10 Cures for the Common Workout

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10 Cures for the Common Workout
by Michael Mejia MS, CSCS and Ben Velazquez BS, MFS

Have your strength-training workouts become predictable and boring? Has your progress in the gym begun to plateau? If so, following the tips can get you back on the road to progress in the gym.

1. Try different exercises:
Did you ever notice how some people do the same exercises all the time? Just take a look around your local gym and you'll see what we mean. Your buddy with the huge chest is always benching, that girl with the killer butt does more step-ups than a tour guide at the statue of liberty, and, if you didn't know any better, you'd swear that dude with the bulging biceps had the E-Z curl bar surgically attached to his hands. Beginning to notice a trend here? The truth is, most of us tend to stick with exercises that we enjoy doing. Unfortunately, this little habit can lead to some serious imbalances in your physique, as favorite exercises take precedence over weaker areas that may need more work. Continually subjecting your muscles and central nervous system to the same movement patterns will eventually stop producing gains in both strength and mass. Once you're body becomes accustomed to a particular training stimulus, it is rendered ineffective. Continually performing the same exercises for weeks and months at a time can also increase the risk of injury due to the increased risk for muscular imbalances. If you want more challenging and effective workouts, drop some of those old favorites and try something new for a change. Instead of back squats, switch to front squats. Or, try pull-ups instead of lat-pulldowns. Strange as it may seem, the more you hate the exercise, the more you probably need to do it if you want to make progress.

2. Alter your set and rep scheme.
When it comes to sets and reps, the important thing to remember is that these two variables go hand in hand. How many sets you should do is directly dependent on the number of repetitions you perform; which in turn is determined by how much weight you use. It works like this: Heavy loads (85 to 100 % of your 1 rep max) that necessitate a relatively low number of reps, require multiple sets (5 or more) in order to produce the improvements in neuromuscular coordination necessary to bring about increases in strength (1,4). This differs from "bodybuilding" style workouts, which use more moderate loads (70 to 85 % of 1 RM) and call for fewer sets (3 to 4). Finally, if muscular endurance is your goal, as few as 1 to 2 high rep sets (20 to 50) are recommended. The great thing about altering your set and rep scheme is that it forces your body to adapt to a wide variety of training stimuli. If your workouts are too one dimensional, you'll not only experience training plateaus, but limit your athletic potential as well. It's simple, if you lift heavy all the time, you'll be plenty strong, but will lack the muscular endurance necessary to participate in various sport and leisure activities. Likewise, if you advocate low intensity, high rep training, you'll have tons of muscular endurance, but not experience any appreciable gains in strength.

3. Alter Exercise Sequence.
It's bad enough to continuously do the same exercises, but even worse to always perform them in the same sequence. Nowhere is it written that you always have to do bench presses before dumbbell flies, or squats before leg curls. Changing the order of your lifts will not only continue to stimulate your muscles, which can lead to new growth, but will also make your workouts far less stale and predictable. Try this, if you've got a particular routine you've been using for a while, the next time you train reverse the order. Meaning that you'll do your last exercise first and vice versa. True, you'll have to use less weight on compound movements like bench presses and squats if they're done at the end of your workout, but, the fact that your muscles are already fatigued will still make them pretty tough.

4. Alter the tempo of your lifts
How many of you can honestly say that you pay attention to the tempo of each repetition? By tempo we're referring to a style of training first developed by Australian strength coach Ian King, and popularized by Olympic strength coach and peakhealth.net contributor, Charles Poliquin. To set the tempo for a given set of repetitions, you assign a specific time in seconds to each of the four phases of a repetition. These four phases are illustrated below in figure one.

Phase One: Represents the lowering or eccentric portion of the lift.
Phase Two: Represents the pause at the end of phase one.
Phase Three: Is the concentric or lifting phase of the repetition.
Phase Four: Represents the pause after phase prior to repeating phase one on the following repetition.

Example: Bench Press with a tempo of 4210
Phase One: Lower the bar for four seconds.
Phase Two: Pause at the end of the lowering phase for two seconds.
Phase Three: Pressing or lifting the weight for one second.
Phase Four: Pause at the end of the pressing phase for zero seconds.

The goal of tempo training is two fold. First, it significantly increases the amount of time your muscles are kept under continuous tension; considered by many experts to be one of the most potent stimuli for muscular growth. Secondly, by eliminating the use of momentum to get the weight through the range of motion, you'll also decrease your likelihood of injury. The only downside of training this way are the strange looks and stupid questions you'll undoubtedly get from fellow gym members who'll want to know "why you're moving so slow". Especially the yutz on the bench press next to you who's using his chest as a trampoline because he can't handle the weight he's got on the bar. One other caveat is that you'll have to use significantly less weight on all your lifts. Don't worry about this though since the transformation of your physique will be worth the initial blow to your ego.

5. Combine different muscle groups.
A message to those of you who's weekly training split still consists of chest shoulders and triceps on one day and legs back and biceps another day. Wake up and smell the coffee! The old push pull system of training may have been par for the course 20 years ago, but the past twenty years have produced some more imaginative ways to train. One option is to pair a strong body part with one that needs a little more work. If you've got a great chest but weak legs, train them both the same day; being sure to train your legs first. Or, you could pair muscle groups you've never even thought of training together. Back, hamstrings and triceps, or chest, biceps and calves; whatever floats your boat. Keep in mind though that no matter how creative you get you'll still need to change the pairings every few weeks to continue making progress.

