If you’ve reached a muscle building plateau, then it’s time to shock your muscles. It is easy to get into a groove. And who has not hit a rut? We all have but the most successful people vault themselves out of that rut as soon as they find themselves in it.
Because another way to describe a rut is to call it a coffin with two open ends.
And to fall into a rut when you building muscle is terrible waste of time, resources, and effort. So, here are two tools for shocking your muscles out of the rut:
Giant Set
Blood and the nutrients that it carries builds muscle. We are talking about “the pump!” If you are not getting a great and consistent “pump, ” then you are not building muscle. Giant sets are a great for engorging your muscles with copious amounts of blood.
Basically, you perform 4 to 5 exercises per muscle group without rest. For example, you would perform the following exercises without rest, going from one exercise to the other until you have done all 5 exercises:
- Incline Dumbbell Presses
- Prone Dumbbell Flyes
- V-Bar Dips
- Cross Bench Dumbbell Pullovers
- Push-ups
At the end of the push-ups, you would rest about 60 seconds and begin the giant set over again. You would do a total of 4 sets. You would keep the repetitions around 12 initially, but will probably drop as you progress. For push-ups, you would just max out. The key is not to push heavier weights but to finish the giant sets and get that pump.
Obviously, your chest workout as described would be short. That’s good in that you save time. Also, this is a very hard technique. You should use it for no more than a month to shock your muscles back to growth.
Reverse Pyramid
This technique is tremendous for blowing up the dam that is holding back the blood. And it is a simple technique.
- 1st set – Use weight heaving enough to do 6 full repetitions followed by 6 burns. Burns are half reps done at the end of a set. Burns are a favorite to the point of being a trademark for the Legendary Larry Scott.
- 2nd set – Reduce weight by 10{c66b10e9cbb0dd4ae322bbe8793aef26e887819d9224ac46799d38bddff29d80} and repeat 6 X 6 repetitions
- 3rd set – Reduce weight by 10{c66b10e9cbb0dd4ae322bbe8793aef26e887819d9224ac46799d38bddff29d80} and repeat 6 X 6 repetitions
- 4th set – Reduce weight by 10{c66b10e9cbb0dd4ae322bbe8793aef26e887819d9224ac46799d38bddff29d80} and repeat 6 X 6 repetitions
You should rest no more than 60 seconds, or less, between sets. You will be a spotter and your objective is to complete the repetitions plus burns.
If you find yourself in a rut or a muscle building plateau, then judiciously use these tools to help you break out. Remember, the key is to achieve maximum muscle pump. The more blood you jam into your muscles, the more nutrients you deliver to your starving, aching muscles. And that is good.
