WEEK FORTY-FOUR :: How Should One Alternate Their Workouts To Avoid Adaptation?

[the_fake_webmaster]

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* Note: How can I win? Answer all questions in the order that they are asked.

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TOPIC: How Should One Alternate Their Workouts To Avoid Adaptation?

For the week of: 07/31 - 08/06
Sunday @ Midnight Is The Final Cut (Mountain Time, US & Canada).

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Everyone needs a change from their workout. If you continue to follow a workout without any change, it can place you in a tough plateau to break. Aside from that, it can hinder your results and make your workouts tedious.

How should one alternate their workouts to avoid adaptation?

What should you change?
Sets/reps
Exercises
Intensity
Amount of days you workout
Length of workout
Etc.

Should you perform a completely new routine from scratch?

How long should you follow a routine before changing it?

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[lizard13boy]

Things you should change in order to avoid adation, to me would be sets or reps. for ex. I usually do a warm up set of 20 reps and follow with 3 working sets of 12 reps and to change things up I would still do a warm up of 20 reps but switch my working sets to 10 sets of 4-6 reps or 6 sets of 12-15 reps usually sticking to the higher number. As for exercises you really shouldnt need to change them unless your really getting used to your workout and want to confuse your muscles and spark new growth...Ive noticed this dosnt always work but it usually is pretty good. as long as your giveing 100% you shouldnt have to change intensity but you could get your spotter to help a little to push past faliure to 110% if you not completely exhasted after a workout I dont think your training hard enough. Days of the week is up to you I mean some people workout 3 some workout 6 I try to stick to 4 or less to prevent overtraining, also try not to let your workout go over 45 mins at one time because after 45 mins. test. levels drop and so dose intensity.

Well I gave it a shot I hope I dindt make a complete idiot out of myself. if anyone has any critiqes or comments e-mail me at lizard13boy@yahoo.com

[usmc_leadsled]

The answers to these questions, like most others related to weight training, is largely based on the individual and will change from one person to the other. Here is my attempt to provide a "one size fits all".

1) How should one alternate their workouts to avoid adaptation?
Many a person has gone haphazardly changing everything they do on a daily basis, so as to avoid adaptation and in the process, they don't make any progress because, although change is good, another old maxim can be applied here; practice makes perfect. If you want to improve your bench, you should bench press! Obviously, you'll want to hit the muscle from all angles and strengthen the stabilizers and so forth, but you'll also want to give your body a chance to develop. So the question becomes how to change without changing too much. Here's what I've found works for most: alternate variation of exercises you're already doing. For example, if your chest workout usually goes like this: bench press, incline dumbell press, cable flyes, go ahead and do that but on your next chest day do incline bench press, flat bench dumbell flyes, and then low pulley cable flyes. If your back workout usually starts with pullups and then moves to rows and then pulldowns, then occasionally start with rows, then pulldowns, and finish up with pullups. Basically, stick with your routine, just vary the order of the exercises and use variations of your exercises.

2) What should you change?
Before you can answer that question for yourself, you have to evaluate your rest habits, routine, nutrition, and anything else that affects your training. If you're making progress, don't change anything! If you're not, you have to perform a thorough self-evaluation to identify the culprit and eliminate or change as necessary.

3) Should you peform a completely new routine from scratch?
Again, before you can decide that, you must evaluate your current training and progress toward your goals. For example, I have found a good deal of success in low rep training. I have tried high rep, high volume training, and various other methods, but what works for me is low rep, high weight training. So why would I go to a completely new routine? On the other hand, how do you know something works unless you try it? Which leads us to our next question:

4) How long should you follow a routine before you change it?
Again, this depends, but the standard answer is 4 to 8 weeks. Unless of course, it is completely obvious to you that the program is ineffective. For example, I started a new routine and after one week, I was feeling totally rundown all the time, I lost my motivation to go to the gym, and I was displaying all the classic signs of overtraining. On top of that, I was actually losing weight and my strength was decreasing. It didn't take me long to realize that this routine was not for me! Mama didn't raise a fool! Well, maybe she did, but at least I could figure out that this routine wasn't ideal. Give it a chance, unless your body tells you otherwise.

