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Yep, seems like a strange
question for someone like ME to be asking! After all,
with all the lunatic stuff I come up with, you'd think
I'd be a proponent of doing something different every
single day!
Oddly enough, even though
I have a TON of unique exercises, I have training
sessions where I do nothing but basic stuff and don't
even TRY to come up with new twists on anything.
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Sometimes, I just take an
exercise I know and hammer away at it. Some the most effective
programs I use (including my Muscle
Explosion program), have phases where there is almost
NO variety at all! Specifically, in the Muscle
Explosion program, I have a 5 day phase where you're
doing just ONE exercise the whole 5 days!
And it works like crazy.
The basic exercises are basic
for a reason....they work and work well!
So how much training variety
do I recommend? And when would I suggest switching things
up?
Well, that's a tough question
- it depends completely on the individual, their goals and
their situation.
If it's a beginning trainer,
extreme variety is not necessary. In fact, they'll do best
by sticking to the basic movements for at least a few months.
When they learn squats, their body is going to take a long
time to develop the proper groove and the proper execution
(hopefully!). That's actually one of the main reasons I've
haven't targeted most of my unique exercises to the beginning
trainer - there's just too much info and variety there.
The beginner will end up bouncing around too much and never
develop any groove with anything!
The beginner improves strength
by improving nervous system efficiency, not by increasing
muscle size. It's why a beginner's arms will shake like
leaves when they do bench presses the first few times! The
nervous system isn't co-ordinated and the signals are all
over the place. As that co-ordination improves, the movement
gets smoother.
So back to the main question.
If you're more intermediate to advanced, I would recommend
switching up your main exercises at least every three to
four weeks. Even more advanced trainers who have a solid
base of experience can and should change things up even
sooner.
By that, I don't mean do 5
exercises for each bodypart every day to "hit all the
angles". That's not necessary and can actually work
against you. Training variety should have a purpose. Doing
inclines then flat then declines on the bench press in one
session is total overkill. Doing that over the course of
3 different sessions - better idea.
Another point with too much
training variety is a lack of actual training EFFECT. How
do you know if you're improving if you never do the same
exercise again any time soon! Your body won't know what
to adapt to and won't adapt to anything.
That's the reason that 5 day
bit I mentioned above is so effective - you're only giving
the body ONE thing to adapt to! Another reason that's so
effective is that you're practicing the movement so much,
you're developing the neurological specificity and efficiency
similar to what a beginner sees in their first weeks of
training. HUGE strength increases in that time are the norm.
Don't get me wrong...training
variety is also the spice of life! Personally, I get easily
bored with the basics, even though I use them regularly.
I'm always looking for better ways to attack the muscle
- not just for the sake of doing something different but
trying to find ways to make things work better. I encourage
you to do the same!
If there's anything that I'm
all about, it's encouraging you to throw away the "rules"
of lifting and try things out for yourself. Don't believe
a thing I write - try it for yourself and see if I'm right!
I have a feeling you're reading
my info BECAUSE you have a curious mind and love this kind
of physical and intellectual exploration of training practices.
So when you're using these
exercises, try everything but keep a note on what works
BEST for you. Then work the crap out of THOSE exercises.
Not everything works equally well for everybody but when
you find something good, train it! Use it again and soon
so you DO get a training effect and see direct improvements
in it.
A good rule of thumb is repeat
75% of your exercises then 1/4 of the time, add in something
new and see if it's good enough to replace what you're using.
But on a side note, if the
program you're using calls for specific exercises for a
specific purpose, USE those exercises. I know for many of
my programs, I use specific exercises as tools, for example,
flyes to hit the stretched position of the chest. A cross-over
won't work there.
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Experiment
within the confines of the program you're using. Heck,
sometimes what I'll do is take a time when I'm between
programs and do a general bodypart split. In that
split, I will purposefully try and invent things.
I'll have a week where I don't do anything twice!
These are the fun weeks for me, even when I find stuff
that kills me. This is what keeps me going mentally
and helps me find things that I'll work into a program
in the future.
On a side
note to THAT, sometimes I'll set specific conditions
on myself to invents things. For example, a few weeks
ago, I limited myself to two chairs, a broomstick
and a sandbag. You'll be seeing the results of THAT
experiment in an update to my Metabolic
Surge - Rapid Fat Loss program (it's a
bodyweight version of the program). I'll be posting
a big update to that book very soon.
Bottom
line, don't go for extreme variety all the time, even
if you're advanced. You need some consistency to achieve
a good training effect otherwise the body won't know
what to adapt to!
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