Have you ever had a burst of progress and then ended up staying the same for a while? Whether it be you lost a lot of weight quickly, got really strong or gained a lot of muscle and then plateaued it simply means your body is used to the methods you used to create your results and you need to switch it up!
How Your Body Changes
The human body creates results based off of the demand placed on it. When we talk about calorie surplus/deficit we are not only talking about the amount we eat but also about the amount of calories we burn and how we burn them.
When we try new things our body has to adapt to the new things we are doing- your muscles change as you challenge them to lift more weight, move in different directions or challenge them to new methods because they learn to adapt to the new demand that is regularly being placed on them. When your body burns fat it is because it's learning how to utilize fat stores to help fuel the demand you're placing on your energy systems. When you get really strong it's because your body is gradually creating neural pathways into your muscles teaching them how to work harder, and is growing enough muscle fibres to be able to support the loads you're demanding your muscles to move.
Why Do We Need to Try New Methods
If what we talked about above is true and the body needs to be shocked to create change then the easiest way to create change is to try new things on a regular basis! I suggest switching up your training style every 6-8 weeks to shock your body and challenge it to new exercises, new training methods, new frequencies, new weights, new exercise durations and always remember to adapt your calories to fit these changes.
Not only is it great for your body and muscles but it also creates much more fun and challenging programs that will keep you progressing not only physically but also causes you to regularly challenge your performance which will help you see long term more consistent results!
3 Training Methods You NEED to Try
Our newest BBK Challenge "The Glow Challenge" comes with a list of 13+ training methods that are used throughout the challenge and that you can use beyond the challenge as well to keep seeing results! We're going to discuss 3 in this article so you can give them a try and see how your body reacts to trying new training methods!
Method 1 - 21
21s are a method that manipulate range of motion (ROM) to allow you to repeat more reps, target different muscle fibres and shock your muscles under different stressors. This method consists of 3 sets of 7 performed without rest for a total of 21 reps in the set hence it's name "21s". Using hip thrusts as an example, The first 7 reps are the bottom half of the movement, the next 7 reps are the top half of the movement and the last 7 reps are the full range of motion.
Method 2 - Negative Reps
This training method causes you to focus on the lowering phase of the exercise. For example, slowing down the squat on the way down, or slowing down biceps curls when you're extending down will be slower than normal which will cause you to fight gravity. I usually make this slower tempo 3-4 seconds through the eccentric phase and regular through the concentric phase of the exercise.
Method 3 - Burnouts
This is an exercise that is done usually as a FINISHER; so you will find them most of the time as the last exercise of the workout you will see these very often throughout the workout plan. These are done in a very high rep range or AMRAP range (as many reps as possible) and their purpose is to increase blood flow to a muscle and pump it up at the end of your workout. For example, you can burn out your quads at the end of a quad dominant leg day by doing an AMRAP dropset burnout on the leg extension machine.
I hope this helped you learn some fun new challenging methods and the importance of challenging your muscles to get results.
My newest challenge comes with a list of over 13+ training methods that will help you reach YOUR body goals … we’re breaking through plateaus all spring... are you ready to work? Get a sample or sign up now!
