Tag: muscle gains

What to do When You Stop Making Progress in the Gym
Have you ever been making steady progress in the gym only for you to spend an extended period of time not making any progress? In this article we will discuss what you can do when you hit a plateau with your progress in the gym.

In previous articles, we have discussed why it is important to train close to failure and to sometimes, even, train all the way to failure. But what happens if we train to failure every set every time we train? It might surprise you to learn that we actually do continue to make progress when training to failure every set; however, after a short time (1-2 weeks) we will be training a specific muscle group before it has had time to fully recover. Without giving our bodies time to dissipate these effects, this will result in us accumulating fatigue from one session to the next. This does not mean we will not be making progress but rather the progress we are making will become masked by our accumulated fatigue.

For example, on a Barbell Back Squat, let’s say we are able to do 8 reps with 185 lb on the bar and we train every set until complete failure; the next week our muscles will likely be stronger and able to move more weight but we are unable to actually go up in weight on the bar because we are still fatigued from our last session where we did Barbell Back Squat.

Too much accumulated fatigue is one of the most common reasons for plateauing in the gym. But what can we do to avoid this? And what can we do if we have already accumulated too much fatigue?

In order to avoid this, take a look back at the past articles titled: “How to Train for Muscle Growth” and “The Importance of Tracking your Progress in the Gym”. These articles outline how to safely and effectively implement progressive overload and how to train close to failure without accumulating too much fatigue.

If you have already accumulated too much fatigue and want to get back on track, it is advisable to take a “deload” or “active recovery” week. The purpose of this is to allow fatigue to completely dissipate before we begin serious training again while still keeping all of the strength we have gained up to this point. One strategy we can take for a deload is to do the same training we have been doing, using 100% of the weight we were using BUT only doing 50% of the total volume. So if we had 4 sets of 8 on the Barbell Back Squat, to deload we would use the same weight but only do 2 sets instead of 4. This way we continue to hold the strength we have gained but do a small amount of total volume, so we aren’t accumulating too much fatigue.

Another strategy you can take to dissipate fatigue is to begin a new training program. During the first week of a training program with new exercises, we never exactly know what our working weight is right away. So we can start with the weight low and work up from there. For example, if you have 4 sets of 8 reps, start with the weight low, and work up from there to the point where only the last one or two sets are at our working intensity (~5 reps in reserve).

[Sample progression for Barbell Back Squat]
- Set 1: 115lb x 8
- Set 2: 135lb x 8
- Set 3: 165lb x 8
- Set 4: 185lb x 8
This will allow us to learn the correct technique of the exercises we will be doing next, while still using the muscles we want to keep our strength with so that we do not lose any of it. You can see how this strategy is similar to the deload week but this way, we can use our “deload” time to practice the technique for future exercises.

If you or anyone you know is interested in taking their training more seriously and taking all of the guesswork out of your training decisions, give us a call (312-666-7147) or send us an email (info@performancetrainingsystems.com) and one of our many qualified professionals will be happy to help!

References
- Helms, 2015
- Schoenfeld, 2016
January 16, 2023
How to Train For Muscle Growth
If you have ever tried to exercise on your own and have found that your progress stalls out after a few weeks of training, this article is for you! We will be discussing how you should be training in order to ensure you continue to make progress.

The most important aspect of any training program is the implementation of what we call “Progressive Overload”. If we implement progressive overload in our training, all this means is that over time, our training increases in difficulty as we challenge ourselves more from week to week.

Our bodies are always adapting to meet the demands of our daily activities. If the difficulty of our training remains the same, our bodies have no reason to continue to improve. As long as our body thinks it can handle what it needs to do during a training session, in an effort to conserve energy, we will only adapt to meet the demands required for training and will have our progress plateau. So, you can see, as demands for training increase over time, so do the adaptations we experience. The most important part of progressive overload is making sure the demands for training are increasing over time.

The extent to which our strength improvements can be made while utilizing progressive overload will be determined by the amount of fatigue we accumulate from one training session to another – this corresponds to how close to “technical failure” we go. Proper management of these two aspects of training are incredibly important for avoiding plateaus with our progress over time.

An example of using fatigue management in a training program would be if we were doing 4 sets of 10-12 reps, for example, we would want the first set to be relatively easy; then, as fatigue sets in, using the same weight, each following set will increase in difficulty until the last set (or two) are close to if not all the way to “technical failure”. The term “technical failure” refers to the point where, during a set, fatigue no longer allows you to perform the exercise with correct form; if your form begins to break down and you start to cheat, that is technical failure and where we want to stop the set.

