Continual Improvement: You’re Either Improving or Regressing

Some trainees perform the same exercises with the same weights for the same numbers of sets and repetitions, day after day, week after week. After many months of this, they are no stronger and may even observe some deterioration in their strength or overall performance. It's no wonder. The human body is one of the most magnificently adaptive organisms on the planet. Virtually any workout you devise for yourself will provide some benefits. For awhile. After about four to six weeks, however, your body has completely adapted to that workout and has essentially learned to do it while expending the least possible energy. In order to get stronger and/or fitter, therefore, your regimen must change frequently. These don't necessarily have to be complete, top-to-bottom changes; however, some ongoing tweaks need to be present.

Since I'm a proponent of short-duration, high-intensity workout regimens (hence, "Bang for the Buck Fitness"), I don't advocate that workouts become progressively longer. Obviously, that strategy could only persist for so long, anyway. Besides, if you have achieved a certain level of fitness, further compression of the rest periods between exercises is no longer feasible. What to do?

What I teach my clients is this: always be working a progression. That is, during the four- to six-week period of time that I do a particular exercise regimen, something is always progressing incrementally. Each workout may entail using a little more weight than previously, or maybe a few more reps, or maybe an additional set, or maybe a shorter rest period, or perhaps some combination of these factors. Alternatively, I may elect to "keep my body guessing" by randomly choosing from several completely different workouts. It’s also wise to build in some periodization, or cycling of intensity. If, on Day 1, you go all out, then deliberately have a more moderate workout on Day 2. Or work progressively harder for a few weeks, and then have a planned moderate week.

Often, at the end of four to six weeks, I'll completely alter my choice of exercises, the sequence in which they're done, the amount of weight used, the number of repetitions or sets, or some combination of the above. And whatever new four- to six-week regimen I invent will include working a progression of some kind.

Remember, if your regimen has gotten stale and repetitive, you're probably not maintaining your level of fitness. You're probably regressing. Do you need help designing a program to achieve your goals? Need some help keeping it interesting, fun and geared toward continual improvement? Give me a call or send me an email, and I'll design a program for you. If you’re motivated and already familiar with the basic exercises, I can design a program for you and monitor your progress via regular email, even if you live far away.

Contact Mike Vaio at 919.844.9347 or at mike_vaio@yahoo.com