Have you been lifting weights for awhile and not been noticing any new gains? Do you feel as if you're never going to get any stronger? Here are a few tips to help the struggling lifter who has reached a momentary plateau.
Grow Like A Tree
If you have never heard this phrase, it means from the ground up. A lot of people neglect to lift their lower body. Girls never really care about strong thighs or calves anyway right? Well, a bulky, rippling upper body sitting atop a pair of chicken legs is not a turn on. And the truth is, without lifting your legs; the rest of your body is doomed from the start. The best exercise to build strong legs (also helps all your core muscles too) is squats. Getting in the squat rack at least once a week will help the rest of your body grow. Your body is forced to release more of its natural growth hormone to the rest of your body, spurring massive gains. By doing squats and dead lifts, you not only work your legs, but back, shoulders, forearms, traps, abdominals, and gluts.
Rest Periods
A lot of times when I'm in the gym I will see people do more talking and walking around than actual lifting. If you want to get serious about gaining muscle then you need to not only train hard while you are in the act of lifting, but while you're resting. Pay attention to the amount of time in between each set. Training for maximum strength you should be taking about 2-4 minutes rest in between each set. Going for a more toned look and muscle size, you should only be taking about half a minute to 90 seconds in between. Investing in a stop watch isn't a bad idea, but if you don't want to walk around with one just keep your eye on the clock.
Trick Your Body
This is probably the easiest step to remember. You have to keep your body guessing by continually switching up your routine. Say you lift shoulders first and triceps second on Monday, switch it up to triceps first and shoulders second on Friday and hit your Friday muscle group on Monday. See how this works. It's everything the total opposite of what you normally do. This gives each muscle group the opportunity to train fresh and make big gains. Try this for a couple months and see how much you improve.
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