Everyone who begins to play sports and strive to become bigger, at some point, the question begins to interest: why the muscles do not grow. I am sure that anyone who visited Gym, disturbed at least once the question: why do I swing, but the muscles do not grow? In this article, I will try to highlight the main reasons for the lack of progress in training. And I will also tell you how to make muscles grow and increase mass.

Mistake 1: Constant training with the same or small weights

In order for your muscles to grow, you need to increase training weights rather than working constantly with the same weight. Muscles don't grow because they don't feel the need to get bigger and stronger. It is necessary to constantly progress in loads, so the muscles will feel stress, the result of the fight against which will be an increase muscle mass. You can, for example, add 5 kg each workout to the weight on the bar.

But there are times when it is no longer possible to increase the working weight by 5 kg each workout, then you can add less weight or try to do more repetitions in each approach. But sooner or later the day comes when the weight has become or even the strength has even gone into decline.

How to keep progressing?

This problem can be solved by changing the training system, namely, you need to switch to cycles. With their help, you will progress and make your muscles grow. By building the training process according to the principle of cycles, you can almost constantly increase the training weights. Their essence lies in the systematic increase in weights on the bar and upon reaching the set goal, we go on vacation for two or three weeks to give the body a rest and recover, because at the end of the cycle we should essentially do our maximum. That is, to lift, practically, a critical weight for us. Then we go to a new cycle, in which we roll back to initial weight, plus 5 10 more kg and all begins anew. One cycle can last from 7 to 17 weeks. It all depends on the level of preparedness, the capabilities of your body and nutrition. You can switch to training in cycles after 2-3 years of training in the gym. It is possible earlier, but it is better not to rush. By cycles we work only with basic ones, a lot joint exercises: deadlift, barbell squats, bench press, bent over rows (less often), standing barbell curls.

Mistake 2: Training with too much weight does not allow muscles to grow.

Often the cause of stagnation in muscle growth is training with excessively large weights. In the pursuit of a huge 50 cm biceps (the most common example, since this is the most desired muscle for beginners), athletes take on significantly more weight than the working one in order to "even more stimulate" muscle growth. As a result, the exercise is performed in 2-3 repetitions. At the same time, the athlete is "oppressed in three deaths", about any concentration of the load on working muscle there is no speech at all. All efforts are aimed at simply lifting the weight "somehow". It may seem that in this way the condition described above is fulfilled, that is, there is a clear progression of loads on the face, and therefore muscle growth. But it doesn't, and here's why:

1. Firstly, with this approach, a large number of body muscles are included in the work. And if the trained group is not able to cope with the weight, then the muscles of the assistants do the work for it. But it's not so scary.
2. The second problem lies in the excessive load on the nervous system. When a muscle fails, the brain, in an effort to help, gives a more powerful impulse to the nervous system. In this mode, the nervous system of the body functions at the limit of strain. So close to nervous exhaustion, and this is a serious disease that does not go away on its own. And it will be difficult to continue training, since the nervous system in this state will give out such a phenomenon: taking even very light muscles in your hands, it will seem that they weigh half a ton.

But you should not take every ordinary fatigue for nervous exhaustion, especially when you've definitely trained in the mind. Here the place can have the usual fatigue caused by an excessive amount of stress, which is solved by a slightly longer rest, for example, about a week.

How to solve a problem?

Be sure to select a weight that will allow you to work out the working muscle group with the highest quality. That is, in each exercise, the primary task is to observe the technique of performing the exercise. And weight gain is not as important a task as compared to correct technique execution. Based on this, if you, for example, need to do 8 repetitions in the approach, and the selected weight allows you to do only 6 repetitions with perfect technique, then you need to reduce the weight of the bar. Muscles don't grow when they don't get a "quality load", that is, you need to perform every exercise with perfect technique.

Mistake 3: Not enough time to rest between workouts

In order for muscles to grow well, natural bodybuilders need to go to training three times a week. For those who want to visit the training room more often, there is a proposal to break up the main set of workouts, focusing on exercises with a large number of approaches and repetitions. That is, on additional days you will do exercises with fewer repetitions, that is, 2-3 exercises. It’s not enough, you say, that muscles don’t grow from such training and you’ll be mistaken. The fact is that you can not force the body to recover faster by willpower. And as you know, muscles grow during rest. And if you train a lot and rest little, shifting the balance of rest-training, a state of overtraining will come and a “training plateau” will come. Always take into account the overall workload: work, family problems, little sleep, and so on. Muscles don't grow when the body is under-repaired.

