How to keep results coming...

I received a great question from Caliah this afternoon...

Caliah and Tina are my hairdressers and they own a salon called O'Hairas at 3205 39th ave in Vernon. If you want the best service in the Okanagan, give them a call at 250-545-3200, I have been going there for years and I don't trust anyone else to come near me with scissors - they are the best, hands-down.

Okay on to the question...

Hi Rylan,

I was reading your blog and I just have a question.
It's good to switch up a work out every 6 weeks. So when you say switch it up what things could you do? More cardio? Just strength training? How do I find new routines? Because I too have bought fitness magazines and tried the new workouts because I don't know what else to do.

The way I like to explain it is this:

When you try any new exercise for the first time (cardio and strength) you will be pretty sore for the first week as your body is learning to adapt to the new stress.

If you keep the stress the SAME, then you body eventually has no need to adapt because it can handle the demands put on it with ease.

At this point your improvements will drop off and you plateau.

When you change the stress, your body has to adapt again, and you will see further improvements.

The reason that programs from a book or magazine don’t work (other than the obvious I have stated before – that they are primarily there to push supplements) they are not tailored to your body specifically. And every body is different.

For example, when I meet with someone for an initial consultation I like to get a thorough background on their physical activity history, and exactly what it is that they want to accomplish with their program; ie. what goals they have, what their time constraints are, if they’ve had injuries, what they’re past workouts have been, etc.

From this information I then go away and design a customized strength training and cardio training plan to fit all these subjects.

Then when we meet for the first session, I teach these exercises in detail, and I will not move on to the next step until I am confident they have performed these exercises successfully.

I have often changed exercises on the spot if I find that biomechanically, an exercise just doesn’t suit a person.

For instance, if a particular individual has reduced mobility through their low back, I would need to address that first before having them perform a squat. If not, they would end up performing the exercise improperly, and eventually this could lead to a muscular imbalance and injury.

So I guess that’s a long answer to a short question, but ultimately, you need to have your program changed and updated on a regular basis by someone who knows what they are doing. Simply pulling a routine out of a book will never yield the same results, and quite often, could end up inuring you or simply not working at all.

Thanks for the question Caliah,

RD

P.S. This will be my last post for the next week or so. With my wedding coming up this weekend, I will be stepping away from the keyboard for a little while to enjoy this monumental event in my life. I must admit, I am a little nervous, but incredibly excited. Wish me luck!