By Dr. Gianfranco De Angelis
Training is always a challenging treatment, so it is natural that you try to make it as much as possible in order to avoid unnecessary efforts and waste of time. The main purpose of a good workout is to produce consistent results. In order for a weight session to be considered effective and profitable from a muscular point of view, it is absolutely essential that the athlete is in a position to take full advantage of the effort that goes into training.
The energy
A good diet, composed of the fundamental nutritional elements, is the main guarantee for having a good energy level to be used during a training session. So avoid training if your glycogen level is too low, or make sure you don't exercise on a full stomach. The ideal would be to train at least three hours after a main meal, that is, just when the stomach is clear and the level of glycogen is high (remember that carbohydrates and glycogen are nothing but more or less complex sugars derived from the metabolism of carbohydrates, therefore used for energy purposes). If for some reason you are forced to train many hours after a substantial meal, it is good to use easily digestible foods that provide ready-to-use energy, such as fresh fruit.
Furthermore, nutritional supplements allow the body to make the most of all its resources without it being weakened. Therefore, concluding, a rational diet, a wise use of food supplements and the respect of digestion times, are the fundamental factors to ensure a high energy level to be used in training.
Recovery
Another condition that has a lot to do with the organism's performance in the gym is recovery. The experts all agree that a muscle is fully restored only at least 72 hours after the previous workout. This means that in order to re-establish the perfect functioning of the organism and put it back into force again, it must pass no less than three days from the last engagement (excluding the abdominal muscles that can even be exercised daily). During this time the muscle was completely freed from the residues of fatigue, while in the meantime the cells destroyed by the training were replaced by the new and stronger ones. Proper rest (sleep and relaxation) and a diet rich in "plastic" substances, such as proteins, guarantee an efficient recovery of vigorously exercised muscles.
Psychological factors
You can have a good energy level and a complete recovery of the nervous and muscular system, but if your mind is not free from worries the performance will be greatly reduced, with negative results. This is because workouts need energy, but also concentration, so if your mind is elsewhere it is not possible to channel effort and energy into the muscle you are exercising. If you are worried about some important reason, or overly irritable and nervous, it will be impossible to conduct productive workouts. Before facing any athletic commitment, relax completely and in the meantime free your mind from all negative thoughts.
Then leave your worries out of the gym, using your mental energy for concentration, which must be total. Many go to the gym to perform only a few light movements, a lot of talk and a shower at the end, then they complain because they can't get results. It is not certain that you have to behave like so many fanatics who attack the weights by violating their muscles, even this would be a negative condition. Trust in the training system you are performing, remember that it is not the quantity of muscular work that gives rise to the result, but rather the intensity. Many athletes are mistakenly convinced that the more muscle they exercise (with 20-30 sets), the easier it is stimulated. Too many series, on the other hand, destroy rather than build; moreover, an over-exercised muscle will never be able to achieve complete recovery.
Is it logical to follow a strict training program?
Being tied to a training card can sometimes be a negative factor. The experienced athlete never plans his own exercises, but "invents" a training card at the same time that he has to face a session, exactly because he knows what he must or must not do. He knows his muscles and the reactions of his body so well that he immediately understands what they want at that precise moment. This condition allows you to face every workout as if it were a new, exciting adventure. Enthusiasm, therefore, improves muscular performance and makes exercises less tiring. So don't be conditioned by exercises "that you don't want to perform", if you don't feel like having them replaced with more pleasant ones. Modern physical culture is full of exercises and training machines, there is only the embarrassment of choice.
Increase your training intensity gradually
In order to achieve continuous progress, a muscle must be constantly stimulated and to do this there are different systems: increase in the load of the tools, increase in the series, reduction of the rest period between the series, improvement in performance, more decisive and concentrated action in the movements etc.
The important thing is to always make your work with weights progressively, week after week, year after year, and at the same time keep this training intensity always within the limits allowed by your physical potential, muscular performance and recovery.
In this article you are suggested all the indispensable factors to obtain a greater performance in the gym, since it is right to remember that your muscles can improve only when they have been exercised according to the right criteria. A perfectly stressed muscle, with due intensity, is a muscle destined to increase. If you cannot make progress it means that you have not respected the fundamental principles described in this article. In this case, honestly analyze each of the aspects in question and, as soon as you discover your negative factor, try to eliminate it. Only then will you be certain that your workouts will not be fruitless and you will be on your way to getting better and better muscle progress.
