How many times have people complained that despite following a robust program, eating pretty well, getting enough sleep and ensuring adequate recovery, they're not seeing the muscle growth they expected? Muscle growth is sporadic, not linear. It will also look different for different people due to a range of factors beyond our control such as genetics, size, gender, weight and the like. As stated elsewhere, two people with identical builds can get different results from the exact same program. It may suck but it's true.
I need to be honest with you: I don't follow a hypertrophy-based program. I follow a strength-training program that incorporates mainly triples, doubles, and singles. Note that I would go five sets of three heavy triples any day as opposed to three sets of five or eight or ten etc. simply because my focus is on strength and strength, folks, has many measures -- one of which is the ability to generate large amounts of power in an extremely short amount of time. That sort of stuff gives me bit of a hard-on.
Any 'ol who, the masters of body-building aka "building up the body" really are bodybuilders, so if that's the information you're looking for congratulations, you've just landed on the wrong site. But. Like all good kiwis I'm more than keen to throw my hat into the ring and offer up an opinion which, should you choose to read on, may offer some helpful information which segues nicely into this: if you're weight-training for strength gains, improved muscularity, over-all health benefits and longevity, definitely read on.
WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED ABOUT MUSCLE GROWTH
You've probably read or clicked on an article that promised x-amount of muscle development over x-amount of time (usually something like "3-Days" or "Two weeks") in the hope of finding a quicker way to superior physical development. News flash: there is no quick way bar steroids. News flash endeth. Thus making bodybuilders your goal or idol isn't the best unless you're young, extremely focused, determined and are prepared to make ongoing sacrifices to attain to their level.
Which usually includes steroids.
...and for what? A body?
Wow.
I say this simply because the overwhelming majority of lifters will never attain the same physique of their bodybuilding heroes. If you've read How big can I get? -- if you haven't you should -- you'll recall my statement, "the most successful bodybuilders/fitness models are...those born with the complete package of great natural builds, muscle lengths/insertions and tons of time to hit the gym." Few of us, myself included, are the complete package or have the time but hey, do your thing, kemosabe.
Do your thing.
Whilst I can appreciate the time and effort put in by bodybuilders (and yes, I think you can call them "athletes") as well as the enormous knowledge and insight they have towards building bigger and better physiques, what I've found following a strength-focused program is muscle growth comes in spurts. You will get stronger but not get swole or at least, not in equal amounts. You can move weight week in week out, month in month out, with little if any physical difference -- even if said weight increases -- yet to all intents and purposes still look the same.
But.
Your body is growing albeit slowly.
Muscle is thickening which means increased weight. No, weight isn't the be-all of indicators as I've seen men 10-20kg lighter than me who look amazing, but muscle is heavier than fat. If you appear physically unchanged yet the scales are moving, you're getting more muscular. If you appear physically unchanged and your waistline is still the same but the scales are moving, you're getting more muscular. If your clothing is getting a little snug and you know your wife hasn't accidentally shrunk it, you're getting more muscular.
MUSCLES WILL GROW AT THEIR OWN PACE, THEIR OWN WAY. SOME MUSCLE GROUPS WILL MAKE ASTONISHING PROGRESS. SOME WILL MAKE AVERAGE PROGRESS. OTHERS WILL MAKE LITTLE TO NO PROGRESS
Don't let this gradual process over years get you down. You need to be patient and look upon strength-training as a way of life not, say, a three-month program to achieve a certain look. For us older lifters who started later in life this is an imperative: health and longevity are our prime aim here, over and above appearance. Stay the course, put in the work, make the continual and ongoing effort because through-out the duration of your lifting career you may well have periods of 6-12 months without any size increase whatsoever.
That's totally normal.
But the overall health benefits will be doing wonders for you.
However some coaches, lifters, brahs or whoever, will read what I've said here and start screaming that my above statement is a total fallacy. Hell, they might even be right I mean, I'm just basing this on me remember? They may say such dismal outcomes are a result of poor programming, nutrition, sleep patterns or anal bleaching and thus you need to do more and do it more often, throwing in words like not being "hardcore" and the like, which is why I say you may have periods of 6-12 months without any size increase whatosever.
