If you notice your progress starts to slow down and you are not gaining size as much, it is likely you need to boost your bodybuilding routine. There are various things you can do to change up your workout routine which will significantly help break through plateaus and/or speed up your bodybuilding progress.
Our bodies are growing thanks to the process of adaptation. However, since the bodies will adapt to almost anything pretty quickly, athletes start experiencing plateaus. Plateau is the period where you stop gaining strength and/or growing muscle, even though you keep on working hard in the gym.
Ultimately, the process of building muscle involves your body adapting to increasing loads and stress. In theory, it should be easy. You’re lifting a particular amount of weight so your body grows more muscle and strength to deal with the stress from lifting that weight. Then you increase the amount of weight and the body increases the muscle and strength even more to deal with the extra stress from lifting extra weight. Sounds easy, but it’s not really like that. If it would be, we would all be huge.
The Right Way To Grow Muscle & Boost Your Bodybuilding Routine
Those who have been lifting for a while now that you will not continue growing when you constantly follow the same program. Your body is going to adapt to constant stress really fast, and therefore, your current bodybuilding routine will not bring any results.
Therefore, regularly changing your workout routine is essential for long-term growth. Do not follow the same workout plan if you want to grow. Professional bodybuilders continue switching up their workouts all the time, changing the exercises they do, adding advanced training techniques, and so on. These are people with a lot of experience when it comes to training, so they know exactly what they need to do in order to burn fat and build muscle.
There are a lot of techniques that pro bodybuilders are using to boost their bodybuilding routine. You can take advantage of those techniques too, which will help stimulate muscle growth. So, below I will share various ways in which you could boost your bodybuilding routine. This way, you’ll break through plateaus and speed up your progress.
Make it more intense
The reason why I put this one first on the list is because I believe it is the most important. It is the intensity that builds muscle. You may see a lot of people in your gym who are finishing their training session half-hearted, do you think they will ever see results? If you want results, it must be intense. Many of these tips here will involve increasing the intensity of your workout bodybuilding routine in one way or another. There are different ways you can do it which I will share here. For example, increasing the intensity involves taking shorter rest periods, doing circuits, forced reps, supersets, drop sets, and so on. If you’re following the same routine for a while and/or you’re not doing it intensively, there’s no doubt your progress comes to a halt.
Change up your exercises
Each muscle group has a lot of different exercises that you can use to train to get bigger and stronger. However, a lot of gym-goers tend to do the same move every week. Not only that, it is quite common for people to simply leave out those exercises they do not really like. That’s a huge mistake. If you are serious about building muscle, you need to work your muscles with a wide array of workouts, moves, rep ranges, and exercises. You will see a lot of benefits if you switch those exercises regularly as you are using different muscles for different moves. Not only that, but you will not get bored either. Avoid doing the same workout twice. Many pro bodybuilders claim they never do the same workout twice.
Introduce drop sets
This is a true shock technique for your muscles (I guess you’ve heard about “if you want to see muscle grow, you’ve got to shock them”). If you do it right, it can blast through a hard plateau. Drop sets are working by getting more reps out of you by gradually dropping the weight off. As you continue repping, it will force more blood into your muscle and will cause more micro tears in that muscle. That’s what you’re searching for when you grow muscle – to tear them in the gym, so they can be repaired and grow bigger later. No tear means nothing to repair so no growth. Drop sets are simple. You are doing your set until you can do another rep, drop the weight, and do another set. Aim for about 3 to 6 sets in total until you reach minimal weight.
Work different muscles each day
Switching up the days you are working out may have a big impact on your results. For example, you may notice some progress if you’re working your weakest muscles (or those you want to grow the most) at the beginning of the week when you have the most energy. Nonetheless, pretty much like anything else, your body may adapt to this bodybuilding routine. So, you would notice benefits if you would change this every once in a while. Moreover, allow muscle groups you’ve worked to rest. For example, if you are working biceps on Monday, it is not a very good idea to work back on Tuesday. That’s because you will need biceps for the pulling exercises for your back. Yet, your biceps need time to rest, heal, and grow. Change your workout days and focus on different muscle groups wisely.
Get into supersets
When talking about stubborn muscle groups, one of the best ways to promote muscle growth is the combination of big compound exercises and an isolation movement. There’s a chance you’ve heard about it in your local gym. A good example of that would be bench presses and flat bench flies. This means you’re completing your bench press as normal, but then you immediately start smashing out a set of dumbbell flies. You do not need huge weights for this, you need to focus on muscle contraction. It means you’re doing it slowly and squeezing at the top of the movement. Also, this is just an example of compound and isolation superset. There are numerous others for numerous other muscle groups.
Weekly rep cycling
Everyone knows that the amount of reps you’re doing will have a huge impact on your results. Science proves that high reps of light weight will improve endurance, medium reps of medium weight are for hypertrophy (muscle growth), while low reps of heavy weight are for strength increase. But how much exactly? It varies. Yet, if you really want to grow muscle and boost your bodybuilding routine, while also gaining strength, I recommend changing reps weekly. The weekly rep cycling looks like this: first week 12 reps per set, second week 10 reps per set, third week 8 reps per set, and fourth week 6 reps per set (with adequate weight each week). Restart all over again at week 5 and continue. The optimal muscle growth rep range is anywhere between 6 to 12, and with rep cycling, you cover all the bases, so you just can’t go wrong.
