Annihilate Physical and Mental Plateaus in Your Training

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Success is the enemy of progress.

From the time we decide to pursue a goal until the time we achieve it we experience tremendous growth. In the world of bodybuilding and fitness we have the added benefit of that growth not only being mental and emotional, but physical as well.

The trouble is…

Achieving our desired outcome can put the proverbial breaks on further gains.

The great business coach Dan Sullivan referred to this phenomenon in his book, How the Best Get Better, as, “The ceiling of complexity”.

But since we’re not talking business let’s look at an example from the standpoint of exercise.

We decide one day that we need to dial our training up a notch.  We look to a challenging exercise like squats and we say to ourselves, “I’m going add thirty pounds to my personal best on this exercise no matter what it takes”.

squats 3

Over the next 7, 8, 9 weeks you make steady progress toward your goal.  You’re in the gym grinding, you’re constantly analyzing your form and looking for ways to overcome your weak points, you’re slugging back your protein shakes and carbing up before your workouts, and making sure to get plenty of beauty sleep.

Then, on week 10, you do it.  You smash your previous bests as you hoist thirty more pounds on your squat.  You’re glaring back at the old you and laugh at what a wimp he was.

The accomplishment was great, but here comes the ceiling of complexity.

Over the next couple of weeks things are great as you post videos of your new found strength all over Facebook and collect a ton of “Likes”.  Your motivation is still very high.

But gradually things start to get stale.  Motivation is waning and you are no longer doing all the little things that helped propel you to the top of the mountain.  Instead of standing at the peak you settle on a plateau.

Plateau Point sign

As frustrated as plateaus make us there is solution for overcoming them, and the ceiling of complexity.

Set your sights on a greater goal BEFORE achieving the original one.

A friend recently asked, “How do I mentally and physically work through plateaus in training and progress. Specifically when trying to maintain muscle mass and strength while also cutting body-fat.”

Losing body-fat while maintaining muscle and strength is hard and there are a lot of moving parts and details to be addressed.  But it is something many bodybuilders routinely accomplish.

The answer to working mentally and physically through plateaus is to avoid them altogether (unless you’ve planned for down period.).  In order to evade plateaus you need to keep growing as Dan Sullivan would say.

You only grow when you are intensely focused on an objective.  The goal is what keeps you mentally in the game, and that translates to keeping you physically in it as well.

Some may view this as Goal Setting 101 but it goes well beyond that.

It’s about anticipating success and guarding against its ugly side-effect…complacency.  Complacency is what results in plateaus, and plateaus result in relapses.

Bruce Lee put it best when he said,

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life.  There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and yo must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

The Truth about Missed Workouts and Detraining on Muscle & Strength Gains

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He felt panic stricken.  What was he going to do?  He spent at least seven hours a week, every week for the last eleven months working to increase is bench and add more muscle.  At nineteen years old he was at his peak (so he thought) and this upcoming week was about to squash all the work he’d put in.  The same thing happened to him last year during the same week so you thought he would have learned by now.

It was June and he was home from college for the summer.  As a lacrosse player, he loved the sport but loved training more.  The hours spent in the gym smashing personal bests gave him more satisfaction than scoring goals.

That’s what made this week so hard.  There would not be a single minute for him to spend in the gym.  The lacrosse camp he was a coach and counselor at for this one week each June was massive—thousands of kids.  And with so many kids running around on and off the field there was not a spare minute in the day.

Not being able to train ate way at him every day.

He was excited when day six finally arrived.  Time to go home!

He walked in the door said a quick hello to his parents and within minutes he was back out the door, in the car, and heading to the gym.

Gym time

He got under the bench for his first couple of warm-up sets.

“Whoa, that felt easy” he thought to himself.

And then he moved onto his working set.  With one-eighty-five on the bar he was expecting to push out his usual six reps.  But after he completed eight it hit him that the week off didn’t hurt him one bit.

Not the type to put two and two together he just thought how “lucky” he was to have not lost any strength.  Never mind that he just bested his last four bench press workouts.

What can I say, I’m a slow learner.  :-)

People get neurotic about their training.

Missed workout

We all agree, a healthy commitment to exercise and nutrition is great.  But when a commitment turns into an obsession—usually in the case of body dysmorphic disorders—it’s never a pretty sight.  I would not go so far to say I suffered from a disorder (I always maintained some sensibility about how I looked) mine was more of a compulsion.

I worked hard, earned my gains and yearned for more.  I would guess you and I are probably similar that way.  It’s very normal to be concerned that too much time away from the gym will result in regression.

But…

Is all the unrest we feel about time away from the gym warranted?

If we rely on the empirical evidence the answer is, no.

If rely on the research, the answer is still, no.

Research published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology in 2013 (Ogasawara R1, Yasuda T, Ishii N, Abe T.) [1] compared the effects of a periodic resistance training (PTR) program with those of a continuous resistance training (CTR) program on muscle size and function.

The CTR group trained continuously over a 24-week period, whereas the PTR group performed three cycles of 6-week training (or retraining), with 3-week detraining periods between training cycles. After an initial 6 weeks of training, increases in cross-sectional area (CSA) of the triceps brachii and pectoralis major muscles and maximum isometric voluntary contraction of the elbow extensors and 1-RM were similar between the two groups.

