Dazed & Confused...
Improving through Adaptive Training
(some call it "muscle confusion")
Feeling like you have reached a "plateau"? That dreaded word translates into one simple thing.. you have reached your comfort zone, your muscles have adapted to your current routine and you are not experiencing growth. Growth can apply to muscle mass, muscle strength, muscle endurance or cardiovascular endurance. Well do not get frustrated, if it was easy we'd all be in swimwear on the cover of health magazines. The answer is in confusing your body by constantly changing your routine, and there are many ways. The body is a complex adaptive system, it needs to be and it is one of our most primal survival mechanisms, but if the body is not forced to adapt, it will not. Below we'll leave you with some tips on how to apply this principle of "muscle confusion".
Here are some ground rules for progressive training
  1. To force adaptation a higher level of stress must be applied to the system than previously experienced, otherwise it will not adapt.
  2. You should SLOWLY progress the stress load, and methodically. In other words, slowly increase the weight/intensity , and in small increments.
  3. If you do not adhere to the first 2 rules you greatly increase the chance of injury which may range from over-use/overtraining strains or aches to tears or worse...and your body will take a big step backwards instead of small steps forward!

REMEMBER... "Small Steps Lead to Big Gains"

How often should I switch things up?
Instead of giving a fixed time period, it is best to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY before moving to the next progression. If you started your cardio training a week ago and your goal was to run the treadmill for 30 minutes at 5 mph, you may have only lasted 25 minutes last week...this week you can maybe go the entire 30 minutes at 5mph but you have labored breathing at the end. The next time you get on the treadmill and can finish the 30 minutes at 5mph and carry on a conversation in the last few minutes you should probably progress to a faster pace or steeper incline or a longer time. That is the great thing about progressions, they can come in many forms.
When progressing with your weight routine you need to be very methodical and ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. The goal is to better your fitness level, or strength, or size, not to injure yourself trying to find your 1 rep max on the bench press... when will you ever use that anyway?
The variations are too numerous to list so we'll leave you with these ground rules for now. In the future keep an eye open for our e-books that will give specific programs to help you in your fitness training using progressions to help you attain your goals safely.
 
Take it slow...be methodical...listen to your body...improve your fitness!
 
 
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