Curious George
03-30-2003, 01:10 PM
Everybody is different right? We all respond differently to certain things. I can eat something and get fat where another can eat the same and even lose weight. The same can be said about training.
I read articles in the magazines and I am awed by their theory (Not you gopro) of absolutes. "Do this for 6 weeks and you will add size!" How the hell do they know? You have to figure out what works for you. That can be hard and time consuming, but infinitly rewarding when you do. How do I keep growing and learning about my body? VARIETY.
People get locked in a comfort zone with training. They do the same exercises, with the same volume, for the same reps with a slight increase of weight here and there. And you wonder why people get bored with their training? I used to be the same way. I would almost get lethargic in the gym because I would do the same stuff because I felt I had to stick to "What works" for the pros or a friend. I wish I would have heeded the advise of a gym owner I knew. He said, "The key to everything is variety."
When I train, I now try and vary everything: Order of exercises, reps, sets, hand or foot spacing, types of exercises chosen and anything else I can think of. I go to the gym with a set plan on what to work, but I try and vary it from anything else I have ever done. Just because convention tells you to do squats first, does not mean that you should aways do it.
An example: My training partner and I like to kill each other when training. In the middle of his reps I will tell him the last rep wasn't low enough and doesn't count. He will tell me to do a wider stance then I am used too. Sometimes we will do squats for high reps, low reps or whatever we feel like telling the other to do to make it harder. People say you should do squats first....okay....but what about doing front squats after back squats, or supersetting hams with quads...afterall, stretching an antagonistic muscle usually makes the agonist stronger?
That is just an example of how every training session is. Basically, we try and make it harder all the time on the other one. If we smell blood and the other looks a little queasy, be sure to know that we will push that much harder to make the other do something that he really doesn't feel like doing.
The other main thing I try adhere to is "Do the lifts that you don't like." When I started training, somebody told me I should start squatting. I didn't and I paid for it by having to play catch up over the years. Whatever exercise is the hardest for you to do (For me it's lunges or goodmornings) I always make sure I add. This does not mean if something is painful to connective tissue or an injury you should do it. It just means, Try and make yourself do something you don't want to.
When you do something and you stink at it, do you want to do it again? Nope! It usually means that you could use more work on it. SO WORK ON IT! I have always heard the strongest chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. So try and not have any by spending time to devote to brining up the weak parts. (My calves are going to come up sometime damnit!)
I'll write another post about some techniques I use to help me make stuff harder later.
Take Good Care,
Cg
I read articles in the magazines and I am awed by their theory (Not you gopro) of absolutes. "Do this for 6 weeks and you will add size!" How the hell do they know? You have to figure out what works for you. That can be hard and time consuming, but infinitly rewarding when you do. How do I keep growing and learning about my body? VARIETY.
People get locked in a comfort zone with training. They do the same exercises, with the same volume, for the same reps with a slight increase of weight here and there. And you wonder why people get bored with their training? I used to be the same way. I would almost get lethargic in the gym because I would do the same stuff because I felt I had to stick to "What works" for the pros or a friend. I wish I would have heeded the advise of a gym owner I knew. He said, "The key to everything is variety."
When I train, I now try and vary everything: Order of exercises, reps, sets, hand or foot spacing, types of exercises chosen and anything else I can think of. I go to the gym with a set plan on what to work, but I try and vary it from anything else I have ever done. Just because convention tells you to do squats first, does not mean that you should aways do it.
An example: My training partner and I like to kill each other when training. In the middle of his reps I will tell him the last rep wasn't low enough and doesn't count. He will tell me to do a wider stance then I am used too. Sometimes we will do squats for high reps, low reps or whatever we feel like telling the other to do to make it harder. People say you should do squats first....okay....but what about doing front squats after back squats, or supersetting hams with quads...afterall, stretching an antagonistic muscle usually makes the agonist stronger?
That is just an example of how every training session is. Basically, we try and make it harder all the time on the other one. If we smell blood and the other looks a little queasy, be sure to know that we will push that much harder to make the other do something that he really doesn't feel like doing.
The other main thing I try adhere to is "Do the lifts that you don't like." When I started training, somebody told me I should start squatting. I didn't and I paid for it by having to play catch up over the years. Whatever exercise is the hardest for you to do (For me it's lunges or goodmornings) I always make sure I add. This does not mean if something is painful to connective tissue or an injury you should do it. It just means, Try and make yourself do something you don't want to.
When you do something and you stink at it, do you want to do it again? Nope! It usually means that you could use more work on it. SO WORK ON IT! I have always heard the strongest chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. So try and not have any by spending time to devote to brining up the weak parts. (My calves are going to come up sometime damnit!)
I'll write another post about some techniques I use to help me make stuff harder later.
Take Good Care,
Cg