How to solve a problem?

Be sure to monitor the frequency and quality of training. Watch your sleep: you need to sleep at least 8 hours a day. Be sure to eat well and often, preferably fractionally. If your appetite is gone or sleep is disturbed, these are the first signs of overtraining. If you become more nervous, become aggressive, conflict - these are again signs of overtraining. Having caught such signs, it is enough to take a break from training for one week. But it happens that there is a drop in immunity. You often start to get sick with the flu, acute respiratory infections, runny nose and the like, then consult a doctor. Postpone your workouts.

Mistake 4: Fear of Exercise

Often beginners are afraid to use heavy basic exercises and turn their attention to one joint, believing that it is too early for them to squat or deadlift. And they make a big mistake, and then they can’t understand why the muscles don’t grow. Most effective exercises in terms of gaining muscle mass, these are basic heavy exercises. They engage large muscle groups, stimulating a greater release of the hormone testosterone into the bloodstream, which stimulates muscle growth. Plus, the most effective period for gaining mass is First stage when stress is at its most tangible. For further it will be more and more difficult to surprise the prepared muscles.

How to solve a problem?

It is imperative to create a training program with an abundance of basic exercises: squats with a barbell, bench press, deadlift and so on. Do each of them no more than once a week, and on different days. Don't chase weights. First bring the technique to the ideal with light weights, then increase the weight on the bar. And remember (checked on myself) from the exercise you get only disgust when you do not know how to do it.

Mistake 5: Not Serious Workouts Without Effort

Often the guys visiting gym spend a lot of time talking. That is, they come to talk, not to train and wonder why their muscles do not grow. Pay attention to motivational videos of professionals. There is, of course, a lot of game on camera. But there are moments when guys in headphones and with a hood over their eyes walk around the hall and also do exercises. So this is not working for the camera and a way to abstract and focus on the exercises and your muscles. According to physiologists, psychological concentration increases strength by 10-12%. Often at competitions there is a clash not of muscle mass, but of the strength of characters. The one who engages in chatter in training will never grow.

How to solve a problem?

Arriving at the training room, you can stupidly put on headphones and a hood like in commercials. And constantly think about the exercise to be performed and the weight to be lifted. And of course, concentrate on the muscle you are going to train. Practice self-discipline. She will not interfere not only in the hall.

Mistake 6: The role of health is given too little attention

Realize that being healthy is not just a buzzword. Your body should always be in excellent condition. Otherwise, you won’t squeeze much out of a sick organism. A sick organism does not recover well and does not grow. Also, when playing sports during an illness, for example, the flu, a strong load falls on the endocrine and other body systems, which causes the body to wear out more. And again, no muscle growth.

How to solve a problem?

Monitor your health, with symptoms of the disease, identify them in the early stages and eliminate them. Use vitamins, especially during the cold seasons and when viral epidemics intensify. Take glutamine, you can buy glutamic acid. Scientists believe that its deficiency leads to a drop in immunity. Once a year, be examined by a cardiologist, do a general blood test and do a fluorography.

Mistake 7: Training on the same program

Training according to the same scheme leads to stagnation in muscle growth. The fact is that our body gets used to the constant load. But if the weight can be increased, then the body performs the same exercises automatically and the brain sees no reason to increase the size of the muscle mass. I repeat, in order for muscles to grow, constant stress is needed. And the same type of exercises do not cause stressful conditions.

How to solve a problem?

You need to change the training program every 1.5-2 months. But you need to do this when there is no progress. To do this, you need to constantly keep a training diary in which to record the working weight, your own weight. Take pictures every two months and compare the condition of the muscles before and after. Measure the level subcutaneous fat. Can be used for this different techniques or appliances. The main thing is to always use one method or device, since each of them is lying. And using one, you can always understand progress or stand still. And you need to change not thoughtlessly, but to move from phase to phase. First, there is a training for gaining strength - 1-2 months. At this time, you are trying to develop as much strength as possible and gain as much raw mass as possible.

