15 ways to change your muscle building program

Have you stopped making gains? If so, then it might be time to change what you're doing in the gym. This article will give you 15 tips on how to get your training back on track and keep growing.

The human body is amazing. No matter what we ask of it, it will adapt - and quite quickly. The body's quick adaptations to change are the reason why bodybuilders and strength athletes reach plateaus. You know what I'm talking about - you don't get more muscular and you don't get stronger, no matter how hard you train.

The whole process of building muscle is about your body adapting to increasing loads and increasing stress. Put simply, it works like this:

• Move X kilos of weight and your body grows to cope with this.
• Increase the weight to X kilos and your body builds more muscle to cope with this too
• etc., etc.

If it were that simple, we'd all be big and muscular!

As experienced exercisers know, if you use the same program week after week and month after month, you will not achieve continuous growth. The human body simply adapts too quickly to the stresses and strains. Once your body has adapted to the stress of your current program, it will see no need to continue growing.

Regular changes to your training sessions are essential for long-term muscle growth. Professional bodybuilders use constantly changing training cycles, altering their exercises and using advanced training techniques. Based on their experience, they know exactly what type of training and diet they need to build muscle and burn fat.

So what can you do to change your training program and break through plateaus? There are plenty of techniques used by the pros to stimulate new growth. Here are 15 techniques you can use to change your program and build more muscle.

15 ways to change your training program

1. increase the intensity

Intensity builds muscle. I put this point first because I believe it is the most important of all. A lot of the techniques mentioned in this article will increase the intensity of your workouts. Descending sets, supersets, negative reps and slow reps are all classic examples.

Other ways in which you can increase the intensity of your training sessions include reduced rest times, circuits, forced repetitions, etc. If you've been using the same program for a while, it's easy to become blinded. You think you're training hard, but in reality your intensity level has slowly decreased without you realizing it.

2. change your exercises

For each muscle group, there are a number of different exercises that can be used to train that muscle group. A lot of exercisers use the same exercises week after week. They skip exercises they don't like.

To keep growing, you need to train your target muscles with a wide range of exercises. You should change your exercises regularly. Many experienced bodybuilders never do the same workout twice.

3. include descending sets in your program

Descending sets are one of the shock techniques that can help you break through plateaus if performed correctly. Descending sets work by forcing more repetitions by gradually reducing the weight. This pumps more blood to the target muscle group and causes more microtraumas - small muscle fiber tears - which promote more growth after the muscle tissue is repaired.

Descending sets are easy. Do a set until you can't do another repetition, reduce the weight, do another set, reduce the weight...etc. You can do between 3 and 6 sets.

One of the most popular types of descending sets is a method known as "down the rack". In this variation of descending sets, most commonly used in dumbbell curls, you start with your normal working weight and, after reaching muscle failure, continue the set with the next lighter dumbbell available until you reach the lightest one.

4. change the days on which you train each muscle group

Changing the order of your training days can have a big impact on your results. In general, you should train your weakest muscle groups at the beginning of the week when you still have the most energy. However, as with everything in your training program, you will benefit from changes.

One point to remember when making such changes, however, is that you need to ensure you give each muscle group enough rest - keep in mind that the muscle group may be used as a secondary muscle group on another training day. For example, you shouldn't train your biceps on Monday and then train your back on Tuesday - you need your biceps as a secondary muscle group in all your back pulling exercises. You can also cycle your training days so that the first day of your training week focuses on a different muscle group each time.

5. supersets consisting of a multi-joint exercise and an isolation exercise for the same muscle group

One of the most effective ways to promote muscle growth in a stubborn muscle group is to perform an isolation exercise after a heavy multi-joint exercise. One of the best examples of this would be bench presses followed by flying movements. Here you finish your set of bench presses as normal and then immediately perform a strict set of flying movements with dumbbells without rest.

You don't need heavy weights for the second set. Your focus should be on muscle contraction. This means that you perform the repetitions more slowly and consciously tense your muscles at the highest point of the movement.

Here are some good supersets of multi-joint exercises and isolation exercises:

o Barbell shoulder presses and front raises
o Close bench presses and lying tricep presses (skullcrushers)
o Squats and leg extensions
o Bench presses and flying movements with dumbbells
o Pull-ups or lat pulldowns with a wide grip and pull downs with arms extended
o Pull-ups with an underhand grip and barbell curls

6. weekly cyclical changes in the number of repetitions

A weekly cyclical change in the number of repetitions works as follows:

• Week 1: Perform 12 repetitions per set
• Week 2: Perform 10 repetitions per set
• Week 3: Perform 8 repetitions per set
• Week 4: Perform 6 repetitions per set
• Week 5: start again at week 1

No one knows exactly how many repetitions you should perform for optimal muscle building. What we do know is that this range is between 6 and 12 repetitions. Therefore, you should play it safe by starting with 12 repetitions and reducing the number of repetitions to 6 over the course of 4 weeks, increasing the weight from week to week.

