New Rule for Bodybuilding #10

10. The term "pain" in bodybuilding is not clear; misleading.

Think of the phrase, "No pain, no gain." This is an old truism in bodybuilding. But don't mistake that usage of the word "pain" with something else. The use of "pain" there makes it a catchy rhyme, but that’s about it.

The meaning is different from the common definition of pain. Pain, as a symptom, is a body's way of telling the owner that something is not right; that it's time to visit the doctor.

In bodybuilding "pain" means learning to understand the feeling of burning during lifting and soreness afterwards.

The burning sensation during lifting is rewarding--it means that one is having an effective workout. The burning is caused by lactic acid, produced from oxygen debt and contraction of mostly fast-twitch muscle fibers. Large amounts of lactic acid produced from hard work can be a good thing.

Why?

Lactic acid (lactate) directly or indirectly signals the body for internal release of testosterone (T) in men and human growth hormone (HGH). Followed by release of IGF-1, insulin-like growth factor. These are endogenous (made within the body) and released naturally in order for one to adapt to the amount of work one is doing. And so one gets better at that work. Humans are amazingly adaptive.

Then we would want more lactic acid, to get more T and HGH naturally, right? Yes.

How?

1. By working major muscle groups at once.
The quadriceps alone make up a large fraction of total muscle mass. "the lower body...contains more than 50 percent of your body's muscle mass." And so working the legs hard makes the entire body bigger, given both proper nutrition and rest. Squats. Deadlift. Putting the most effort toward upper-body exercises is not productive. Make [reasonable] leg workouts with proper form and increasingly less rest, a priority. It's a must. It's unusual for a guy with normal endocrine function to have a cartoonishly large upper body if the legs are not proportionately as big, ie, being "top heavy."

"A Stronger Upper Body
Training large muscle groups with heavy lifting produces a natural surge in growth hormone and testosterone. And there's nothing like squats to involve the large muscle groups. To perform the following variation on the squat, you have to activate most of your body's muscles simultaneously"

"Squats create an overall anabolic environment in the body that maximizes gains from other exercises [in your workout]," says Volek.

2. By varying workouts periodically.
If you're doing the same workouts for month(s) and you're not feeling the same intensity of soreness, then your body has already adapted. It's time to up the intensity* of your workout a notch or three. Either lift heavier, rest less between sets, or change your routine for a while. After, let your legs rest and recover.

The muscle soreness after working out eventually becomes a reward. It says, "What you did in the gym yesterday is working." Personally, I like the feeling. I just gradually learned how to appreciate it. The soreness is caused by micro-level damage to muscle tissue. The result is repair and/or growth (hypertrophy), in order to adapt.

Remember: muscle growth occurs while one is resting between workouts, not while one is actually lifting. Rest is therefore necessary when one is finished lifting CORRECTLY