Keep the Gains Coming

Building muscle as someone who has been lifting for years takes a more nuanced approach than what might work for beginners. At this stage, you’ve likely hit a brick wall when it comes to building lean muscle. Its tempting to hop on something stronger than supplements to spur on those gains, but if you've made it this far chances are you don't want to go that route and for good reason. So to continue making natural gains, consider these muscle-building tips:

1. Prioritize Progressive Overload

While you probably read that and though "no duh, progressive overload is a cornerstone of strength training", intermediate and advanced lifters need to apply it more strategically.

Try these methods:

Incremental Weight Increases: Gradually add small amounts of weight to your lifts.

Volume Progression: Increase the total number of sets or reps. Keep track of total pounds lifted (or kilos for our friends across the pond) and push for a greater total poundage each consecutive workout. Ex: 5 sets of 5 reps of 300 lb is a total volume of 7,500 lb.

Intensity Progression: Incorporate techniques like drop sets, rest-pause sets, or cluster sets to intensify your training. Increasing the intensity or time under tension puts more strain on your muscles, creating greater mechanical and chemical overload to prompt growth.

Track your progress closely to ensure consistent improvement over time.

2. Periodize Your Training

Periodization involves cycling through different phases of training to avoid stagnation and overtraining.

Try this:

Linear Periodization: Gradually increase intensity while decreasing volume.

Undulating Periodization: Vary intensity and volume within the same week. Play around with rest times, varying eccentric and concentric timing, ect.

Block Periodization: Focus on specific goals (e.g., hypertrophy, strength, or power) for a set period. So lets say you've been working on hypertrophy, switch it up to strength or power focus for a few weeks and then come back to muscle growth focused workouts.

Periodization not only enhances performance but also reduces the risk of injury.

3. Optimize Your Nutrition

For advanced lifters, nutrition can make or break progress. We all miss the days when we could down a six pack, chase it with donuts and still see progress from a good workout, but such is life. You've gotta pull out all the stops and hit nutrition as hard as you hit the gym.

Key factors:

Protein Intake: Aim for 1.2-2.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily to support muscle repair and growth. Your organs actually utilize most of our normal protein intake so you've really gotta load up on it if you want your muscles to get their fair share.

Caloric Surplus: If your goal is hypertrophy, maintain a slight caloric surplus (5-10% above maintenance). But keep an eye on your body fat percentages and fine tune your calorie intake over a few weeks to make sure its muscle you're building, not blubber.

Nutrient Timing: Consume carbs about 30 minutes to an hour before a workout and make sure to get a good mix of carbs and protein right after your workout. Also, early morning and before bed you should try to get in a good chunk of your protien. Early morning serves as a good "anabolic window" and of course your body does the bulk of its repair and growth when you sleep.

Supplements: If you haven't already (although I'm sure you have) consider supplements like creatine, beta-alanine, or branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) for additional support. I use Oldschool Labs for my supplements and I've found that their advanced preworkout is second to none.

4. Master Form

At an advanced level, refining your technique is critical for maximizing muscle activation and avoiding injuries. Sometimes ego lifting can get the better of us, especially if we feel like we're not were we should be.

Focus on:

Mind-Muscle Connection: Concentrate on feeling the targeted muscle work during each rep. I know it sounds crazy, but just try it. You'll be amazed at what a difference it can make.

Range of Motion: Get a good stretch as you lift. Lengthen your muscles through the full range of motion to maximize muscle engagement.

Control and Tempo: Slow, controlled movements often yield better results than rapid, momentum-driven reps. Try doing a 2 count as you lower the weight and a 1 count as you lift. Play around with the tempo though, listen to your body and find what works best for you.

Also, filming your lifts can help you identify areas for improvement in form or tempo.

5. Incorporate Variation Strategically

While consistency is key, strategic variation helps to perpetuate your bodys need for adaptation and it can help ease the boredom of a constant routine.

Try experiminting with these:

Different Training Splits: Switch between push-pull-legs, upper-lower, or body part-specific splits. Whatever you've been doing, swap it for a different split for a while.