 

In the CTR group, muscle CSA and strength gradually increased during the initial 6 weeks of training. However, the rate of increase in muscle CSA and 1-RM decreased gradually after that.

 

In the PTR group, increase in muscle CSA and strength during the first 3-week detraining/6-week retraining cycle were similar to that in the CTR group during the corresponding period. However, increase in muscle CSA and strength during the second 3-week detraining/6-week retraining cycle were significantly higher in the PTR group than in the CTR group.

 

Thus, overall improvements in muscle CSA and strength were similar between the groups. The results indicate that 3-week detraining/6-week retraining cycles result in muscle hypertrophy similar to that occurring with continuous resistance training after 24 weeks.

Another study from 2000; Neuromuscular adaptation during prolonged strength training, detraining and re-strength-training in middle-aged and elderly people (Häkkinen K1, Alen M, Kallinen M, Newton RU, Kraemer WJ) [2] provides further evidence that 3 weeks of not training will have an inconsequential impact on muscular size and strength.

According to the researchers findings:  Short-term detraining (3 weeks) led to only minor changes, while prolonged detraining (24 weeks) resulted in muscle atrophy and decreased voluntary strength…

Barring injury or some traumatic event anyone moderately committed to maintaining their fitness is unlikely to miss 24 straight weeks of training.

More is to be gained, not lost, from detraining.

Most encouraging about this study and confirmed by others [3,4] is that there is no inhibition of muscular or strength adaptations upon returning to training.  But all of us life-long lifters already recognized this, we call it “Muscle Memory.”

In fact in many instances results upon re-training after a week or two of detraining exceeded previous bests.  This was my experience at nineteen after returning from a [forced] week off from training.  And the scenario has played out hundreds of other times with personal training clients who—fearful that the past 4 months of progress would be wiped away by their upcoming two week vacation—would come back stronger and sometimes looking better.

We shouldn’t be surprise when we consider the effect continuous training can have on the Central Nervous System (CNS) and General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), as well as how it can blunt anabolic signaling.  Taking a week or more off can help all of our physiological systems fully recover and desensitize us to training.  All of which are necessary for long-term gains.

Periodization has shown us the way.

As someone who is focused primarily on muscle hypertrophy and building functional strength, and not demonstrating strength (as in the case of a powerlifter or O-lifter), I’m not a big fan of Western Periodization.  However, conceptually, it’s spot on.  Especially when you view it through the prism of the GAS.

GAS

Periods of exercise stress must be followed by periods of rest so the body can overcompensate for and adapt to the stress.  In the same way Western Periodization breaks up your training into cycles that focus on a particular adaptation, you want to have specified periods of increased or varied training demands accompanied by periods of lesser demands and layoffs.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, almost to the point of sounding like an iPod stuck on repeat—building muscle is metabolically demanding.  Our body will seek out any way, other than building muscle, to increase strength and contend with the demands placed on it through exercise.

That’s why a linear training and recovery model is only beneficial to advanced trainees striving to maintain their gains.

The more our intensity, volume, frequency, method of rep/set performance, exercise selection, etc. remains the same the more sensitized we become to it.   The stubborn nineteen year old couldn’t wrap his thick skull around the idea that time away from the gym is good for gains.

What-Rest-Days-Feel-Like

But that’s not to say there are not legitimate concerns about detraining.

The two that most quickly jumps to mind for those aesthetically ambitious is fat accumulation resulting from diminished activity and a loss of muscle fullness.

However these are concerns that can easily be addressed and rectified:

To avoid fat gain requires a simple recalculation in caloric intake.  Accounting for the calories you won’t be burning through exercise while remaining at or below your maintenance levels will impede any potential fat storage. …Simply solution to a simple problem.

Next, loss of muscle fullness is the result of glycogen degradation.  Meaning your muscles are not overcompensating for the glycogen depleted during muscular contractions.  This trend reverses immediately upon returning to training.

If you’re taking a week off from training this change is nearly unnoticeable.  But if you plan to take more than one week off from purposeful training then you might implement one or two very light workouts a week in which you get a moderate pump, deplete some glycogen, but do not disrupt systemic recovery.

Aside from unease about potential aesthetic deviations the only other observed negative effect in some studies (and validated through personal experience) is a short lived decrease in metabolic conditioning.  Upon resuming training subjects/clients fatigued after fewer exercises than is typical or required slightly longer rest between exercises.  In my experience most trainees regain their previous level of conditioning after 1-4 workouts.

One step back and two steps forward.

As much evidence as there is to support detraining it should be understood that it is not a license to fly by the seat of your pants.  These periods must be planned.  They should be built around periods of heavy demands so you can take advantage of heightened anabolic signaling (5) and desensitization to training on the frontend (like when you were a beginner and made rapid gains) and unimpeded recovery on the backend so you can overcompensate and adapt to the demands.

The question is: are you willing to give little in order to get a little more?

References:

1. Ogasawara R1, Yasuda T, Ishii N, Abe T.  Comparison of muscle hypertrophy following 6-month of continuous and periodic strength training. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2013 Apr;113(4):975-85. doi: 10.1007/s00421-012-2511-9. Epub 2012 Oct 6. 

