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One of the biggest difficulties facing bodybuilders is how can they be sure that
all muscle fibers have been recruited and exhausted during a given exercise and
it is only by achieving this that muscle gains can be maximised.
The simple answer is, you have work beyond failure and experience a higher level
of training intensity than before. This also ensures that workouts remain
challenging and continue to engender progress over time thus reducing the
likelihood of regression.
But how do you go about intensifying your training? Fortunately there is a tried
and tested path to follow as outlined below:
1. Increase resistance - increasing the weight lifted in meaningful increments
ensures the muscle is pushed beyond its previous point of failure thus
maintaining the muscle building process. Aim to increase the weight when you
reach six to eight reps and failure does not occur.
2. Change the exercise - to achieve maximal gains all muscle fibers in a body
part must be trained. Changing the angle (e.g to incline bench press) or
introducing a new exercise will stimulate growth.
3. Reduce rest intervals - giving the muscles less time to recover before
exposing them to further work has the effect of increasing intensity.
4. Pre-exhaustion - when an exercise involves two or more muscles the weakest
will prevent you from working the primary muscle to failure. The answer is to
first isolate and tire the primary muscle before immediately moving to another
exercise that works the set of muscles to failure.
5. Introduce supersets - this involves performing two exercises for the same
muscle group without a rest interval. This means you have to utilize different
muscle fibers which stimulate greater growth.
6. Use partial reps - at the point of failure you will not be able to complete
the full range of movement for a given exercise. Completing a partial rep that
uses only a segment of the lift will still work your muscles beyond the point
of failure. This technique is especially useful to advanced bodybuilders as it
allows them to increase intensity without adding extra routines that could
cause overtraining.
7. Use isometric contractions - this involves holding the weight still at the
point of failure to stimulate a static contraction in the muscle.
8. Employ forced reps - this involves completing one or more final reps after
the point of failure has been reached. You will need the assistance of an
experienced helper to attempt this.
Once you have added these techniques to your training regimen you'll know you've
done your best to maximize muscle growth.
Richard
Mitchell is the creator of the bodybuildingadvisor.com
website that provides guidance and information to athletes at all
levels of bodybuilding experience. Go to Bodybuilding
Advice to learn more about the issues covered in this
article.
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