If we go too hard and are close to failure the first set, fatigue will set in too soon and we will already be unable to get the same reps as before only after the first set! On the other hand, only using the last one or two sets to train close to failure will allow us to still challenge ourselves without accumulating too much fatigue and run the risk of not being able to recover in time for our next training session.

Using this set-to-set progression will allow us to frequently train close to, if not all the way to failure. Training to failure every set will be too much fatigue for us to recover from before our next training session. There is significant scientific data regarding what level of intensity provides the most stimulus for us to improve strength. What has been found is that training within 5 repetitions to failure (or 5 reps in the tank) provides an almost identical strength improving stimulus as all the way to failure. So, training at 5 reps in the tank would be ideal as this would allow us to minimize fatigue accumulation however, if we never actually train to complete failure, we never really know how close to it we are. So, something could feel like 5 reps in the tank but actually be 6,7, or 8, and then we start leaving some progress on the table that could have been gained.

Using the information above, a simple way of using progressive overload in your training is to use a weight where you can do all of your sets at the same rep range but have the difficulty increase set-to-set as fatigue accumulates. It is not necessary to always have the last set go all the way to technical failure, but it should be done somewhat frequently (once every 4 weeks or so) in order for us to know that our level of intensity is sufficient to provide us with the strength adaptations we want (within 5 reps to failure). Regardless, we always want at least one set per exercise to be within the 5 reps to failure range.

If you are someone who is looking to start training or just to break through a plateau, send us an email or give us a call and one of our many qualified professionals can help give you a place to start!

References
- Helms, 2015
- Schoenfeld, 2016
December 15, 2022
How To Lose Body Fat While Keeping Muscle Part 1

Have you ever tried to lose body fat with initial success but just struggle to keep the weight off long term? In this 2 part article we will discuss the physiological differences in losing body fat quickly, and slowly and what that means in regards to our individual goals. First of all, if you have not yet read the article on our website titled “How to Begin a Fat Loss Diet Plan” you should quickly read that before continuing to this one.

When we think of what it means to “lose weight” most of us have the desired goal of losing body fat while keeping, if not increasing, our muscle mass. With this in mind, if we were to eat too few calories (more than 500 calories under maintenance intake), our bodies will begin to take energy from not only our fat stores, but our force producing components of our muscles as well.

Because our bodies are constantly adapting to the stress of everyday life, being too low on calorie intake for an extended period of time (longer than 1 week) will cause our bodies to lower our energy consumption throughout the day in an effort to save energy; this can lead to metabolic syndrome – a condition which increases our risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Metabolic syndrome also exhibits insulin resistance and can cause our bodies to make every effort possible to conserve energy and preserve fat stores – leading to very “stubborn” areas of body fat (low back, low abs, and love handles) that can be increasingly difficult to get rid of as time goes on. This may sound contradictory but the most important aspect of losing weight is to make sure you are eating enough!

The strategy we should take to make sure we are eating enough and avoiding these negative health complications while preserving muscle mass and losing body fat is to take our calorie deficit nice and slow – no more than 500 calories below our BMR. Once we know our BMR, we can use the protein recommendations from the “How to Prevent the Age Related Loss of Muscle Mass (Sarcopenia)” and “Differences in Losing Body Weight With and Without Exercise” articles to find how much protein we should be eating to support our resistance training (at least 2.2grams protein per kg of body weight – 180lb or 81.6kg person would eat at least 180g protein per day). There has been recently published scientific data exhibiting a dose response relationship with protein (the more protein we eat, the more strength gains we get), however the full extent to the benefit of having more carbohydrates vs. protein under calorie restrictions requires further investigation. We will discuss this more in depth in future articles which will investigate nutrient intake for muscle growth – stay tuned for that but for now we should aim for at least 2.2g/kg body mass to lose body fat and keep muscle.

Part 2 of this article will discuss how to implement the information discussed above into your own diet plan created to meet your unique and individual goals.

References:
– Wilkinson, 2016
– Helms, 2022
– Antonio, 2018
– MacNaughton, 2016

November 17, 2022
Pre and Post-Workout Nutrition Strategies for Strength Training

If you are someone who frequently engages in strength training, the amount of protein you eat each day plays a major role in how much progress we can make in a specified amount of time. In this article we will discuss how much protein we should eat to make sure we are gaining strength as fast as possible. To take that a step further, we will also discuss how managing when we eat our protein surrounding our training time can help us improve even more!

