Group: Experienced Exercise

Created: 2012/01/01, Members: 50, Messages: 19484

For intermediate and advanced individuals. Share and learn how to take your fitness to the next level!

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Always change your routine

Ogun
Ogun
Posts: 559
Joined: 2002/08/11
United States
2003/11/19, 03:25 AM
I just have to keep pushing this belief of always changing your routine. I didn't come up with the concept--it's been around for a long time. I may have even first learned about it here (or Flex Magazine, or Muscle & Fitness, whatever).

However, as all of you know, we hear alot of theories and philosophies on everything from dieting to barbell tricks to hair removal. We only truly adopt the ones that we believe sound logical and convincing. Added to those (and sometimes a part of those) are the things we either learn on our own in the gym or at the dinner table, or things we test at such places to gather our own predications about.

Although I believe that nutrition, diet, eating schedules, etc., are the absolute most important part of body-shaping, followed by exercising properly, I also believe that we need to over-hype rest and routine variation on occasion to get the spotlight on them.

Rest is simple; sleep enough, and don't overtrain. Routine variation, however, is less comfortable and more likely to fall victim to one's procrastination or unreasonable excuses.

So, my message stands, and I hope you long-term, "Look-at-my-body-and-you'll-know-I-have-my-game-down," will back me on pushing this one a little, for everybody's sake; VARY your workouts, cardio and resistance training alike.

It has been argued that one should change their entire routine up, from a standard, 3 set, 12 rep scheme to a 2 set, higher weight, 15 rep scheme, etc., as often as every three weeks, or as infrequently as every 9 months. I personally have read more and experienced more evidence that makes me tend to lean towards the shorter interim. In fact, I change my routine every two weeks, on average.

Imagine being your body. You don't speak a language, but you can react to an attack. You can make your blood clot, send white blood cells after trespassers, and force rotten fish back out of the same hole it came in through. And when the crazy human mind that runs your daily activities throws some hardcore resistance/cardio. at you, you can push protein around and release endorphins. You can prepare the victimized muscles for the next assualt by making them stronger.

However, your watchful eye falls lazy after a routine is found predictable, and your need to heal becomes automatic and without effort. It is the unpredictable crazy human mind that worries you; it keeps you always wondering, always working, and always repairing, hardly ever showing any patterns. It forces you to call on even more resources, and makes you decide that the best preparation is to just strengthen the whole dang castle since the catapults seem to be letting the boulders fly into all sides, at all angles, at different times of day, at different speeds, and different sizes.

To my body, I say I'm sorry ;) But you'll thank me later--call it tough love.

I hope somebody gains something from this. Following are a few relevant, interesting sites...

http://www.discoverfitness.com/Organize_Your_Resistance_training_routine.html
http://www.intense-workout.com/facts.html
http://wawa.essortment.com/exerciserouti_rdgv.htm
http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/bodybuilding8.html

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--There are no versions of the truth.--
Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park II
Philia2
Philia2
Posts: 4,078
Joined: 2001/10/19
France
2003/11/19, 03:41 AM
Great Ogun, thanks for sharing with us!

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- Nina :o) Les Victoires éternelles sont celles du coeur.
Ogun
Ogun
Posts: 559
Joined: 2002/08/11
United States
2003/11/28, 01:50 AM
Philia I'm coming to France to have a croissant with you just as soon as I can figure out how to say, "Now I know why your language is loaded with so many vowels...." en Francais ;)

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--There are no versions of the truth.--
Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park II