When you are working out to build more muscle mass, it can take some time until you find a routine that really fits you. For this reason, many people really settle in once they\'ve found a good routine for themselves and don\'t like the idea of changing their training routines. You get used to your workout and switching to a different one just seems like too much bother.
Unfortunalely, if you always stick to the same routine, you\'re seriously hindering your own progress. In this post, I want to give you some no nonsense muscle building advice and explain the concepts of inter- and intramuscular coordination and talk about how you can prevent plateauing in your workout without having to give up your favourite exercises.
If you always do the same routine and the same exercises, your progress will stagnate. Actually, it may well be that you keep making progress in terms of strength, but your muscles will stop increasing in size. The reason for this is intra- and inter-muscular coordination.
Intramuscular coordination is the coordination of the individual fibers in your muscles. If the fibers in the muscle all contract and relax in sync, then you are producing more muscle power, without your muscle necessarily being very big. Basically, good intra-muscular coordination means that you are moving your muscles efficiently. Of course, this is a very good thing, especially if you\'re training for a particular sport (where performance is more important than muscle size). However, if all your training for is increased muscle size, then improved intramuscular coordination isn\'t really a great benefit, for you.
Intermuscular coordination is the coordination between different muscles in your body. For example, when you do a simple movement like bending your arm (think: biceps curl), there are two components to that: one the one hand, a muscle is contacting and on the other hand, the antagonist of that muscle needs to relax. If this coordination between the contraction of the active muscle and the relaxation of the antagonist work well and the timing is perfect, you have very good intermuscular coordination. In other words: Good intermuscular coordination means that your muscles aren\'t holding each other back, when you are doing particular movements.
Of course, there\'s nothing wrong with having good intermuscular coordination. But once again, it means that you can gain strength without growing your muscles.
Quite simply: If you always do the same exercises, your muscles will adapt and learn to do those specific movements more and more efficiently. Intra- and intermuscular coordination improve and habituation sets in. If you\'re looking to build muscles quickly, you want to switch routines before too much of this happens. You want to make sure that you \"keep your muscles guessing\" so that they need to adapt by growing in size rather than just increasing their efficiency.
Of course, if you are training for sports performance, increased inter- and intramuscular coordination are desirable. However, keep in mind that it\'s very specific to the movements you train, so you want to make sure that you\'re making movements that are directly used in your sport, more efficient.
Here\'s the simplest way to switch your routine: Simply change the order in which you perform the exercises. Same routine, different order. If you give it a try, I bet you\'ll be surprised at how much of a difference it can make.
