Changing up your workout

[RedT]

OK, I've heard that you are supposed to change you workout every 6-8 weeks to keep your body challenged and not get into a rut, but I am not sure what "they" mean.

I have two different upper body and lower body workouts and an core/abs workout. My preferred cardio is running (I am trying to increase my speed), but I also mix in some HIIT on the elliptical.

Am I supposed to change up ALL of this every two months? That seems like an awful lot of work (and something I would never remember)

T.I.A. for your advice.

 

[malkore]

mostly its your weight training that will need periodic tweaks. for running, just changing how you run is enough (add hills, do sprints, do slower 'marathon' type running, etc)

but since weight training is essentially done to get your body to adapt to the stresses by building more muscle...you have to keep changing to keep the body adapting. Otherwise it adapts to the new level, and then you stagnate.

that's why new trainees get told "do 3 fullbody workous a week"...while pro bodybuilders work individual muscles, sometimes two lengthy workouts per day! they've hit such a level that they must do this (plus eat 5000+ calories a day) to keep growing.

 

[jenkerr1]

Sometimes just changing the order of your weight routine could be enough to keep you from becoming stagnat. You could also consider doing more reps with lighter weights or fewer reps with heavier weights. Things like that are often enough of a 'change' and dont require to much work, just a little creativity!