We all tend to fall into patterns in our everyday lives. That is no different for your workout routine.
Gravitating to the things that we enjoy and bumping out the things we may not be so good at.
This is not always the best play, in many cases the things we aren’t good at will give us a greater return than the things we are proficient in.
But we enjoy our comfort zone, we are having fun with our workouts and staying consistent. And there is something to be said about that side of things as well.
There is a time when we need to switch things up. In most cases maybe some reps will change or some new exercises will make their way into the program. That stuff is great, and needed, but there are areas that I see some people never change.
Tempo & Rest Periods
They will do the same exact tempo as the day they started and in many cases the rest is dependent on how tired they are from the exercise. These two things can change the entire make-up of your current program and small changes can make all the change.
Take your current training program and change the rest from 2:00 to :30, I bet It will feel a bit different. That drastic change is good, It introduces a new stimulus for your body to try and get good at. Now once you feel good with that change, It’s time to switch It up again. Maybe now we slow down the tempo, 4 seconds on the way down with a pause on each rep.
There are so many different ways to attack this but I want to focus on these two because I don’t see them used often enough. Even with all the studies and personal anecdotes around these topics, they are still underutilized.
Let’s create a workout:
1.) Heels Elevated Trap Bar Deadlift 4×6, 2:00 rest
2.) Push-Up MAX reps x 2 (if you get past 30, add weight) 2:00 rest
3a.) Chest Supported DB Row 3×8-10, :30 rest
3b.) Band Pull Apart 3×20, 1:30 rest
4.) Front Foot Elevated Split Squat 3×6-8ea, 1:30 rest
5a.) Farmers Carry 3 x 100′, :30 rest
5b.) Split Stance Lateral Raise 3×12-15, :60 rest
Let’s say we follow this plan for 3 weeks and see progress over that period. It’s now time to create some changes. Now we can keep the integrity of the program and change factors of It such as the tempo. So slowing down, speeding up, or pausing reps throughout the workout.
So now the workout will look the exact same but each exercise will have a 4 second lowering. The pulling exercises (chest support rows, band pull aparts) will have a pause at the top of the reps, so a squeeze at that portion. The pressing exercises (push-ups, split squats) will have a pause at the bottom of the reps.
The workout now will take on a different feel by forcing in a new tempo to the mix. After another 2-3 weeks of doing that and seeing some more great progress we will add another change. Now with this change we can begin to add some new variety, maybe some new exercises along with a change to the rest periods.
Now the workout will look something like:
1.) Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat 3×8, :30 rest
2.) Slight Incline DB Bench Press 4×6-10, :30 rest
3.) Seated Row 4×8, :30 rest
4.) Goblet Squat 3×10, :30 rest
5a.) Landmine Press 2-3 x 6-8, :30 rest
5b.) Face Pull 2-3 x 12, :30 rest
6a.) Cable Rotations 3×10, :30 rest
The template stays pretty similar but now the shorter rest periods add in another new stimulus away from just the exercise changes.
These types of things are done over time in cycles to keep progress moving forward. Now this is not the only way of doing things but these two factors do not get enough recognition in programs that I see, it’s time to start switching things up!
In good health,
Jeff
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