Then comes the masona-gathering phase - 1-2 months. At which you increase body weight, but here is the difference from the strength of the phase, you also develop the circulatory system. That is, you need to grow new capillaries and vessels to improve blood circulation in new muscles. And then there is work on the relief - also 1.5-2 months. Here you are trying to give the gained mass nice shape and burn fat so that the muscles stand out better, and not hide under fat. There should be 1-2 weeks of rest between each phase. To find your program experiment a lot and write down all the results and achievements.

Mistake 8: Lack of a clear plan and goals

Arriving at the hall, you can not rely on "we'll see what happens." Most amateurs just come to the gym and train just like that. That is, at most they have a program that they perform. And they just want muscle. Well, that is, they want big muscles, but they don’t know which ones, they don’t know what result they want to achieve now and what they can achieve now. It is necessary to imagine what result you want to achieve: how much you need to weigh at the end of the training cycle, what volumes you need to get in one cycle.

How to solve a problem?

If you do not know what you can count on, then you should choose a program and start training. And all this time painstakingly record the results in a diary. This way you will understand what you can achieve in one cycle. Then you start planning weight, muscle size. And look for options for how you can still influence your results.

Mistake 9: Nutrition takes a backseat

Inexperienced athletes believe that muscles grow from exercise and only from them. The fact is that for muscle growth they need a stimulus - heavy, regular workout, and building material - nutrients and trace elements. Nutrition is one of the three most important factors in muscle growth: training, rest, nutrition. If you eat very well, you will already grow. You will grow if you eat poorly but exercise well. But each option in itself is not very tangible. Another thing is when training stimulates muscle growth, and good nutrition enhances this muscle growth. Train without good food, it's like building a house with a constant shortage of bricks. That is, the walls appear, but very slowly.

How to solve a problem?

To begin with, disassemble with the basic concepts in dietetics. At least find out for yourself what exactly are proteins, fats and carbohydrates and what is their role. What products contain each of them and in what quantities. Analyze your diet, make the necessary adjustments for the order of consumption of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The number of calories in your daily diet. Buy food boxes from the store to take food with you. Prepare yourself. Start eating regularly, at least 6 times a day in small portions.

Building muscle mass is not easy, whether you are a skinny guy or a tall, tough guy. And why you can't achieve results in any way, as a rule, is caused by many reasons that can be easily avoided. Therefore, if you are upset that you are standing in the same place and at the same weight, then it is time to reflect and evaluate your actions and make adjustments.

1 // You are impatient

If you are a complete beginner, the first phase of the results of your training program is in the changes that you do not see. As a rule, your coordination improves with each exercise, and the amount of simultaneous muscle contraction decreases. Your brain communicates better with your muscles and can already activate a higher percentage muscle fibers, commonly referred to as neuromuscular efficiency. Don't look in the mirror after two weeks of training and wonder why your muscles aren't growing. Be patient and focus on work - and the result will certainly come.

2 // Don't track your progress

The training log is just as important as the program. How are you going to figure out what to do today or appreciate what you did last week without writing in a journal? To maximize muscle hypertrophy, keep track of all your workouts, the weight used, the number of repetitions performed, the speed of the exercises, and the breaks between sets. Keeping a workout log will allow you to keep track of your progress and your energy levels. Journal entries are also a great way to look back at when and how you were injured or overtrained (of course, hopefully you can avoid those embarrassing moments).

3 // Your workouts are unstructured

Don't let your workouts run randomly, stick to the plan. This The best way become stronger and increase muscle size. Occasional workouts can in principle make you strong (if you're a beginner), but the effect of them is just negligible compared to a planned periodic training program. A plan with linear periodization might look like this: week 1-3x12-15; week 2 - 3x10-12; and week 3 - 3x8-10. A plan without periodization might be something like this: weeks 1-3 - 1st set - 10-12 reps; 2nd set - 6-8 reps, 3rd set - 3-5 reps. Choose a plan and stick to it for maximum effect.

4 // Too much cardio

If your goals are muscle building and strength, cardio should not dominate your training program. High intensity interval training and light cardio sessions can take their place in your program, but there should be 3-4 days of training just for weight lifting. If you can recover well between workouts, feel free to add cardio sessions from time to time, but not at the expense of your body's recovery.