2.  Häkkinen K1, Alen M, Kallinen M, Newton RU, Kraemer WJ. Neuromuscular adaptation during prolonged strength training, detraining and re-strength-training in middle-aged and elderly people.  Eur J Appl Physiol. 2000 Sep;83(1):51-62.

3. . Ogasawara R1, Yasuda T, Sakamaki M, Ozaki H, Abe T.  Effects of periodic and continued resistance training on muscle CSA and
strength in previously untrained men. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2011 Sep;31(5):399-404. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-097X.2011.01031.x. Epub 2011 May 31

4.  Bruusgaard JC, Johansen IB, Egner IM, Rana ZA, Gundersen K. Myonuclei acquired by overload exercise precede hypertrophy and are not lost on detraining.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 24;107(34):15111-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0913935107. Epub 2010 Aug 16

5.  Ogasawara R1, Kobayashi K, Tsutaki A, Lee K, Abe T, Fujita S, Nakazato K, Ishii N. mTOR signaling response to resistance exercise is altered by chronic resistance training and detraining in skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2013 Apr;114(7):934-40. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01161.2012. Epub 2013 Jan 31

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The Pump, Occlusion Training, and How to Enhance Them

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Call it instinct. Long before any breakthrough research on occlusion training, and its endorsement by many knowledgeable fitness professionals, bodybuilders sought to achieve the ever essential “pump” at each workout.

Ahhhhnald Schwarzenegger once compared getting a pump to having an orgasm.  …Can’t say I completely agree but, there is something about a good pump
that just feels right.

We’ve come to understand that the metabolic environment created from a skin ripping pump is essential to muscle hypertrophy.  We also know that there are few ways that are more effective in creating this environment than occlusion training (OT).

If you’re hearing of occlusion training for the first time here’s a brief explanation of what it is from one of the top researchers on the subject, Dr. Jacob Wilson:

Occlusion training involves wrapping a device like a pressure cuff or knee wraps around the top of a limb at a pressure sufficient to occlude, or obstruct, blood flow to the veins, but not the arteries. This way, the arteries continue to deliver blood to the limb, and the blood pools in the limb as the veins struggle to take it back to the heart. …During BFR, muscle cells reach a point where they are so full of fluid that they have to either burst or grow.

The second way BFR works is that the low oxygen level in a muscle during the accumulation of blood forces your body to recruit larger fast-twitch fibers, resulting in extreme growth.

Finally, when oxygen is low, lactic acid rapidly accumulates. This may sound bad, but studies show lactic acid by itself can increase protein synthesis!

If you want to learn and understand the underpinnings of occlusion training, also known as BFR (blood flow restriction training), you can find some very good research here.

I also highly recommend checking out The Use of Occlusion Training to Produce Muscle Hypertrophy and Practical Occlusion Training from Jeremy Loenneke.

The single biggest advantage of OT is the ability to train with lower intensity but receive benefit similar to training at high intensity.

You’ve seen those pendulum swings that have multiple metal balls attached, right?  And you know what happens the harder you swing the first one.  Every action has an opposite and equal reaction.

Exercise is no different.  High intensity is necessary to stimulate a hypertrophic response, but it also results in greater systemic stress on the body.  Over time, this accumulated stress makes recovery slow and difficult.

As a bodybuilder or anyone who wants to add muscle, maintaining a balance between exercise stress and recovery is a key factor in long-term success.  OT helps create the environment needed for muscle growth, minus the systemic stress.

That’s great!  But…

Is it really necessary to walk around the gym looking like a heroin addict
about to get his fix?

If strapping silly looking bands around your arms and legs will help you increase muscle, I’m all for it.

What I’m actually questioning is whether or not there may be an easier and equally productive way to get the same effect.  Unless you like portraying yourself as the Ultimate Warrior as you pace around your gym.

If we look at Dr. Jacobs description of what OT accomplishes it can be summarized as: restricting blood flow and oxygen to a working muscle and increasing the rate of lactic acid production.

By systematically applying an age old training technique, with some minor enhancements you can produce the same effect as OT without having to remember to pack your elastic wraps.

Not only that, but it is a much more effective way of restricting blood flow to the muscles of the upper torso, which has proven difficult in many of the OT studies.  Conversely, BFR of the lower body proves quite easy and effective since wrapping the upper most part of the upper thigh will directly impact the quads and hamstrings.

So, what’s the trick?

Well…some will call it partials, others will call it stage reps, or say it looks like “21’s”—at the IART we call it Zone Training.  A more systematized approach to performing short, forceful contractions over an exercises full range of motion.

A movement can be broken up into anywhere from 2-4 sections, or “Zones”, and you focus on performing very explosive contractions within that particular zone.  Check out the video below to see Zone Training is performed.

The lactic acid build up, blood engorgement, and discomfort you experience will be significant.

 And so will the pump you have, long after the set is over.  Everything about this method or rep performance works exactly like OT.

  • The rapid contractions over a short ROM traps blood in the muscles, cuts off O2 supply, and doesn’t allow lactic acid to dissipate.
  • It does not require maximal loads (50-70% of 1RM is often sufficient).  In fact, near max loads can diminish the effect since you want to concentrate on contracting the target muscle through the target ROM without tensing up outer lying muscles.
  • It results in very little systemic stress compared to typical high intensity training.
  • And did I mention, it’s painful.

