Here is a question for you: How many workouts should you be doing?
Remember when “Muscle Confusion” was being thrown around as the best way to get in shape. Is that still being marketed?
Does that sound as crazy to you as it does to me? How can you confuse a muscle? If there is one thing in your body that is immune to being confused it would be a muscle fiber. It contracts. That’s it.
I can see why people think there are “Magic” exercises. The media will always come out with statements like “The latest research shows…” to sell you stuff.
An old adage in fitness goes “If someone is making a simple concept more complicated than it should be, they are trying to sell you something.”
There are schools of thought that you need to do different exercises all the time to “keep the muscle guessing”. Equally silly, some trainers think you need to attack the muscle from all angles and create instability in your training. They call that functional training.
My training falls under the heading of functional training but I am a moderate. All that means is that I give you exercises that mimic real life movement patterns.
I teach people how to pick things up and carry them.
You learn how to sit, twist and move.
Basic stuff. Look below for an example of functional training gone wrong.
Here is the Simple Truth
The simple truth is I am doing the same exercises now as when I started training at age 15. Let me rephrase that. I am doing the basic exercises now that I should have been doing at age 15. I spent way to much time at the bench press rack and not enough time squatting and deadlifting. But that is for another day.
Let’s use my free online training as an example. I would much rather you pick a couple workouts and really get comfortable with them before changing things up. Why?
- You will be able to track your progress easier.
- You will master a movement before going on to the next one.
- You will know what to do when you get to the gym.
- You will have a number of reps to beat or a weight to beat.
In other words it is easier to stay on track, stay focused and make progress when you keep the number of workouts to a manageable level.
I know with all the workouts I have, it is very tempting to treat this like a buffet, taking a little of this and a little of that. Please don’t! The workouts will always be here for you.
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When Should You Change Routines?
The idea is pretty simple. Stay with the basic exercises and understand how to do them and why you are doing them. More advanced exercises aren’t different, they are harder variations of the basics. So if you don’t practice the basics you have a shot at doing the advanced ones right. Bad habits will exaggerated and you won’t get the benefits.
Example: Bridges are a glute (butt) exercise. If you feel them in the hamstrings, we need to fix that. That is a sign you aren’t firing off the glutes. That is a big issue that causes a lot of This is where a personal trainer can help you figure this stuff out.
Here is my advice as your coach.
Stay with a handful of routines and keep everything basic. Basic isn’t boring, basic is fundamental.
Your workout is an outline of what exercises you need to do. Feel free to change out a couple exercises…
- When you get bored with it,
- When you feel you aren’t making progress.
- When you think you need a change.
Important: ALWAYS INCLUDE A MAJOR COMPOUND EXERCISE IN THE WORKOUT.
This means squats, bench, rows, pull-ups and shoulder presses. You can do a different variation, just don’t cut them out entirely.
Strength Vs. High Intensity
Let’s tackle one more subject. We have talked about changing exercises within the workout but what about changing workout intensity?
When I am training clients, we start with basic sets. This allows you to focus on the exercise and take a proper rest period. Once you get a hang of the exercises, then we can start getting a little more creative. In my online training you will see interval training and circuits. When we up the intensity we can get more work done in less time and really test your body. But we can’t do that until you are locked in with the proper form.
But when you are ready…Let it fly.
Remember this is your world, I am here to help guide you through it. Sprinkle in a couple circuit or interval workouts and see if you like it. I only have two concerns.
- Can you allow your body enough time to recover?
- Can you go fast and keep form?
Hopefully this helps. As always, let me know if you have any questions.
