Training at the gym is one of the best ways, among others for building a dream figure and taking care of yourself. However, over time, each participant begins to look for further opportunities that will guarantee training stimuli and appropriate progress. These are also ways to prevent training stagnation and overtraining the body. Do you have to give up exercising at the gym in such a moment? It turns out that it is not. Check out 7 ways to diversify your strength training.
The effects of training at the gym
The greatest effects of strength training are at the beginning of the adventures with the gym. Mostly, the best results are observed up to about a year after starting regular exercise. Why is it like that?
Muscle growth is the answer to the next challenges faced before the organism with which he has not had the opportunity to face up to now. The development of musculature is therefore an adaptation to new conditions and runs smoothly until the moment when the workout will be no longer a surprise for the body.
Therefore, reducing the efficiency of training, and even stagnation should not surprise anyone. It is a sign that muscles have got used to training and need something more. Over time, increasing the training volume and exercise intensity is no longer sufficient.
What to do then? Intermediate and advanced people should therefore make every effort to the greatest possible diversity of strength training.
7 ways to diversify your strength training
When standard training stops as usual and does not bring results, it's time to add variety to it. After a long-term use of one training system, it is worth using a different method. Small modifications in the current plan may be equally effective, which are introduced gradually and constantly surprise the muscular and nervous system. What to do with your gym training? We suggest 7 ways to diversify strength training.
Circuit training
The general development circuit training is a good alternative for people who have been training in the SPLIT system.
Dynamic change of machines and exercises, in which too long breaks are avoided, is beneficial from the point of view of introducing a cardio training into your daily plan. Increased intensity of exercise positively influences not only the condition, but also the challenges posed by muscles exposed to increased effort.
People who are afraid that peripheral training may be less effective than SPLIT, we calm down - circuit training is successfully used by advanced people, evenly developing their figure. So let's try this change in your training plan.
Concentration on the eccentric phase
The eccentric phase, also called negative movement, is the moment in the exercise, when the muscle trailers move away from each other, and the muscle itself is prolonged. Interestingly, during its lifetime you can exercise with a weight about 1.5 times greater than in eccentric motion.
The eccentric phase brings the best results from the point of view of building muscle mass, and performed in a smooth and slow way ensures better functioning of the nervous system. It is a natural way to overcome further weaknesses. For example, when you can not pull yourself up - you jump up to the bar and slowly lower yourself.
Street workout in strength training
Ways of strength training do not have to be limited to working with barbells and machines. A great variation is the introduction of calisthenic training to the gym program. Working with the weight of your own body is safer for joints and reduces the risk of injury.
Street workout - is appreciated primarily by trainees who focus on the development of the chest, muscles of the hands and back.
Disassembly - plan a deload period
A big mistake is intensive training for many weeks, during which the body has no chance of complete regeneration and weaning. A good practice, recommended not only to amateurs, is the introduction of de-training - that is, the unloading period from standard training.
It usually takes 1 week after every 3-6 weeks of training.
The idea is simple - practice with your system, but reduce the volume and intensity so that after a week of rest you can afford more.
Tabata and its wide possibilities
Tabata is an excellent training system that activates the whole body in a short time.
High intensity and heavy body load occurring during tabata causes that by doing strength training, you will significantly speed up the metabolism and start burning fat. And that can greatly improve every gym workout!
4 minutes in which there are 20 seconds of exercise and 10 seconds of break will make you tired more than you might think. The tabatas are dominated by highs, burpees, sprints, alternating legwrestling.
Although this method differs from traditional gym training - it is worth using it in your plan.
Keep the weight out
While speed-oriented exercises are based on reduced loads, weight maintenance is based on the full use of strength capabilities. Just push out the heaviest barbell and try to keep it up as long as possible, counteracting gravity. Progress in this variant is easy to observe by counting the seconds through which the load remains at a fixed point. It's a very simple way, but it brings really good results.
Combined series will increase muscle hypertrophy
For standard strength training, it's a good idea to include series of combos that include two exercises. It is recommended to combine the activity with antagonistic muscles or exercises involving movement in the same plane, taking into account push and pull, e.g. rowing dumbbells in the torso and pressing the bar on a bench.
Combined series guarantee the maximization of muscle hypertrophy and influence the even shaping of the figure.
