Shake up your Exercising
variety, exercise routine, rest, periodization
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When it comes to working out, many of us are creatures of habit. We do what we know. We stick with what’s familiar and comfortable. The catch is that if you always do the same thing the same way, your body will adapt and your results will grind to a halt. This is especially true of strength training, where you need to keep your body guessing if you want to keep seeing results. Here are some techniques for breaking through strength training plateaus and keeping the results coming:
Exercise Variety – It’s important to regularly vary the exercises you do and the order in which you do them. Different moves recruit muscle fibers in different ways. By varying your routine, you keep your muscles changing and adapting and therefore you keep seeing results. Keep in mind that machine exercises tend to isolate the working muscle, while free weight exercises incorporate additional muscle groups for balance and stability. They both have advantages. Try to find several good exercises for each body part and alternate them regularly.
Pre-Exhaust – In addition to trying new exercises, experiment with their order. If you’ve always worked large muscle groups and compound movements first, experiment with pre-exhaust by doing isolation movements first. For example, by first working (pre-exhausting) your quadriceps on a leg extension machine, you can force your hamstrings and glutes to do more of the work on squats or leg presses. Be sure to proceed cautiously and always use a spotter for heavy or difficult movements.
Slow lifting – Step into any weight room, and you’re almost guaranteed to see someone struggling with way too much weight, jerky movements and very poor form. Quite a few people are guilty of compromising good form in an attempt to lift heavier. If you’ve reached what seems like the upper limit of your capabilities, try taking a few plates off of your weight load and performing the same movement very, very slowly - try ten counts on th... read entire entry
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on 2/12/2008
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