When you overload your muscles via resistance training, you trigger the bodys natural adaptive response to the demands placed on it (given good nutrition and rest) by growing bigger and stronger. Overload simply means you make your muscles work beyond the capacity to which they are accustomed. You need to continually increase the overload over time if you expect them to continue growing in size and strength. The body will only change according to the level at which its stressed. The concept behind progressive overload applies to every goal you may have in the gym, whether its building muscle size, strength, endurance, or even cardiovascular fitness. Moreover, with resistance training you can build more than muscle size; you can also strengthen your bones, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. If you dont change your routines and push yourself past your previous limits, then your body wont change either. Im constantly using this concept in all aspects of my training ... from weights to cardio. Im always trying to exceed my previous max. Clearly, if youre spending time in the gym you dont want to waste your effort, but all too often trainees make the critical mistake of doing the same exercises with the same weight for the same number of repetitions—and never see any changes in strength or their physique. Now that you understand the concept of progressive overload, the reason these individuals fail to progress becomes clear. So what are the most effective ways to implement progressive overload? 1)ADD WEIGHT TO YOUR LIFTS 2)INCREASE THE NUMBER OF REPETITIONS 3) DECREASE THE REST TIME BETWEEN SETS 4)INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SETS 5)INCREASE THE FREQUENCY OF YOUR WORKOUTS
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 20:52:40 +0000
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