Eight more reasons why you’re not growing

[jcp2]

^ dont squat that much bc legs grow too fast... thats a new one lol

I have actually known people that have had this problem.

 

[jcp2]

Rack deads are an alternative that many use who cant dead regularly. Theres nothing that can truly replace a good old squat or dead though. Not sure what Wes usually recommends as work-arounds for people with bad backs, bump for ya.

Rack deads bother my back more than deadlifting. I train with a 55 year old man with 5 herniated disks who still pulls just under 700 in the 198 class. He has strengthened his abs and posterior so much that his back does not bother him.

 

[Who is Mike Jones?]

Rack deads bother my back more than deadlifting. I train with a 55 year old man with 5 herniated disks who still pulls just under 700 in the 198 class. He has strengthened his abs and posterior so much that his back does not bother him.

I'll try stregthening abs but it's lower back and typically squats that kill my lower back muscles. Any suggestions? The part that wrecks is when I was thought to shift my hips back before going down. Muscle pull is just above the tail bone. AT one point the pull was so bad I couldn't walk for a few days because of spasms.

 

[bleachcola]

2. The training workload is not varied. Doing the exact same lift the same way stops being productive for most trainees within 3-8 weeks. Once the body has adapted to the loading it must be changed if you are to continue to force the body to adapt.

I think people take this point a little too seriously. I've known plenty of big guys that rarely if ever change their training. They got big bc they continually increase the weight they are pressing. If you do the same exercises with the same weight continually you will definitely see no results. But if you are lifting more and more each week then you will. The problem I have with switching things up all the time is that you completely destroy the mind/muscle connection you had with your previous lifts. I began to see real results when I stopped trying to change my exercises every few weeks and instead focused on actually feeling the muscle work through the range and more importantly lifting more weight. I'll throw in some random stuff at the end of my training for burnouts or what not. But for me and my training partners, sticking to our core basics with forced reps has shown the best results. The guys who read the magazine and hit the muscle through fifty different angles and exercises are the ones who look the same week to week. They have no idea that they actually aren't improving their lifts bc they don't do the lift long enough to take notice.

 

[Starkraven]

17. You don’t believe in your training program. I am in the process of writing a full article on this so I will spare the details, but if you don’t believe in the program you are doing it is never going to work, simple as that. You WILL consciously or subconsciously sabotage something you are convinced won’t work. Simple as that.
Iron Addict

this scares me. do you mean that just because you dont think it will work, it really won't? even if you physically train hard, or does the mental aspect just not make it happen? because sometimes i doubt my whole program as well. i know that i am a stressed person but i cannot change that as that is the way my brain is. i am always anxious, worried, etc. i also am about to see if i have sleep apnea so that is a sleep issue (which im sure causes my anxiety). thats 2 reasons right there. the third is my diet. and i hope that #17 is wrong.

 

[BigRonWannabee]

Your mind is everything. Everything you are, you experience, you perceive is 100% in your own head. Its amazing what the power of suggestion can do. The placebo effect for example, well it goes both ways. Yes, you can "think" yourself bigger. Meditation techniques are something Im just starting to get into to help manage stress and such, but just studying quantum mechanics will open up so many doors in the realm of all this shit, you better believe 17 is true. Pun intended.

 

[BigRonWannabee]

Rack deads bother my back more than deadlifting. I train with a 55 year old man with 5 herniated disks who still pulls just under 700 in the 198 class. He has strengthened his abs and posterior so much that his back does not bother him.

I herniated a disc a year back, and got back to speed using rack deads. Full deads were a total no-no, way too painful. Using rack deads exclusively was enough to begin to pull from the floor once again. In my case it wasnt so much a long-existing "bad back" as it was nursing an injury. I have an old training partner who has a legit "bad back" and cannot dead off the floor to save his life. He can however rack pull as much as he wants. Guess everyone has different bio-mechanics.

 

[mo'primo]

Golden

thanx Iron Addict

 

[blackjack]

6. You don’t know when to de-load/cruise, or take time off. NO ONES body takes a constant pounding of hard training without periods of active or full rest recovery. Until you learn how and when to don this your training will never be optimal

can you go into more detail about de-loading?

 

[Reptilicus]

12. Your insulin sensitivity sucks. Trying to build a great body while having poor insulin sensitivity never works. You will always fight laying down bodyfat. You want the carbs to go to your muscles not your fat stores. And to the fat stores is where they go when glucose tolerance sucks. [What about R-ALA? Will this work?]
13. You have poor sleep habits, Diet and training can be spot on, but if sleep sucks it isn’t going to happen. This not only includes getting the right amount of sleep, but getting it at the right time. All you guys and gals that stay up until 2:00 am and sleep late are creating a huge disadvantage for yourselves.[No way around this for me, same with eating more than 4 meals a day]...
14. You are stressed. Diet, training, and sleep, and supplement support can all be dialed, but if you are a 24 hour stress machine you can forget solid gains. Stress releases a slew of stress hormones. Bottom line, stress hormones put the body in one mode; store bodyfat, catabolize muscle. Is this what you really want to do? Get a handle on your life stressors before they get a handle on you. As much as 75% of all illnesses are directly related to stress.[No way to avoid this either!]
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I am in a high stress job/lifestyle and this will not change anytime soon, I work 12+ a day, often have to miss meals too...Can only find time to lift on days off, 2 on one of one on schedule is the only way, and one of those is on my friday aftyer a 12 while exhausted...So what you are saying is I should just say f*** it an sit on the couch, eat tasty but crap food and finger f*** the remote, because all this liftin' and eating protein is just a waste of time...If you don't have any work arounds, then I guess I should just quit right? thanks for the encouragement, Pal...

 

[Deep South Chris]

13? what if you work at night and train during day?

 

[themrgoat]

I totally agree, squats and dead-lifts are important. However, some of us have athletic injuries from the past...such as limited cartilage in both knees bringing great pain and a calling for even more problems to come.

Is there an alternative?

"Train like a horse, think like a bee."