Is It Ok To Change A Workout Early?
Something I’ve been asked and have actually asked myself in the past has been the question “Is it OK to change a workout early?”
What I mean is this…
If you have a workout that you want to do for 4 weeks in a row then switch, but after 2 weeks you have a hard time doing it anymore (either mentally or physically)….should you change it, or try to push yourself through it?
In my opinion, you need to change it.
The reason is because if you try to push yourself too hard, you’re mentally going to wear yourself out. And if you can’t get through it physically, you’ll either end up injured or overtrained.
So either way, you’re NOT doing yourself a favor by trying to push through something you can’t do.
I’ll be honest, I personally have a hard time with this sometimes. I know that I should be changing my workout because I’m kind of forcing myself through it, but I don’t. It happened to me today though – and I’m changing my workout tomorrow.
How about you? Did this ever happen to you?
Switch It Up For Big Gains
You know, our bodies are a pretty incredible thing.
For example did you know that if you do something different today (like brushing your teeth with your left hand instead of your right), you literally create new neural pathways between your brain?
Every single different experience you take, even in little ways, creates new neural pathways.
And if you keep strengthening those neural pathways, your brain gets “thicker”. In essence, your brain is a muscle so by having different experiences and strengthening your brain by doing things like puzzles and things that are challenging, you grow your muscle (your brain).
And luckily, it’s the same for our other muscles as well.
If you’re doing the same thing over and over, your muscles get used to that stimulus.
They’re getting the same thing everyday, it’s not challenging anymore, and they stop growing. That’s why you’ll see people in the gym for years at a time but their body never changes at all.
The funny part is, the solution to this problem is SO simple – just do something different!
That’s honestly all their is to it.
Although a lot of people try to give you set amounts on when you should change your workout, it really all depends on you.
If you start plateauing on your lifts after 4 weeks, then switch them. Or maybe you’re on your 8th week of the same exercise program and are still progressing. If so, keep doing it!
Or Are You Getting Bored Too Easily?
You also have to think about how long it takes you to get bored of a workout program. Personally, my 4th week in a workout program is rough for me. I get bored VERY easily and want to switch it up to something else. Although I might be able to go another few weeks without plateauing, I MENTALLY can’t do it.
Many people don’t take that into consideration, but it’s a huge part of exercising regularly and for a long period of time.
So if you’re currently at a plateau, usually for workouts but also for nutrition – switch it up. Do something different and you’ll refresh yourself in various ways and staying in great shape will be much more enjoyable!
Are Deadlifts Safe?
This question has been asked for DECADES and will probably continue to be asked for the next few decades or centuries.
Deadlifts are probably the most feared exercise out of any exercise available to us today. Maybe it’s because people have royally screwed up their backs from them. Maybe it’s because people are simply scared of doing them because they’re pansies and want an excuse not to do them.
Whatever the reason…here’s my answer.
DEADLIFTS ARE 100% SAFE!
However, they’re only safe if you have proper form.
I’ll admit that you should definitely be more careful with deadlifts than with other lifts. If you screw up your arm doing curls or your shoulder doing overhead presses, it sucks but it’s not a HUGE deal.
But if you have bad form with deadlifts and try to push through the pain, you can mess up your back for the rest of your life.
A Solution For You If You’re Still Scared
Trust me, I know what it’s like to write off deadlifts. I didn’t do them for awhile because I was afraid of getting hurt. But then I realized something…
If I’m afraid of getting hurt, why don’t I just ease up on them a little bit?
Honestly – it really is that easy.
Just learn the proper form (have someone that knows what they’re doing actually watch you do it and critique your form), then leave 2-3 lifts in your tank.
I never deadlift as hard as I possibly can because even though I have good form, I’m human and I don’t want to make a little mistake that’s going to kill my back when I’m pulling over 300 pounds.
But I DO recommend adding deadlifts into your routine.
Overall, they’re the absolute best overall mass builder in your body.
If you’re losing weight and start adding deadlifts into your routine you might notice that you stop losing weight because you’re adding so much muscle. They’re THAT powerful.
Obviously that won’t happen for everyone, but it’s happened to me personally.
So lesson of the day: Don’t write-off deadlifts. Learn the proper form, stop listening to the naysayers, and do them!
Why Endurance Exercises Are SO Important
When exercising there are various ways to perform that workout.
For example you can workout for strength, muscle building, explosivity, endurance, etc. etc.
Today I want to tell you why having enough muscular endurance is crucial to staying healthy, and why this should be even more of an issue as you get older.
As you know, many people today suffer from joint and muscle problems. We’ll use lower back pain as an example because that probably hits home with a lot of people reading this.
Did you know that one of the most common reasons for having back pain is simply not having enough lower back endurance?
Think about it.
You wake up, sit at a desk for a few hours and your back starts hurting.
This happens because over time your muscles are starting to get tired and more stress is placed on different parts of your body to counteract the fatigue your lower back muscles are receiving.
So not only do you get stress (e.g. pain) in your lower back from them being fatigued, but the pain then starts to radiate throughout other parts of your body because those places are trying to counteract the fatigue your lower back has!
