Every bodybuilder achieves this result when the muscles stop progressing. Adaptation to the training process takes place. How to replace a program without compromising muscle mass, you can learn from this article. Any athlete has noticed that after training one muscle group, fatigue and pain are felt in completely different ones. During this period, the body is not adapted to stress and prolonged physical exercise, so you have to use a huge amount of strength and energy. After a couple of weeks in the gym, coordination will be much better. Then the athlete begins to understand his body and make the target muscle groups work.
Protein synthesis process
In the initial stages of intense exercise, the nervous system adapts. Muscles receive a signal to develop in order to cope with exercise. As you know, the main source of energy for the human body is formed in cells. They feed on ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Protein synthesis is essential for the growth of muscle tissue. As soon as there is not enough ATP, a signal is sent to the cell nucleus. Due to this, additional energy is generated, supercompensation occurs.
In order for this mechanism to work smoothly, it is necessary to provide a regular increased load. Insufficient training will not deplete ATP stores, therefore, protein synthesis will not occur in the amount required for the desired results. Each approach should last at least a minute. Only in this way can the muscles receive a tangible load, and the maximum synthesis process will occur.
After a long period of training (more than a year), the athlete is faced with such a problem as stagnation. During this period, muscle mass stops growing, many argue that this is a genetic predisposition. In practice, this limit is very difficult to overcome. Proper nutrition, supplemental sports supplements, and increasing weight gain on a regular basis will help you overcome this condition. You will have to work hard and purposefully.
New programs for progress
It is important to understand that you cannot pump the body in one training session. Experienced athletes say that it is easiest for beginners to pick up a new program. To change the workload of muscle groups, absolutely any scheme is suitable. The main thing is to replace the usual exercises.
Every bodybuilder strives to ensure that his body quickly adapts to load stress, but in no case adapts to the exercises themselves. With each additional weight gain, muscle endurance increases and tissue hypertrophies. But it often happens that the perceptible pounds do not affect the growth of muscle mass.
Only new exercises will provide the body with more stress. Many do not change their technique, but simply increase the load. This affects the recovery process and, at the same time, not in the best way. Having reached a certain level of development, significant muscle damage occurs. This reaction of the body continues with the release of cortisol. This hormone is responsible for breaking down damaged muscle fibers. Therefore, if you perform the next set after set, then there will be a regression of muscle mass.
There are smart people who say that prolonged loads (more than 45 minutes) are necessary to trigger growth hormone. But cortisol is also awake. It turns out that there is a negative factor for one positive factor, and in total it is a completely unprofitable combination of hormones. Excess cortisol has a suppressive effect on growth hormone.
Therefore, if an athlete is interested in increasing growth hormone, then special injections should be purchased. From the natural amount of this hormone, the benefits will be almost zero.
Illustrative example
It is best to use visual examples to understand the information. Athletes value the personal experience of outstanding athletes. Therefore, to understand how to turn a workout into an intense workout, we turn to the observations of one of the bodybuilders. Of course, such a training scheme should not be considered as the leading one. It is necessary to understand once and for all: in order to pump the body competently, an individual adjustment to all exercises is necessary.
After a year of training, the athlete notices that progress stops. His height was 177 cm, and the guy weighed 70 kg. This indicator froze catastrophically on the spot. The young athlete turned his attention to the book by Mike Mentzer, in which the author talks about how to pump through pauses and intensive trainings.
For example, to train your arms, you need to do 3-5 reps to failure. After the weight or number of repetitions is reduced, two more are done. It is recommended to pause for ten seconds between mini-sets. Hand training for the above athlete was carried out once a week. After three weeks, the diameter of the muscle increased by an inch.
This athlete drew conclusions, like many other beginner pitching: if you do it twice a week, you can increase the size of the biceps by two centimeters. The theory was not confirmed in practice: in a month, the previous centimeter was lost, since the muscles did not have time to recover. This experience forced the athlete to abandon further experiment with this hand program.
A few years later, the same athlete came across his notes. By the way, everyone should have a notebook in which they will describe their workouts and record their progress. So you can analyze your shortcomings, avoiding mistakes in the future. After analyzing the written information, the guy decided to try this technique again.
The main work was focused on calves (40 cm were before the start of the training). Eight reps to failure were performed. After that, there were 8 more forced reps and the same number of negative reps. The first break happened for 20 days, the guy claims that the pain was palpable. Then 10 days were allocated for rest before the next pumping of calves. The result of the training pleased me - the size increased by 1, 8 cm.
A year later, this program has undergone changes, as there was another stagnation. Now the games were pumped according to the following program: lifting on toes, in a sitting position (one set), lifting on toes, standing (one set). In each set, 100 reps were done - this is an incredible load. It is worth noting that not every beginner athlete can cope with it.
In two weeks there were 2 workouts, with a long rest before each day of squats. As a result, the caviar increased by 1, 2 centimeters. After a couple of months, the athlete switched to 20 repetitions (squats), for the main working set there was only one workout per week. There was progress - the caviar grew by a centimeter.
By changing the program, you can jump over your limit. Of course it won't happen in a week. To do this, you need to change programs and increase the number of repetitions in proportion to the increase in the time interval under load. Only this kind of stress will give growth, and not cause overtraining.
The second option is a very common case when it comes to novice bodybuilders who train on their own. You cannot overestimate your strength and physical capabilities. This approach to training is fraught with negative consequences.
Tips for changing your workout routine
If, nevertheless, a young athlete decided to arrange training stress for the body, it is worth understanding the unshakable truth:
- You need to regularly replace training programs. There will be no gain if the muscle tissue adapts to the available exercise.
- As a rule, adaptation takes place within 3-6 months. Therefore, it is important to record all results and metrics. This will make it impossible to get confused in the programs, and you will understand what works best.
- Each athlete should select an individual number of repetitions. Otherwise, excessive stress will lead to the destruction of muscle fibers. This activates the hormone cortisol, which prevents muscles from growing. In the body, everything is natural, and you need to approach training wisely.
- When composing a training plan, you need to take into account that there are fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle groups. For the first group, it is dangerous to do a lot of repetitions, while the others will not respond to the technique with significant rest. Progress will only happen if the athlete understands how all muscle groups work. The anatomy of the human body will have to be studied in any case.
- Exercise changes should only be done for one muscle group. If you replace the entire training program at once, then it is guaranteed that you can earn a state of overtraining. This will adversely affect the health of the body, and a disorder of the nervous system will occur.
- Often, you can't go through programs either - this approach will only confuse your muscles. Everything should be in moderation and well thought out. Otherwise, confusion will occur, and the bodybuilder will not be able to choose the optimal training program for himself.
Watch a video on drawing up a training program:
No one is immune from stagnation in development. To leapfrog their limits, some use stimulant supplements, and some go through training programs. The second option is desirable for young athletes who can fight the natural limits of their body. There is enough chemistry for everyone, but not everyone has the patience and desire to achieve muscle growth in a natural way.
