5 WAYS TO BUILD MUSCLE WITHOUT LIFTING HEAVIER!

Building muscle is hard work!

In order for you to gain size, you have to strategically use your training to create a progressive overload to your muscles in which you can take them to a point of failure.

Now this can be challenging right now, if like most of us you don't have access to the gym right now, and have a limited amount of weights.

Well here's the thing...

You don't just need more weight to overload the muscles.

Here are 5 ways to progressively overload your muscles before increasing the weight:

1/ Squeeze & Stretch - Bodybuilding is all about quality reps rather than quantity. Make sure you squeeze the muscle hard for a count of 1-2 seconds at the top of the movement. E.g squeeze the biceps at the end point of a curl) and stretch for a second at the lower end or relaxed part of the movement to ensure you're getting a full range of movement and maximum engagement.

2/ Do More Reps - If you can't increase the weight you can always do more repetitions of a particular exercise.

3/ Slow Down - When you hit a ceiling of reps, try slowing down the tempo and work back up to the same number. Creating more time under tension does more muscle damage to elicit more growth. We've all been guilty of throwing the weights around to please our egos.

4/ Rest Less - Even by reducing your rest times by 15 to 30 seconds between sets will make a big difference to the intensity of the workout.

5/ Supersets- Pairing one exercise with a second exercise is a great way to create more intensity in a specific muscle group. E.g A set of lunges immediately followed by a set of squats.

Once you've exhausted these 5 steps then you can look to increase the weight and go through the same process.

This should apply even when you are at the gym and have full access to a lot more weight and equipment.

Let me know if you found this useful?

Have a great weekend!

Ed.

P.S Send me a message or go to www.eddjafercoaching.com (link in bio) if you want my help being building muscle over the next 3-6 months even if you don't have much or any weights.