One difference however, is that you are not starting with restricted blood flow but rather, building up to it.  For this reason sets may last slightly longer.  Typically 40-60 seconds for approximately 24 contractions in total.

For example, if you’re splitting a movement up into halves you would perform 12 reps per half.  If you were splitting it into thirds you would do 8 reps per zone.

[NOTE: It may be necessary to perform slightly more or less reps per zone depending upon your strength in each zone.  Also, you may opt to perform more than the recommended 24 contractions per set (i.e 40-45).  This can lead to an even greater pump but can be extremely painful.]

The initial zones should be performed short of momentary muscular failure so you can transition into the next zone without rest and enough strength to complete that zone.  It may take a couple of workouts to determine the proper weight load or exact number of reps for each zone.

There are unlimited combinations and methods of applying Zone Training, but traditionally it is best to start with the weakest part of the ROM and progressively move to the strongest.

The added benefit of doing it this way is that it flattens the exercise’s strength curve. This results in your muscles feeling more thoroughly worked from the point of origin to insertion.  The benefits of this is a different topic altogether.

As they say, there’s a method to the madness, and this is definitely the case with Zone Training.  Whereas 21’s, partials, or even stage reps are a way to “change things up” or performed as an afterthought, Zone Training is an entire method unto itself with specific directives for specific purposes.  The most notable of these purposes being blood flow restriction and creating a metabolic environment for muscle growth.

Find more information on Zone Training at Amazon.com
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Why the Best Trainers Get Better Results than Everyone Else

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Many of the best and most effective trainers and coaches take very different paths to make their trainees successful.  Which makes us wonder what they all have in common since their approaches can vary so greatly.

Take a deeper look and you’ll notice they focus their attention on two things…

The Big Picture and The Details

The philosophy each has pertaining to exercise is what guides their decisions about how to piece together all the exercise variables.

For me the big picture is all about managing and manipulating training demands to stimulate muscle growth and strength at each stage of a person’s life.  That means understanding how exercise fits within the schema of every other stress and activity a person is faced with and how to navigate the waters to help them reach their goals.

The philosophy that guides all my exercise decisions is that exercise should be prescribed in the least amount necessary to get the best or desired result.

What constitutes “the least amount” will depend on the goals, needs, current condition and tolerance to exercise stress of the individual.  It’s for these reasons I don’t adhere to one specific training method.

The details are things like lifting tempo, time under tension, reps, sets, frequency, load, muscle targeting, mental focus and intensity of effort.

Always Start with the Big Picture in Mind

Many weight training programs will work to a degree.  Whether or not you get the result you’re looking for depends on whether it was the right program at that time.

Whenever we dig into the latest research or read an article from our favorite fitness expert we can’t help but romanticize about the details.  How many reps did the subjects perform?  What percent of 1RM was used for each set?  How frequently did they train? Etc.

All of that is useful information, but it’s useless without proper context. You can’t simply throw shit together and hope it works, you should…

Plan the Details

One guy whose stuff I like to read and watch is Nick Nilsson.  Nick is called “The Mad Scientist of Muscle” and for good reason.

I was asked to write the forward for his book Muscle Explosion a few years back and the one thing I noted is that even though his training programs look bat shit crazy (and I mean that in a complimentary way), he is very calculated in his approach.   He sees the big picture and then goes nuts mapping out the details.

I’m not sure I could ever be as creative as Nick; I don’t think 99% of us could be.  But I don’t think you necessarily need to be in order to have greater success.

You just need to see the big picture, stick with a philosophy and then make sure the details are aligned with it.

Avoid the Shiny Object Syndrome

If you’re not getting the result you want, reexamine the details and your application of them or adopt a new philosophy.  Don’t jump on every new program or abandon what’s worked for each compelling piece of new information.  Not without planning for it so you can determine its true worth and relevance to the big picture.

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The Hardest Step in Becoming (and Staying) Fit

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“The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step.”  ~Lao Tzu

I’ve always liked this quote because it highlights the importance of taking action.  You can’t achieve any desired outcome until we get off your butt and start moving towards it.

The energy and strength to live a high quality active life doesn’t manifest itself out of thin air.  (Apparently, neither does money because I tried thinking really hard about having a lot of that and nothing happened.)   It truly is a journey and the landscape is constantly changing. If you don’t change with it …you’re screwed.

The first step is the hardest they say.

I disagree…

The hardest step is the one you take after each misstep.

We all mess up …and anyone that says they don’t is lying to themselves.  There will be times when you bend to temptation or fall off the wagon. It’s human nature.  What happens next, however, determines if you ever make it to the journey’s destination.

Do you allow a day where you abandon your workout to become several days of inactivity?  Does an unexpected dessert binge result in you deserting your nutrition plan the next day too?  Or do you acknowledge when you’ve gone off course and immediately take steps to get back on it?

The reason why correcting course is so difficult requires a crash course in cognitive behavior.

Negative actions are often tied to psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression and stress, and then there are chemical factors like the release or suppression of dopamine and serotonin (a.k.a. the feel good chemicals).

Your negative action (like binging) might be in response to a negative emotion (feeling anxiety) but it can cause one as well (feeling guilt and depression for having binged).  Eating fatty or sugary foods release dopamine and serotonin which makes you feel better but as a consequence causes you to crave more fat and sugar. The result is a very ugly cycle that’s hard to break.

