Your workouts should be very demanding. They should be intense
and very focused. With this intensity comes the need to rest to
allow your muscles to fully recuperate from the demand that you
have placed on them.
Muscle growth is achieved by progressively overloading the
muscles and forcing them to adapt by adding new muscle to handle
future demands. However, if you never allow your muscles to
fully recuperate, they will not be able to handle any new
demands placed upon them.
They’ll start getting weaker from less rest. That is how
plateaus happen.
We’re going to take necessary steps to combat this problem. We
are going to systematically wipe out long-lasting plateaus,
forever. We do this by training smarter, not just harder.
Proper rest and recovery from working out is so important, it
literally is the deciding force behind results and no results.
We need an in-depth look as to how to fully recuperate and
ensure max recovery.
Here are some steps you can use immediately to avoid over
training and hitting a plateau.
1. Keep workouts short and sweet. Your weight training should be
just that, training with weights and not mixing cardio with it.
Workouts do not need to be long to be effective, in fact, if
they are too long, they are counter-productive.
The goal of weight training is to go into the gym and stimulate
muscle growth, not to annihilate the muscles. By stimulating
them with progressive overload, you are forcing them to respond
and adapt to this progressive overload. Anything more is futile
over training.
2. Do not turn your weight training workouts into endurance
events. Do not try to “burn fat” while weight training because
you will not achieve it.
Do not make your workouts longer thinking that more time equals
more results. Keep your weight training brief and focused.
Complete your workout in less than 45 minutes. This short time
period will ensure you do not over do it, it will ensure
intensity.
It’s much easier to focus for 30-45 minutes than it is an hour.
The growth-assisting hormones secreted in your body actually
peak after about 30 minutes of weight training and then begin to
decline rapidly. So keep it quick and intense. No total body
workout. Choose one or two muscle groups, train them well, and
leave under 45 minutes.
3. Keep a lower rep range. If you can lift a weight more than
six or seven times on the last set or two of an exercise, the
weight is too light and is not producing overload for your
muscles.
However, if you cannot get at least three or four, the weight is
too heavy and you may not be benefiting from it. Keep your range
between four and six reps give or take a rep. This low range
will ensure maximum overload and increased intensity. Four to
six reps get the job done efficiently and more effectively than
higher reps with lower weight.
Remember, overload (weight) builds muscle, not reps. Keeping
reps low ensures more overload and it is also easier to
intensely focus on four to six reps than it is for more than ten.
4. Keep a low number of sets. Again, weight training is no
marathon. You only need one to two heavy sets of an exercise to
stimulate muscle growth. Less may not be enough stimulation and
more may lead to over training. If you feel that you did not
work a muscle sufficiently after your two heavy sets,
I question the amount of weight or your intensity on those sets.
You should feel as though you probably couldn’t do another set
as effectively as your last one. Remember, its not the quantity
of sets that matter, it’s the quality. You will achieve better
results with two fabulous, hard-working sets than would you with
three or four less-intense sets.
Believe me, there is a very fine line between doing too many
sets and not enough. The line seems to be around one to two
heavy sets. There is no law that states if you double the amount
of sets, you double your results. More isn’t better, better is
better.
5. Rest enough between your sets. Rest at least a minute between
your warm-up sets and at least two minutes between your heavy
sets. You need to recuperate enough to handle the demand the
next set is going to place upon your muscles.
You cannot expend maximum energy on an exercise if you are still
fatigued from the last set. You will not be able to lift as much
weight or as many reps if you are not rested enough. There is no
set amount of time to rest, just feel rested enough so that you
can meet or exceed the efforts of your previous set.
If you performed a 250-pound bench press for six reps, you need
to rest enough so that you can meet or exceed that set. Think of
it as a high point that you must reach each and every time you
do a set. Without adequate rest, that high point cannot be
reached. If the high point isn’t reached again, that set was a
waste of time.
6. Get adequate rest before working the same muscle group again.
Heavy and intense weight training produces microscopic fiber
damage to the muscles. It is this damage and rebuilding which
causes a muscle to get bigger and stronger.
Without proper rest between workouts of the same muscle group,
you will not recover sufficiently to handle placing more
overload on that muscle group. Again, if your muscles cannot
handle the overload, results are diminished. You should wait at
least five to seven days between working the same muscle group.
If you train biceps on Monday, wait until the following Monday
to ensure they are rested enough.
Training them prior may create an over training environment.
Remember that they will get worked while performing other
exercises, so they actually are not fully resting all week. One
of the most important things you can do for yourself is to start
“listening” to how your body feels. Learn to gauge your recovery
time and start training more on how you feel rather than on a
schedule set in stone.
For example, if you train your biceps Monday and then come next
Monday, for whatever reason, they are still aching sore, give
them another day’s rest. Do you truly feel you will be able to
lift with maximum overload and intensity with overly sore
biceps? You are lifting for progress, not just for the act of
lifting some weight. If a muscle group is still very sore, there
is still some fiber damage creating that soreness that needs to
heal.
Training with sore muscles is like trying to shovel your way out
of a hole. You get nowhere. Taking an extra day off to rest will
ensure the next day’s workout produce results. If increasing
muscle strength and size is a goal, you need to create an
environment where they are able to perform at their maximum, not
when they are sore.
7. Take a break after two months of training. After every two
months of intense, solid training, take an entire week off from
weight training and cardio. Two months of constant training
likely will take a toll on your muscles’ ability to recover.
You must allow them to recover by having them take a break. Do
not allow the alleged psychological barrier of taking a week off
stand in your way. You may be thinking you will lose ground by
taking time off, but nothing can be further from the truth.
8. To avoid over training and hitting a plateau in the weight
room, do not over do your cardio workout. Keep your cardio at
three to four sessions per week, 20-30 minutes a session.
Too many cardio days or too long of a cardio session negatively
impacts our muscle-building efforts. Cardio actually reduces the
body’s production of testosterone, the main hormone responsible
for building lean muscle. Too much cardio will cause you to be
sore more often. Again, learn to listen to your body.
This week will allow your body to rest and heal and come back
stronger and more energetic. You will be more focused and
intense. During this week off, continue proper nutrition for it
is during this week that you need to ensure your muscles are
getting fed properly.
This week off is where much of your muscle growth takes place.
You are letting your body recover from the previous cumulative
weeks of working out and it is time for them to recharge. I was
skeptical about taking a week off the first time I tried it.
When I came back to the gym after the week off, I was more
energetic and stronger. My bench press increased by over five
pounds my first day back. I am no longer a skeptic.
If you feel you have hit a plateau, immediately take a week off.
You may just need some rest. Use this time to heal and continue
to eat properly.
Make sure your protein level is high for this is the time your
muscles need the building blocks to work with. This rest and
proper nutrition will be very anabolic (muscle building) to your
body. It may be all you need to bust through that plateau.
One way not to overcome a plateau is by trying to work through
it. You cannot make something better by doing what it was that
caused it in the first place!
These are a few things you can do to avoid over training and
hitting a plateau. Stick with low reps, short workouts, plenty
of rest between heavy sets, and take time off every 2 months of
training. Keep setting high standards and strive to reach them
each time you step into the gym. Do not talk yourself into a
plateau.
