Muscle for Life

If you’re serious about weightlifting, one of the worst things that can happen is getting stuck. Your workouts become robotic chores, you stop giving each exercise your all, and you begin to wonder if you’re simply at the end of your genetic rope for muscle and strength gain. This is particularly true of isolation exercises like the dumbbell side raise, barbell curl, calf raise, and the like. For one thing, you’re forced to lift what seem like relatively light weights compared to your heavy compound exercises. Every pound of progress is precious, and it can be maddening to show up to the gym every week and lift the same weight for months (or years) on end, with no idea how to pull yourself out of this rut. Moreover, you may find yourself plateaued on most of your isolation exercises despite making steady progress on your heavy compound exercises, which is even more puzzling. Why does this happen, and what can you do about it? Well, the short answer is there are several very simple explanations for why progres