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What happens when we work out? Why do we torture ourselves and lift weights until we can't lift anymore? Simple: to stimulate the muscle which in turn forces the muscle to adapt and grow. But simply lifting weights up and down is not going to stimulate our muscles properly and is not how to build muscle mass. This might be effective short term, but by no means does it allow long term and rapid skin bursting muscle growth.
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The two main fibers responsible for muscle growth are type 1 fast twitch fibers and type 2 slow twitch fibers. Obviously, different types of movements stimulate each of them. BUT it is crucial that both of them get stimulated for optimal growth and building lean muscle!
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Let's start with the fast twitch fibers. These muscle strands are responsible for the immediate exertion of power and speed. Even though these fibers are smaller when compared to the slow twitch fibers, they are equally as important to stimulate if you want to burn fat, build muscle, and bulk up.
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Stimulation of the fast twitch fibers takes place on the concentric phase of lifting weights. This is the actual "lifting" portion of the process. But to simply lift isn't good enough; you need to push as hard and fast as you can to get that weight up to fully stimulate the fiber. This is a key factor in how to get ripped abs.
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Now people sometimes say, "well when I lift it as fast as I can, I rob my range of motion because of momentum helping me lift the weight!" Well guess what? This isn't an issue since the majority of the muscle traumatizing process takes place with the eccentric phase of the weight lifting, or the "lowering" of the weight is performed. So pay no attention to momentum. Our goal here is to simply increase power by lifting that weight as quickly as possible (without sacrificing form of course).
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Now this doesn't mean the weight has to go up like a boy scouts rocket! It might take 2 seconds to get that weight up as fast as you can, but as long as it's as fast as you are physically able to lift it!
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Now, the slow twitch fibers. This is responsible for the strength portion of the muscle, and is the majority of the size of the overall muscle group. To stimulate this fiber properly you need to slowly lower the weight in a full range controlled manner. Never, and I mean NEVER rob yourself by not lowering the weight all the way down. If this happens you are not recruiting the max amount of muscle fibers and will not grow nearly as fast or as big!
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Put your ego aside. Going to the gym isn't about how much weight you can lift, it's about making your muscles grow (unless you are a powerlifter training for a competition). So with that in mind, be sure to lower the weight all the way down. Typically this will take 4 seconds of fantastic trauma to the muscles. And this is what is going to be mostly responsible for muscle growth. SO MAKE IT COUNT!
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Jon Bensons includes this technique in his program. And this one simple concept is part of the reason why you are able to spend only 7 minutes in the gym and have an EXTREMELY effective workout. If you haven't checked it out already, you owe to yourself to see what he can do for you.
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