5 // You are prone to stress and depression

Too much stress in your life can lead to metabolic disorders and complete physical devastation of the body. Of course, it's easy to say, but you have to calm down. Find a job that gives you pleasure and a girlfriend who won't get on your nerves. Eat fresh whole foods and drink plenty of water. Try to sleep 8-9 hours a night. Learn to relax. The lower the emotional stress, the better you recover. The better you recover, the better your progress. Get it.

6 // You don't eat much

To build muscle, you can't just eat salads all day. You should have a small calorie surplus to support muscle growth. The number of calories received should exceed all the energy expended from physical activity and internal processes. As noted earlier, eat fresh, whole foods. Take the time to plan your meals so you don't end up eating random. Avoid sugary drinks and all fast food. Try to eat meat and milk. Consume healthy fats found in, for example, avocado and coconut oil. If you're into diets, diets like the Paleo Diet or The Medical Diet are really great at helping you build muscle while keeping you lean. Make sure your "growing" body gets the nutrients and all the building blocks it needs, and remember that eating just about everything will lead to negative results.

7 // Doing Inferior Reps

If you look into the gym, you can see that repetitions are usually performed by half or even a quarter. Don't commit given error. Half-reps will give half the effect. Learn how to perform complete movements for each exercise. Leave your ego at the door because the weight you will be using will be less. In other words, you will maximize results by performing full-fledged movements with lighter weight than if you were using heavy weight, would only do half reps. Although half- and quarter-reps are valid, they are useful when used as an accessory exercise to the main lift, but only when the main lift can be performed with a full range of motion.

8 // Don't Be Afraid Of Complex Movements

Curls, front raises, side raises, and calf raises are all good exercise, but they are usually not completed on time. Focus on challenging weight lifts at the beginning of your workout when you are fresh, energized and not tired. Exercises such as deadlifts, squats, chest lifts, presses, and/or deadlifts should make up the first half of your workout. Leave exercise for individual groups muscles for the second half of the workout.

9 // You're a gym freak

Staying in the gym for hours will not bring the expected benefits. This point is closely related to the advice that you should relax. Going to the gym for too long will result in a longer and harder recovery between workouts, as well as adding a lot of stress. For beginners, workouts of 45-60 minutes will be optimal, as long as there are proper breaks between sets and if they do not check their profile on Facebook. Too many sets and hours in the gym can backfire. Go to the gym, focus on your workout, do the right amount of reps, and go home.

10 // You avoid dropsets

Drop sets use a reduction in maximum weight, each mini set is performed "to failure". For example, take a weight that you can do 8-10 rep curls with. For the next set, take dumbbells 4.5 kg lighter in weight and perform repetitions "to failure". For the next set, reduce the weight by about the same amount. Take a short break and drop set again. The constant muscle tension created by these three mini-sets triggers hypertrophic mechanisms in the muscles. Incorporate drop sets into your exercise program for specific muscle groups to build muscle.

Muscles do not grow: what to do?

Video: why muscle mass is not growing?

Muscle mass scientifically

A few months grueling workouts don't give results? A reasonable question arises: why there is no increase in muscle mass. In most cases, this can be explained by overestimated expectations from a two- or three-month training. During this time, it is impossible to gain a few kilograms of muscle, remove fat and get the desired relief. No, of course, this is real if you use anabolic agents. Nearly all of the amazing before-and-after results on social media are the result of drug use. And what is most unpleasant is that only a few people admit this, thereby creating the already mentioned high expectations.

Even adherents of natural bodybuilding often use special preparations, but they carefully hide this fact. This is important, first of all, for promoting your own training programs, methodologies and resources. If you doubt this, you can ask what the progenitors of bodybuilding looked like. For example, Charles Atlas and Georg Gakkeshmidt - they have exactly natural muscles that have been developed over the years, because no one knew about anabolic steroids during the period when they lived. Their body is the result of systematic strength training.

In order not to indulge yourself with illusions, it is worth understanding: natural natural training results cannot be achieved quickly. This will take years. But you should also understand that if with proper nutrition, adequate training and use sports nutrition there is no result, there are good reasons for that.