For those of us who engage in regular strength training, we should aim to eat a minimum of 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass (about 150g for a 150lb person). This amount has been scientifically proven to provide our bodies with more protein than we can break down during weight training. The most important factor regarding protein intake is the total amount we eat each day. Once we ensure we are eating enough to repair our muscles, we can then improve these results by eating more protein before and after our training sessions.

If we were to consume, for example, 1 scoop of whey protein (~25 grams of protein) 1 hour before we begin training, we will actually begin recovering from our workout after the first rep of the first set, and so on – we don’t have to wait to recover until afterwards if we can get out in front of it. After each rep of our training sessions, our bodies quickly adapt by increasing the amount of amino acids (digested protein) our muscle cells can intake and use to repair. This increased nutrient absorption will continue to increase as we cause more cellular disruption to our muscle cells throughout the duration of our training sessions. Having protein in our systems before training will help improve our recovery but we can also get more out of our training sessions by including carbohydrates into our pre workout “meal”.

Consuming carbohydrates with protein before training puts us into what we call the “fed state”. It has been scientifically proven that training in the “fed state” will increase our time to fatigue, increase our power output and force production in our muscles, and improve recovery following exercise – yes this is all from eating before training! One important consideration to make with a pre-workout meal is that larger meals take longer to digest – we should do our best to give our bodies enough time to digest and begin circulating these nutrients throughout our bloodstream to get into this “fed state” (training too soon will result in stomach cramps). Some examples would be 1 scoop of whey protein or 230g scrambled liquid egg whites (8 egg whites from actual eggs) with ~33g of carbohydrates (this would be equivalent to 0.5 cups of oats or a gomacro bar) ~1 hour before training – and remember, with larger meals we should give ourselves more time for digestion.

If you are someone who trains first thing in the morning and do not have 1 hour before training we may not be able to train in the “fed state” but supplementing this pre workout meal with some branched chain amino acids (BCAA’s) can provide a similar – but not the same – benefit as a pre workout meal. BCAA’s are just proteins already in the digested state so all your body has to do is quickly absorb them (in about 15-25 minutes). This way we can still begin the recovery process during our training – we just won’t have the increased force production and time to fatigue that we do when eating carbohydrates with our pre workout meal. Something important to note about BCAA’s is that they are ONLY effective when consumed on an empty stomach, without amino acids circulating in our bloodstream. If we were to take BCAA’s with a meal, we would just pee them out as our body will prefer to use digested protein sources.

In order to maximize our strength gains, we need to ensure we are taking full advantage of our increased nutrient absorption during this “anabolic window” following training. Nutrient absorption remains elevated for ~3 hours following a hard training session so getting a well balanced meal in this time consisting of high quality fat sources, carbohydrates, and protein is of utmost importance. The meal should consist of at least 40-45g of protein (5-6 Oz. chicken breast or 8-9 Oz. Cod) with 50-60g carbohydrates (200-220g of dry brown rice or 7-8 Oz. dry Jasmine Rice). The oils we use when preparing our food will provide us with adequate fat consumption – if it is coming from a good source (cold pressed extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil, for example) this will help our bodies with hormone regulation as optimal insulin and testosterone secretion will help our bodies recover and mobilize fat stores to be used as energy.

If you are an individual who is very active throughout the day or someone who trains multiple times in one day, the carbohydrate recommendation post-workout will increase to 60-90g as we can utilize the anabolic window to quickly resynthesize our glycogen stores (energy stores within a muscle) and be energized and ready to go before the next time we are active later in the day. For the rest of us, the previous recommendation (50-60g carbs) will be sufficient as our bodies have no trouble resynthesizing these glycogen stores over a 24-hour time span with evenly distributed food intake throughout the day.

The last thing we will touch on is one more way to utilize the “anabolic window”. Since this window is open for almost 3 hours, and we know that 1 scoop of whey protein begins absorption after 1 hour, then we can come to the conclusion that if we drink a whey protein shake immediately following our training session, we will then be able to get 2 “meals” (if you can call a shake a meal) in before our increased nutrient absorption fully dissipates.

