How To Ensure Progress in the Gym
For the general population, reaching a plateau in terms of progress in the gym is a common barrier that most people find hard to overcome. There are various factors that could be limiting one’s progress and they are all equally important together.
The aim of this article is to breakdown the different key components in regard to one achieving their goal and give a brief summary of how to overcome plateaus.
Frequency
Frequency is the number of resistance training sessions and the number of times a specific muscle group is trained over a given period of time (Schoenfeld, Ogborn, and Krieger, 2016).
Usually, people refer to it as to the number of times we train each muscle group per week. For instance, performing a chest session on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (which if natural is quite extreme) would mean that the frequency is 3x per week. One hypothesis says that the more frequently you train a muscle within a week, the better results in the long-term you get. Before jumping to that conclusion, it is key to examine the mechanism behind why this may be occurring.
Protein Synthesis
Is the biological process that initiates the building of new proteins. Evidently, it is fair to say that this is an essential process when it comes to building new muscle fibers, hence increasing muscle size. Resistance training initiates this process, therefore, allowing the muscles to grow. However, it also contributes to protein breakdown. It is worth saying that we are in a consistent protein breakdown during our daily life, thereby, protein synthesis must exceed the breakdown in order to grow new muscle (Wang and Proud, 2006; Welnert, 2009).
This is where protein consumption comes along. However, the aim of this article is to focus on how to achieve progress in the gym. For more details on the nutrition topic, it is worth checking out my article regarding protein/leucine intake.
As mentioned above, resistance training will initiate protein synthesis. However, it does not last forever and the more advanced we are the less this process will be present. Having said all of this, the more frequently we train a muscle group, the more growth possibility there is, due to the more frequent initiation of protein synthesis. The meta-analysis by Schoenfeld and colleagues concluded that a 2x per week frequency was superior to 1x per week. Nevertheless, having a 3x per week frequency is yet to be determined whether it would contribute towards greater physiological adaptations.
Volume
Resistance training volume is defined as the sets per muscle group performed weekly (Schoenfeld et al., 2019).
For instance, performing two biceps exercises of 4x sets each once per week, would equal a total of 8 sets/week volume for this particular muscle. The current literature suggests that the greater the volume, the better the hypertrophic adaptations would be (Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger, 2016; Schoenfeld et al., 2019). Therefore, this then leads to the hypothesis that progressive overload should be one of the priorities when it comes to one’s program structure.
Starting at 10 sets per muscle group/week may be a good starting point for one’s initial two training cycles (if fairly inexperienced), however, the aim for gradually increasing the number up in the next training cycles would be a priority. A brief example would be
Table 1.
Nevertheless, it is of great importance to keep in mind that there will be a point where the maximum amount of sets/week that the body can handle in a positive way will be reached. Technically, more volume is better up to a certain extent and if one goes beyond what the body can recover from, negative outcomes may be observed. This is the so-called Maximum Recoverable Volume (MVR). For more in-depth information regarding this hypothesis, see what Mike Israetel has to say on this topic.
Evidently, too low volume may not provide enough stimuli to initiate hypertrophic adaptations, however, “abusing” the amount of volume can also provide negative outcomes. Even though this may seem like a never-ending cycle, through consistency and adequate program design a balance can be achieved.
Recovery
This section more or less links up with the above one. However, “abusing” the volume may not the only reason why one may not be recovering adequately. There are multiple variables that can affect someone’s ability to recover on a day-to-day basis. The component that contributes towards adequate recovery the most is sleep, as it is already well-established.
Lacking sufficient sleep can have a negative effect not only on one’s performance but also on most biological markers (e.g. insulin resistance). Chronic sleep deprivation can be a massive barrier when it comes to optimal health (Michael et al., 2013). Regularly, people assume that quantity is all that matters. However, quality of sleep is what one should emphasize (for instance, waking up once every hour during the night is not quality sleep, regardless of the amount).
Nutrition
Nutrition usually is what most people fail in. Sleep and nutrition should go hand-in-hand if one is aiming for health along with progress in the gym. Excluding protein, mainly due to the fact that the majority of people are aware of how important this macronutrient is for performance, micronutrients (vitamins/minerals) are widely neglected.
Nowadays, IIFYM (If it fits your macros) diet is very popular and, in most cases, it is the best approach towards diet adherence. Nevertheless, people widely neglect healthy sources of food, simply because they can afford to eat chocolate (or any sugary food whatsoever) and still fit within their calorie intake goal. That is not necessarily bad, unless it happens every day, every meal. Poor choices of food will not provide the body with a sufficient amount of the vitamins/minerals we need in order to function optimally. In the long-term, multiple deficiencies may occur. Evidently, this will not have a direct impact on one’s performance (not in the short-term at least), however, optimal health should be a priority for everyone.
Summary
When it comes to structuring one’s program (aiming hypertrophy; can also work for people aiming weight loss) frequency, volume and progressive overload all should be taken into consideration. The information mentioned above would be a good initial guideline, however, consistent changes may be required in different aspects, in order to assure progress. For instance, having 20 sets per muscle group per week maybe what is optimal at this very moment. Nevertheless, dropping them down to 18 sets may be required sometimes (this does not mean regression whatsoever). Frequency would also work on the same principle, therefore, I advise keeping consistent track of these variables (through the different training cycles).
As recovery is very subjective, generalization cannot be conducted in order to give very specific advice regarding optimization. Some guidelines can be taken into consideration, such as sleep (7-9hrs/night), however, anything beyond this point is very individual. Therefore, I advise the readers to conduct their own research on this topic.
P.S. There is no “magic” diet or exercise. If you invest hard work, consistency, and being mindful of food source intake, along with the training regime, you’ll finally see and feel that progress in the gym you’re aiming for.
References
Schoenfeld, B., Ogborn, D. and Krieger, J. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine, 46(11), pp.1689-1697.
Weinert, D. (2009). Nutrition and muscle protein synthesis: a descriptive review. [online] PubMed Central (PMC). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2732256/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2019].
Wang, X. and Proud, C. (2006). The mTOR Pathway in the Control of Protein Synthesis. Physiology, 21(5), pp.362-369.
SCHOENFELD, B., CONTRERAS, B., KRIEGER, J., GRGIC, J., DELCASTILLO, K., BELLIARD, R. and ALTO, A. (2019). Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 51(1), pp.94-103.
Schoenfeld, B., Ogborn, D. and Krieger, J. (2016). Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(11), pp.1073-1082.
Michael, D., Valle, B., Cox, J. and Kalns, J. (2013). Salivary Biomarkers of Physical Fatigue as Markers of Sleep Deprivation. [online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836344/ [Accessed 28 Nov. 2019].