A little bit of change is good. A wise old man once said "If you keep doing what you've always done, you're going to get what you've always gotten". But someone else said "everything in moderation". So the key is to first, listen to your body; second, be able to evaluate yourself completely, including training, nutrition, rest, and lifestyle; third, keep an open miond to change, but don't go rushing around haphazardly. I hope somewhere in all this rambling you can find something useful!

[TheGreekHulk84]

Muscles are not built with seperate memory to the brain, unfortunatly the whole skeletal, muslce, and nerve system works as 1 unit, so there cant be adaptation training besuase there is nothing to for the muscles to adapt to. Moreover the excercises that people have posted on the net are there to confuse and discourage one from finding the real excersise for ones self, tailor made training is only achieved by a person who has tried and trialed different excersises and techniques. So i really suggest that people take a good hard look at this muscle memory crap and find the best excersises for their own tailoured routine, becuase personal trainers are so full of **** these days. If anyone has questions u can ask me online at yanni_84@hotmail.com for weight loss, products ,nutrition so dont hesitate to ask. Training shouldnt be such a daunting task to put people off and make them not train, another thing is the fitness industry is designed as such so that people are constantly spending more money than one has to, thats why the fitness industry is make billions of dollars every year and alot of big companies put the fear in the person, i know i use to work for one of them ,so any questions, just ask.

[musicgrlfsu]

I believe that in working out, variety is the spice of life – it keeps us motivated, challenged, and most of all, it prevents us from plateauing. I understand that for some it is hard to change things up because of the mindset that sticking with a consistent schedule is the best way to see results. In fact, making even the smallest changes to that schedule will prevent the body from adapting to the workout routine. There are different schools of thought on the frequency in which workouts should change – some believe a month, others six weeks, and some believe change is good every week. I believe that all answers are valid and depending on your personal goals, one might suit you more than the other. I keep all these examples loosely structured because I understand that fitness goals change from one person to the next. However, understanding the basic concepts of how to incorporate change into the workout routine is the same across the board.

The most obvious examples of how to change things up are thus:

*Changing the days that you work out. For example, instead of working out with weights on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, do Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday instead.

*Changing the time of day you work out – switch from morning to evening, or split your routine into cardio AM, weights PM, or vice versa.

*Simply changing the days on which you work certain bodyparts or do cardio will do. For example:


Workout I Change It Up:

Mon: Chest/Shoulders Mon: Legs
Tues: Legs Tues: Bis/Tris
Wed: Back Wed:Chest/Shoulders
Thurs: Rest Thurs: Rest
Fri: Bis/Tris Fri: Back

As you can see, the combinations are limitless.

*In addition, changing the order of the exercises you do on a particular day will prevent overtraining. For example:

*Changing the number of sets, reps, and weight is also another preventative measure. Go light with more reps, and change it up by going heavy with less reps – or vice versa.

*I also suggest that changing up your cardio routine is also an excellent choice. For example, you could do weights before cardio or vice versa. Another alternative is breaking up your cardio – specifically, if you do 30 minutes, spend 10 minutes on the treadmill, 10 on the bike, and 10 on the elliptical.

*Changing the kind of cardio that you do can also be beneficial (and prevent overtraining and injuries). If you always run, take the bike out one day. Alternating your styles of cardiovascular activity forces your body to adapt to change and gives often overworked muscles a rest.

*Another big way to change your routine is the intensity of your sessions. Some people tend to work themselves too hard, too often. Where does the body go when the intensity is always so high? Getting back to the idea of switching to lighter weights or doing less reps is one way to change this. Having an easy day is not slacking – it’s giving your body a chance to rest while still engaging in physical activity. Then, when you return to a heavy day (whether it be cardio, weights, or both), your body appreciates the surge in intensity. If you are not used to pushing yourself, I challenge you to take some days where you really challenge yourself!

