Outsmarting Your Body’s Adaptation Response
I love to change up my exercise regimen often. Sometimes I’ll do a different workout everyday. Monday may be Turbo Jam, Tuesday may be Yoga Booty Ballet, then Wednesday will be a classic upper body workout on machines and with free weights, followed by an hour of horseback riding on Thursday, and Power 90X Legs & Back on Friday.
Other weeks I only change up every week and not everyday. I’ll do one week of Power 90X (a different P90X workout every day), a second week of a different daily Bosu training workout, a third week I'll alternate Power 90X Plus workouts mixed up with 10 Minute Trainer workouts. And this week I’m mixing classic step aerobics with classic weight training workouts on weight machines and with free weights using Super Slow, an exercise protocol invented by Ken Hutchins (review of Super Slow to come).
The main reason I change my workouts around is the body adapts rapidly to exercise. If you do the same routine or set of routines over and over your results slow to a snail’s pace or even grind to a halt as your body adapts. (Note that Power 90X and the 12 workouts in the system are designed specifically to avoid adaptation and plateau, but after 9 months of mostly Power 90X I felt it was time to mix it up more than I had been).
Ever wonder why you see some people at the gym or on the running path day after day, week after week, and month after month, yet their bodies rarely change? Ask them how long they’ve been riding the elliptical or treadmill every day, or how long they’ve done the same weight lifting regimen. The less their bodies change, the longer they’ve been doing the same old thing over and over again.
Someone once said doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. If what you’re doing or the way you’re doing it is not yielding the results you want why keep doing it?
Trying new recreational sports and exercise routines serves a second important function. You prevent boredom . Boredom - like a lack of results - leads to slacking off of exercising and even quitting altogether. Not only is variety the spice of life, it’s a valuable tool for getting in shape and staying there.
If a tight budget makes you feel limited in pursuing variety in your workouts try buying used exercise videos and equipment. Most public libraries have exercise videos you can check out for free. Start a neighborhood or online exercise exchange so you and others can share DVDs and equipment you’re tired of. (This can be done on Craig's List and other online community bulletin boards, or through local free ad newspapers). Try an outdoor workout like hiking or jogging on new trails that offer new challenges. Many parks have exercise courses with stations that include instructions. If you have a gym membership, ask other members or a personal trainer to give you new workout ideas. Check out low cost exercise classes, swimming pools, and gyms at community centers, colleges, churches, hospitals, and recreation centers.
If you’re limited to working out at home try changing between a calisthenics or isometric workout one day, a march in place workout like Leslie Sansone’s “Walk Away The Pounds’ another day, gardening for an hour a third day - which can burn up to 350 calories an hour, and doing a resistance workouts with a band another fews days a week (never do resistance training of the same body parts two days in a row, this leads to over-training and even muscle loss). Resistance bands can be purchased for a minimal cost both new and used. I even gave away a set of bands with two workout tapes on my blog a few months ago.
Your only barrier to better fitness is you. Instead of making excuses about how time, budget, and / or lack of space prevent you from working out or changing your present workout routine, get creative! This can be as simple as walking uphill instead of taking your usual flat walking route, or doing less repetitions and sets with heavier weights. If you’ve been using weight machines exclusively switch to free weights and bands or do calisthenics and isometrics for a change. If you’ve been running on the treadmill for weeks switch to the rowing machine or take a spinning class.
This same adaptation rule applies to nutrition and dieting. Your body will adapt to an intake of a relatively stable amount of calories and macro-nutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates). Research supports the success of a diet in which calories and macro-nutrients (particularly carbohydrates) are cycled. Occasionally raising calorie and carbohydrate intake – whether one day a week or rotating the macro-nutrient make up of your diet every third day – “fools” your body into believing you’re not in starvation mode, a common phenomenon of dieting.
(For an example of a rotation diet check out this update on my The Cheat To Lose Diet adventures. The Cheat To Lose Diet rotates carbohydrate and calorie content every week during the first three weeks (priming phase) and every two days on the core phase culminating in a cheat day without restrictions).
Change is a vital key to getting fit and staying that way. Change, particularly in fitness, fat loss, and muscle gain, rarely comes if you fail to outwit your body’s ability to adapt. If you want to prevent a plateau in fat loss, getting fit, or gaining muscle change it up!
