Many new lifters get and stay motivated when they make fast and significant progress. This is commonly known as “newbie gains,” and it can be the driving force to help new fitness enthusiasts go all in on training—especially when their personal missions are to get jacked.
The downside to this is eventually those gains you made so easily stall. It’s almost like the body adapts to what you have been doing and feels no further need to take extra steps to grow and get stronger. These are known as plateaus, and the longer a lifter gets stuck, the more frustrating it gets.
This is when you need to go from Lifting 101 to Training 2.0. You need to use more advanced strategies to continue making progress and fulfill your potential and hypertrophic aspirations. That is also when you need to find the professors and masters are so you can sit under their learning trees.
Enter Renaissance Periodization
The team at Renaissance Periodization (or RP for short) have dedicated their training, careers, and perhaps even their lives to the vision of making swole the goal and size the prize. Jared Feather is an IFBB Pro League Classic Physique competitor that has competed and succeeded in several different natural organizations. He is also a coach to multiple bodybuilding champions. Whether it’s an everyday gym rat looking to lose a few pounds or a world-class physique athlete looking to take the next step, Feather has been successful and enjoys what he does.
“My coaching portfolio encompasses a wide spectrum, from general population clients seeking lifestyle improvements to world champions aiming for peak performance.”
Feather is the Head Physique and Bodybuilding Specialist for RP Strength, and he has shared some tips to take your own progress to the next level.
Jale Ibrak
Train, Don’t just ‘Work Out’
If you’re scratching your head at that one, you aren’t alone. Many people that go to the gym see these terms as interchangeable, but Feather feels that one shows a greater level of commitment, which can lead to greater gains.
“Working out is simply moving weight—often to complete a prescribed set and rep scheme or hit a certain load,” he said. “Training, on the other hand, involves purposeful execution aimed at optimizing stimulus for a specific adaptation, like muscle growth.”
Don’t feel bad if a sense of guilt as come over you—you’re not alone. Feather said that he has seen fellow pros make the same mistake. The good news is that it can be corrected, and the sooner you do, the better.
“In the case of hypertrophy, the goal is to maximize mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle activation while minimizing unnecessary joint strain and fatigue.”
These tips can help you apply the principles that the RP team have found to be the most successful in achieving hypertrophy.
Prioritizing Technique Over Load
The thought of lifting weight may be a motivating one, and the appeal of slinging huge dumbbells and loading a sleeve full of 45s, but Feather advised that the premise of training should be different. Mastering the way you lift instead of what you lift matters the most.
“Proper technique keeps the load on the target muscle throughout the movement,” he explained. “For example, during a squat, maintaining upright posture and hitting proper depth ensures the quads are doing most of the work instead of shifting tension to the lower back or hips. This is especially important for hypertrophy, as mechanical tension is the primary driver of muscle growth.”
Feather also shared that aside from making the most out of each training session, you are minimizing the risk of having to skip sessions because of an injury.
“Prioritizing technique protects these structures and allows you to train consistently, which is crucial for long-term progress.”
Jasminko Ibrakovic
Focus On The Lengthened Portion of Movements
Exercises that offer a greater range of motion and allow you to lengthen the muscle while maintaining tension are more challenging but worth the investment that comes with it. Feather shared a few examples that you should consider adding into your own program, if you don’t do them now.
“Movements like Romanian deadlifts, incline/lying curls, or deep squatting variations stretch the target muscle under tension, which can enhance growth,” he shared. This may be the opposite of what you learned when you first started training – that the contraction matters the most. Remember that as you progress, you need to keep an open mind and try new things to see new results. Feather’s wisdom here would serve you well if you apply it.
“The lengthened position places the highest amount of tension on the muscle fibers, especially when combined with controlled eccentrics. This tension is one of the primary drivers of hypertrophy.”
As an added bonus, working on movements like this and maximizing tension can lead to greater range of motions and improve both mobility and flexibility. Regardless of the sport or reason you train, this should be a welcome improvement.
“Kind of a two for one with this type of training.”
Feather used the Incline Dumbbell Curl as an example of how to apply this principle to your biceps training.
“If you bring the weight higher during the concentric phase in a lengthened-biased curl, you allow the elbow to travel forward, increasing the total range of motion (ROM). This additional ROM stretches the biceps even further when lowering the weight back into the lengthened position, enhancing the hypertrophic stimulus.”
The RP Strength Team conducted a “Scientific Training” series, which included small yet significant adjustments to how their clients trained. Feather said that the feedback they got from that series validated all these strategies to be beneficial.
“By focusing on better movement mechanics, proper range of motion, and load management, we’ve helped them achieve:
Improved Pump: Enhanced blood flow and muscle activation from better execution.
Targeted Muscle Feel: Greater activation of the intended muscle group rather than accessory muscles.
Reduced Joint Pain: Decreasing unnecessary joint stress through better mechanics and appropriate load selection.”
He continued, “For many of these individuals, simply slowing down their tempo, refining their exercise selection, and reducing junk volume has led to drastically better hypertrophic outcomes.”
Track More Progress and Achieve More Results
Aside from sharing their wisdom, RP offers ways to help you apply what you’ve learned and see the results through yourself. They have their own content pages, YouTube channel, and books that back up their advice with evidence. They also have an app that works like a coach and training log in one. You can use to track your own workouts and follow its suggestions to maximize your potential. In short, RP can be that training partner, coach, and motivation source you need as you advance on your own fitness journey.
“RP provides an extensive collection of resources to help lifters add quality size, whether they are looking to deepen their academic understanding of hypertrophy or enhance their athletic performance.”
