Are you seeking a few new ways to vary your training so that you can keep challenging your muscle groups, and keep the grow coming? You have come to the right place. Check out these techniques that you should be using every single workout to keep raising the challenge in the gym that you are facing, and raising the response from your body (namely, muscle growth!)
Use more weight with each successive set
This should feel like common sense to some lifters, but others seem to miss out on the point entirely. You should never complete 3 or 4 sets of a movement using the same amount of weight. Each set should require you to add another 5, 10, or 25 pounds to the bar. This means you will be completing fewer repetitions with each successive set, but that you’ll be stimulating more fast-twitch muscle fibers with each successive set as well.
More sets each month
Each month, you should be adding 1 to 2 sets to the total number of sets used on each training day. This will mean that in the course of two years, you might be moving up to 30 sets. But at the same time, your body will have grown to meet this new demand. It is only through new stimulation that our muscles are forced to grow, and adding new sets is a fine way to do this!
Reduce time between sets
Part of adding more sets each month will also involve moving the sets closer together (by virtue of less rest time between sets). You’ll always want to keep at least 30 to 45 seconds of rest between sets so that blood and ATP levels can reset. But you don’t need to be spending 4 minutes resting between sets. Work it down to at 60 to 90 seconds between sets, and you’ll be stronger for longer with each workout.
Training past failed repetitions
Use a spotter to help you lift when you cannot do it on your own any more. After your final repetition, when you would normally halt all lifting, have the partner assist you in moving the bar through another 2 to 5 repetitions. Even if you are only able to move the bar through the negative portion of the repetition, you’ll still be making strides in terms of your strength and size. You cannot use a technique like training past failure on every set of a workout, but it can add some spice and spurn some new growth when all else fails.
Bump up the training frequency by one day
There’s a good chance you have been training in the gym using the same week split for quite a while. You probably hit each muscle group each per week, which may work fine for your schedule and sanity. However, you should try stepping back for a moment and imagining what it would be like to train each body part once every six days instead. Try that for six weeks and see what a difference it makes!