Exercise & Sequence Variations: Substitute standard lifts with variations (e.g., incline bench press instead of flat, Romanian deadlifts instead of conventional). Additionally you can swap around your order. If you've been so regimented that your workout is always done in the same order, consider mixing things up. If you start with Bench, then move to Incline, then dumbbell try going in reverse order or start with incline.

Rep Ranges: Rotate between low (1-5), moderate (6-12), and high (12-20) rep ranges to stimulate different muscle fibers. I would go so far as to say you could benefit from trying this within the same exercise, but at least try it within the same workout.

6. Prioritize Recovery

Recovery becomes increasingly important as your training intensity rises. You have see recovery as important or you'll risk trading rest days for lift days and end up with a hospital stay.

Make sure to:

Sleep 7-9 Hours Per Night: Sleep is critical for muscle repair and hormonal balance. You can only survive for so long without sleep, don't try to find out how long that is.

Deload Periodically: Incorporate deload weeks every 4-8 weeks to reduce fatigue. Its a good practice that lets your body heal without sacrificing muscle or strength.

Stretch and Mobilize: Regular stretching and mobility work improve performance and prevent injuries. There is a good bit of conflicting research on when the best time to stretch is or isn't but there isn't much debate as to whether or not you should stretch.

Active Recovery: Advanced lifters may also benefit from active recovery strategies like yoga, foam rolling, or low-intensity cardio. I'm not particularly a fan of these, but they can be beneficial.

7. Use Advanced Training Techniques

Advanced techniques can help push through plateaus. After all, you've lifted for years, its time to level up.

Try:

Supersets: Pair two exercises with minimal rest (e.g., bench press and rows). Doing this can actually help to boost testosterone as well as really increasing your body's metabolic stress, both of which are ideal for muscle growth.

Drop Sets: Reduce weight after reaching failure and continue the set. It can be excruciating while you're doing it, but it feels so good when your done. I always get a great pump doing drop sets.

Rest-Pause Training: Take brief rest intervals during a set to extend its duration. The idea here is to maximize your time under tension (TUT). This can be key in triggering growth.

Eccentric Training: Emphasize the lowering phase of a lift to increase muscle tension. There is a lot of research that suggests this may be the portion responsible for the largest increase in muscle mass

8. Focus on Weak Points

Identify and prioritize lagging muscle groups or weak lifts. Sometimes your biggest issue is just an imbalance in support muscles.

Strategies include:

Specialized Training Blocks: Dedicate extra volume and intensity to weak areas. Carve out some time to focus on those weak spots or even try pre-exhausting those areas prior to your primary workout.

Exercise Selection: Choose movements that target specific weaknesses. Much like the specialized training block, but rather than set aside special times just incorporate specific exercises into your workouts.

Frequency: Train lagging muscle groups more often. Just be sure that you don't neglect rest. Overtraining an already weak muscle group is a recipe for disaster.

9. Leverage Technology and Data

A lifter of any level can benefit from tracking tools and technology like Apps, wearables, or even from taking video and reviewing your lifts.

Apps: Use training apps to log workouts, track progression, and analyze trends. I like FitBod for this beause it helps me figure out the best weight tok use for each exercise.

Wearables: Fitness trackers monitor recovery, sleep, and heart rate variability (HRV). This has been key for me as a hardgainer. My Fitbit tells me how many calories I've burned for the day and an estimate of how many I'm likely to burn for the remainder of the day. Its really helped me pinpoint just how much I need to take in and wow it was higher than I expected- around 3500-4000 calories daily depending on rest or workout day.

Video Analysis: Review form and technique with video recordings.

10. Stay Consistent and Patient

Muscle building is a long-term endeavor, and as I'm sure you know by now progress slows as you advance. Stay consistent, set realistic goals, and celebrate incremental improvements. Remember that discipline and perseverance are just as important as any training method or diet plan. I believe that there are three pillars to success in fitness, those are Quality, Volume, and Consistency. I'm not just talking about your workouts, that goes for rest and nutrition as well.

Lets Wrap this Up

By incorporating these tips into your fitness routine I believe that you can break through plateaus, maximize gains, and continue evolving in their muscle-building journey. Keep challenging yourself, both physically and mentally, to achieve your full potential.