Reasons for the lack of muscle growth

1. Heredity. It is your genes that determine the speed of metabolic processes, muscle growth, and even weight. Development right principles building a training will not help you get a gain if genetics are laid down that do not allow you to do this. At this stage in the development of science, it has not yet been possible to find ways to change the human genotype, but bad genes are not yet an excuse for the lack of muscle growth. By creating optimal conditions for your own body, thereby interfering with metabolic processes, you can try to achieve your goals. But still, it is first worth evaluating your own potential.
2. Lack of purpose. Even at the very beginning of the training, you need to determine for yourself what weight you want to achieve, the volume of arms, legs, even the percentage of fat. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable within these limits.
3. Motivation. If it is absent or too weak, then obtaining a result is almost unattainable. About 50% of athletes quit after a couple of months after the start, another 30% say goodbye to their aspirations to perfect body six months later. Another 10% in a year. By simple mathematical calculations, it can be understood that no more than 10% are ready to study for more than a year.
4. Gaps in knowledge. Many novice athletes do not have a theoretical background, and this affects the fact that they do not understand how malnutrition, the anabolic process and metabolism work. Of course, the easiest way is to turn to specialists, and the trainer will create the perfect training scheme, the nutritionist will select proper nutrition. If this is not possible, then before you take up dumbbells, you will have to study a lot of smart books. But this is not enough: you need to be able to use the information received for the benefit own muscles. Do not trust those "experts" who are ready to help you achieve results at the moment.
5. Lack of discipline. This is often the result of weak motivation. If a person does not know how to maintain a daily regimen and systematically perform exercises, then achieving a result is impossible. Planning is everything. Moreover, it is important to draw up a nutrition plan both on the days of training and in the rest of the period. Full and regular rest: if the goal is to build muscle, then you can forget about nightly entertainment, as well as bad habits. The result should be the focus. In order to do just that, you can use a training diary, nutrition, it’s good if there is a calorie counter. It is important to weigh regularly. Fix all the food that you eat, adjust the training in time.
6. Diseases. Sometimes the reason that the muscles do not grow can be a disease. For example, those that are ways to reduce the secretion of anabolic hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone, insulin. And also with increased formation of catabolic hormones, in particular cortisol. If all requirements are met, but there is no result, it is better to analyze the main anabolic hormones.
7. Overtraining. Yes, it is a significant number of workouts that can lead to a lack of muscle growth. If after a couple of months of training you do not see the result, you do not need to increase the number of workouts and the load at times - in this case, the muscles will not have time to recover, which means that their growth will not be observed.

Just as many diets fail for a number of reasons, mass eating often fails due to mistakes made by beginners. Perhaps the most common is a lack of calories in the diet.

Nutrition for mass: lack of calories

Barring improper training (which can also be a problem in this case), not eating enough is the number one reason you can't gain mass. And this applies even to those who claim that they eat "tons", but at the same time do not add a single gram of weight. However, there is an opinion that "hardgainers" most often tend to undereat, but overtrain, which is actually true.

If you observe the regime of these "gluttons", it turns out that they do not eat so much! Research shows that overweight people tend to underestimate the amount of food they get. That is, they think they are getting much less than they actually are. But in my experience, hardgainers tend to overestimate their daily/weekly calories by eating less than they think. Nutrition by weight is thus not much different from a regular diet.

These athletes can eat a huge amount of food in one meal, but always make up for it with a sharp reduction in calories for the rest of the day/next day. Thus, they do not exceed the recommended number of calories consumed for mass gain. The jocks create the illusion of overeating.

Causes of undernutrition

poor appetite

Some people may simply not have enough appetite to get as many calories as they might need to gain muscle mass. Yes, and in principle for weight gain. When they try to increase their daily caloric intake even a little, their appetite only worsens, which forces them to cut calories again. This means that the body has an increased metabolic rate and burns more calories than the average person under the same conditions. This phenomenon can be called "heat generation without physical activity» ( non-exercise activity thermogenesis).

But the simple fact is that if these "big eaters" were to actually consume as much food as they think they would, they would certainly be covered in some amount of fat. And when "nutrition for mass" is not in surplus, there can be no talk of muscles. Even if a jock is sure that he overeats, but still does not gain weight, I know for sure: he is still not eating enough.

