Add Intensity To Your Muscle Building Workout
by Rick
Mitchell
zone3
One of the biggest difficulties facing bodybuilders is how can they be
sure that all muscle fibers have been recruited and exhausted during a
given exercise and it is only by achieving this that muscle gains can be
maximised.
The simple answer is, you have work beyond failure and
experience a higher level of training intensity than before. This also
ensures that workouts remain challenging and continue to engender progress
over time thus reducing the likelihood of regression.
But how do
you go about intensifying your training? Fortunately there is a tried and
tested path to follow as outlined below:
1. Increase resistance -
increasing the weight lifted in meaningful increments ensures the muscle
is pushed beyond its previous point of failure thus maintaining the muscle
building process. Aim to increase the weight when you reach six to eight
reps and failure does not occur.
2. Change the exercise - to
achieve maximal gains all muscle fibers in a body part must be trained.
Changing the angle (e.g to incline bench press) or introducing a new
exercise will stimulate growth.
3. Reduce rest intervals - giving
the muscles less time to recover before exposing them to further work has
the effect of increasing intensity.
4. Pre-exhaustion - when an
exercise involves two or more muscles the weakest will prevent you from
working the primary muscle to failure. The answer is to first isolate and
tire the primary muscle before immediately moving to another exercise that
works the set of muscles to failure.
5. Introduce supersets - this
involves performing two exercises for the same muscle group without a rest
interval. This means you have to utilize different muscle fibers which
stimulate greater growth.
6. Use partial reps - at the point of
failure you will not be able to complete the full range of movement for a
given exercise. Completing a partial rep that uses only a segment of the
lift will still work your muscles beyond the point of failure. This
technique is especially useful to advanced bodybuilders as it allows them
to increase intensity without adding extra routines that could cause
overtraining.
7. Use isometric contractions - this involves holding
the weight still at the point of failure to stimulate a static contraction
in the muscle.
8. Employ forced reps - this involves completing one
or more final reps after the point of failure has been reached. You will
need the assistance of an experienced helper to attempt this.
Once
you have added these techniques to your training regimen you'll know
you've done your best to maximize muscle growth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com website
that provides guidance and information to athletes at all levels of
bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding
Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this
article.
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