There's nothing more hated in the fitness world than the dreaded plateau. The plateau has probably been responsible for more wasted motivation and wasted money than anything else. People start a program and are doing really great and then suddenly they aren't making progress anymore, so they look for the next best way to build muscle. Rinse and repeat. After a while, a lot of people lose their motivation altogether or they get frustrated at having spent money on one program after another just to be faced with another plateau down the line...
The truth is the best way to build muscle without hitting a plateau is to anticipate the plateau from the beginning and plan for it ahead of time. If you know you typically plateau at about four weeks, plan for it ahead of time. If you usually reach a plateau somewhere around six weeks, plan for that. You do this not by ordering some new workout program ahead of time, but by understanding two things: how and why your body builds muscle and why plateaus happen. Then you can create a plan for the best way to build muscle and avoid a plateau.
How and Why Your Body Builds Muscle
When you begin any new workout program, your body responds to this new stimulus by building muscle and getting stronger so that it can adapt to and perform the work. However, after even a few short weeks, your body has adapted to this new program and it doesn't need to add any more muscle to do the job. In order to stimulate your body to continue adding muscle, you need to create a new stimulus. Many people make the mistake of thinking they have to do just do more. What they really need is to do something different.
Why More of Everything is Not the Best Way to Build Muscle
When they hit a plateau, a lot of people automatically try to do more; more weight, more reps, more time in the gym. But there's only so much more you can do and more is only going to do so much anyway. To really smash that plateau, it's essential to do something different and sometimes different means less weight, fewer reps and less time in the gym!
The Best Way to Build Muscle is to Understand the Many Factors of Growth
A workout isn't just comprised of weight and reps. There are actually six keys to a great muscle building program. Below are the six keys you need to change up in order to stimulate your body to build more muscle again.
• Rest intervals (between sets or between workouts)
• Repetition speed/tempo (how fast or slow you move the weights)
• Load (how close the weight is to your 1 rep max (RM)
• Number of sets (per move or body part)
• Duration of the workout
• Frequency of the workout
• Repetition speed/tempo (how fast or slow you move the weights)
• Load (how close the weight is to your 1 rep max (RM)
• Number of sets (per move or body part)
• Duration of the workout
• Frequency of the workout
Periodizing and Manipulating Your Way around Plateaus
The best way to build muscle without hitting a plateau is to do what's called periodizing. This involves planning changes in one or more of the above factors every few weeks at a minimum. There is no such thing as a perfect program, there are just great phases and you need to know how to plan them, organize them, and sequence them. The key to real growth without a plateau is to combine a series of phases throughout the year, which allows you to manipulate all of these factors.
The key is to focus in on a goal, and then figure out which factors you need to manipulate and how in order to achieve that goal. (Bear in mind that your goal can change from month to month) Neglecting just one of these factors will slow your progress and eventually result in hitting a plateau. You want to keep in mind, too, that the more you work out, the faster your body will adapt and plateau. Advanced athletes often change their routines every 3-4 workouts to keep their progress going.
Manipulating all of these factors is the best way to build muscle steadily and keep your motivation high.
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