6. Train vertically.
Relax, it doesn't mean you have to all your exercises standing up. Training vertically is a variation on super-setting where, instead of doing the same exercises for antagonistic muscle groups one after another with minimal if any rest between each set, you alternate between two unrelated muscle groups. To better explain vertical sets use the example of performing squats and pull-ups in one workout. Instead of doing three or four sets of squats before moving on to pull-ups, alternate between squats and pull-ups. Start by performing a set of squats for the desired number of reps, rest 60 to 90 seconds then proceed to do a set of pull-ups. After resting another 60 to 90 seconds, perform your next set of squats, and so on. The main benefit of training vertically is that you can get more work done in less time. What you're basically doing is economizing your rest intervals. When you start the pull-ups, your legs aren't fully recovered from the squats yet. However, they still have the time it takes for you to do the pull-ups, and the ensuing recovery interval before they have to squat again. All of which adds up to about 3 to 4 minutes between sets of the same exercise, meaning you can handle some pretty heavy loads.

7. Train in a different environment.
Instead of training in the same place all the time, get out and explore new training locations. Try training at a buddy's gym, or, check out that new one that just opened in your neighborhood. Besides the change of atmosphere, training in a new gym usually means access to some different equipment than you're used to. Hitting your muscles from different angles with some funky new machines can be just the boost your training needs. Another option is to train outdoors. If you're scheduled to do chest and back, go to a local playground and perform super sets of pull-ups and dips. Or, better yet, if today is your scheduled day for training legs, head down to your old high school track and run some sprints. After running about ten forty yard dashes, your legs will feel as if you squatted a house.

8. Get a training partner.
Ever feel like blowing off a workout? Do you notice that you've been "going light" more and more often lately because you just don't have the energy to push hard? Do you steer clear of certain exercises because you don't have a spotter? If you answered yes to any one of these, chances are you'd benefit tremendously from getting a training partner. First off, a partner isn't going to let you blow off a workout. The last thing they want to hear after taking time out of their busy schedule is that you're "just not into it today". A partner can also push you to give that little something extra you know you wouldn't have on your own. Best of all, a partner provides you with a built in spotter so you never have to worry if you could have gotten another rep, or gone a little deeper on that last set of squats. Getting a training partner isn't that hard either. It could be a friend or co-worker, or it could just be another member at the gym who's usually there the same time you are. Hell, you don't even have to like the person. If anything a little animosity can lend a certain competitive aspect to your workouts, making you push even harder!

9. Pay strict attention to your rest periods.
Few trainees pay attention to the fact that the amount of rest you take between sets can have a profound effect on your results. Fail to take adequate rest and you won't be able to complete your next set. Rest too long, and you won't be able to take advantage of the hormonal environment produced by weight training that can help you build muscle and lose fat (3,4,5). When determining the length the amount of rest to take between sets, your first need to analyze your goals. Heavy, low-repetition strength work requires rest periods as long as 3 to 5 minutes between sets, whereas hypertrophy training on the other hand, typically uses much shorter intervals (60 to 90 seconds) to help accumulate the metabolic waste products that serve to accelerate the muscle building process (6). To keep better track of your rest periods between sets of each exercise, use a stopwatch or a watch with a built in timer that you can set to beep when your rest period is over.

10. Try some radical training techniques from time to time. (forced reps, drop sets etc.).
Let's face it, whether you want to get bigger, stronger, leaner or all of the above, every now and then you have to push the envelope a little. If all you ever do is straight sets, try super-setting the exercises in your workouts for a few weeks. Not only are supersets more intense and incredibly time efficient, they're also a great way to build strength when done for opposing muscle groups (2). Of course, if you really want to jack up the intensity you could always try drop-sets. The great thing about drop sets is that you can train all three aspects of muscular function in the same set! The initial heavy resistance (4 to 6 RM) provides an excellent strength stimulus, while the subsequent reductions in weight (20% or so with each drop) stimulate hypertrophy and endurance respectively. Another option, for those of you who are lucky enough to train with a partner, are forced reps. Having a spotter help you eek out a couple of extra reps can at the very least give you the psychological advantage you need to break through strength plateaus. If you're really in the mood for something crazy, you can even try the one set to failure approach. A word of warning though, despite the fact that you're only doing 1 set per body part, this is an incredibly demanding way to train. Therefore, you should limit the usage of this technique to a week or two every few months just as a change of pace.

About the Authors:

Michael Mejia MS, CSCS and Ben Velazquez BS, MFS are co-founders of T.A.S.C. Force Inc., a New York based consulting firm specializing in the design and implementation of training programs for professional athletes. For more information you can contact them sending them an email or by phone at 212 802-7410. Have a comment or question regarding this article? If so, send an email to peakhealth.net feedback. All emails will be reviewed by the peakhealth.net staff and replied to within 24 hours

References:

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2. Caiozzo, V.J.; Laird, T.; Chow.; Prietto, C.A.; and McMaster, W.C.1983. The use of pre-contractions to enhance the in-vivo force velocity relationship. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 14:162.
3. Deschenes, M.R., William J. Kraemer, Carl, M. Maresh and Joseph F. Crivello. Exercise-Induced Hormonal Changes and their Effects Upon Skeletal Muscle Tissue. Sports Med. 12 (2): 80-93, 1991.
4. Fleck, S.J., and W.J. Kraemer. Designing Resistance Training Programs. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1997.
5. Kraemer, William J., Louis Marchitelli, Scott E. Gordon, Everett Harman, Joseph E. Dziados, Robert Mello, Peter Frykman, Dini McCurry, and Steven J. Fleck. Hormonal and growth factor responses to heavy resistance exercise protocols. J.Appl. Physiol. 69 (4): 1442-1450, 1990.
6. Rooney, K.J., R.D. Herbert, and R.J. Balnave. Fatigue contributes to the strength training stimulus. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 26 no.9, pp. 1160-1164, 1994.