The expediency in which you get back on track governs your success.

iStock_000019407597MediumWhile some of these things are the stimuli for why we succumb to our impulses, experts agree that mindfulness is the solution.  Being aware of when and why you have setbacks is the best way to avoid them or move past them quickly.

Is it easy?  No.

As I said at the start, I think this is more difficult than getting started.  But it is crucial to not falling in a cycle that puts you back where you started or worse.

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The Role of Muscle Maturity on Physical Appearance

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There is an interesting phenomenon that has been developing for over a decade.  It is not something that would be noticeable to the average population nor have I come across many fitness professionals who have observed it either.  However within the natural bodybuilding community it has become abundantly obvious that more of today’s top level competitors are—for lack of a better description—older.

Bodybuilding has long been considered a young man’s sport yet…

We Have Seen an Increasing Rate of Winners and Top Competitors Be Men in their Late Thirties, Forties and even Fifties

The scientific explanations for this trend should provide hope for trainees and bodybuilders who believe their best days are behind them as well as younger bodybuilders who are frustrated by their inability to achieve a “harder” appearance.

First allow me to clarify that the only reason I believe we are seeing this trend mostly among natural bodybuilders compared to enhanced bodybuilders has to do with the judging criteria and preferred “look” of the athletes.  Whereas freakish muscle mass rules the posing dais in organizations that do not test for PED’s; natural organizations place greater emphasis on competitors level of leanness and conditioning (muscle hardness) relative to their muscle mass.

2013 Dave Hannah

Muscle Maturity can Make a Major Difference

I remember starting my bodybuilding career as a young twenty-two year old and taking note of how most of the competitors who were placing ahead of me, but comparatively speaking were no more muscular or leaner, were almost always older.  My observation was often confirmed when I would talk with the judges afterwards and was told that although I had a good frame, symmetry and an overall appealing physique I just need more time for my body to mature and achieve the harder, grainy look of my elder counterparts.

Needless to say it’s a very frustrating piece of criticism to receive when you want to be your best now and are doing what you can to add more muscle and lose more body-fat.  Nonetheless the analysis of my “problem” was spot.

With each passing year I noticed my muscles taking on a different look. They were harder, fuller, and seemingly denser despite my competition weight and body-fat percentage being relatively unchanged. While some of these changes can be attributed to the addition of new muscle tissue and smarter dieting practices I can say with complete conviction that over certain periods the only gains I made were in age.

What Beef Carcass can tell us about Aging Muscles

Several animal studies support the above “aging” observation, providing insight into to how age factors into the hardened appearance of muscles.  The studies, which examined the characteristics of beef carcass slaughtered at different ages, revealed the most youthful carcasses were more tender than those from the most mature carcasses1, 2.

A 2006 study not only confirmed the coarser texture of mature cattle carcasses but also showed that mature cattle’s possess less intramuscular fat compared to younger and intermediate cattle3.    In humans however intramuscular fat does not naturally decrease with age, but it can be lowered or kept at bay through exercise since it (like glycogen) is a primary source of energy for working muscles.

Muscles Do Not Mature in the Absence of Weight Training

Another study showed that the rate of increase in the toughness of individual muscles with animal age was related to their connective tissue strength and that muscles which did not possess high connective tissue strength were unaffected by age, whereas high connective tissue strength muscles, trebled in toughness4.  If we took a cross-section sample of muscle from two men of the same age, one being untrained and the other with eight years of weight training experience, we would see—as expected—a marked difference in the quality, thickness, intramuscular fat and degree of muscle firmness.  This is why age alone is not responsible for a muscles “maturity”.

Being Thick Skinned is Good for Your Sanity, Terrible for Bodybuilding

There are two factors that determine epidermal thickness:  subcutaneous fat and collagen.   Reduction of subcutaneous fat is controllable through diet. Conversely, collagen, a protein that gives our skin its smooth appearance, does not appear to be affected by diet or exercise but exhibits a linear reduction with age in both men and women.

Interestingly collagen is also the main component of muscle fibers’ connective tissue.  With age the solubility of this protein decreases and in effect increases in the number and type of cross-links contributing to a muscle’s toughnes5.

With subcutaneous fat levels and muscle mass remaining constant we can see how the effect of aging on collagen directly impacts the hardened look of one’s physique and presents somewhat of an advantage to bodybuilders in their mid-thirties to upper forties. Though patience is required younger bodybuilders can rest assured that their continued commitment to resistance training will eventually result in a harder appearance.

Of Bodybuilders Who Achieve this Hard & Conditioned Look at a Young Age There are Certain Genetic Factors at Play

One of the most substantial is muscle fiber type.

As we know Fast Twitch (FT) muscle fibers contribute most to muscle hypertrophy.  Those able to develop their muscles to near maximum proportions early on or at a fast rate due to high proportions of FT fibers in effect stretch their skin to an extent that is not typical with slower or more modest muscle growth.

It’s not only muscle fiber type though.  Other genetic factors such as muscle belly length or high testosterone or growth hormone levels can also contribute to fast or above average muscle growth resulting in this stretching of the skin.

