I believe that one of the keys to really achieving our best results is having and utilizing the ability to instinctively alter our training program on the fly based on how we feel. I truly do not feel that we can be our best when someone else gives you a training plan and says “here, do exactly this every time”. We all need the flexibility to ratchet up (or down) the intensity based on a variety of factors (energy level, motivation, time constraints, etc). For this reason I have put together a list of a few intensity principles to give you some ideas for how you can add a little variety and kick it up a notch and potentially achieve better results. The exercises I list on training plans are a good foundation and I try to provide workouts that include several intensity techniques (supersets, pre-exhaust, drop sets. Etc). But you can easily get into a rut, and switching plans all the time is not the right answer. If you change exercises every week you never have time to build strength on any specific exercises. A better way is to stay “loosely” with a good workout plan. It is very good to train instinctively; meaning that you listen to your body and your mind. Here are some ideas for you to mix up the workouts and up the intensity. Throw in a different exercise that you like – It is easy to get bored with the same workout and exercises day after day. Substituting other exercises can help your motivation and decrease boredom. Additionally, switching it up can contribute to engaging additional muscle fibers, which can mean more muscle growth. I encourage you to throw in different exercises sometimes if there is something you like. Just make sure to substitute compounds for compounds and isolations for isolations. A compound is a multi-joint movement, like a press or a row. For example, a bench press engages both shoulder and elbows. A squat engages hips and knees. An isolation is a more “fixed” movement, like a dumbbell fly or a leg extension. Notice that on flies, only the shoulders are moving and elbows are fixed. On the leg extension, only the knees bend but the hips stay stable. One other point; make sure you are not always “adding” more exercises and increasing your total number of sets for workouts. I won’t say that there is a maximum number of sets that you should ever do, but a good rule of thumb for any workout session is to never go over 50 sets or about 70 minutes. More sets on the big basic exercises – sometimes you just want more. If I typically do 5 sets of an exercise, but it feels particularly good today, I will just keep going. I might end up with 10 sets instead of 5. Other days I may do 3 sets and it feels like enough, so I stop there and move on. Learn to listen to your body. For this principle, I recommend that you “rarely” do less sets on your compounds. In other words, don’t get into the habit of doing 3 sets of squats and 10 sets of leg extensions. The compounds are the foundational exercises of any program (and the greatest contributors of muscle growth) and should not be skipped or reduced much. Pre-exhaust – this involves doing an isolation exercise before a compound. The isolation fatigues the specific muscle you want to crush, and the compound further tears down the muscle by engaging other bigger bodyparts. For example, an incline dumbbell fly will fatigue the upper pecs, and following that with an incline bench press will allow the shoulders and triceps to push the upper chest even further. This particular example is not recommended if you don’t have a spotter. Other examples are DB laterals before overhead presses, one arm concentration curls before barbell curls, and many others. Drop sets – these are great for thoroughly fatiguing a muscle. These can be done early in the workout or at the end. This entails starting with a heavier weight (one that you can do 6 or 8 reps with), when you finish you grab a smaller weight and do 6 or 8, then when you finish you grab another smaller weight and do 6 or 8. Slow reps – slow the reps down and take 5 seconds or so to raise and lower the weight. Negatives – this is sort of like the slow reps, but you are only slowing down the eccentric part of the rep. The eccentric part of the rep is the decelerative lengthening of the muscle (like lowering the bar on a bench press). Without a spotter, this one is best left to machines where you can “cheat” on the concentric (explosive, shortening of the muscle – like doing a curl). Then you can slowly lower the curl. Shorten the range of motion – I love this one for providing continuous tension on a muscle. An example is bench press; instead of locking out your arms at the top and bringing the bar all way to your chest, stop the bar about 2 or 3 inches from the top and the bottom both. The top part engages more and more triceps the closer you get to locking out, and the bottom part also takes stress off of the chest as it gets down all the way. By stopping short on both ends you keep the tension on the chest the entire set. The same technique can be used on many exercises. If you are in excellent shape and are looking for ways to up the bar, and if you are not already doing so, you may want to consider trying some of these techniques in your workouts
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:01:19 +0000
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