Time to Change Your Routine
If you have been training for a few months or
even years using the same routine and realised that you have not progress like before or
even at no progress, then it is high time to change your routine. Our body is
remarkably smart, it will adapt to initial stresses like training by making itself
stronger and fitter to cope. That's how your body improves actually. However, putting on
continual stresses at the same level also means your body is not facing anymore challenge,
and so it may seems almost effortless to do the same exercises that once wore
you down. In order to experience continued improvement in fitness, you need to make
your workouts progressively harder in some aspect, in order to challenge your body.
Every body is different and will progress at
different rates. But it is generally a good idea to make some changes (take note: do not
overhaul your routine on your own, it could potentially be harmful and could injure you!),
to your current routine once every 12 weeks to see continued results.
Changing your routine is not hard, you just need to
change one, at most two, of the below variables at a time. Take note that
changing a variable usually also affects other variables so it is a good idea to focus
changing on one while trying your best to keep other variables the same.
- Training frequency. If you have been training at 3 times a
week, you may increase it to four times over 8 days, allowing at least a rest day in
between sessions.
- Sets and Repetitions. If you have been using the same old '3
sets x 10 reps' scheme you may want to experiment with '5 sets x 5 reps' or even '1 set
x 12 reps' scheme. Making changes to these variables also involves the changing of
weight load you will use. If you are going to engage in a higher repetitions set, use a
lighter load. And vice versa. What ever you choose, always make sure you concentrate
hard and train with maximum intensity.
- Rest in between sets. You can reduce the resting
periods and this will make the exercise much harder because your muscles have not fully
recovered from the last set. Alternatively, you may increase the rest periods to enable
you to use greater work load, and this will achieve a different form of stimulus.
- Order of exercise. Generally, you should always work
the largest muscles (i.e.. legs, back, chest) first. But sometimes it is a good idea to
work the smaller muscles if they are lacking behind.
- Vary the exercises. Instead of using the exact same
exercises, learn new exercises and use them. For example, instead of doing the same old
bench presses exclusively for your chest, consider concentrating on dumbbell presses
for a period of time.
These are some of the easy ways to make small changes your
routine. Sometimes you may need to completely change your routine due to unforeseen
circumstances like illness, job change, school work etc., which then require
the assistance from a certified fitness professional. This will involve the designing
of a new workout routine which demands careful planning with due considerations to your
current schedule, interests, fitness level and objectives.
