Thursday, September 22, 2011

What does it mean to shock your muscles? how do you change your workout routine?

mintman, i basically answered this in your last question.. shocking the muscle means you do omething different in a workout to present a new stimulus to the muscle you are training. for example, when bicep training, i like to shock them once a month by doing a workout consisting of 10 sets of barbell curls for 10 reps. i pick a weight that allows me to do 10 reps my first set, and keep that weight for the whole workout. by set 10, i usually can only get 4-5 reps with good form, then i use a rest/ pause to get a few more reps, and use a little body leverage for them final 2-3 reps. then i go home. other techniques include drop sets, negatives, supersets, etc. drop set is good on cable equipment. say cable curls. do a set of 10 with 50 pounds as an example. go til yyou cant get another rep, then lower the weight 10 pounds and continue to failure with no break, drop another 10 pounds and continue. keep goin till you are curling with only 10 pounds and do as many as you can. this is a graet technique to use on the last set of a movement to really burn the muscle up. negatives require a training partner for most lifts. have your partner assist the weight up that is just a little to heavy to lift on your own, then slooowly lower the weight, have your partner assist it back up, and repeat.. the idea is to work with a weight that is too heavy to lift on your own to force your muscles to work with an extreme amount of force. this is a good power building technique. supersets are also useful.. after a set of benchpress, go right to the flys and pump out a set of 10-12 reps, then take your break.. these techniques are good to use but do not abuse them. usually you use them for the last couple sets of a workout or exercise. and they shouldnt be used every single workout.. they are designed to overload the muscle with either an extreme amount of weight, or reps, to shock them out of a stale routine that you may be using.What does it mean to shock your muscles? how do you change your workout routine?
Putting them too work too soon after illness or putting more work on them than they are used to. Over stressing them with too much exercise. Slowly build up your routine with a small number or repetitions of exercises and then raise the number of repetitions slowly over time. Take vitamins and not quick fixes.