Training Peak

There are many times during weight lifting where one feels that they have reached a peak. Although, this could potentially be the problem, the true problem lies within. Many people get caught and get use to doing the same routine over and over. Although, this is good for a organized life, it is not good for muscle growth. I lift weights five days a week doing cardio six days a week. For cardio, I run 6-7 miles a day. I am currently training to run in a marathon, thus I am concentrating on stamina building instead of power lifting. However, I may be into stamina building now, I still invest a great deal of time keeping my body balanced and strong. My current training split is Monday: Chest, Tuesday: Back and Traps, Wednesday: Shoulders and Abdominal, Thursday: Arms and Friday: Chest and Abdominal s. I try to minimize the use of my biceps and triceps on Wednesday, because on the Monday and Tuesday I am using them a great deal. The reason I do this is so I do not over work my arms and can maximize growth.

I have run into many so called "peaks" during my work-outs. There are five ways I get over them. The first is to super-set the work-out with another exercise in your routine. This is done by starting one set, and immediately following that set with an exercise from your current list of the days work-outs. For example, on arms day I will do tricep extensions and then immediately follow that workout with preacher curls. The second is to either switch a current exercise and add another in, or switch the exercises all together. For instance, take your first two exercises and put them after your next two exercises, this will shock your muscles. Muscles tend to get use a certain routine and need to be "shocked". The third would be to take a week off and just do cardio. This is because sometimes your muscles get tired and need a break. Additionally, muscles grow and become stronger with rest, so it is also beneficial to your muscles for rest. A fourth method, depending how many sets and reps one uses, would be to increase the amount of weight and decrease reps, or decrease weight and increase reps. A fifth idea would be to add an additional rep as well and use less weight for a burn out session. The reason for this is the same as the second idea about your muscles getting used to a routine and need a "shock" to life. Using either one of these five ideas will help get you out of that slump and get you back to feeling sore the next day. Just remember pain is weakness leaving the body and to always earn your rest.