I’m sure you’ve experienced this at some point in your life. I know I have.
Taking Control Of Your Muscle Pain
So if you’re suffering like so many other people are, what can you do about it?
Start doing more endurance exercises!
I actually love endurance exercises for 2 reasons.
First, when you start training your muscles to be able to move a certain weight around for longer periods of time, you’ll see that you can start moving HEAVY weights around for longer periods of time.
In other words, instead of being stuck at lifting 200lbs. for 3 reps, if you start implemetning more endurance exercises you’ll notice that you’ll be able to move that same weight for 4,5,7, or even 10 reps after just a few weeks.
The second reason I love them is because when you start doing them, and this is especially important for your lower back/core – you’ll start having less pain.
As I said most of the pain we experience is because of a lack of endurance in those muscles, so when you start getting more endurance – the pain starts vanishing.
And if you’re having lower back problems, the absolute BEST exercise you can do to relieve that pain is simply holding a plank for a specific time, a few times per week or even 2-3 times per day for shorter times.
So start doing more endurance exercise. Heck, just add 1 set of them to the end of all your workouts and you’ll start seeing improvements!
How Often Should You Workout?
This is a question that comes up ALL the time when talking to people. And I completely understand why people are confused about this because nearly everybody you talk to has a different opinion.
You talk to one person and they say only train 3 days per week so you don’t overtrain yourself and end up lowering your metabolism and injuring yourself.
Then you talk to someone else and they say the body needs to be moved every single day to keep the metabolism up and that it’s how we were designed.
So here’s my take on the subject:
Like nearly everything else when it comes to fitness, this all depends on YOU. It depends on your nutrition, your lifestyle, your goals, what you do in the other hours of you day, and a variety of other factors.
Athletes can work their butt off nearly everyday of the week and don’t seem to get hurt.
Why?
Because they eat perfectly and spend up to 2 hours after exercising to help their body’s recoup.
Other people can only work out for 3 days per week because if they do anymore they seem to get even more tired than if they didn’t exercise. And that’s simply the way their nervous system is set up.
It Also Depends On What You’re Doing…
Another huge factor is simply the type of exercising you’re doing on those 3 days. If you’re just going for a jog or hitting up the treadmill, you can probably do more than 3 days per week.
But if you’re training really hard for 30-45 minutes doing strength training with a lot of multi-joint exercises…that might be all you need to do.
Because after all, your diet is the ultimate determining factor in how lean you get. You’d have to workout for over an hour everyday 5 days per week in order to lose 1 pound per week. But if you simply cut 1 or 2 things out of your diet everyday, or fasted once or twice a week, that same amount of fat could come off with no extra exercising.
All You Really Need To Do Is Experiment…
Try working out 5-6 times per week and see how you feel. Do you feel more energetic, or sore and tired? Does working out that much fit your schedule? Do you enjoy working out that much? These are just a few of the questions you should be asking yourself.
Because when it comes down to it, it really is all about experimentation. I can tell you to do something but if it isn’t congruent with what you want or how your life works, it’s not going to work for you.
So if you’re worried about how much you should workout, just experiment with it.
There is no right or wrong answer, it all depends on YOU.
-
Free Fat Loss Report!
Fill in your first name and primary email address below and I'll send you my free report "7 Deadly Fat Loss Sins" and discover the 7 fat loss sins that are making it harder for you to lose weight!Enter Your First Name & Primary Email Address To Get 7 Deadly Fat Loss Sins FREE! -
Recent Posts
Recent Comments:
- Johnine Bailey: You could mix it with water to make it less caloric. Or possibly substitute a cherry powder or herbal instead. There’s a Cherry Blossom herbal that is available, I’m not sure it would do the same, but maybe it would help.
- Darlene Siddons: great post and great 10 ways to attack those last few pounds….loosing weight is about attitude and feelings, when they are aligned right it is really easy…i use Vision Map Videos to keep my goal of correct body weight in a positive realm… darlene http://visionmapvideo.blogspot .com/
- Megan: great story, and so true! And i laughed a few times during this. keep up the good work!
- What Happens When You Stop Being “Healthy”: important if you’re doing workouts that are very intense and demanding on your body, such as High Intensity Interval Training or things like Tabata
- Weight Loss Excercise: You can also check out his post on weight loss goals here – http://hasslefreefatloss.com/b log/weight-loss-goals-getting- crazy/
- Johnine Bailey: You could mix it with water to make it less caloric. Or possibly substitute a cherry powder or herbal instead. There’s a Cherry Blossom herbal that is available, I’m not sure it would do the same, but maybe it would help.
-
- What Happens When You Stop Being “Healthy”: important if you’re doing workouts that are very...
- Weight Loss Excercise: How Achieve Your Weight Loss Goals By “Getting Crazy”?
- Healthbolt: It’s Healthbolt Carnival Time…...
- What Happens When You Stop Being “Healthy”: This is especially important if you’re doing workouts...
- My Top 5 Benefits Of Fasting: few days ago I wrote a post on fasting for weight loss (it was a journal of my...