*When it comes to cardio, interval training is one of the most effective ways to keep things constantly changing. When you push yourself for that small amount of time, let your heart rate go down slightly and then push up the intensity again, your body is really getting a workout! So alternate long easy cardio days with interval training, and intense days.

*My FAVORITE way to change things up may be a little less obvious – taking on a new or cherished sport/activity. I love to wakeboard and surf. If one day afterschool I get a phone call that the surf is on and I’m “scheduled” to go to the gym – I GO SURF! Why? Because it’s a wonderful activity that I love, it’s good for the body, and the gym will always be there. I just pick up where I left off the next day. I guarantee if you take the time to play basketball, tennis, or whatever your pleasure, your body and mind will thank you for it.

*Do something out of the ordinary for you! For the die hard weightlifters, runners or bikers, taking a yoga, step, kickboxing, boot camp, or dance class may seem silly, but I challenge you to do it one day for fun! It will force your body to work in different ways, while giving your mind a break and much needed change.

I hope that this has been a helpful and informative guide on how to change things up and stay motivated. Embrace change! It’s good for you!

[gwierenga]

I'm tired. After month after month of work when progress spurred me on, now the months of work seem to only maintain. What's the point?

The only way to get out of this rut has been suggested to include variation - variation in your exercise of choice (flats vs. inclines), or variation in the day you workout. Problem is, I only have certain nights I can devote serious time to working hard enough for any pain and hope of gain. Clearly, variation in diet can get you out of the rut. But exercise is a significantly more complex issue, and I'll bet it's because you haven't reached that goal of something - like a bigger chest. You have to do benches and you have to do flyes, and while variations with dumbells and machines sounds promising, it's still very similar working of your muscles if you do the same sets/reps.

So, what to do? Thing ONLY thing that keeps me dragging my butt into the gym is looking forward to changing it up, and that means inverting my sets. If you are warming at 60% of max resistance, followed by sets that increase from 80% to 90%, then try inverting the next time by decreasing from 90% to 80% in your set. This will keep your mind interested in how many reps you are doing and keeps the challenge alive in your workout.

I even suggest that you should seek out inverting the resistance. While machines and free weights offer constant resistance, they really offer most resistance at the start of your motion. A curl is a great example where your bicep is bulging superbly at the end of the motion but would like to tear itself at the start, especially with preacher curls. That's why inverting the resistance as with a Bowflex will really change how your muscle is challenged and keep your interest up as you monitor reps versus resistance.

And if you're really tired, take a day off. Ugh.

[wlschrenk]

How about a workout program for outdoor adventure training - hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, etc.? Just a thought.

[TUnit]

Good luck this week!

[CandlemassGR]

Every bodybuilder or weightlifter knows that if he-she wishes to make increases in strength and size (and we always do!!) the demands imposed by training must be of progressively increasing magnitude. You cannot grow by merely repeating what you did last week. In order to make any progress, a bodybuilder must always increase the intensity of his-her workouts. This can be done in various ways, such as:

a. Lifting heavier weights
b. Reducing training time
c. Increasing sets and reps

While this sounds good in theory, it has one main problem. If you always do the same exercises, sets and reps there is absolutely no way to continually increase the poundage you lift. If that was possible we will all be lifting thousands of pounds for a hundred reps. Muscles may not have a memory, but they have certain limitations, so it is impossible to continually lift heavier weights for infinite amount of time. Secondly, the muscle in order to grow, needs to be hit from all angles (that means doing different exercises) and rep schemes (in order to activate all muscle fibers). So the real question is not IF you should alternate your workouts, but HOW do you alternate your workouts. There are many ways to do that

a. Changing the exercises…

First of all, everyone of us has some exercises that REALLY work for him, others that are OK, but do not have the same excellent results and there are other exercises that simply you must NOT do (perhaps due to a past injury or because you feel it more on your tendons and not your muscles). So, it is crucial to experiment, in order to find the best exercises that work for YOU. We are all different, so we cannot follow the same workout.

