The Kaizen Principle

The science behind sets, reps and tempo have been kicked around back and forth over the years by several bodybuilding “experts” who claim to have the barrier busting secrets to packing on the mass. From what I’ve studied and learned, there is no secret to adding muscle and getting ripped to shreds. The answer will always lie in your own persistence, determination, motivation and will-power. Getting up at 6 in the morning to have Meal #1 of the day is something that you, yourself have to get done. No one will make you do it. It will always depend on how bad you want it.

If you’ve been training for quite some time now, you’ve probably hit some sort of wall in the gym. Not literally punching a wall (which sometimes might cross your mind on those low energy cutting days), but reaching that plateau that feels impossible to break away from. I’ll give you an example from my personal experience. For the longest time my bench press was at 225 for 5 reps at the end of my chest workout (Reversed workout regimen). For some reason I just couldn’t seem to reach that next personal record. Even after adding only 5 pounds, it still seemed to be too much weight for documented improvement. With smaller isolation exercises, you might find that it is even harder to see improvement, such as the reverse fly for rear delts, or the lateral raise. Most dumbbells today only increase by 5 pound increments, which make constant strength gains a very hard task, even to the experienced lifter. You are not alone if you share this frustration. It happens to the best of us!

The Kaizen Principle | So what do I need to do to get past this strength plateau?

The Kaizen principle originates from Japanese roots. The word “Kaizen” has no English equivalent, but translated means “constant and never-ending improvement.” This word is used in many areas throughout Japanese culture to express love in relationships, learning new things, or basic improvement in day-to-day life battles. By applying small refinements daily, in the long run, one could achieve progress that most would view as incredible. So let’s apply the kaizen principle to our training…

By using the Kaizen Principle, small increments of one pound (or less) are used instead of making a jump of five pounds. This will ultimately make your lifts more tolerable and psychologically achievable. Imagine the type of improvement you would see if you were to increase your personal records by one half pound or one pound per week? That would add up to a 26-52 lb increase in one year! Pretty cool, huh?

A simple approach I’ve used in my training to reach these gradual increases is to use sleeve collars with my barbell lifts. Depending on the type in your gym, most will weigh anywhere from ½lb to a pound a piece. By sliding these bad boys on the bar, that extra pound will most likely come unnoticed, making your new personal records repetitive on a week to week basis. I don’t know about you but that makes me freaking excited! Once the collars become easy, 2 ½ lb plates will do the trick, and so on…

So regardless of where you are in the bodybuilding world, small incremental increases can reap huge rewards in the long run. Apply this to your training and let me know about your improvements!

Remember to lift with a purpose, keep your goals in your head, and constantly improve. The gains will come with use of the Kaizen Principle!

-Mitch Muller

CPT – MindsetFitness.net