12 Rules To Shake Up Your Muscle Growth: Getting Past the Sticking Points

In every human endeavor there are walls we run into that halt our progress. Marathoners call it "hitting the wall" to describe that point at which they think they can go no further.

For writers it is "writer's block," for athletes it may be that few hundredths of a second they need for the record, but cannot seem to get past.

Bodybuilders have "plateaus" they reach in their muscular development when nothing they do seems to stimulate more muscle growth or definition.

We all seem to find deep within us the will to go on, to continue to find that elusive goal of the extra well of energy, the words that suddenly begin to flow and that extra spurt of speed that gets us past our particular sticking points.

Bodybuilders have been facing their demons for scores of decades and many of them have found the way past to go on to international acclaim. Others languish in the gyms, trying the same things over and over again.

Our muscles get conditioned as we work them. They get used to certain movements, weights and schedules of work and need to get a little shock from time to time to get them back on track to growth.

Here are some of the approaches that have worked for others who faced our dilemma in the past:

* Change the exercises in your routine - You still need to work the same muscles, but work them in a different way by using different exercises. It is a good idea to develop four different routines that exercise the same muscle groups. Every three months you should change to a new routine.

In this manner your muscles are just getting used to a routine and their response is slowing, when BAM, you hit them with a new set of exercises to build muscle fast.

Every year you should develop four new exercise routines. After about three years you can start recycling the routines. You muscles should continue to grow and define.

* Change the order in which you exercise each muscle group - This is referred to as the "Muscle Priority System." The muscle that needs the most work should be exercised first. One workout you begin with your chest, the next your shoulder, then your back and arms should lead off.

* Change your workout time - Instead of pumping iron in the evening after work, try going in the morning before work. An additional plus is that you get to work all pumped and stimulated, ready for the day.

Many bodybuilders are becoming "nooners," going to the club at lunch time, the grabbing a high-protein light lunch afterwards.

* Change how you perform the exercises - Instead of performing the warm-up and then working up the ladder to your maximum weight, do the warm-up and then go to your maximum and work down. An added surprise is that your max may go up.

* Add some unique exercises to your routine like the Iron Guru's up-along-the-body-curls.

* Try super-setting different parts of your regimen every workout. For example, on Monday super-set your arms; bi's and tri's with no rest between each muscle and only one minute between sets. Super-set your chest on your next upper body session, your shoulders on the next.

Do the same for each muscle group in your lower body and core as well.

* Try triple-setting three different muscle groups for a real blitzkrieg workout. Work your chest-shoulders-back and your quads, hams and calves in another. Check out this page for more secrets to a solid core.

Superset your biceps and triceps in between.

Once you have worked past your sticking point, you should continue a program of shaking up your routine four times per year. You may never experience a plateau again.

As you know, mixing up your work out is one of the very best ways to put a halt on sticking points. Make sure that you have an alternative workout that you are familiar with and that really mixes up your usual routine.

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