More on adaptation...

In yesterday's post we mentioned changing your program every 4 weeks....
This alone can strike fear into the hearts of many...but I read I need to do 3 sets of 20 to tone up.
while this approach may appear to work for a short period of time - pretty soon your body just plateaus because it has adapted, or gotten used to the exercise. There's no challenge in the same workout.
So, where to from here?
Easy.
There are so many variations of your workout that you can do to rev things back up again.
You could switch to:
a/ continue with 20 reps of each exercise but do them in circuit fashion, one after the other. Then repeat the whole circuit 3 x
b/ change the rep count. Reduce it from 20 to 12, but make sure you increase your weight accordingly.
c/ Increase the set count to 4.
d/ Change the exercises altogether. If you're in the gym and you've been doing lat pulldowns for back, then switch to assisted pullups or chinups, or even bent over barbell rows or seated rows. Legs you can choose from Squats, Hack Squats, Deadlifts, Lunges - all manner of variation (forward, walking, diagonal, reverse, side), wide squats, leg press, leg extension & leg curl.
e/ use supersets, ie you can group two exercises together for different body parts or even the same body parts.
or be radical and f/ Do something completely different - have a break from the gym (get outdoors :-) ) and join in a bootcamp or outdoor fitness group.

Our Bootcamps are getting great results - why don't you join us?