Get over it.
We're in our 50s, for fuck sake.
How many 50yr-olds are all these "coaches" training anyway?
Muscles will grow at their own pace, their own way. Some muscle-groups will make astonishing progress. Some will make average progress whilst others will lag and fall behind. Worse, some will make little if any progress -- even though they may actually be getting stronger. It is what it is and there's really fuck all you can do about that. Our bodies will develop the way they want to and contrary to popular opinion, we don't have as much sway as the netspurts proclaim we do over the many variables at work here.
...which pretty much explains why lifters go on gear, huh?
Lastly, phrases like "shock the body into growing" or "forcing new growth" and other similar examples of fitness-speak are just that: words. Words don't create muscle growth. No matter how hard you may want a body part to look a certain way or how long you've tried to bring it up to par with the rest of your Herculean-self, that may not happen. Why? I have no fucking idea and to be honest, don't give a shit. Move on, get a life, find more interesting things in the world. Please, for all our sakes.
...and keep on lifting.
WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED ABOUT STALLING
Whilst some may complain about their lack of growth, others complain that they're stalling. In fact, you may experience both at the same time. What you may not know and what netspurts fail to tell you, is that some lifts will steadily go up whilst others will stall. Some will stall regularly. Benchpress was a great example of this for me: my benchpress would continually stall whilst squats, deadlifts and rows would keep on increasing. There's no ryhme or reason to it. I came to realise over the years I'm stronger pulling than pressing and that ALL pressing movements were going to be hard work.
That's still the same today and probably will be for life.
I can handle that...the question is though, can you handle that?
I really have to work at movements like overhead press and benchpress. I usually stay at the same weight for both movements anywhere from 2-3 months before making small increments in volume and/or weight and repeating the entire process. There are several things I keep working at (which I've included below) that enable me to keep making progress irrespective of how small said progressions may be. Which is why you'll see me get excited over a PR 5-pounds heavier than the last one because considering all the time, effort and energy put in, that's an achievement (for me).
SOME HELPFUL TIPS TO OVERCOME STALLS
• WORK ON SMOOTH BAR PATHS IRRESPECTIVE OF THE EXERCISE
• FIND AND KEEP USING THE SET-UP MOST HELPFUL TO YOU
• EMPLOY BREATHING; MAKE SURE TO FILL THE STOMACH SO AS TO PACK YOUR SPINE
• KEEPT TIGHT FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN YOU OVERHEAD PRESS, SQUEEZE YOUR BUNS
• NAIL CORRECT FORM CONSISTENTLY AGAIN AND AGAIN
• INCLUDE ADEQUATE VOLUME (IF THAT'S YOUR THING)
• DON'T OVERLOOK HEAVY SINGLES TO WORK PAST STICKING POINTS
It's easy to get frustrated. It's easy to give up. It's infinitely harder to push through the frustration of little if any gains over extended periods -- often with continual stalls -- but keep going, keep focused, and keep chipping away at it. Because if you want something this much you'll do exactly that. So do exactly that. Stalling is normal, folks (read that again). If you really want a slap on the face, know that sooner or later you'll reach the point where you can't actually lift any more, because we ALL have a limit. You going to give up then, too?
Lastly, what's important when stalling isn't just backing off for a period so as to work back up to whatever amount it is you're trying to hit, but also ensuring adequate volume. I've linked to an awesome Jim Wendler article further below for you to go look at because he reiterates the role of volume to develop greater muscularity as size equals a bigger bench. We often need more muscle and greater taxation on joints and ligaments so that they too become accustomed to generating greater force for greater amounts. Don't turn you back too quickly on a (lighter) volume day. <
WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED ABOUT WORK-OUT FREQUENCY
The usual response to a lack of muscular growth is to do more of the same: more work outs with more weight, more sets, more reps blah blah blah. What a load of horse shit. None of us, myself included, got into this to physically destroy ourselves. Fuck that. Doing more may just wipe you out, lead to injury or worse, put you off moving iron for the rest of your life. Don't do more. If you're wondering how often you should work out because you're not seeing the results you wanted, don't do more.
