Bulking Up - Progressively Overloading the Muscle
When I was 15, at the weight of nine stone (126 pounds) I set about on my adventure to change my physique for the better.
I wanted to feel proud of my physique rather than shy of it.
Being 175cm tall and such a weight with naturally long and skinny limbs meant that I was one of the smallest and weakest kids in the year.
Fast forward 6 years and I can now deadlift five plates a side, squat four plates a side and bench three plates a side.
More importantly, though, I'm comfortable with who I am and I have self-confidence that I couldn't even dream of before.
The journey wasn't linear in terms of progression and achievement; during the first three years I gave it 110% in the gym, ate what I thought was a good diet and my physique didn't change.
I had all the motivation to succeed but none of the common sense and intelligence to get there.
As I matured and started to take a more logical stance on life, I realised that all along it was my own ignorance and lack of knowledge that was my downfall, not the fact I wasn't doing the extra drop set on my bicep curls.
Looking back, had I been equipped with the knowledge then that I do now, I believe I could have saved myself a lot of effort, money and heartache.
As I haven't quite mastered the art of time travel, I'm going to do the next best thing and share the knowledge with you to save you from going through the same situation.
In this article, I'm going to talk about what kind of routine you should be doing in the gym.
I'm not going to specifically talk about exercises, sets and reps; I'll leave that to another article.
But I will talk about the fundamental concepts that should be behind any routine that you do in the gym, because believe it or not, there isn't one magic routine, rep and set range that will suddenly make you put on that stone of muscle you've been after.
The key to gaining muscle is to get stronger.
That's not to say that a bigger muscle is necessarily a stronger muscle because that standalone statement is wrong.
We know that because of the freak of nature powerlifters that can squat 4 times their body weight.
However, if YOU get stronger, YOU will get bigger.
There are exceptions to the rule that are out of the scope of this article, so for argument's sake we'll just leave it at that.
The only way to get stronger is to progressively overload the muscle so that it has no choice but to adapt to the stimulus that you are subjecting it to.
If you go into the gym and you bench 80kg for 5 sets of 5 every week and wonder why you're not gaining size, then you're in the same mindset that I was when I trained five days a week with no results.
If you bench 80kg for five sets of five then the next week you need to bench 82.
5kg for five sets of five, or even 82.
5kg for two sets of five and then 85kg for three sets of five.
This is the mindset you must get yourself in - you are in the gym to set new records.
Now, you're not going to be able to set new records every week.
For a beginner just starting out, you may be able to keep adding weight for up to 12 - 16 weeks, but eventually you will plateau and at this point you need to change something.
Most bodybuilders will tell you to change your routine, change your exercises or change your rep range.
Personally I think this isn't necessary, but that's for another article.
Your body is probably telling you that you are in an overloaded or overtrained state.
In such cases you should deload, decrease the volume and increase the intensity for a few weeks, or simply deload and ramp up from a light weight in an attempt to build some momentum leading to a new personal best four or five weeks down the line.
Importantly, you must not sacrifice form to get the weight up.
A little struggle and movement on the bench press is fine, but bouncing off the chest isn't - be sensible.
Using the progressive overload method, I manage to continually improve my lifts each month even though I am now already lifting fairly impressive weights for my size and weight.
You can achieve this too if you start to realise that the body will only adapt to a load that is larger and more intense that it has previously experienced.
Each time you go into the gym, try and lift slightly heavier than the week before.
If that's not possible, take a week off, deload and start again with 10% less than your max ramping up to a new personal best.
The beauty of the progressive overload concept is that it applies to any routine you do.
So, apply it to yours, right away!
I wanted to feel proud of my physique rather than shy of it.
Being 175cm tall and such a weight with naturally long and skinny limbs meant that I was one of the smallest and weakest kids in the year.
Fast forward 6 years and I can now deadlift five plates a side, squat four plates a side and bench three plates a side.
More importantly, though, I'm comfortable with who I am and I have self-confidence that I couldn't even dream of before.
The journey wasn't linear in terms of progression and achievement; during the first three years I gave it 110% in the gym, ate what I thought was a good diet and my physique didn't change.
I had all the motivation to succeed but none of the common sense and intelligence to get there.
As I matured and started to take a more logical stance on life, I realised that all along it was my own ignorance and lack of knowledge that was my downfall, not the fact I wasn't doing the extra drop set on my bicep curls.
Looking back, had I been equipped with the knowledge then that I do now, I believe I could have saved myself a lot of effort, money and heartache.
As I haven't quite mastered the art of time travel, I'm going to do the next best thing and share the knowledge with you to save you from going through the same situation.
In this article, I'm going to talk about what kind of routine you should be doing in the gym.
I'm not going to specifically talk about exercises, sets and reps; I'll leave that to another article.
But I will talk about the fundamental concepts that should be behind any routine that you do in the gym, because believe it or not, there isn't one magic routine, rep and set range that will suddenly make you put on that stone of muscle you've been after.
The key to gaining muscle is to get stronger.
That's not to say that a bigger muscle is necessarily a stronger muscle because that standalone statement is wrong.
We know that because of the freak of nature powerlifters that can squat 4 times their body weight.
However, if YOU get stronger, YOU will get bigger.
There are exceptions to the rule that are out of the scope of this article, so for argument's sake we'll just leave it at that.
The only way to get stronger is to progressively overload the muscle so that it has no choice but to adapt to the stimulus that you are subjecting it to.
If you go into the gym and you bench 80kg for 5 sets of 5 every week and wonder why you're not gaining size, then you're in the same mindset that I was when I trained five days a week with no results.
If you bench 80kg for five sets of five then the next week you need to bench 82.
5kg for five sets of five, or even 82.
5kg for two sets of five and then 85kg for three sets of five.
This is the mindset you must get yourself in - you are in the gym to set new records.
Now, you're not going to be able to set new records every week.
For a beginner just starting out, you may be able to keep adding weight for up to 12 - 16 weeks, but eventually you will plateau and at this point you need to change something.
Most bodybuilders will tell you to change your routine, change your exercises or change your rep range.
Personally I think this isn't necessary, but that's for another article.
Your body is probably telling you that you are in an overloaded or overtrained state.
In such cases you should deload, decrease the volume and increase the intensity for a few weeks, or simply deload and ramp up from a light weight in an attempt to build some momentum leading to a new personal best four or five weeks down the line.
Importantly, you must not sacrifice form to get the weight up.
A little struggle and movement on the bench press is fine, but bouncing off the chest isn't - be sensible.
Using the progressive overload method, I manage to continually improve my lifts each month even though I am now already lifting fairly impressive weights for my size and weight.
You can achieve this too if you start to realise that the body will only adapt to a load that is larger and more intense that it has previously experienced.
Each time you go into the gym, try and lift slightly heavier than the week before.
If that's not possible, take a week off, deload and start again with 10% less than your max ramping up to a new personal best.
The beauty of the progressive overload concept is that it applies to any routine you do.
So, apply it to yours, right away!
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