Knowing When To Change Your Workout Program

By Author: Vince DelMonte
Total Articles: 14
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If you're serious about your training, you'll find that your progress has slowed or stalled, now and then. You're eating right, still working out the same as always, but no longer seeing the sort of development it brought you before. That, my friends, is precisely your problem! Everything's the same! Let me explain.

If you're serious about your training, you'll find that your progress has slowed or stalled, now and then. You're eating right, still working out the same as always, but no longer seeing the sort of development it brought you before. That, my friends, is precisely your problem! Everything's the same! Let me explain.

When this happens, it's called hitting a plateau. Progress first slows, then stops altogether, even though your diet and workouts remain the same. It can be very frustrating, particularly if you've never experienced it before and don't understand why it happens.

Fortunately, both the explanation and the solution are relatively simple. This illustrates why I've said so many times that the critical first step in any fitness program is to understand how your body reacts and why.

Growing ...
... muscle

Putting it very simply: working out tears down the muscles. When the body rebuilds them, it either increases the number of the cells in the tissue or the size of those cells, making the muscle larger. Obviously, maintaining a good balance in your muscle development is important, for a couple of reasons. You'd look pretty silly with a buff torso and massive arms, sitting on top of a pair of toothpick legs. More importantly, though, many muscle groups are supported by other muscles, and insufficient support can affect your posture and make it far too easy to injure yourself.

Knowing how your body works, how it uses the nutrition you give it, how exercise affects it and then setting the right goal will let you design and manage an effective training program that will keep you moving toward your goal at a steady pace.

Why does my program need to change?

When you perform the same exercises day after day, there are two effects working to make change necessary. First, anytime you require a muscle to perform an action, such as lift a weight, it will deliver the necessary force - no more. Since the muscle is stronger each day as a result of your constant workouts, the effort to perform that same action is less each day, as well. That means less tissue breakdown, which translates to less muscle buildup.

Second, performing repetitive tasks over and over, without variation, tends to ignore the supporting muscles, so they don't develop in pace with the main muscle. This can leave you vulnerable to injuries and hurt your performance.

Once you reach such a plateau, further exercise is pretty much a waste of time and effort, as you're not achieving any progress, so a change in your routine is called for. In order to determine what changes you should make, you need to look at these factors:

1. What was the intensity level of your workout?
2. What exercises were you using?
3. How many reps?
4. How much rest?
5. Is your diet right?

Assuming that your diet and sleep habits are what they should be, the first three become the focus of your change-up to overcome a plateau. An effective workout plan should have built in change-ups ready for the plateaus you'll inevitably reach.

It's also important to remember that parts of a program that have worked very well for you in the past may no longer be effective, due to the continued development your body has undergone.

How often should I change my routine?

How often your routine is likely to require changing depends on three main factors:

- Your goals
- The age of your routine
- The speed of your progress

1. Your goals
You should set the intensity of your routine according to how distant your goal is and how quickly you want to achieve it. Bear in mind that more intense routines will lead to reaching a plateau more often. Also, when you're routine is less intensive, it's sometimes a little more difficult to recognize a plateau immediately.

Regardless of the intensity of your program, periodizing your workout is a good way to go. This will be true whether you're after bulk, strength or endurance. For instance, you might do high-intensity 20 minute sessions for three weeks, then medium-intensity 30 minute sessions for another three weeks, followed by low-intensity 60 minute sessions for three weeks. Your muscles won't become accustomed to the routine when you're varying the duration and intensity of your workouts.

2. The age of your routine
After several months of working out, you'll have to periodically change the duration and intensity of your workouts, as your muscles fall into a rut of repetitive exercises. This is the principle reason you need to be changing your routine - to avoid plateaus.

3. The speed of your progress
Since everyone's body responds a little differently, even to identical programs, it's crucial to track your progress. Record the exercises you're using, the number of reps, their intervals, rest periods, snacks... virtually everything to do with your program. This will allow you to quickly recognize the onset of a plateau and make adjustments so you don't end up wasting time and energy on non-productive work.

Build your plan, even though you know it'll probably change over time. That gives you a foundation, and your tracking will help you make any necessary changes. In a nutshell, the key is to stay out of your comfort zone.
Resource: http://vincedelmontefitness.com