Why variation is the key for motivation
Variation is king!
5 tips for a more diversified training
p>My muscles just won’t grow! I haven’t had any strength gain in weeks! I can just barely get myself motivated to workout! If these thoughts sound familiar to you then it is definitely time for a new training plan! aerobis gives you the 5 most useful tips to optimally diversify your training.1. Change the intensity!
Instead of training with the same weights and the same amount of repetitions all the time you should offer your muscles some increase. In order to improve strength and endurance, and to promote muscle growth and other signs of adaptation, the body needs impulses that are above threshold. This can be achieved by an increased intensity and/or volume of the load. Common examples for this are:- pyramid training: with every set you increase the weight while lowering the number of repetitions
- ladder or level training: you increase or decrease the number of repetitions while maintaining the training load, often until complete exhaustion
- super sets: a certain muscle or muscle group is trained until exhaustion with different exercises without breaks in between sets.
2. Care for some coordination?
Training with the same equipment or at the same machine all the time kills your intelligence! The intelligence of your muscles and your central nervous system, that is. E.g., if you train overhead presses in a machine with guided movements your muscles and the individual fibers will quickly get used to this kind of motion. Especially the coordinative requirements of a two-dimensional movement will stop creating new impulses soon. Thus, there can be only one solution: incorporate other machines, barbells, dumbbells, or your own bodyweight into your training. If you work with the blackPack you can, e.g., change the sand filling with water filling. You will quickly realize how different even the same exercises feel. You can replace exercises with other exercises every couple of weeks. With these new movements you will improve your inter- and intramuscular coordination and create new impulses for your muscles to adapt and grow.3. Are you predictable?
You arrive at the gym and everybody instantly knows at which machines you will train in which particular order? Not today! You should try different protocols to spice up your training routine. How about some tabata or AMRAP? No, that’s not a new kind of disease but certain training protocols that will give you new challenges:- repetition method: completing a certain amount of exercises, sets, and repetitions with an adequate amount of rest
- challenge: completing a certain amount of exercises, sets, and repetitions as fast as possible (task-oriented)
- high intensity interval training (HIIT): predetermined work time, short breaks
- duration method: e.g. long runs
- as many rounds/repetitions as possible (AMRAP): predetermined time, highest number of reps/sets, continuous.
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