Could the use of improper form be the single biggest mistake made by bodybuilders? I think yes and feel this is worth repeating!
Proper form for accelerated muscle growth.
Anyone who has been in the iron game for any length of time knows they’ll experience much better muscle development when they use less weight and a controlled form that allows the muscles to work harder without the use of momentum. Unfortunately some let their ego's get the best of them and miss out on gains that could have been because they keep getting injured everytime they make a jump forward in weight.
The muscles are clueless as to how much weight is being lifted because they only know tension. It’s been proven that trainees who focus on the muscle being trained as opposed to how much weight is being lifted will activate more muscle fibers. I’m not saying our muscles only react to stress because no top-level competitor could have obtained their size if they where still lifting the same weight loads used as a novice. The muscle building progress occurs by making the exercise as hard as humanly possible and then gradually adding weight to the bar over a period of time while simulataneously using proper periodization.
Very explosive form is better for power-lifters because their only concern is moving a weight from point A to point B. Bodybuilding is about applying stress to the targeted areas. The form to be used for power- bodybuilding is a bit different than power-lifting. With compound movements, bodybuilders should smoothly explode the weight faster with full power after completing approximately one fourth of the complete repetition. It should take you about a second and a half to complete the positive stroke when performing heavy compound movements.
With isolation movements, you should wait and move the weight faster at about the half way point of the repetition. With full-stretch exercises the muscle and tendons are easily damaged with sudden burst at the beginning of the movement. With isolation movements the positive stroke should take you around 1 ½ to 2 seconds to complete! The controlled negative should be around 2 seconds for both categories of exercises. The positive stroke should be somewhat explosive yet controlled to the point it’s working the muscles to the fullest extent.
Moving the weight too slow (for i.e. a 3 second positive and a 4 second negative) won’t allow you to use enough weight to fully break down the type 2 muscle fibers due to lactic acid build-up. As you approach the end of a work set, you’ll need to increase the explosiveness within each repetition (not speed of the repetition itself) as your muscle begin to fatigue and build up lactic acid. Do not fall victim of using very slow reps to try and gain additional muscle size. This means avoiding the use of slow negatives and slow positives. The only time you can gain more muscle mass by converting to slow reps is if you have been under-training or using very poor form. In these particular cases it’s the increase in time under tension, not the slow reps that are actually making the difference. The secret to increasing the recruitment of the fast twitch muscle fibers that are repsonsible for most of your muscle size and stregnth is using the rep speed I have recommended. All that's required from that point on is to simply increase the amount of weight you can lift in conjunction with extra time under tension during the appropriate periods.
Several bodybuilders I come in contact with think they are using proper form and there not! In fact, many of them will make fun of some guy bouncing a weight off their chest, but little do they realize they too are guilty of just going through the motions in order to get a certain amount of reps or to try and use more weight. Some where down the road they have forgotten the importance of feeling the negative, the stretch, the squeeze, and the contraction of their muscles as they lift.
A very critical component that many avoid is peforming a slight pause before engaging in the positive stroke. Most injuries occur during the transition phase between the negative and positive portions of the movement. For example: A rapid lowering of the weight (negative stroke) prior to moving the weight upwards (positive stroke) will create a scene where momentum comes into play. When these forces come together it can exceed the strength of your muscles, joints, and tendons. This is why you must lower the bar with complete control. This does not mean you should do a long pause, but there should be a very brief stopping of the weight to keep momentum out of the picture. You won’t be able to lift as much weight on the positive stroke when you do a brief pause at the beginning of each repetition followed by a deliberate movement, but in the long run you'll build a lot more muscle and inguire a lot less injuries. I think a lack of education and an inflated ego is to blame for the bad form being used in gyms across the world.
Try using the form I just described for 8 weeks and I'll guarantee you'll gain more muscle size and definition!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by yungfaceb3
