do breeding with dumbbells lying down, and then move on to doing a bench press. You may not like the fact that during the bench press you will need to work with a light weight. But you can be sure that the tired pectoral muscles will do most of the work. And it is they who will have to adapt to the loads with the help of hypertrophy.
In addition to pre-fatigue, doing isolation exercises is very useful for increasing lagging muscles.
It is preferable for general development to do such as deadlifts, squats and the aforementioned bench press. However, when it comes to developing individual muscles, then isolation exercises such as straight-arm rows, machine leg extensions, and dumbbell flyes are often more effective.
For general strength development, isolation exercises are not very good, but they allow you to work out lagging muscle groups, due to the fact that in such exercises all the load goes to the target muscle. If we compare, for example, leg extension with squats or raising arms with a bench press.
If you, performing a basic exercise, feel bad about the work of individual muscles, then you can first try to do isolating exercises for the same muscles, and then move on to the basic one. Thanks to this sequence, it is possible to preliminarily tire the muscles, as well as activate the nerve fibers in it.
For example, if you can’t feel the work of the muscles of the upper back (the middle part of the rhomboids and trapezoid muscles) while performing a barbell row to the belt in an incline, then you can first try to raise your arms with dumbbells through the sides in an incline, and then move on to traction. You may find that you will feel better working the upper back muscles in the pull to the belt.
And finally
We hope that these recommendations will be useful to you. Just do not forget that the improvement of the physique, especially the development of lagging muscles, takes time. Therefore, be patient and enjoy the training!
How muscles grow after training - a scientific approach. Learn how to build muscle and recover properly between strength training sessions.
Skeletal muscles are made up of filamentous myofibrils and sarcomeres that form muscle fibers. The 650 skeletal muscles in the human body contract in response to motor neurons firing from a part of the muscle cell called the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Motor neurons tell your muscles to contract.
The better you can contract muscles, the stronger you become.
Powerlifters can lift huge weights but don't look overly muscular. This is due to their ability to activate these motor neurons and contract muscles better. Therefore, many powerlifters are smaller than bodybuilders, and the weight can lift much more.
The maximum increase in strength occurs at the very beginning of your strength training. Further muscle development proceeds gradually, since you have already learned how to activate them.
The physiological side of a set of muscle mass
After a workout, your body repairs old damaged muscle fibers or forms new protein compounds (myofibrils). The restored myofibrils increase in thickness and number, creating muscle hypertrophy (growth).Muscle growth is associated with the predominance of protein synthesis over its breakdown and occurs not during training, but during rest.
There are also satellite cells that act as stem cells for your muscles. When activated, they help nucleoids enter muscle cells. And this already leads to the growth of myofibrils.
The ability to activate satellite cells is a key factor that distinguishes genetic uniques from hard gainers (that is, people who are not predisposed to gaining muscle mass).
The most interesting discovery over the past 5 years has been that in people whose muscles respond well to exercise, the level of myofibrillic hypertrophy reaches 58% with 23% activation of satellite cells. With a decrease in the number of activated cells, hypertrophy also decreases. If the human muscles do not respond to the load, not only myofibrillic hypertrophy is absent, but also the activation of satellites (0%). And thus, it turns out that the more you use satellite cells, the more you will grow. The question arises: how to activate satellite cells for muscle growth?
3 types of stimulation that make muscles grow
At the heart of natural training is a constant increase in stress for the muscles. This stress is an important component of their growth. It maintains homeostasis in your body. It is stress, along with the maintenance of homeostasis, that is the basis of the three main conditions for gaining muscle mass.
1. Muscle tensionIn order to grow, you need to give your muscles more stress than they are used to. How to do it? The main thing is to constantly increase working weights. Muscle tension creates changes in the chemical processes within the muscle, which creates prerequisites for growth, such as the activation of mTOR (an intracellular protein that is a signaling element that regulates the development and hypertrophy of muscle fibers) and satellite cells.The other two factors explain how one manages to be stronger but smaller than the other.
2. Muscle damageIf you have ever felt sore muscles after a workout, this is an indicator of localized muscle damage from exertion. It is local damage that activates satellite cells. This does not mean, of course, that you must feel pain to do so. But muscle damage still must be. Pain usually goes away with time due to other processes.
