There comes a time amongst bodybuilders when they have their feelings debased due lack of impact in their training. They find themselves stagnated and they just don’t understand why. Instead, they become angry, unimpressive and even further small due to mental and physical impairment state.
However, what attributes to their current deprived state might not have been addressed sufficiently. This is why education and experience plays a better role to keep them grow better and positively while lifting the iron bars. Some suffer because they are quite stubborn, having made ego run their course and making biases in training (choosing what techniques they want). This is what damn has causes them stagnation and bodyweight deprivation.
Let us look keenly on to the following four kinds of wrongs that are being done by these men in the gym.
- On Basic Lifts They Always Go For More Weight
Adding more weight to the barbell is not necessarily the best solution to step you up to the next growth plateaus. There is no negative thinking of how progressive overload adds merit. In fact, if any one needs to become proficient in lifting big lifts e.g. bench press, overhead press, deadlift etc and big weights, his values are increased along sports, powerlifting and bodybuilding. Establishing a time course in your training fixture of big basic lifts should be compulsory before stepping up onto more reps or more weights onto the bar.
In terms of productivity though, we find the basics to be vastly overrated being seen as the only method to reach them faster into growth plateaus. These gym brats think that every plateau they have to reach would be solved by adding more weight to the bar. They believe that every problem in life can be solved by progressive overload. Take for instance, the conversation of these two weightlifters in the gym.
Lifter 1: Strongman, I need bigger legs
Lifter 2: Get down to progressive overload on squats
Lifter 1: Man, I need bigger legs and butt.
Lifter 2: Hit the progressive overload on squats and deadlifts.
Lifter 1: Man, I need more dollars in the bank.
Lifter 2: Apply progressive overload at work. Add more working hours or shift to a second job.
Lifter 1: Hey, I haven’t been laid in a year.
Lifter 2: Get a progressive overload on dating. Eventually someone will have sex with you.
For a novice, the first 3 to 5 years of progressive overload will be the best foundation for training modality. There is a better pay off degree. Take it this way; you are nowhere near close to your overall strength potential and maybe, the amount of strength gained will usually be congruent with the amount of muscle that can be accumulated from fulfilling that potential.
Research has produced it that if you are training but with different loading protocols, the results you will be obtaining will be similar to as when volume is accounted for. Therefore, looking for size packing on progressive overload yet on basics, you must know that you are shortchanging your efforts in the gym.
Though progressive overload is a good way of building muscle mass, it is not forever but just a while. You can approach different angles of progressive overload as below;
- With that guy wanting bigger legs, he should try squatting 315 for multiple sets of 20.
- With the guy needing a big butt, he should try some isometric work and develop a better mind-muscle connection. He can as well adopt some of those girl exercises like hip thrusts.
- That guy with bank account problem may just need to spend less.
- That guy that can’t get laid may just need to take a shower.
2. They Commit to Stunts
It is definitely good to be innovative in the gym but it may be waded off at some point. For example, some women try some weird movement combinations such as lunges and lateral raises at the same time. And they might even go further and make it available on social media making them attention whores. However, that is not nearly as bad as those stuntmen who show off with insanely stupid exercises – call them circus tricks.
There are also some coaches that invent crazy stunts to edge their training techniques and too elite to attract the general public interests. However advanced the stunts might be, if it does not add to strength, or to make you athletic and hotter, then I can call this entire advancement as a waste of time.
There are many risks associated with such stunts too. For example, you break your foot lifting what does not add up to your gain and later ends you to missing workouts. Even much worse is putting them on air space through social media only to be followed by injured fans. They are like a people following injuries. Or even ironically, you can end up with people mocking you and those also pretending to be your keen followers.
Adam Archuletta (NFL player) was once a trial and error coach affected as a result of adopting a stunt. His trainer had made him do very weirdly like dropping off from the ceiling point into gaging a push-up position. Adam had put on quite a show at the NFL combine only to end up being a bust on the NFL field.
It can be noted that only innovation in the bounds of reason and limit are what can break up training monotony and even spice the training. It is motivating and a goal-push mission.
3. That Irrational Hatred to the Smith Machine is Costing Them A Fortune
It is not hidden indeed that some people actually get outraged of the Smith Machine. The hatred is beyond reasonable doubt up to the extent that they see that the machine occupies a bigger space in the gym room and require it lifted out. They also explain that the machine removes the stabilizing muscles involved in the barbell equivalent movement. However, most women and top male bodybuilders are in favor of it and love it to their veins. Even some great powerlifters use Smith Machines for accessory lifts.
If you label the Smith machine as worthless, it is like you’ve labelled the whole of Canada as worthless because they gave us Nickelback and Justin Bieber. You need to get the idea here. If you are only using the Smith Machine, it is likely that your stabilizers could not get the same degree of work as with a barbell. But those who get to training with smart moves have a great tendency to use variety of movements whether with or without machines.
Therefore, this Smith Machine is neither good nor bad but how you apply it for your goals will determine how good or bad it is efficient for your individual training.
4. Maxing Without Good Reason
There are lots of lifters who max out their workouts in the gyms without being realistic these days. On the days they feel strong, they will come in and get maxing their irons. And truth be said, it is rampant that men are more obsessed with this behavior than women. When you stop this kind of workout habit, your training will become a one of its kind – productive.
Adopting maxes in the gym have no connection to making your training productive or effective. It is just a matter of your strength demonstration rather than real-time strengthener. Thus, there is no real purpose served by maxing especially by those one-rep max fanatics as they so-called.
The productive strength training cycles are all about building and maintaining a momentum. That means you have to stack up one productive training cycle after another, while prohibiting overreaching and become consistent until the very end of the training cycle where rest and recovery allows for the super-compensation process to occur as you prepare for that goddamn competition.
One big problem with maxing is that, trainers try to adopt it after just a few weeks of productive training cycle. During that moment, these fellows feel strong and too positive to decide on maxing out away from their real working strengthener. Whatever follows is always called strength regression and then returns to a baseline level after certain weeks again. So it is like a voluntary setback that you have set for yourself just to brag about your single rep.
Get this lifetime clue; you felt strong in the training cycle because you were training with controllable intensity, volume and frequency right for your period practice. This process works effectively and optimizes recovery to increase strength adaption. But when you cast off the training cycle, you will dip your strength and bring a fail in your body muscle coordination.
Brainstorming Question
Whenever you think of a stunt or a move you want to gage in the gym ask yourself; ‘Is this going to make me better, or, am I doing this for my interest to be superior over other lifters?’
Just stop playing a drama queen, engage in building strength rather.