The secret to hypertrophy.....or how to get jacked! Pain is a curious thing. Whether we're experiencing heart-break, stress, anxiety, sadness, or fear.....we often avoid it like the plague and distract ourselves with matinee movies, hot fudge sundaes, and tv tennis watching. Or we dive into it and feel it hard, with heart-wrenching music on the car stereo, tear-inducing memory bank slideshows, and depressing I-give-up floor lying. (disclaimer: fierce fitness blog posts, as narrated, may or may not reflect actual events in said narrator's life). There is a time and place for extremes. But if we spent all of our time there, we'd likely ware ourselves out. Without getting much of anywhere. Same goes for fitness. Too often, we think that the only way to "grow" a muscle is through heavier loads and creating a ton of muscle tissue damage...aka lifting heavy and making ourselves really sore. But mixing it up is where it's at. And here's why. Muscle tissue damage is only one driver of muscle growth. So stop using soreness as your indicator that you worked hard enough! Mechanical tension plays a huge roll in beefing up those muscles. So essentially, making sure that we're using that mind-body connection to recruit the right muscle groups. Lighter loads and higher reps can be great for this! Which often means quick recovery and increased training frequency. Metabolic stress is also a key player. So training for the pump, or a big burn. Think long holds and constant tension. Our friendly neighbourhood booty bands are great for this. Not to mention a little plank and squat hold action. On tap for this week? We're mixin' it up and challenging your muscles in all the right ways. And I quote Snowball, the bunny, from The Secret Life of Pets 2 (which I may or may not have watched this afternoon with my kids): “I’m gonna be the first bunny with washboard glutes. I’m not even sure what glutes are….but mine are gonna be shredded.” I'll get you there, guys. Washboard glutes is officially our new goal. And now, we have the roadmap on how to do it!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
August 2020
Categories
All
|