Fear of gaining fat

And, since I'm talking about fat, I must mention another very common mistake of mass nutrition - the fear of gaining even a gram of excess fat. However, some fat gain is inevitable. And this must be accepted as a fact. Athletes, pursued by this fear, deliberately keep their caloric intake at the lowest possible level, and then they are very surprised that muscles are not synthesized from the air. It is no longer worth talking about those individuals who understand nutrition for mass as a set of lean muscles and burning fat at the same time.

Pure physiological fact: to increase muscle mass, training stimulation is not enough, you also need “building blocks” for building new tissue. This requires not only a sufficient amount of protein, but also a sufficient amount of calories and energy. Of course, it would be ideal if this energy were released directly from our fat cells, but this rarely happens (exceptional cases for those who have just started training / returned to training after a long break).

At the same time, there are diets (such as mine Ultimate Diet 2.0 and other "intermittent fasting" regimens that allow people to increase and maintain muscle while remaining "dry". However, ways to minimize the appearance of fat during mass gain is a topic for a separate article. During high-calorie periods (in Ultimate Diet 2.0 this is the weekend), you provide your body with energy for further muscle gain.

And now, despite the fact that this is a slightly different topic, I ask trainees not to go to extremes and not eat "as much as possible." Gaining a disproportionate amount of fat due to overeating is just as stupid a mass-gaining mistake as undereating.

If you are not a sumo wrestler or a lineman, the fat will eventually leave you. And the more you gain it when gaining mass, the longer you will have to diet to get rid of it. And not only is it hard psychologically, but there is also a risk of losing hard-earned muscle mass (especially if you dry yourself incorrectly).

Gain muscle, not fat

The trick is to consume enough calories to ensure muscle growth, but not become covered with a dense layer of fat. And it can be quite difficult if you do not know some of the nuances, which I will now explain.

Fitness magazines claim that building 220g of muscle per week is the limit for a straight woman, about 110g for a woman. Exceptions are very rare.

And, although 220g per week did not sound very impressive, in a year you will gain 10.5 kg of lean muscle mass. Most athletes don't grow as fast in their first year of training.

However, gaining muscle is also accompanied by gaining fat, the amount of which is determined by what your calorie surplus is. This will most likely be around 220g per week, so total weight gain will be around 440g per week and 1760g per month. Half will be muscle, half fat.

You can include diet cycles to immediately drive off the gained fat. Many people use the system Rapid Fat Loss Handbook for getting rid of fat between short periods of meat gathering.

I should add that you should not create an excessive calorie surplus. My guess is that you won't burn off that excess by sweating for hours on the treadmill. Therefore, I advise you to add no more than 500 kcal in excess of the recommended rate to maintain the fastest possible muscle growth. It is best to make the most high-calorie days around training (the day before training, the day of training and the day after). This will help you keep your fat gain in check.

Of course, your regimen should be adjusted based on observations of changes in your body. If you are not growing at all, you need to increase the daily calorie content, if you are gaining fat too quickly, reduce it.

There is a “scientifically based myth” among gym goers working to increase muscle mass that they always aim for 8-12 reps for the most effective hypertrophy and rarely work for strength with 1-3 reps. Zozhnik tells why they are right in the short term, and wrong - in the long term muscle building.

“Why are you only doing three reps?” a young guy at a gym asked me recently, after amiably agreeing to back me up on the bench press. "Why not?" I asked. “Well, you won’t gain muscle mass by doing this,” and added another, almost obligatory phrase, that muscle mass gain occurs within 10 repetitions and that, they say, you can’t do less than 6 repetitions. Anything less than 6 reps makes no sense to a bodybuilder.

These peremptory features are gradually acquiring scientifically based knowledge among. They have already published on Zozhnik - the optimal number of repetitions, approaches, weight lifting speed, pause size, and so on have been studied. However, this does not mean that it is more efficient to always do only such a workout.

It is important sometimes to look at familiar things from a different angle and include in your training process training for maximum muscle strength, especially since science is on the side of versatile training to achieve results over a long distance.

