- Good article on why people dont get the most out of their training... There are a lot of people, who go regularly to the gym, but do not seem to make any progress. You see them training for months, even years, but they have not gotten stronger or fitter in any way! They often make up excuses for their lack of progress like “It’s my genetics!” or “You have to take steroids to build serious muscle and I ain’t doin’ that!”. While we can dismiss those statements as rubbish, there are certain BIG mistakes, that a lot of people do in the gym! Here is a list of the most common and hindering mistakes people succumb to: 1. Not training hard enough! Hard training is the key to progress! There are a lot of people at the gym who go around chatting and making long pauses between sets or even telling stories while doing biceps curls or bench pressing! That is certainly a no progress formula! Understand this: You have to push yourself to the limit every time you work out and go out of your comfort zone. It is when your body goes out of its comfort zone, that makes it go “Aha, I need to develop!” 2. Improper Technique – Doing exercises incorrectly is not only dangerous and promotes injuries, but it also reduces the effect of the exercises on the muscle tissue. For example, not going all the way down to a dead hang when doing pull-ups stresses the back and arm muscles much less than doing pull-ups properly. Doing deadlifts with a bend back is not only very bad for the back, but it also impairs the involvement of the muscles that are supposed to be trained when deadlifting (glutes and back). 3. Using the wrong tempo – Fast and powerful lifts develop strength and power output. Sets for strength and power usually range to up to 5 reps. If you want to focus on building muscle mass, you have to focus on controlled concentric lifts and concentrate on slowly doing the eccentric part of the lift. It is the eccentric part of an exercise stresses the muscle fibers the most and mainly contributes to muscle hypertrophy! You should also keep the reps in the 8-12 range. So banging 10 reps at the bench press really fast isn’t going to make that chest grow! 4. Focusing on what you do best - Do not understand me wrong, doing exercises that you are naturally good at is not bad, but focusing on them and neglecting the ones you suck at deteriorates your progress. To build the functional and aesthetic body you want, you have to do the exercises that are hard for you and (I’ll say it again) make you go out of your comfort zone! 5. Not doing the big lifts– The big lifts are the main exercises than develop strength and power. They are also the ones that stimulate the most muscle mass. The stronger you are at those exercises the more reps you will be able to do at complementary exercises, such as bicep curls of chest flies. Furthermore, you will be able to lift more weight in the 8-12 range, when doing the big lifts as well. 6. Not getting enough sleep – GH (Growth Hormone), the main hormone, responsible for muscle anabolism, is synthesized when you sleep, and only whenyou sleep! Be sure to sleep a minimum of 7 hours a night, preferably 8. While the occasional lack of sleep is not that bad, chronic undersleep reduces the recuperating abilities of the body and causes higher levels of the catabolic hormone cortisol! 7. Improper Nutrition – No workout can balance a bad diet! Binging on doughnuts and chips after a workout is not a proper diet! You have to consume enough protein (about 1 gram per pound bodyweight a day), fiber and complex carbohydrates, if you want your body to have the proper building blocks, with which to build the body you worked for so hard in the gym!
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 09:12:28 +0000
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