In an earlier post I touched on some of the reasons why you might not be achieving the results you are after with your exercise routine. There is no doubt that having an Exercise Routine is an essential part of making sure that your body is in optimal condition to enjoy life. Be wary however if your exercise routine, that is the moves you are actually doing are the same ones on a day in day out basis.
Having an exercise routine is good in the context that you have incorporated exercise into your lifestyle however it can frustrating if you make a habit of doing the same exercises. Our bodies adapt quickly to a constant stimulus so much so that progression will turn into regression if you leave things the same.
Don’t get me wrong moving your body is never bad however if you want results then we need to change some of the variables in your training, one of the ways is to use Progressive Overload.
Progressive Overload applied to your exercise program means constantly challenging yourself to do different moves so that your body doesn’t adapt, stimulating your muscular and cardio vascular systems to greater heights.
In your next workout try changing the variables as follows:
Resistance Training
- If you can do your target number of reps for any exercise with ease then add to the intensity by increasing the weight to the next increment.
- Whilst it depends on your goal you can also vary the number of reps, for example if you are training for strength then do less repetitions on a heavier weight.
- Do more sets of an exercise incorporating the above variables.
- Change the medium you are using, if you have been doing machine weights then target the same muscles with free weight exercises. Varying the equipment will give the targeted muscles a workout from different angles as well as use of stabilizer muscles.
- Change the speed of performing the movement, instead of doing a squat at a 202 tempo where you descend in 2 seconds then ascend in 2 seconds try it at 311, where you descend in 3 seconds, pause at the bottom for 1 second then explode up in 1 second.
- Learn more exercises for each muscle group, preferably compound exercises.
- Split your week up into a mixture of upper/lower body and full body workouts with adequate recovery between. If for example you do predominately back exercises one day don’t expect to work your biceps effectively the next day as they have already been worked in the compound pulling exercises of your back. Same applies to pushing exercises like the chest press where you use your triceps, they wont fire up too well the next day.
Cardio Training
- Progress the intensity of you cardio sessions by varying the speed, distance, level, incline, and time of your workouts whether in the gym or outdoors.
- Change the type of cardio training to include walking, jogging, running, bike, swimming, and rowing.
The above information is only to be applied to your current exercise routine if you are confident on how to use it safely and effectively. In my next post I will be writing on the training variables and how they can be applied to different fitness goals.
To summarise, my main message today is to make sure that you vary your program to get the results you are after.
Zol
Fitness Moves