by Norris Baichan…
One of the key challenges in any workout program is consistently varying the exercises, to ensure that your body is tested, pushed towards its limits, and doesn’t plateau. As a trainer at Nimble Fitness in New York City, I’ve seen that the way to do this effectively is commonly misunderstood. For many athletes, “varying the exercise” means to find a completely new type of exercise to replace the one they are currently doing. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—rotating exercises is generally good for your muscle tissue and keeps a routine from getting boring–it can become counter-productive to your program. It can also be hard to chart your progress from week to week. There are actually many, many ways to tweak and enhance the exercises that already work for you, without tossing them and starting a completely new regimen.
Here are 3 major ways to maintain the challenge of your current program, avoid plateaus, and keep your program exciting:
*Change the Load — Seems simple…that’s what you’re supposed to do, right? But really changing the amount of weight you are lifting forces a very different biomechanical response from your body, which in turn challenges your muscle fibers in a new way. So, if you’ve been cruising along doing the usual 10-15 reps, cut down to 5-8 reps at a significantly more challenging resistance. If you’ve been going heavy at 5-8 reps, see how it feels to shoot those reps up to 15-20 at a lighter weight.
*Change the Width, Depth or Angle – This is where you start to realize that there are endless variations to each movement, and therefore each workout. Change the width of your stance, angle your feet or hands differently, or expand the depth or range of your movement. This will greatly affect your body biomechanically. You’ll find that changing one thing changes everything else. A great example of this is hitting a golf ball: Shift the club face a millimeter, and it will greatly affect the flight direction of the ball.
*Emphasize the Eccentric (or return phase) — One of the simplest ways to change the exercise is to really focus on the eccentric phase of the movement. Try slowing it down. Think of counting 4-6 seconds when you’re on the return phase of the exercise. For example, in a pushup, you’d press up normally, and then spend 4-6 seconds as you lower back towards the floor.
These changes really are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many different ways to enhance your exercises with small tweaks. Get creative! You could even make it fun. If you’d like ore information on how to step up your workout program, or would like to find out more about training at Nimble Fitness, please email me at Norris@www.nimblefitness.com.
