Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Good Workouts Gone Bad?
Today was an upper body workout for me.
When I arrived at the little gym in our neighborhood, the bench press, my first exercise, was in use. I'm on a time crunch and it would not have been valuable for me to wait around. So, following the principles I discuss in I Can, I Can't, I adapted. Instead of saying, "Either I'll workout 100%, OR I'll just give up and be frustrated and post to everyone about how annoying it was to wait for equipment" I picked a different exercise and started with that.
More importantly, however, when I finally did bench press (the individual finished his workout, and moved onto other things) I found that my set wasn't going as planned. I had just barely eked out a set starting with 160 pounds last week ... 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps, then 12 again, each set a little heavier ... this time, I could barely make it through the first set.
One of the most common Weight Training Questions I receive is, "What happens when I'm not getting stronger every workout?" Now, there are a lot of reasons why you might not be advancing. It may be time to change routines. You might not be getting enough rest or your nutrition may not be adequate. Maybe you're training too high volume (very common) or not taking enough days between workouts.
I have two strategies I find work out well, so I'll share them.
The first thing I do when I'm going backwards, not forwards, is not get frustrated but instead take a step back. If 160 is too heavy, let's continue the set based on starting at 150. This lets me know if I piled the weight on too quickly (usually I train until I hit all of my target reps with good form, then increase the weight ... the next workout I may fall short, but I keep pushing until I hit them, then increase again). I quickly adopted that strategy and continued the next set.
That set fizzled too. I just didn't have it in me. What next?
I see many people train out of compulsion. They're not consistent with hitting the gym and when they do, it's less about a plan to succeed and more about avoiding the guilt of missing the workout. For them, skipping an exercise is unthinkable.
Me?
Look, it was obvious my chest was not ready. This was my second week hitting the weights hard, and it probably did not fully recover. Instead of annihilating it and making things worse, what did I do? I simply moved onto the next exercise.
It's a win, win in my eyes. My chest gets more rest, I get to finish the workout and hit my other sets harder. And, next week, when I hit it again at a lighter weight (150), instead of struggling to force something I'm not ready for, I'll have a great workout and be able to advance with confidence.
Hope this helps as you move forward in your workouts this year.
Here's a little more on All the Rest you need in your training.
When I arrived at the little gym in our neighborhood, the bench press, my first exercise, was in use. I'm on a time crunch and it would not have been valuable for me to wait around. So, following the principles I discuss in I Can, I Can't, I adapted. Instead of saying, "Either I'll workout 100%, OR I'll just give up and be frustrated and post to everyone about how annoying it was to wait for equipment" I picked a different exercise and started with that.
More importantly, however, when I finally did bench press (the individual finished his workout, and moved onto other things) I found that my set wasn't going as planned. I had just barely eked out a set starting with 160 pounds last week ... 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps, then 12 again, each set a little heavier ... this time, I could barely make it through the first set.
One of the most common Weight Training Questions I receive is, "What happens when I'm not getting stronger every workout?" Now, there are a lot of reasons why you might not be advancing. It may be time to change routines. You might not be getting enough rest or your nutrition may not be adequate. Maybe you're training too high volume (very common) or not taking enough days between workouts.
I have two strategies I find work out well, so I'll share them.
The first thing I do when I'm going backwards, not forwards, is not get frustrated but instead take a step back. If 160 is too heavy, let's continue the set based on starting at 150. This lets me know if I piled the weight on too quickly (usually I train until I hit all of my target reps with good form, then increase the weight ... the next workout I may fall short, but I keep pushing until I hit them, then increase again). I quickly adopted that strategy and continued the next set.
That set fizzled too. I just didn't have it in me. What next?
I see many people train out of compulsion. They're not consistent with hitting the gym and when they do, it's less about a plan to succeed and more about avoiding the guilt of missing the workout. For them, skipping an exercise is unthinkable.
Me?
Look, it was obvious my chest was not ready. This was my second week hitting the weights hard, and it probably did not fully recover. Instead of annihilating it and making things worse, what did I do? I simply moved onto the next exercise.
It's a win, win in my eyes. My chest gets more rest, I get to finish the workout and hit my other sets harder. And, next week, when I hit it again at a lighter weight (150), instead of struggling to force something I'm not ready for, I'll have a great workout and be able to advance with confidence.
Hope this helps as you move forward in your workouts this year.
Here's a little more on All the Rest you need in your training.
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