Most of us fall into a comfort zone with the workouts and exercises we do, heck really everything we do in life becomes a routine. In order to get the best results you need to be mixing things up. Below I have given some examples of common sticking points and a new alternative to make things better.
1) You do the same 45 minutes treadmill run/walk for your cardio. **Talk about boring and not effective! Who wants to run on a treadmill that long anyway....I know I don't.
CHANGE TO: Intervals on the bike 3 minute warm-up 1 minute work ( fast as you can ) / 1 minute rest ( slow ) x 8 rounds=16 minutes of work 3 minute cool down Finish some ball slams for 4 rounds 15 slams If done hard enough 16 minutes of intervals should wipe you out
2) You cant get your triceps to grow because you do nothing but pushdowns. ** Maximize your fiber recruitment by doing an exercise in which a greater load can be used.
CHANGE TO: Close Grip barbell presses Do 4-6 weeks of close grip presses on your tricep days and watch them grow! Do 5-6 sets of 10 reps
3) Your legs aren't growing with your usual low-mid rep leg routine. ** Switch to high reps with high weight. This is brutal but you will get a ton of new growth.
CHANGE TO: Leg press with high reps 3 sets of 25-30 reps
4) Your bored with your weight loss workout. ** Here is a unique set-up.
CHANGE TO: My Deja vu style routine
A1) Pushups 8 reps ( if your strong do 15 )
A2) Lateral shuffle with cones ( put cones about 30 feet apart ) go there and back 5 times
* Repeat this 4 rounds
GO RIGHT INTO NEXT GROUP
B1) Two arm bent over dumbbell row-12 reps
B2) Jackknives ( burpees ) -6 reps
* Repeat this 5 rounds
Go RIGHT BACK AND DO 1 ROUND OF A1/A2 AND THEN ONE ROUND OF B1/B2 AGAIN
Rest 2 min
C1) Lying tricep extensions with barbell-12 reps
C2) Lateral hops-back and forth equals 1, do 10 reps
* Repeat this for 5 rounds
GO RIGHT BACK AND DO 1 ROUND OF A1/A2.....B1/B2.....C1/C2. THEN MOVE INTO THE NEXT GROUP
D1) Pulldown/or Pullup- 8 reps
D2) Squat jumps-8 reps
* Repeat this for 5 rounds
GO RIGHT BACK AND DO 1 ROUND OF A1/A2.......B1/B2.....C1/C2......D1/D2. Done!
4) You need to improve your core ** Don't always wait til the end of your workout to do your core work.
CHANGE TO: Doing your core work at the beginning of the workout while you have the most energy. By doing this you wont have the tendency to cheat and head out of the gym early while doing minimal core work.