Combine this with an ability to reduce body-fat to low single digit percentages and these competitors are in the enviable position of achieving a look that is “beyond their years”.  And of course some individuals inherently have thinner (or thicker) skin as can be observed amongst various ethnic groups, a trait inherited from their ancestors whose bodies had adapted to the climate they lived in.

Training for Harder Muscles

Clearly resistance training has a direct effect on muscles firmness but whether or not certain training methods can influence the expediency with which collagen cross-links are formed and solubility decreased, requires further examination.   At present there are no studies to support claims that particular training methods can accelerate the hardening of muscle fibers and connective tissue and any such claims are pure conjecture.

Even if it were determined that increases or decreases in certain training variables (i.e., volume, frequency, intensity, load, rep performance) could expedite the hardening effect we would still need to examine the overall impact of implementing these changes on other aspects of muscle development, strength, tolerance and recovery ability.  At the moment our only course of action in achieving a more dense appearance is to implement training and dietary methods that maximize muscle development and fat-loss, and let time and nature determine the rest.

 

1 Beef Carcass Maturity Indicators and Palatability Attributes
B. W. Berry, G. C. Smith and Z. L. Carpenter
J ANIM SCI March 1974 vol. 38 no. 3 507-514

2, 4 SHORTHOSE, W.R. and HARRIS, P.V. (1990), Effect of Animal Age on the Tenderness of Selected Beef Muscles. Journal of Food Science, 55: 1–8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1990.tb06004.x

3 Moon SS, Yang HS, Park GB, Joo ST. The relationship of physiological maturity and marbling judged according to Korean grading system to meat quality traits of Hanwoo beef females. Meat Sci. 2006 Nov;74(3):516-21. Epub 2006 May 12.

5 http://www.warriorfx.com/2008/09/what-is-muscle-maturity/ Chapter 2.2 Muscle Mechanics – What is muscle maturity? Sunday, September 28th, 2008

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5 Things You Must Know to Pack on Muscle

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The struggle to build muscle is one that’s near and dear to me.  Never the genetic freak. Completely average at best.

I know what it’s like to pour everything into your training with only negligible returns.

I’m not complaining though.  This reality is what’s helped me sift through so much of the BS that’s written in articles and on other blogs and shown on YouTube.

Now when I read, see or listen to someone I know whether they’re full of shit or there’s something legitimate to what they’re saying and worth exploring.

There’s more reasons further than the eye can see for why some guys pack on muscle and others don’t. (Yes, there’s more than just genetics all you self proclaimed hardgainers.)

Knowing these five will swing the odds heavily in your favor …regardless of genetics.

Here they are, in no order of importance:

1. There is a Training Variable Domino Effect

We’re clear on the fact that every workout program has these four primary variables present: intensity, volume, frequency, and load.  Then we have detail oriented variables such as rep speed, rep and set variations, equipment, and rest periods.

What’s not always clear is the immediate impact that putting your focus on one (or a few) has on the rest.

Through my first thirteen years of my weight training the focus had been on completing a certain (high) volume of work.  When I made a shift to focusing on intensity of effort a funny thing happened …I couldn’t handle as much volume.  At least not long term.

I tried, but soon realized that if I wanted to keep my focus on training with the highest intensity possible for each exercise, doing more sets per exercise would cut into my performance.

When my focus shifted to an increase in frequency I couldn’t maintain the same high intensity, training to muscular failure and beyond workouts, for more than 2-4 consecutive weeks.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying, rather the cumulative stress was resulting in a drop in performance because my body didn’t have time to overcompensate.  We’ve all experienced this on some level.

Have you ever been forced to take a week off from training only to come back stronger?

The reason why is because your body had the opportunity to systemically recover from the cumulative stress.

Why does this matter?

Because…

Your Long Term Success in Building Muscle is Directly Proportional to Your Ability to Manage Your Overall Training Demands by Managing Exercise Variables.

When you adjust or change one variable it causes a domino effect. Think about going from your typical straight sets to adding two forced reps at the end of each set.

After one or two sets the load you can handle on each consecutive set will likely be much less than usual.  It’s also likely that you won’t maintain the same level of intensity throughout the workout as you normally do.

This could be good, this could be bad.

Whether you get a hypertrophy response depends if the training demands from making this change are appropriate, relative to your needs at that time. And if they’re balanced with enough recovery time to allow for overcompensation.

The point is, whenever we adjust training variables we have to take notice of how it effects the others and our intended outcome.

2. You Have to Change Your Approach and Innovate Your Training

Let me start by saying that the following suggestion does come with a caveat.  If you’re relatively new to weight training there’s no need to make frequent or dramatic changes to your training.

Depending on your responsiveness it can take 6-12 months before you start seeing diminished returns from a single or double progression approach (ie. increasing weight and/or reps).

When the time does come.. 

Relying on What Got You to Where You Are Won’t Get You to Where You Want to Go.

This is when periodic changes in your training demands through new and unique ways of training is most beneficial.

Sometimes the innovative thing to do is to train LESS.  Not just for recovery to but to desensitize yourself to the current demands and then come back with a fury.

3. You Need to Stop Listening Everyone Else and Listen to Yourself

I hear my parents words echoing in my head, “Just because your friends would jump off a bridge doesn’t mean you should.”

I get it.

Problem is, I’m more likely to be the first to jump.

But there’s a lot of truth in the message they were trying to convey.  How many of us in pursuit of the perfect program have jumped from one expert or champions routine to another?

