Here’s the simple outline for my first experiment: I want to see if I can stimulate muscle growth and strength increase by “surprising” my body. I will do this by switching up the training routines before I hit a plateau.
I bet most people reading this are familiar with the typical training plateau: You start out with a routine and continually manage to improve by adding more repetitions and/or more weights for each exercise. To begin with, it’s very apparent that you’re making great progress (at least if you’re keeping a training log – which you should). But soon, progress slows down and after a while it seems you are stuck at your current level of strength and you just can’t manage to break past a certain point.
At this point, it’s advisable to change the routine in some way. Even just changing the sequence of the exercises can make quite a difference.
I want to take this principle a step further and change up the training routine several times in short succession, once I hit a plateau. I want to make sure that my body can’t just adapt to a new routine within a few days, so I’ll go through several changes.
The plan is as follows: After a maximum of two months on my current routine, I will do one week with a new routine and low weights/high repetitions. After that, I’ll change the routine again and go for high weights/low repetitions. Then I’ll switch routines for a third time and go for medium weights/medium reps once again.
In other words, I want to change several aspects of my training routine, once a week. I think that should keep any kind of habituation at bay. Of course, once this is done, I do have to go back to a steady routine again, otherwise it will probably jeopardize my potential gains.
In Short
Right now, I’ll stick to my current routine for two months, or until I hit a plateau. Once I go into the “Bodyshock” phase, I’ll post it here and let you know how it goes.