The bottom line is that we need to ensure we are getting adequate protein (2.2g/kg body mass) throughout the day in order for any of this “meal timing” to actually provide us with any additional benefit. If you are someone who is looking to improve their strength, body composition, or get on a nutrition plan to help you reach your individual goals, then give PTS a call as we have many qualified professionals who are eager to get to work with you!

References:

– Helms, 2015
– Mcnaughten, 2016
– Moore, 2009
– Tang, 2009
– Trommelan, 2019
– Wilkonson, 2018

November 2, 2022
How to Prevent the Age Related Loss of Muscle Mass (Sarcopenia)

Have ever noticed that you aren’t as strong or as coordinated as you once were, you’re not alone. As we age, our bodies inevitably lose strength and coordination due to a physiological phenomenon called “sarcopenia”. Without physical activity we will always be losing muscle mass as our bodies adapt to meet the demands of our everyday lives. We lose on average 5-15% of our muscle mass between the ages of 20-50 which ramps up as we get older and begin to lose a massive 30-40% of our muscle mass between the ages of 50-80.

A significant loss in muscle mass like this results in losses in functional ability (ability to perform everyday tasks like standing from a chair or brushing your teeth), and an increase in frailty, physical disability and risk of falls. Falls can significantly reduce life expectancy of older adults if an otherwise “healthy” person falls and breaks a hip, they may need hip surgery followed by lengthy physical therapy (sometimes upwards of 8-12 months) with no guarantee that their functional ability will be able to return to what it was previously and may even be left with a physical disability depending on the severity of the injury.

All of these possible negative health outcomes due to physical inactivity can be avoided if we just ensure we do what we can to prevent sarcopenia. In order for our muscles to become stronger – and avoid losing muscle mass – we can engage in any type of resisted physical activity. This can come in many different forms, from walking the neighborhood with hand and ankle weights to resistance training in a gym using dumbbells and barbells (the most effective) to walking laps in a pool with chest high water or even just performing daily body weight exercises – anything that provides more difficulty and resistance than we normally experience throughout our daily lives. There are many activities we can incorporate into our lives to prevent sarcopenia but the most important factor to consider is that we must choose something that we enjoy doing in order to continue our progression for years to come.

Engaging in regular resisted physical activity is one strategy we can use to prevent age-related loss of muscle mass. Another strategy we can implement is to make sure we are eating enough protein to repair our muscles from resistance training in order to improve our strength, not just prevent strength loss. One of the reasons older adults age ~80 and up lose muscle mass is because our bodies digest and absorb protein less efficiently as we age. For this reason, older adults aiming to prevent sarcopenia should aim to consume 1-1.3g protein per lb of body mass (150lb person should eat 150-200g protein per day). This is more similar to the protein recommendations for athletes as older adults need almost twice as much protein as younger adults to experience the same effect!

Eating adequate protein through animal sources like meat can be difficult if we do not have enough time to cook all of our meals so in this case, we can meet our protein requirements by adding in some whey protein shakes throughout the day. Creatine can also be used as it has been shown to slow sarcopenia even with an inactive lifestyle but can have its effects improved with the addition of resistance training.

Any type of resistance training will help prevent sarcopenia but the single most effective form of exercise to preserve and improve muscle mass is a safe and effective form of weight training with dumbbells, barbells and machines. Once you are certain progressive overload is being implemented to your resistance training program, we can completely largely reduce or even completely prevent sarcopenia from occurring and in turn, mitigate instances of falling, and improve our quality of life by reducing our risks of physical disability.

If you are someone who isn’t as strong or as coordinated as you once were and want to make some changes, here at PTS we have many qualified professionals who are eager to help you reach your goals! Give us a call to find out more information on how to start getting an individualized program.

References:
– Jepsen, Ditte Beck et al. “Effect of whole-body vibration exercise in preventing falls and fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” BMJ open vol. 7,12 e018342. 29 Dec. 2017, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018342.
– Tromp, A., Pluijm, S., Smit, J., Deeg, D., Bouter, L., & Lips, P. (2001). Fall-risk screening test. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 54(8), 837-844. doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(01)00349-3
– DEVRIES, MICHAELA & PHILLIPS, STUART. (2014). Creatine Supplementation during Resistance Training in Older Adults-A Meta-analysis. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 46, 1194-1203. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000220
– Nowson, C., & O’connell, S. (2015). Protein Requirements and Recommendations for Older People: A Review. Nutrients, 7(8), 6874-6899. doi:10.3390/nu7085311

October 17, 2022