YOU SHOULD WORK OUT AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN, FOR AS LONG AS YOU NEED TO, SO LONG AS YOU ADEQUATELY RECOVER
The reason you shouldn't rush out and do more isn't due to one particular thing but a range: what is your program like? Is it the right one for your goals? What is your nutrition like? What is your rest & recovery like? What age are you? What gender are you? What body type are you and yes, your genetics play a crucial role here. Can you see the point I'm getting at? Any one of these things can be out of whack which in turn will have an impact on your gains.
Something else that needs to be asked is how long have you been doing this? If you're wondering why you don't look like Arnie yet after only 3-months you need a slapping. On that note, often (young) newbies make a large amount of gains in their earlier years -- which means if you're not young or a newbie, then the considerations mentioned in the paragraph above may be applicable to you.
However, if you're in my age bracket you may well find not only are there zero "newbie" gains but little gain(s) over all though you should at least be getting stronger and showing some size increase, even if it takes 3x as long. Which explains why I don't give a shit about most of this stuff. Instead I try to eat a balanced diet, work-out three times a week, get in 3 or so walks a week if I can and just leave it at that. Strength, health and longevity is my aim.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR A WEIGHT-LIFTING PROGRAM
• STRENGTH-FOCUS // HEAVIER WEIGHT, LESS REPS
• HYPERTROPHY-FOCUS // MODERATE WEIGHT, HIGHER REPS, WIDER EXERCISE RANGE
• THE HEAVEIER THE WEIGHT THE LESS REPS YOU SHOULD DO
• THERE ARE NO "MUST-DO" EXERCISES ONLY WHAT MATCHES YOUR GOALS
• IF YOU WANT A GOOD SQUAT, SQUAT MORE; A BETTER BENCH, BENCH MORE
(VIST JIMWENDLER.COM FOR AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE ON STRUGGLING BENCHPRESS)
We often forget the things we could do when younger i.e. drink heavily, do little if any exercise, eat terribly, smoke like trains, stay out crazy late 2-3 nights a week and all with zero weight fluctuation. In fact, most of us would say we looked better when we were younger when the damage we did to our bodies was phenomenal! The point is, if you had been health conscious and into lifting back then and stayed with it, you would now have a phenomenal physique. Starting in your 40s when your golden years are behind you is going to be a whole lot harder, a whole lot longer and to be frank, often without the results you and I could have had.
...you do know that, right?
It's almost impossible to convince some people that they're just not going to get much bigger and to be honest, I don't really have much to say or even have much advice to give those people holding that mindset apart from do your thing kemosabe, do your thang. One of our young male whanau members got onto gear because he hit his muscular potential and wasn't happy with it; steroids was the only way for him to get bigger. This is why I assume that visitors to this site are in an older age bracket and, like me, don't give a shit about size inasmuch as strength, health and longevity. Stick with that and be happy.
:: CONCLUSION
I'm always impressed (and a little surprised) when fitness sites and/or online coaches make bold statements guaranteeing x-amount of gains, weight loss and results over x-amount of time. As I hope you've gleaned from the above, there are so many variables we as individuals have, that cookie-cutter programs simply won't cut it for everyone. Which is a roundabout way of saying that if you're not seeing the gains in muscularity you desire, you not only need to revisit some of the above but possibly accept the fact you're simply not going to get much bigger if at all.
...booyah!
Either that or you're expecting too much too soon. This takes time and dedication -- not program hopping, not trying the latest fad, not experimenting with the latest paleo-whatever but time and dedication over years. Unless I (or anyone for that matter) knew your program, your goals, your nutrition, your rest and recovery, your age and gender, your body-type and your lifting experience let alone the equipment you have access too, none of us can truly give you the help you may need. So. Either do your research better, find a real-life person who knows their shit, or use the contact link on the homepage and get ahold of me. Kia ora whanau.
△
© ironkiwi.nz