Only to be disappointed that we didn’t get the result promised.

I should have cannonball delts and powerful pecs by now!

The times I’ve made by best progress were when I followed my intuition.

No one knows you better than you know yourself.

An outside objective point of view is important but even I’ve been proved wrong by clients who told me they felt like they needed a little bit of ‘X’ and when added into the mix (or taken out) it worked.

If you have any appreciable time training under your belt and you’re observant you don’t need to put your faith in the next guys program. Put it in yourself!  If you’re intuition was wrong see #2.

4. Your Nutrition Can Not be Based on “What you think”

Having personally trained hundreds of people the most common answer I get when I ask someone how much protein they’re taking in is, “I think I get enough”.

I think I get enough, is not an amount.

(And I really wish people would stop referring to peanut butter as one of their primary sources of protein.)

When you don’t know how much carbs, fat, protein and calories you consume it’s nearly impossible to determine how much you need …or don’t need.

If your goal is to build muscle you need a certain amount of protein based on your lean body mass, body type, and activity level to optimize protein synthesis.

You also need a certain amount of carbs to supply energy for your hard workouts. For most people ketogenic diets are not ideal for muscle building building since protein will first be converted to glycogen to supply your energy needs.

We’re better served taking in enough carbs to satisfy our energy needs so the protein we do consume can do it’s primary job of repairing and building muscle tissue.

Track what you’re taking in so you, your trainer, coach or nutritionist, can make informed decisions based on what you know, not what you think.

5. Look at the Whole and Just the Parts

All of this muscle building stuff would be a heck of a lot easier if we lived in a vacuum (not the Hoover kind).  But we don’t.  We live in a dynamic world where our environment and our body is constantly changing.

Not too long ago my wife took me hang gliding for my birthday.  She knows I love heights which is why the birthday before that was spent sky diving, and I went two other times before that.

The view from 13,500 ft. is like nothing else.  You can see so much more than you can on the ground.

Our training isn’t much different.  Week in and week out we’re on the ground level.

It’s Easy to Miss What’s Happening or What Has Happened Until We Take a Step Back.

Only then do we see the sum of all the parts.

Workouts are only a piece of what defines our outcome.  It’s a big piece, but still just a single factor in whether or not we are building muscle, maintaining, or regressing.

Nutrition, lifestyle, age, experience, stress, rest and yes, genetics all play a role in the effectiveness of your training and muscle hypertrophy.  The more you can control the controllable components the greater your likelihood for success.

Making Sure Your Fitness Results Last…Forever

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You and I, we do it for the results.  Why else would we do it?  Some people think about being fit.  We hunt fitness down and capture it like prey.

And when we do there is nothing better than when…

Fat has been lost…

Muscle has been built…

Strength has been gained…

And a new attitude rules the day.

Getting to Where You Want to Go

We know that not a single small improvement is made without a tremendous amount of work.  The fact is, if you want good results your training, nutrition, and lifestyle choices have to be great.

If you want great results they need to be outstanding.  If you want outstanding results you need to crush your self-limiting beliefs and be relentlessly consistent with your outstanding actions.

When you’ve worked your way from where you were to where you are—assuming where you are is better than where you were—then there is only one thing that can bring you down.  Regression.

When You Arrive, ‘Burn the Boats’

The only way to ensure you never sink back to the place you once were, the place you worked so hard to get away from, is by cutting off all ties to that place.

The phrase ‘Burn the Boats’ is one of my favorites.  (I’m pretty sure it, along with an image will wind up a future tattoo somewhere on my body.)  It stems from the legend of Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes who in the early 1500’s defeated the Aztecs in Mexico.

He and his men made a commitment to do what no one before them was able to do.  As legend goes Cortes got his men to commit by burning their ships.

Victory, the Only Option

 Cortes made it so there was no turning back.  It was either win or die.

Commitment is nothing more than a decision.  You have to decide in your mind to the ‘Burn the Boats’ and eliminate any prospect of retreating back to where you came from.  You need to leave the old you behind.

Even if you’re not yet where you want to be.  Burning the boats means you can only move forward.

It’s a Mindset

Though it might not be a life or death situation like it was for Cortes and his men. Implanting the idea that it is (and it very well could be for some) can have a significant impact on your subconscious.

You’d be surprised what you can do.

And if burning the boats in your mind doesn’t work then try burning your clothes!  If you have no larger sizes to fall back on then you’ll always have to find a way to stay in the smaller ones you’ve got on now.

Activity Trackers

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I like technology.  Anything that makes it easier to manage my life and keep track of what’s going on is a good thing in my opinion.  I see the pitfalls too.  It can be distracting at times and take the focus away from what we should be doing.  Let’s be honest, technology is partly responsible for kids looking like sloths these days.  They’d rather run their fingers over a video came controller or iPad instead of running outside.

But in the same way “The Force” can be used for good (think, Luke Skywalker) or bad (Darth Vader), so can technology.  One trend I’ve watched grow over the past year has been the use of wearable activity trackers—products like Fitbit, Jawbone, Polar, and Nike Fuel Band to name a few.  These products keep tabs on the number of steps you take, calories burned, heart rate, hours of sleep, and more.  I’m pretty sure soon they’ll track bowel movements also.

