Changing The Workout

[Miss Muscle]

How often do you change your workout? Every 4 to 6 weeks? 6 to 8? When you plateau? Or before? I would like opinions please.

 

[outlawtas]

I would say major overhaul every 3 months. I also may change it from workout to workout. Meaning, if one day I feel like including or discluding something I do.

 

[Miss Muscle]

Bump. Cmon guys......get your asses out of the convo lounge for once and lets talk about BODYBUILDING related matters on a bodybuilding website.

 

[Onswoll]

Everytime I train a muscle group. Hands down

 

[VICIOUS_BEAST]

for me..i'm always changin things..for me keepin my muscles guessin what works for me....heavy sets one week,rest pause the next week,drop sets the next and so on......try to find what works for you

 

[silver_shadow]

typically i'd work in blocks of anywhere between 4-8 weeks. by blocks i mean alternating between a similar layout but with different rep ranges, high reps then low and so on. but i'd probably change to a different layout altogether maybe once or maximum twice a year, and that too out of necessity - personal reasons like when or how much time i can spend in the gym.

 

[Aztech]

every wokout is different...changing splits only after platue

 

[jcp2]

Your supposed to change workouts?


My workouts are pretty much based around some phiilosophies, but shit changes by feel. I never understood how someone can write a workout down on paper and stick to it.

 

[Melbourne]

I did pretty much the same work out for about 7 years. I went from a low of 74kg to about 88kg in one year and then to a high of 94kg. I levelled out at about 88kg bumping up against a ceiling of about 92kg from time to time.

My lifts levelled out after about 3 years and I only made the slightest improvements after that.

I understand now that I should have changed my program regularly. I trained every week for those 7 years. I was pretty dedicated. My body fat got pretty low sometimes, but overall not much improvement after the initial burst.

I injured my shoulder about 2 years ago and had surgery to fix that about one year ago and I still haven't recovered. Did my unchanging routine contribute to my shoulder injury? I can't say.

I've really missed training properly over the last year. Too many interruptions because of flare ups with the shoulder. I have had good 4-8 week bursts of weight training. My shoulder keeps breaking down so I can't say for sure how long a program should last for. My intention is to go no longer than 8 weeks on a particular program.

Good luck with your training Miss Muscle - and please don't take offence at the avatar.

 

[Miss Muscle]

Thanks for the responses guys! I seem to be plateau-ing in certain areas and making crazy gains in others!!!! I have limited equipment in my gym right now, so I'm not comfortable deciding on certain exercises for certain body parts. Mostly free weights and I have no bench.....just a ball.

I think I"ll stick to my current workout for at least 3 more weeks and then perhaps go see someone about a change up.

 

[silver_shadow]

Thanks for the responses guys! I seem to be plateau-ing in certain areas and making crazy gains in others!!!! I have limited equipment in my gym right now, so I'm not comfortable deciding on certain exercises for certain body parts. Mostly free weights and I have no bench.....just a ball.

I think I"ll stick to my current workout for at least 3 more weeks and then perhaps go see someone about a change up.

free weights is all you'll ever need. the only machine i ever use is the lat pulldown machine but you can do without that too. i also use the smith for jump shrugs, and this too isn't necessary. since you don't have a bench you could do a bit of floor presses where you press lying down on the floor. add all manner of over head pressing to that and you've got everything you need. i hope you're squatting and deadlifting too and doing bent over BB rows

 

[Miss Muscle]

free weights is all you'll ever need. the only machine i ever use is the lat pulldown machine but you can do without that too. i also use the smith for jump shrugs, and this too isn't necessary. since you don't have a bench you could do a bit of floor presses where you press lying down on the floor. add all manner of over head pressing to that and you've got everything you need. i hope you're squatting and deadlifting too and doing bent over BB rows

I am squatting and deadlifting and doing bent over BB rows. I'm not a fan of the rows though. I think I have the weight too high and I can't lift it high enough to get proper results.

 

[silver_shadow]

reduce the weight then - make sure you can touch the bar to your body on the way up. also - this is something which you won't see very often... do them "pendlay style" which means that you lift the bar directly off the floor each rep, effectively "deweighting" every time. keep your back parallel to the floor and preferably arched. this is a very good exercise.

 

[danchubbz]

I follow the P/RR/S routine which in most cases lasts 9 weeks (3 weeks each) and after that I change the exercises around.

The routine stays the same though as that's the beauty of the P/RR/S set-up.