3. Metabolic stressIf you have ever felt a pump (blood filling a working muscle) during a workout, then it was the effect of metabolic stress. Bodybuilders believe that it is the pump that makes the muscles grow. To some extent, scientists agree with this.
Metabolic stress allows muscles to grow, although the muscle cells themselves do not necessarily become larger. This is due to the entry of glycogen into the muscles, which helps them increase due to the growth of connective tissue. This process is called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which can make you look bigger without gaining strength.
How hormones affect muscle growth
Hormones are the next element responsible for muscle growth and recovery and are of great importance in the regulation of satellite cell activity. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), mechanical growth factor (MGF), and testosterone are the most important hormones directly associated with muscle gain.
The goal of many athletes when exercising in the gym is to . Everyone knows that it increases protein synthesis and reduces protein breakdown, activates satellite cells and stimulates the production of other anabolic hormones. Despite the fact that we cannot use up the vast majority (up to 98%) of testosterone secreted by the body, strength training not only stimulates its production, but also makes our muscle cell receptors more sensitive to free testosterone. It can also increase the production of growth hormone by increasing the amount of neurotransmitters in damaged fibers.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor regulates muscle volume by increasing protein synthesis, improving glucose and amino acid (protein constituents) uptake by skeletal muscle, and activating satellite cells for greater muscle growth.
Why do muscles need rest?
If you do not give your body enough rest and nutrition, you can stop the anabolic processes in the body and start the catabolic (destructive) ones.
The increase in protein synthesis after a workout lasts for 24-48 hours, so all the food eaten during this time will go to muscle hypertrophy.
Remember that your limit is set by your gender, age and genetics. For example, men have more testosterone than women, so their muscles will certainly be stronger and larger.
Why is there no rapid muscle growth?
Muscle hypertrophy takes time. For most people, this is a fairly lengthy process. People do not see significant changes in a few weeks and months, since fundamental changes are only possible due to the intervention of the nervous system in the activation of your muscles.
In addition, different people have different genetics, hormone production, muscle fiber type and quantity, and the ability to activate satellite cells. All of these can slow down muscle growth.
To make sure you're doing your best For , protein synthesis must always prevail over its breakdown.
To do this, you need to consume a sufficient amount of protein (especially essential amino acids) and carbohydrates - then the cells will be able to recover. Visually noticeable muscle growth and changes in shape will motivate you greatly. But for this it is important to understand the scientific side of the issue.
How Muscles Grow: Conclusion
In order to build muscle, you need to create stress to which the body has not yet adapted. This can be achieved by lifting more weight and changing exercises, then you will injure more muscle fibers and stress the muscles during the pump. At the end of a workout, the most important thing is enough rest and “fuel” for muscle recovery and growth.
Use the described 5 important ways to accelerate muscle growth, which will surely bring results in the form of the desired muscle mass.
Usually, to improve results, many increase the volume of the load, which entails an increase in the amount and, therefore, increases training.
Not everyone has the opportunity to devote a lot of time to training, at the same time, prolonged training burns a lot of energy and reduces glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, the depletion of which is equivalent to running in place in terms of muscle growth, but this does not reduce the desire to know the secret - how accelerate muscle growth.
In order to train effectively without a significant increase in time, use the following training methods:
1. Warm up the muscles before training
Most people who come to the gym start with and using a 10-minute cardio load on or, this is of course useful and there is nothing wrong with that, but to accelerate muscle growth, you sometimes need to use a different warm-up method.
For example, if your first exercise is going on, do 2-3 sets with an empty neck, you will warm up the trained muscles well, pump them with blood, supplying oxygen and nutrients and prepare them for a heavy load.
The same applies to another basic exercise, 2-3 approaches with a bar will warm up the shoulder girdle well and reduce many times the possibility of injury to the front beam during the subsequent lifting of large ones.
2. Superset Program
- this is the training of two opposite muscle groups located side by side, without resting one after the other at the same time.
