MIX IT UP!

There will probably come a time in every gym rat's life when the workout they have been doing will become stagnant.  What do I mean by this?  Basically your body will get used to the movements and weight amounts that you have been doing for the past weeks.

This is normally called a plateau.  You don't really lose any skill, but you certainly are not making any gains that are substantial.  Here are some examples of workouts that can help you get over your plateaus and get back to making gains.

One great way to confuse your muscles is to train in intervals.  Interval training is when you choose to do a certain type of workout for 3 to 4 weeks or so and then completely change the workout for the next 3 to 4 weeks after that.

One good thing to do to ensure that you are actually improving during your lifting experience is to record your 1 repetition max.  This is the maximum amount of weight that one can lift one time for a given exercise.  These numbers help you see where your base is.  You must have a base if you want to build off of it!!!!

Anyone can sit back and say, "Oh hey, I want to bench press 350 lbs."  But if that person has a max of 150 lbs, it's not really a realistic goal.  1 rep maxes help people set realistic goals to base interval training off of.

Ok, so where were we?  Oh yeah, interval training.

A good example of an interval training structure is like the one present in p90-X.

What happens in a workout system like p90-X is there are 3, 30 day intervals of different types of training.  I have not personally done the entire program, but I have done some of the abdominal workouts before and they are crazy.  The point of the 30 day intervals is so that towards the end of the month your body is just about to become used to the training and then... BAM!  You start an entire new training regiment that your body must adapt to.

The main goal of interval training is to mix in periods of high intensity training at levels near maximal exertion with rest periods at low intensity.  The p90-X system is based solely on muscle confusion combined with proper nutrition. 

Some great benefits of interval training are....

• Improves cardiovascular endurance
• Increases lactate threshold
• Improves strength
• Helps with fat loss

To clear up any confusion about what lactate threshold is.  It basically is the point at which the lactate starts to accumulate in the blood.  The higher the threshold the longer the athlete can usually sustain exertion.

Below is an example of an olympic weightlifting interval training regiment

Source: http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/olympic-weightlifting-routine.html

As you can see from the above lifting plan, the weeks are separated out with different intensities.  Also notice that after the 3rd week the intensity returns to minimal.  This allows for a recovery.

Going back to the 1 repetition max that I had discussed earlier, notice that all the lifts in the diagram above have a percentage next to them.  This is correlated to a 1 rep max.  It allows for you to train efficiently and allows for the most gains.

Confuse your muscles and see gains!!

Alrighty friends, until next time, happy lifting!