While people are constantly searching for the perfect workout routine to stay in shape or lose those extra pounds, they neglect what actually makes the muscles grow. So when people see no results after doing the same strength training routines over and over, they ask themselves “Why am I not progressing?”.

Routines – the enemy in strength training

The reason why is that their body has already adapted to the stress of the exercise. It’s like a rat running on a ferris wheel going nowhere fast! That’s what happens to the body once it’s not stressed to a new stimuli.

The training plateau effect

The same old workout routine leads to a plateau. The plateau is when you see no more improvements in your workout results. It’s an important signal for a change in your current workout. This will lead you in having to modify your training program with new exercise/movements that will help kick start again your next level of progress. The only way to constantly improve is when you rotate exercise routines for the each muscle group and also changing your routine every 4-6 weeks. Your body won’t be able to get used to executing the same movement which leads to faster gains.

For example let’s take a leg workout. If you have squats and you have hit a plateau in weight, then you change that exercise for the deadlift until you stop improving. Then you move onto lunges and so on. This way you keep the body guessing, thus making it easier to build muscle and lose fat more effectively.

Muscle growth doesn’t start at the gym. It’s done during the recuperation phase with the right amount of rest and nutrition. You must get the right amounts of proteins, vitamins and minerals from foods and avoid the so called empty calories foods which lack those important essentials that help muscle growth while your body is recovering.

You must incorporate the big exercises into your program such as squatting, bending, pulling, pushing, lunging & twisting. A simple plan is to create a circuit program with 4-5 exercises, doing 2-4 sets at 10 reps, with rest of 60-90 seconds after each circuit. Always start with the exercise that’s the most challenging and break it down to the least challenging. By following this formula, fatigue and loss of form won’t be a factor once you’re finishing the circuit with the less challenging exercises.

Points to remember:

• Always change your routine for the best results. Once you max out in lifting a weight or find a routine too easy then change it!
• Pick big compound exercises! Compound exercises are movements that use more than one joint. As some say, compound exercises are the biggest muscle builders.
• Choose free weights such as dumbbells, barbells, also cable machines and bodyweight exercises. Modern machine equipment isolate your muscles too much then doing big compound exercises. Most effective exercises for muscle growth and increasing your metabolism are compound exercises.

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