Second, in order to really master a new exercise you recently added to your workout needs time. You must practice it for a few weeks in order to reap its full benefits.

My opinion is that a bodybuilder must find those few exercises (at least eight exercises for bigger bodyparts and six for smaller ones) that work for him, perfect his-her form by practicing them and alternate between them in his-her workouts. Changes must not (and there is no reason to) be drastic. If you do four exercises per bodypart, changing one of them every other workout can be enough. For example, if you do flat bench presses in the beginning of your chest workout, next time you can do incline bench presses (a similar exercise in poundages but that hits the pecs from a different angle).

There is no reason to (and you must not) completely change all the exercises in your workout, because it will be very difficult to calculate what you will be able to lift when you perform a specific exercise, if you change your entire workout (What you can lift in a certain exercise depends on how tired you are, by your previous sets). In that way you will lose precious time in finding your optimal weight for your desired rep scheme in a certain exercise.

b. Changing the execution of an exercise…

That is one of the most important factors in hitting the muscles from different angles. Sometimes, a small change (a wider or narrower grip in bench presses or a palms in or palm out grip in a barbell row) can make a huge difference in how this exercise feels. Of course the changes must not be critical, or you completely destroy the exercise (an extra narrow grip on your bench press involves your triceps too much and an extra wide grip involves your deltoids and lats and does not work your chest). So once again less is more and practice makes better.

c. Changing sets and reps…

A bodybuilder must orient his training to stimulate both white and red muscle fibers. As you all know red muscle fibers are more closely correlated to endurance and white muscle fibers are more closely correlated to muscle size and strength. In order to activate both kinds of muscle fibers, your workout must include explosive heavy low-rep exercises and high-rep work. You can forget the traditional 3 sets of 8-12 approach and you must add some high-rep work in your workout. If you think that high reps don’t build size, check out the calf development of aerobic instructors or runners, or try to do a 100 rep squat set with a light weight and watch your legs fry!!

So, don’t be afraid to experiment with rep schemes. I prefer to include in my every workout, both low reps and high reps sets. Others prefer to do low reps (3-6) for their heavy exercises for 2 months, medium reps (8-12) for another 2 months and high reps (13-20) for another 2 months and then start their circle all over again. Both approaches work fine and you should experiment with both.

The sets must be kept proportionate to the reps. If you double your reps, it is obvious that you must lower your sets, or you spend your entire life in the gym. So, do what your body (and its endurance) tells you to do.

d. Cardio

You can also experiment with your cardio work. In summer most of us increase our cardio for our beach appearances, in order to lose our love handles (potbelly). This can be beneficial as cardio increases endurance, thus leading to better and more efficient workouts (longer sex too!!)

e. Amount of days you workout or Length of workout

I don’t think you must make significant changes in the amount of days you workout or length of workout. Every experienced bodybuilder knows what his-her body is capable of doing. Changing his-her amount of workout days can lead to exhaustion and therefore can be counter-productive to muscle growth. Instead, you should go by feel. If one day you feel strong, you can do a couple of sets more, if not you can lower your sets and go home to rest.

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For all the reasons mentioned above, I am totally against performing a completely new routine from scratch. You can (and you must always) mix exercises (that have proven effective for you), change execution of a certain exercise (experiment with grips and equipment) and change reps – sets (you must both train with low rep [3-6], medium rep [8-12] and high rep [13-20] sets) almost in every workout, but changes must be kept minimal and gradual. It takes some time to master a perfect form for all exercises, so changing ALL exercises in every workout, makes your form sloppy and therefore offers no benefits to your bodybuilding goals.