Sometimes less is more
Not always, but sometimes, less is actually more. You do need more intensity, but you may need to work out less often. For example, a common mistake among new lifters who have a lot of motivation but lack knowledge is to work out as often as possible thinking this will bring faster and more results. However, if your goal is to get bigger, then it would be more beneficial to work out less often. Your body, muscles, nervous system, and mind all need the rest from intense workouts. So you increase intensity but decrease the sessions. This way, your body can grow. You should not work five to six days a week but only do it three to four, correctly.
Negatives
If building strength is one of your goals, then you would significantly benefit from negatives. They are an extremely helpful way to break through plateaus. Negatives are when you’re focusing on the negative part of the movement by using a very heavy weight and moving it very slowly. However, since you move a heavy weight slowly, you will need a spotter for almost all types of negatives. That’s because you may injure yourself if you’re trying to do it yourself. If you’re someone who often trains with your gym buddy, there are a lot of exercise options for negatives such as bench presses, pull-ups, barbell preacher curls, close grip bench, and others.
Slow reps
When talking about slow reps, we’re talking about control and contraction. When it comes to slow reps, you need lighter weight as you’re moving it slower and doing the same number of reps. You need to do it very slowly. To give you an idea of how slow – you should count “one one thousand” three times on your way down and then again on your way up. Count it again one time as you pause at the top of the movement. You’re doing the same amount of reps with a lighter weight, however, because your movement is much slower, your muscle is under strain for a much longer period of time, leading to that tear.
Partial reps
Similar to slow reps, alternate or partial reps are working your muscles causing more tear by keeping them working for longer. When it comes to partial reps, you are changing the exercise by not finishing the entire rep. For example, you’re doing dumbbell curls. Instead of allowing your non-working arm while the working arm curls, you’re not completing a full rep with it, keeping it bent, under tension. This way the blood will not escape from the muscle, making it work to hold onto the weight. So, your muscles do not rest, they are under continuous and constant stress. This way, by the time you complete your set, the muscles are under twice as much strain as regular dumbbell curls. There are numerous other examples of such exercises.
Switch up your bodybuilding routine
I’ve earlier shared the example of going for compound exercises and then isolations. Lots of pros go for big compound exercises first and then isolations. That will definitely help. Nonetheless, similar to anything else in your workout routine, your body can adapt to it. Therefore, you may benefit from some changes. For example – doing extensions before squats, and dips before bench press.
Pre-fatiguing muscles
Pre-fatiguing, AKA pre-exhausting your muscle is a plateau-breaking technique that bodybuilders have been using for years. They basically pre-fatigue the muscle group they want to hit with an isolation exercise, and then immediately go for a big compound move. It is the supersets I earlier mentioned, but the other way around.
Forced reps
Forced reps are something you likely did if you’re working with your gym buddy. It means that you’re doing as many strict reps as you can without any help. Then, with the help of a spotter, they basically force you to go through another 2 or more reps. It will help you push 12 instead of 10 reps, and this could significantly help reach the next level. That’s because you could increase the weight safely.
Pyramid sets
It is easy to understand what you can expect from pyramid sets because its name already suggests it. You basically increase the weight in the form of a pyramid. You start from low weight and work your way up to heavyweight, then preferably, is to go back down again. It means that as soon as you complete a proper workout, your first set should be a weight that you can rep 12 times with good form. Then, go for a weight that will help you rep 8 to 10 times, with good form. Then 6 to 8 times, then 4 times. Preferably would be to push yourself back up to 12 reps. It is important to have a great technique, doing all the sets in a slow and controlled manner.
Rest for a week
I left this way to boost your bodybuilding routine at the end because it is something that not everyone understands. Moreover, it is something that a lot of fitness fanatics tend to feel guilty about – having a week out and resting. Keep in mind that bodybuilding and weight training is not a sprint, it is mostly a marathon. Sometimes, you may need pit stops. As said, there are times when less is more. Working out every day may not be a good idea. Your body will adapt and the results will stop. Besides, you will eventually burn out. Not only do your muscles need rest, but your mind and nervous system too. For this reason, there are times when the best thing you can do to continue growing is to have a week out. Occasional breaks from intense weight training can reward you with an increase in muscle and strength!
Use HGH.to to Boost Your Bodybuilding Routine!
So, here you have a lot of different ways that will help you boost your bodybuilding routine. Use them and you’re surely going to notice results pretty soon. You need to work out hard, regularly, and intensively, but you also need rest from the stresses of weight lifting. Besides, it is common sense that you should have a great diet. But sometimes, you can keep on working hard, doing it regularly and intensively, and yet, the results do not seem to keep on coming. And it can be super hard to keep on going and have motivation when you’re not seeing results despite all those efforts.
That’s why HGH.to is here – with the help of our best quality products from the best manufacturers, you ensure that the gains keep on coming! You’ll save money as we offer the best prices for the cutting products or bulking products you may need!