If you are doing everything right with your diet (which should be the case if you want to use any of the techniques described in this article), then you should find that you can use significantly more weight for 12 reps in week 5 than in week 1.

7. change the number of days you train

When building muscle, less is often more. If you want to become more muscular, then you should not train more. This is one of the most common mistakes that beginners often make. You think that reducing the number of training days from 4 to 5 to 3 days a week will build less muscle? Then you're wrong, your body will probably benefit from the extra rest.

8. negative repetitions

Negative repetitions are extremely helpful in building strength when it comes to increasing training weights and muscle mass and breaking through plateaus. Negative repetitions are repetitions where you focus on the negative (lowering) part of the movement by using very heavy weights (above your 1RM weight or your maximum weight for a repetition) and very slow repetitions.

For most types of negative repetitions you will need a training partner. If you train alone, you don't even need to think about this technique - you will only injure yourself.

Good examples of exercises that work well for heavy negative reps include bench presses, barbell Scott curls, close bench presses, pull-ups (where you jump up and slowly lower yourself) and leg extensions.

Tip: Can only do a few pull-ups? Do as many as you can manage and finish the set with negative repetitions. This will help you build strength quickly. Use a wide grip to emphasize your latissimus and not your biceps.

9. slow (controlled) repetitions

Slow reps are all about control and contraction. Using a lighter weight and a slower speed of movement, you perform the same number of repetitions.

You should use a 3-1-3 tempo, which means the following:

• Count "one one thousand" three times on the downward movement
• Pause for "one one thousand"
• Count "one one thousand" three times on the upward movement

Using slow repetitions, you perform the same number of repetitions you usually use, but your muscles are under tension for a much longer period of time.

10. alternate & hold under tension (aka partial reps)

Like slow reps, alternating reps work the muscle group harder by keeping it under tension for a longer period of time. To do this, you use an exercise and modify it by not performing a full repetition. An example would be alternating dumbbell curls. Instead of letting your left arm hang down while your right arm performs a curl movement, you keep your left arm slightly bent and under tension.

As a result, the blood cannot drain out of the muscle (the pump is therefore maintained), which makes the muscle work extremely hard to hold the weight. After the set, your muscles will have been under tension for twice as long as with regular alternating curls.

You can use this technique with many dumbbell exercises such as dumbbell shoulder presses, dumbbell bench presses, dumbbell tricep presses and kickbacks.

11. change the order of your exercises

If someone asked me what order they should do their exercises in, I would tell them to do the heavy multi-joint exercises first, followed by isolation exercises. However, as with everything else in your training, your body will adapt quickly. So change the order of your exercises...do dips first on chest day, leg extensions before squats, etc.

12. pre-fatigue your muscles

Pre-fatigue is another one of those plateau-breaking techniques that has been around for ages. By using this technique, you pre-fatigue the muscle group you want to train with an isolation exercise and then immediately perform a heavy multi-joint exercise for the same muscle group. Here are some good examples:

o Leg extensions followed by squats
o Flying movements followed by bench presses
o Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles followed by rowers
o Front raises followed by barbell shoulder presses standing

13 Forced repetitions

Forced repetitions are easy. Start by performing as many strict repetitions as you can without assistance and then get a training partner to help you force 2 or more repetitions. You can use forced reps to get 2 more reps out of it (e.g. you try to do 12 reps instead of your 10 regular reps) or you can increase the weight by about 15% and use your training partner to force your regular 10 reps.

14. pyramid sets

As the name suggests, pyramid sets start with a low weight and work your way up and/or back down to a heavier weight. After you have completed your warm-up, perform the first set of your pyramid with a weight that allows you to complete 12 repetitions with good form. Your next set will be 8 to 10 reps, the next 6 to 8 reps and the following 4 reps. Correct technique is important here - so don't fumble. You should perform slow and controlled repetitions for all sets.

15. take a week off

Rest is the most abused aspect of training with weights. Bodybuilding is not like running a marathon - less is more. Sometimes you will find that a week off training is the best thing for you. Our bodies (and minds) need regular rest from intense resistance training. Our training puts stress on the whole body - not just our muscles.

How do you know when to take a week off? You will know, your body will tell you. However, a rough guideline is every 8 to 12 weeks.

Conclusion

So there we have it. Now it's time for you to get back to the gym and put some of these techniques into practice.

Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/switch-up-your-bodybuilding-routine.html