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So, when you find the exercises that are most effective for you and you perfect their execution and form, make small changes in your every other workout. You should go by your instinct, and find out what really works for you. If you change small things in your every workout, there is really no need to follow specific circles and your workouts will not be tedious and boring. What more can you ask?

Happy lifting!!

[Heinlbag]

It's a long one, but it was worth it. Gr8 topic!
Gluck to all.

[best regards]

regards to all

[LJ57]

There are a variety of things that can be changed in order to avoid adaptation. First, you should change the number of sets and reps you perform. If you are currently working in the 6-8 rep range doing 10-12 sets per body part, then you could switch to a 10-12 rep range using 8-10 sets per body part for a few weeks. Volume training, based on my own experience, is a great way to shake things up and avoid adaptation. This should only be done for 4-6 weeks but it can be a very useful shock technique.

Second, change the exercises you do as well as the order in which you do them. For example, if you do barbell curls week in, week out then it would be wise to replace it with a new exercise or a new way of doing the exercise. You could switch to using an EZ bar, vary the width of your grip, or substitute a new exercise such as dumbbell curls. The order of exercises performed is also a factor that can be adjusted. If you normally do bench presses before flyes then try switching them around. Start your workout with flyes then move on to the bench.

Third, you can increase intensity through a variety of means. Most people just increase the weight or perform more reps. Another effective method is to take less time to rest between sets. If you usually take 90-120 seconds to recover, try reducing this time to 45-60 seconds.

Fourth, you can alter the amount of days you workout. If you are following a 5 day split, you could switch to a 3 days split. For example, Monday you might work chest, shoulders, and triceps; on Wednesday, legs; on Friday, back and biceps. A split such as this would give you twice as many recovery days which will help prevent adaptation as well as overtraining. After a few weeks you can return to a 5 day split.

Finally, length of workout can influence adaptation. Many people spend up to two hours training in the gym. Reducing workout time will help you avoid adaptation and prevent overtraining. Generally you should aim to get in the gym, get the job done, and get out. You should never rush yourself when training with weights but you should also never waste time standing around, resting for too long, or trying to do to much in one workout. Aim to complete everything in 45-60 minutes and then make your way for the door.

[thebarbarianway]

Good luck everyone!

[BurningHeart]

Here is mine,

[Mond]

What should you change?
Sets/reps
if you want to build muscle your Reps multiplied by Sets should always be around 30. If you want to build strength your Reps multiplied by Sets should always be in a low range, because you can recovery faster and it develops your neour adaptation.People should always change their sets/reps every couple of weeks. In order to develop huge muscles, all sorts of muscle fibers must be worked. By changed the rep range, you develop strength, muscle mass, and muscular endurance.

Exercises
Every compound exercise such as squats, deadlifts, bench press...etc must be changed every 8 weeks. For example you did the front squats for 8 weeks, you must change into an alternative such as back squats or hack squats. Isolation exercises such as the bicep ez curl bar curl must be changed every 4 weeks. By changing your exercises, it prevents muscle adaption and keeps you gains constant.

Intensity
You should do a light weight day and a heavy weight day. On the heavy weight day, you do slow reps. On the light weight day, you do explosive reps, and slow negatives.

Amount of days
Do what fits you. If you dont have the time to workout five times a week, dont workout five times a week. Chose a program that fits you, if you have five days to workout in a week, do a split routnie. If you have three or less days in week, do full body routines.

Length of workout
The length of any workout should not exceed 1 hour, because it has been proven that in a hours workout your testostorone decreases by 80%

Should you perform a completely new routine from scratch?
Yes, new routines that have new exercises should be performed. But if the new routine is consisted of the same exercises you are going to do in a different order, then the answer is no.

How long should you follow a routine before changing it?
Generally, routines should be changed every one or two months, or as long as you have constant gains

[Aussie LTD]

adaptation

damn 11:02, my comp says 00!