I know you arent supposed to stick to one routine forever, but how do you switch up strength exercises? Aren't squats and deadlifts supposed to be done constantly in a workout routine? Or should you work them for a couple months and then trade them out? Do you vary from bodyweight exercises in high reps to maximum resistance low reps? How does this work?
Thanks in advance!
-Brian
Switching workouts
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quicksylver3
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As long as the workout is still productive i see no reason to change it.Even though the exercises remain the same,cycling the workload is still changing the way you work out(for example,once you reach your PB,dropping the weight slightly and working up to a new PB).
If you do want to change your routine you can substitute squats for conventional deadlifts,bench press for dips,miltary press for side press,etc.
The same muscles are getting worked with the same set/rep scheme but the exercises are slightly different.
Dragon.
If you do want to change your routine you can substitute squats for conventional deadlifts,bench press for dips,miltary press for side press,etc.
The same muscles are getting worked with the same set/rep scheme but the exercises are slightly different.
Dragon.
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quicksylver3
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Oct 24, 2005 14:39
- Location: Oregon
- Contact:
I see
Ok, I understand. I was under the impression that you actually had to change the workouts you were doing to constantly improve. I read the column about supercompensation and thought it meant you can only improve in a certain lift for a certain amount of time. But it makes sense that it affects you differently when you change the sets/reps. Thanks again!
There are lots of ways you can switch things around. Dragon already mentioned using squats one cycle and then deadlifts the other. I think that is a great suggestion. I think it would be difficult to do both squats and deadlifts in a single cycle anyhow if you are also attending your MA classes.
Even if you want to stick with squats, there are plenty of ways you can vary those. Change the placement of the bar from the traditional "high-bar" style to lower on the back like the powerlifters do. Change the stance from shoulder-width to a wider one. Do full (rump-to-heels) squats one cycle and then half (tops of legs parallel to the ground) squats for the next cycle. Ever do "band squats"? You buy yourself some heavy-duty elastic bands and loop them over the ends of the bar. This makes the resistance change during the course of the lift. Near the bottom, the resistance is almost nothing. As you reach the top of the motion, the bands are stretched and the resistance increases dramatically. You can do those with an explosive start out of the bottom position (go down slowly for safety but blast out of the bottom position hard).
There are plenty of interesting variations you can do for many of the compound exercises. Obviously, there aren't too many different ways of doing pec dec, but isolation exercises like that probably aren't worth doing anyhow.
-Mark
Even if you want to stick with squats, there are plenty of ways you can vary those. Change the placement of the bar from the traditional "high-bar" style to lower on the back like the powerlifters do. Change the stance from shoulder-width to a wider one. Do full (rump-to-heels) squats one cycle and then half (tops of legs parallel to the ground) squats for the next cycle. Ever do "band squats"? You buy yourself some heavy-duty elastic bands and loop them over the ends of the bar. This makes the resistance change during the course of the lift. Near the bottom, the resistance is almost nothing. As you reach the top of the motion, the bands are stretched and the resistance increases dramatically. You can do those with an explosive start out of the bottom position (go down slowly for safety but blast out of the bottom position hard).
There are plenty of interesting variations you can do for many of the compound exercises. Obviously, there aren't too many different ways of doing pec dec, but isolation exercises like that probably aren't worth doing anyhow.
-Mark
Switching workouts
I had a trainer with knowledge of skating put together a simple set of workouts for me... lunges, squats, dips, arm work, bridges, etc. It was worth it. Also, my physio gave me some good pylometrics sp?? with jumping on one leg down from one height and up to another, one leg extensions, etc.