How to make progress in the gym without hurting yourself

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It doesn't matter how you motivate yourself to pull iron. Your goal is the same as others - progress. By intuition, you will probably want to increase the weight in order to achieve new results, but there is also an option for increasing the number of repetitions. Let's figure out in what situations this or that approach is applicable, and also consider the main reasons for the lack of progress.

Speaking about progress in the context of increasing training load, you need to immediately agree that you control other factors affecting positive dynamics. Sleep, nutrition, stress levels. We believe that you are all right with this.

Over time, you will have to think about increasing the weight or the number of repetitions in a particular exercise. Your body has adapted to the current load, that is, you have made some progress, and you need to move on.

However, before moving on to the main question, it is necessary to understand why we stop making progress.

Why progress may be lacking

Our body is both cool and lazy. It will not change without external influence if it can cope with emerging situations with the help of what it already has. Accordingly, the first possible reason for the lack of progress is your inability to give the body such a physical activity that it would be difficult for it to cope with in the current state. You are simply not exercising enough.

It should be immediately clarified that the issue of lack of progress does not concern newcomers in any way. Those who have recently come to the gym should have completely different priorities: mastering the technique and toning the body. All training programs for beginners are based on gradually building a base for further development.

Starting too abruptly and the accompanying injury will incapacitate you at the very beginning of the journey. Ask yourself: Is this why you decided to study?

At first, a beginner does not need to think about progress. Later, your body will develop the ability to do more work by increasing endurance and strength, and along with this, the results of work will appear. You've probably seen professional athletes with fantastic workouts, but they've all been going for years.

It also happens that a person exercises too much. You have already gained some base, but because of the rush, you immediately drove yourself into such a rhythm that the body no longer has time to recover. This happens, and even if a week ago you could still feel completely rested before the next lesson, now you clearly feel residual fatigue from the last workout. It is easy to cross this line, and the consequences of incomplete recovery will immediately make themselves felt. Not only will you not make progress, but you will not even be able to complete even the working volume of the last workout. As a bonus, there is an increased risk of injury.

Another reason for stagnation may be that you have chosen a training program that is too difficult. Yes, it sounds a little strange, because we are used to seeing a direct relationship between the effort expended and the result. This is confirmed by the training of the most famous athletes. Look at least at Arnold and how he worked in the hall. In fact, you cannot focus on professionals in this matter. As mentioned above, they have been going to this for many years.

An untrained person will not only not benefit from a complex training program, but will also drive himself into a completely unnecessary tight framework.

When you stop noticing improvements in such a program, you simply have nowhere to go. Specific training programs imply a very high level of fitness, but extremely low variability. Either you do everything according to a clear method, or do not use special programs at all.

In general, the mistakes of newbies and more experienced visitors are very similar. Lack of patience and the desire to choose the very, very workout without looking at your own level of training are your main enemies on the way to stable long-term progress.

Plus one kilogram or plus one repetition?

Suppose you treated the gym with the proper sanity, but still hit the ceiling. This happens to everyone, and you too will have to choose tactics for further development. What to increase? Reps or weight? You can easily find the right answer if you do not forget about the most important component of any sport - technique.

Correct exercise technique is the foundation of everything. As soon as a person puts something above technique, he is injured. And even if he is lucky enough to avoid injury, the desired result will still not be. As the weight increases, it is always more difficult to follow the rules, and additional repetition with already well-mastered weight is unlikely to negatively affect the technique. Therefore, first of all, you need to work on increasing the number of repetitions. Alternatively, you can experiment with the set pattern, but in this case it is better to try to squeeze more out of the weight that your body is already familiar with.

Most workouts are built around the universal number 10. This is the number of repetitions most often included in one approach.

With an emphasis on strength, the number of repetitions can be reduced to 6-8, and with endurance training or drying, it can be increased to 12 or slightly more. The total is a certain interval in the region of 8-12 repetitions. It is within these limits that you can work with a given weight. When 12 reps are easy and confident to do, and your instincts tell you to go further, you add one pound and drop the number of reps to eight. After a trial approach, it may seem to you that eight is too little. In this case, increase the reps, but only without sacrificing technique. Remember, technique is most important.

Increasing the number of repetitions works in almost all situations. Let's say you are not progressing because you didn’t do much. In such a case, increasing the number of repetitions will give you more potential for further weight gain. If you stand up because of excessive workout intensity and do not have time to recover, then increasing the number of repetitions will help your body develop more endurance for further weight gain.

Of course, your ambitious and impatient inner self will resist. You will increase the number of repetitions, but something inside says: “Come on, you are a man, you have to lift more. Add five more and try again. Unfortunately, at this point, your intuition fails you. Like a beginner, first you need to prepare, create a reserve, using which you can confidently move forward. Otherwise, you will find your new weight unprepared. Nothing good usually comes of it.

Priorities

Trying to achieve all imaginable and unthinkable results in the gym as quickly as possible, you are getting involved in perhaps the most dangerous game of your life. Winning it still won't work, but losing your health or life is a must. The internet is full of videos of newbies pinned down by a barbell. Sometimes they are lucky, and the weight can be removed from the chest or neck. Sometimes not.

Strength training injuries will be a reminder of itself for years. Simply put, once you are foolish, you will deprive yourself of the opportunity to fully engage in interesting sports for the rest of your life.

And even if you are not exercising to the limit, a sharp start with frantic loads and a super-difficult training program will not allow you to progress steadily in the future. Although our body can do a lot, it still needs time to adapt. It is much better if your progress does not outpace the capabilities of your body.

Any experienced coach of age will tell you the same thing, but not everyone can learn from other people's mistakes. If you do not want to work out in the gym for as many years as your body, inevitably aging over the years, will allow you, then do not do strength training at all. There is no rush here.