WHAT IT IS ...
The body, specifically muscles adapt to stimulus vary rapidly. The body adapts to exercise quickly and thus needs to be constantly challenged in order to avoid hitting a plateau. Anyone who has been on a diet or exercised has experienced that euphoric feeling of losing weight on the scale and clothes feeling loose (At lease I hope you have enjoyed that experience!). Suddenly the scale stops moving and it seems your clothes are not as loose as before! Yup... You've hit a plateau. Simply manipulating your exercise, caloric intake and macronutrient intake will shock the body and stimulate weight loss once again... but that's a whole 'nother article for another blog! Back to strength training...
Progressive Resistance is basically a training method in which you gradually overload the muscles in order to create an environment where the muscles must adapt by becoming stronger or increase endurance. When beginning an exercise program, you may find your endurance and/or strength is lacking to put it nicely. As you become faithful to adhering to your workout program, you will find the muscles adapt and become stronger. The weight you once struggled with to achieve 12 reps will require less effort. The muscles have adapted to the stimulus. If you continue to maintain the same weight, reps, and tempo of exercise, you will not only quit making progress but may even lose strength! The body, like our minds need constant stimulation to keep them operating efficiently. I've seen many people who have been coming to the gym for years, doing the exact same workout and look either no different or worse than they did when they first starting coming. Progressive Resistance is important not just for strength gains but maintaining healthy hormonal levels as well. As we age, our testosterone - estrogen levels begin to drop and lean muscle tissue is lost. By adding progressive resistance training, you can help maintain not only healthy, functional muscle but healthy hormonal levels.
APPLYING PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE
1. GRADUALLY INCREASE WEIGHT
This can be accomplished by using the Pyramid Principle discussed last week. If doing single sets of each exercise, for example one set of 12 reps, increase the weight which may mean dropping down to 10 reps. As your muscles become stronger and adapt to the stimulus, you will find you will be able to squeeze out 11, and then 12 reps. It is then time to increase the weight again and repeat the procedure.
2. GRADUALLY INCREASE REPS
Referring back to the gentleman I worked with today at the gym, he used the same weight and reps every workout and saw no increase in muscular strength or endurance, in fact stated he felt weaker and had a hard time with stairs etc. If you are performing 10 reps on each exercise, simply push to achieve 12 reps, perhaps even 15 etc. Once the goal reps are reached, increase the weight and continue to maintain the new reps
3. GRADUALLY INCREASE SETS
Many beginners at any gym will begin with the Nautilus (or whatever brand name machines in your gym) circuit. Generally, you will go through a circuit type workout using typically 9-10 exercises for one set of 8-12 reps. As your body adapts to the program, you will cease to make any further progress. Increasing the number of sets on each machine or exercise will increase the demand placed on the muscles. Generally I recommend adding a second set, then as you plateau, a third set etc.
4. LIMIT REST BETWEEN SETS
This one is great for increasing muscular endurance and strength. Whether you are performing one set of each exercise or multiple, decreasing the rest period between each exercise or set of each specific exercise will create a new demand on the muscles making them have to adjust and adapt. Generally most people rest anywhere from 15 - 60 seconds between each exercise or set depending on the weight being lifted. The heavier the weight lifted, the more demand it places on the muscular and cardiovascular systems requiring more recovery time. Gradually cutting the rest time between sets will increase the demand on the cardiovascular and muscular systems creating an environment where the body will become stronger.
5. INCREASE TENSION DURATION.
The textbook rep is 2:1:4. That is 2 count lift, pause for a 1 count and then lower for a 4 count. Next week I will be discussing different repetition pace and benefits. But for today, we will discuss how to increase the duration the muscle fibers are under stress. While lifting and lowering weight, muscle fibers are in a contracted state. By simply slowing the rate at which you lift and lower the weight during an exercise, you will increase the load time placed on the specific muscle fibers. You will find you may have to lower the amount of weight you currently use as this creates an intense burn in the muscle if done properly!
The goal of EVERY workout is to make progress. The ideal scenario is to gradually increase stress placed on the muscles which will cause them to adapt and become stronger. If we become comfortable, we become complacent. If we become complacent we just go through the motions. If we just go through the motions, we cease progress and grow! This is not only true for strength training but everything in life!