Unfortunately over the years there has been a growth of strength training and muscle gain programs that have no scientific proof to back them up. Review these facts presented in this article of muscle gain principles and make up your own mind.
I decided to list some Scientific Guidelines for strength training that have been around for a long time. The unfortunate reality is that many training systems don’t follow these guidelines these days.
Limited Energy Level
Due to the limited amount of energy you have per training session, you should keep your strength training session short and simple. The fact is that blood sugar levels (energy) start to diminish after 30 minutes of exercise, so it is crucial that the exercises you choose be specific and short. The key is to stimulate as many muscle fibers in the shortest amount of time.
Since our blood sugar levels begin to deplete 20-30 minutes into your workout you need to remember that you will also need energy to recover immediately after you workout as well.
Performing a high intensity workout before your blood sugar levels deplete is the key to gain the most amount of muscle possible. That can be a little tricky.
Progressive Overload
The main principle that you need to be aware of is the Progressive overload principle. Keeping this principle in mind will get you the strength training results your are looking for.
The two most important points are:
- Complete your exercise with perfect technique
- Push to total failure when doing a set and overload the weight on the bar progressively. (Overload your targeted muscles to beyond what there used to)
Essentially, when the body is stressed with high intensity training, more than what it’s used to, it will adapt by increasing strength. This way when it is faced with more resistance it will be able to handle it by increasing your strength.
When I say “normal demands,” I mean what level of stress/strength your body is used to now.
An example: After you have placed a greater demand on your body with an intense training session it will adapt so that when it is faced with a similar demand in the future it will be prepared. However, if you stay at this level your muscles will not become stronger or bigger, so this is where the Progressive Overload plays a major part.
Once your muscles have adapted to a particular weight you must increase the demand (more weight, faster running, more reps) in order to continuously overload them. You’ll need to keep on repeating this process of overload if you want to become stronger.
An important nore to this is that you must remember to use good form. Your form must never be sacrificed for extra load.
The type of training that you find while paging through bodybuilding books and magazines are high volume type of training. But the sad reality is that it is irrelevant to the majority of the population and has a shocking failure rate.
What is good for Joe Star is probably not good for you. The Individual Differences identifies that everybody has different genetics; most of us have poor genetics and are not taking steroids like the some of the stars. For the rest of us the only way to make gains is the perform short intense workouts followed by long periods of rest. If you end up over training you will never succeed and can cause long lasting injury.
Over-Compensation
This Principle is so important yet so many don’t understand it or apply it. Scientific studies have shown clear evidence that recovery from strength training requires more rest time. High intense, short, infrequent training session followed by time to recover is necessary for you to increase your functional muscle. Allowing your body enough time to recover and for over compensation to take place is what you need to do. Allow your body enough recuperation time so that the muscles can adjust to their new strength and growth.
Exercise selection for intensity
One of the most crucial points that can not be stressed enough is exercise selection. There are truly only a few exercises that you really need in order to gain the most size and strength.. These exercises consist of multi-joint movements. These particular exercises are far superior to that of isolation exercises (working 1 muscle group at a time) because you are required to use more muscles from every muscle group. By using these exercises your whole body will be worked hard.
Visualization
Over my 20 years in the industry, I’ve noticed that this area is by far the most neglected by mainstream health and fitness professionals…Most books or courses concentrate on the physical side of muscle gain or fat loss and completely neglect the mental side of things.
By training your mental state as well as your physical body you can even further progress in muscle growth.
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