This allows you to load the muscles 2 times more powerfully with a decrease in rest time. The main advantage is that a huge blood flow is sent to the muscles, which carries 2 times more nutrients, which has a positive effect on muscle growth.
It is very important to reduce to a minimum between exercises, otherwise all effectiveness is lost and the superset turns into regular 2 separate exercises. Ideally, there should be almost no rest at all; for this, prepare 2 shells in advance for training the planned muscle groups.
3. The rest-pause method
This is the division of one set of exercises into an equal number of repetitions with a pause between them of 10-20 
seconds.
This makes it possible to perform more repetitions, better load the trained muscle and better train even the most dormant areas of muscle fibers. This technique has been used by weightlifters for about 50 years, and powerlifters for several decades, now this training method is being introduced into fitness and bodybuilding.
Consider a good example - when performing, instead of one big approach of 10 repetitions, do: 3 repetitions - rest 20 seconds, again 3 repetitions and rest 20 seconds, then again 3 repetitions and rest 20 seconds, for the fourth time, do 3 repetitions again and finish the approach.
Due to short-term rest, you can do more repetitions and better load the trained muscle.
4. Drop sets
- this is the execution of a load on a specific area of \u200b\u200bmuscles with a constant dropping of weights.
Let's get straight to the point and look at an illustrative example - after doing warm-up sets, already doing with a decent weight after completing the planned 8 reps, take the dumbbells 20-25% lighter and do 8 reps again and, according to this scheme, reduce the weight until then until the weight of almost 5 kg remains in the hands. In this case, there should be no rest between weight loss.
Pay special attention not only to the number of repetitions, but also to the quality of performance, performing each repetition, you should feel how the muscle fills with blood, how it is worked out and swells.
Believe me, after this method, yours will tear, and the weight will be 5 kg. will seem catastrophically heavy and difficult, but the muscles will be 100% worked out. neck or, at the same time, after completing the approach to the bench press, actively use the rest to train the lower leg.
As a result of such manipulations, you load more muscles, which contributes to an increase in muscle volume, while saving valuable time.
conclusions
Use these 5 ways to solve the problem of how to accelerate muscle growth while saving time. I want to focus on supersets and drop sets, you shouldn’t perform them endlessly, use them from time to time, for example, 2 execution workouts - 3 rest workouts, otherwise it’s likely that muscle growth will slow down, and the period will increase.
What exercises to use.
The main training time should be occupied by “basic exercises”, we use additional exercises to more fully refine the muscles and work on local areas, if necessary. Basic exercises allow you to give the muscles the maximum load, performing these exercises, you can completely squeeze out their capabilities from the muscles. Basic exercises are a real battle with iron, which hardens the body. The peculiarity of these exercises is that they provide the most favorable position for the development of the effort of a certain muscle group. What exercises are considered basic ... Powerlifting fans say that there are only three basic exercises (bench press, squat and deadlift), weightlifters will say that the basic ones are snatch, push, pull and squat. Bodybuilders and strength athletes have different lists. Each strength sport has its own training preferences. I want to look at the question a little more broadly and offer you a definition of a basic exercise:
1. the basic exercise must be performed with a barbell (exceptions: push-ups on the uneven bars and pull-ups on the crossbar);
2. the exercise involves large muscle groups;
3. this is a multi-joint exercise, that is, movement occurs in at least two joints;
4. this is an anatomically convenient position for the development of effort.
List of basic basic exercises:
1. Press up standing or sitting;
2. Bench press horizontal or inclined;
3. Close grip bench press;
4. Push-ups on the uneven bars;
5. Deadlift;
6. Pull-ups or traction from above;
7. Rod pull to the belt in the slope;
8. Squats with a barbell on the shoulders or on the chest;
9. Bending the arms with a barbell while standing (biceps);
10. French press (triceps).
Let me also remind you of two classic weightlifting exercises - the snatch and the clean and jerk, which I love very much, but except for weightlifters, almost no one uses them because of the complexity of execution and the high risk of injury. These movements were designed for efficient, powerful effort to lift the maximum weight overhead, but they can really only be learned under the guidance of a trainer.