One product that will be coming out soon that I’m really excited about is called Atlas.  Not only does it do everything that every other wearable does but it will also learn your exercise form and alert you when you’re not doing it properly.  Also really cool is that it will track your reps and not count the bad ones.  As a personal trainer I like the possibilities.  I know that may sound counter intuitive—why would I want people using a tool that does part of my job?

Here’s why.

People still need direction on how exercise correctly so they don’t hurt themselves and can be more productive.  That will never change.  If a client is using a device such as this.  And the device learns their form as I the personal trainer instructs them.  Then when that client is on vacation, or is performing workouts on their own, we both can rest assured that they are at least doing their exercise properly.

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A device won’t be able to push them harder or make educated decisions about the direction of their program but, it will make their unaccompanied workouts better.  And that has tremendous implications for someone’s long-term success.  I love that!

Over the past year or so I’ve noticed the growing trend of clients using wearable activity trackers.  The biggest plus is that they tend to be more conscious about being active outside of the gym.  It becomes sort of a game.  How many more steps can I take today compared to yesterday?  How high can get my heart rate?  How much longer can I keep my heart rate elevated?  Can I burn 100 or 200 more calories each day?

If being aware of your activity encourages you to be more active, I’m all for it.  Not to mention the ability to measure your progress.  What’s really cool is that most of these wearable’s sync up with your home computer or smart phone and automatically uploads your data each day.  This gives you the opportunity to analyze what your body is going through over several weeks and months.  So if you’re questioning why you put on two pounds in the past two weeks you can pull up your report and see that you were 30% less active than normal during that time.  Or maybe you were just stuffing your face with pasta.  (Unfortunately the activity trackers can’t keep tabs on what you put in your mouth…maybe that’ll be part of the next version.)

Why You Should Train Like a Bodybuilder Even Though You Don’t Want to Look Like One

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I’m writing this for you, the mom, dad, man, woman, busy professional, student, and slacker (J/k I know you’re not a slacker. Slackers don’t read my stuff) who seek out the help of personal trainers and to my personal training brethren who routinely have to talk people off the ledge when it comes to training heavy and hard…like a bodybuilder.  The statement: “I don’t want to look like a bodybuilder” drives me crazy.  I understand where it comes from which drives me even crazier than when my wife insists on plucking my eyebrows.  (I don’t care what women say, that shit hurts.  I’d rather sit through 6 hours of tattooing.)

The conversation when a new client comes in—especially the ladies—typically goes like this after I’ve explained our inclination for training heavy and hard relative to their abilities (I’ll skip on all the niceties and small talk):

Client:  But I don’t want look like a bodybuilder.

Me:  You won’t…you can’t.

Client: Yeah but I see those women/guys on the magazines and I don’t to get that.

Me: Let me ask you.  Are you currently taking steroids, testosterone, or growth hormone that you obtained from a black market dealer?

Client: No

Me: Then I think you’re safe.  Genetically speaking 99.6% of people don’t have the genetic aptitude to get huge.  They don’t have the muscle fiber make up, muscle length, or in the case of women, the testosterone levels needed to pack on mass. Just look at all the teenage and twenty-something guys whose testosterone levels are shooting through that are TRYING to look like the guys in the mags never get there without PED’s.

(I point to a picture of me in bodybuilding competition shape)

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Client:  That’s you!

Me:  Geez, don’t act so surprised.  Yes, that’s me about 10 pounds lighter than I am right now. 

Client: You’d never know you’re a bodybuilder.

Me:  (Think to myself: “Thanks again for reinforcing my bodybuilding inferiority complex,)  If you walked down the street and ran into one natural bodybuilder or physique competitor after another at best you would say they look like they’re in really good shape and that’s how you want to look.  Nothing freakish or unusual about them, just extremely shredded when it’s time to step on stage. 

Bodybuilding is an illusion.  Exceptionally low body fat levels and bright lights shining down on the body help muscles stand out and appear more pronounced.  Once the shirt and pants go back on they look like “normal” people (but we know even natural competitors are anything but normal).  Even the biggest and baddest natural competitors look like they could be your exceptionally fit co-worker or friend. 

Here’s the scenario plain and simple.  YOU CAN’T LOOK LIKE A FREAK OF NATURE STEPPING OUT OF FLEX MAGAZINE UNLESS YOU’RE PUMPNG YOURSELF FULL OF STEROIDS, TESTOSTERONE AND GROWTH HORMONE.

The purpose of Bodybuilding

While people might not want to look like bodybuilders, training like one—from the standpoint of heavy loads and high intensity—is what results in the toned (I freakin’ hate that buzz word), and fit look they are aiming for and developing greater functional strength (dammit that’s two buzz words in one sentence, I’m going to have to take a shower after I’m done writing this).  So long as exercises are performed under controlled conditions with exceptional execution, minimizing ballistic movements, then training like a bodybuilder will do more to prevent injuries than cause them.  (If you want increase your chance of injury from lifting just do some of that silly shit people do on the Bosu and fit ball.)  The increased strength, muscular endurance and muscle development you achieve through “bodybuilding” will have a greater impact on more aspects of health and fitness than any other form of exercise.

In a nutshell, bodybuilding is all about improving your quality of life.  And besides if you’re not actively trying to “build” your “body” what the heck are you exercising for?