Types of muscle hypertrophy

It is very important to know that there are two main types of muscle hypertrophy. The goal of a typical bodybuilding training is usually the so-called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. She is trained with a fairly high number of repetitions. It is usually advised to train in the range of 5-15 reps,,,,.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy characterized by an increase in volume sarcoplasms, which surrounds the so-called myofibrils. Although this type of training also affects the myofibrils, because otherwise a person would not become stronger by training in a high rep range, the increase in muscle strength, nevertheless, with this type of training, is much worse than with training in range of 1-5 reps.

At myofibrillar hypertrophy there is a thickening of muscle fibers due to an increase in the number of myofibrils. Myofibrils play a critical role in the development of muscle strength and respond best to very hard training. To fully utilize the full potential of myofibrils, you need to train maximum muscle strength.

Figure showing 2 main types of muscle growth in volume: either by increasing the number of myofibrils (occurs mainly during strength training), or by increasing the sarcoplasm around the myofibrils (due to classical bodybuilding - “for mass”).

For bodybuilders, training with maximum weights almost equates to a deadly sin, as they are afraid that they can get injured with such large weights, as well as simply wasting their time - because with this type of training, muscles do not grow in size as efficiently as with another type of training.

However, to achieve maximum results, strength training has an important effect on overall muscle hypertrophy in the long term.

But in fairness it should be noted that training with maximum weights are indeed more traumatic than training with lighter weights, so Zozhnik strongly discourages beginners from training with maximum weight.

Intermuscular coordination

Injured, however, are most often those bodybuilders who test their maximum strength, and do not train it. Since they are simply not used to such weights, they do not have the intermuscular and intramuscular coordination they need to successfully perform this kind of training. (and even more so for beginners - approx. Zozhnik).

While intermuscular coordination is just an improved interaction between all the muscles that are involved in the exercise, and therefore it can be improved by constantly repeating a certain exercise, then intramuscular coordination is an improvement in the performance of individual motor units within a single muscle. It is she who is of great and decisive importance in the framework of training for maximum muscle strength.

Improving intramuscular coordination is due to better work of the central nervous system. As intramuscular coordination improves, the CNS is able to simultaneously recruit more muscle fibers, increase the frequency at which muscle fibers work, and recruit as many muscle fibers as possible. Only when the maximum number of muscle fibers work synchronously can maximum muscle strength be generated. , .

The goal of training for maximum muscle strength is to maximize the use of muscle potential - through its maximum activation.

In order to purposefully increase intramuscular coordination, you need to work with the appropriate weight and appropriate intensity. You need to work with 90-100% intensity, which is equivalent to 1-3 repetitions. The number of approaches in the exercise 3-6.

Since the goal is to work almost all muscle fibers at the same time, you should train more with basic exercises and less with insulating. In addition, for better CNS activation, exercise should be performed in an explosive style (quickly and powerfully lift the projectile).

With such a high intensity, it is necessary to take long pauses between sets - from 4 to 10 minutes, recovering well between sets. The amount of work in one workout, on the contrary, should not be large. We should try to conduct such training more often than once a week to allow our central nervous system to adapt to such loads.

In addition, these workouts can be combined with your usual hypertrophy workouts. So, it has been proven that such a "mixed training", performed for four weeks, leads to a significant increase in strength.

The option of combining a workout can be as follows: after a warm-up, gradually approach the required working weight, do 3 heavy sets of 1-3 repetitions. Then the weight is reduced and a couple more sets of 6-8 or 8-10 repetitions are performed each. Next exercises for this muscle group are also performed in classical style", so as not to overload the muscles and the central nervous system.

Due to greater muscle strength, expressed in improved intramuscular coordination (increase in the number of myofibrils, more effective activation of muscle fibers), the athlete will be able to train with more weight, but already as part of the classic volumetric bodybuilding training with a high number of repetitions and, as a result, will be able to achieve better muscle (sarcoplasmic) hypertrophy.

And especially such training is recommended for trainees who want to be as strong as they look. Maximum strength development can only be achieved by increasing the cross section of the muscle and improving intramuscular coordination.

Sources:

1. Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky, PhD & William J. Kraemer, PhD – Science and Practice of Strength Training.
2. Dr. Jürgen Weineck – Optimales Training. Leistungsphysiologische Trainingslehre.
3. Dr. Tengler – Trainingsplanung fur Bodybuilder.
4. Pavel Tatsuline - Power to the People.
5. http://www.team-andro.com/maximalkraft-im-bodybuilding.html