Strive to increase the working weights in the exercises. The body builds muscle to overcome stress, and the heavier the barbells you lift, the more muscle you have to build. This means that you must constantly strive to increase working weights and the body will have to adapt to increasing loads and strengthen and build muscles more and more. Think not how to increase muscle, but how to increase the weight of the barbell that you lift. Dumbbell as much as 10 kg. powerful hands never pump up! Lifting small weights twenty times, of course, you improve health, muscle shape and develop endurance, but not strength and muscle mass. Find a strong guy with developed pectoral muscles in the gym and ask how much he presses while lying down ... While you press a barbell of 70 or 80 kg ... well, the body will not build big muscles, because there are enough of these, it will simply strengthen what is. I'm not saying that in the first month of training you should bend all the barbells in the gym, I'm just showing the right direction of development. Be sure to follow the technique of performing exercises, be sure to recover well after training and slowly, kilogram by kilogram, move forward. Human possibilities are huge and you are no exception.
Rest time between sets. When working to develop muscle relief in the range of 10-15 repetitions - rest between sets of 1-2 minutes. If you are training with heavy weights to increase muscle mass by 5-12 repetitions - rest 2-4 minutes. In the power range, 1-4 repetitions with near maximum weights - rest 3-5 minutes. The principle is this - the closer the weight of the burden to your maximum, the longer the rest. If you are developing muscle mass and strength, then between sets, allow the muscles to restore energy levels so that you can give it your best again in the new set. However, if you rest for more than five minutes, you cool down, lose your training pace, and prolong your workout. The optimal rest time is about three minutes, during which time the energy level in the muscles has time to recover enough, but if you have a very difficult set ahead and you feel that you have not rested, add another minute or two. If you are interested in general physical development with a moderate increase in mass and strength, or you want to work on muscle relief, then reduce the rest time to 1-2 minutes.
Change your training programs at least every 8 weeks. Performing constantly the same load for a long time, the muscles and nervous system get used to it and progress slows down or stops. Training should not be boring and monotonous, constantly “surprise” the muscles and get good progress in return. On the other hand, for the load to work, you need to work out the program for some time, you need the muscles to master the program and react to it. The optimal period is about 8 weeks, there are complex programs for a longer period. When you've worked through a workout program and made progress, you can say "skimmed" that program, it's time to switch and work a little differently, then if you want, you can return to your favorite program again. When switching to a new program, you must change at least one of these items:
1. Selection of exercises. The basis is basic exercises, but select different auxiliary ones. Let's say you've been doing bench press and dumbbell bench press for 8 weeks, now do bench press and incline bench press. Changing exercises will allow you to develop muscles more versatile.
2. Number of exercises. You can do only two or three exercises per workout for 5-6 sets each, or you can do five exercises for three sets. You can also focus on certain muscles, doing more approaches on them, but you will have to do less on others, do not forget that the body has limited resources for recovery.
3. Intensity and volume of loads. Change the number of sets, repetitions per set and the degree of weights. If in one program you performed basic exercises for 6-8 repetitions with a load of 70-80% of the maximum, performing 4-5 sets, then in the next use, for example, 3-5 repetitions with loads of 80-90% of the maximum in 3-4 approaches. Then take a break from heavy weights and pump the muscles for 8-10 repetitions with a load of 70-75%.
4. Weekly plan - layout of exercises by day of the week. For example, you trained according to such a plan MO (chest + triceps), SR (legs + biceps), PT (back + shoulders), in the following program you can try MO (chest + biceps), SR (back + triceps), PT (legs +shoulders).
5. Methods of training. There are many different ways, methods and tricks for working out muscles. Read them in the following articles.
Warm up rule- the harder your first working set, the more warm-up (and lead-up) sets you need to do. For example, you plan to squat with a 60kg barbell - 3x8, so the warm-up will be 20kgx10 and 40kgx8, but if you are going to squat 120kg - 5x3, then the warm-up will be 60kgx8, 80kgx5, 100kgx3, 110kgx3. That is, the closer the working weight is to your 1RM (maximum in one repetition), the longer you need to warm up. Let me remind you that the maximum strength in a particular exercise is the maximum weight that you can lift in one repetition, in this exercise.
Ready-made effective training programs are in the section
