Ideas to Add Variety to Your Weight Training

ByAlejo Arizona

If you've been working out for a while now, you may find yourself running into certain barriers. If you're not changing up your routine once and a while, you could be hindering your own progress. Regularly adding in new variations to your workout can keep you from becoming bored and losing motivation, as it always gives you something new to look forward to. In addition, your body will benefit from not growing used to the performing the same exercises, and your progress won't slow down. Adding in new twists will force the body to work in new ways, improving new areas and keeping you in better shape overall.

I've put together several ideas that you can mix into your regimen. I encourage you to give them a try whenever you feel like you could do with something new.

Try Varying Your Grip and Stance

The door is really wide open with this one. Any of the common exercises will have multiple variations on the main form. You could swap your underhand grip for an over hand one on your curling routine, or use a preacher bench. If you're doing standard shoulder presses, you could work your legs and core differently by brining your feet together in a military stance. These are just a few examples, of course

One grip variation that is drastically underused is known as the palm grip. The vast majority of people will grip the bar the standard way by wrapping the fingers around one side and the thumbs around the other. In the palm grip, the thumb sits more or less freely at the side of the hand. The fingers may need to wrap a bit further around to provide extra stabilization, but the advantage of this method is that freeing the thumb disengages the forearm, and more of the load is put on the upper arm and chest muscles. In some exercises, such as the bench press, it's actually recommended to use the palm grip over the standard grip.

Go for Trisets

Trisets are the next level up from supersets. If you're not familiar, a superset is a set of two different exercises done back to back without resting in between. So, a triset simply adds a third exercise into the mix. This not only changes up the routine, it makes for a good challenge too. Always choose three exercises that focus on the same muscle group. This will give that group a very intense workout and will recruit a larger variety of other muscles. Bicep exercises work especially well with this method, as there is a vast number of curl variations from which to choose. One might start with a set of standing barbell curls, then go for a set of reverse preacher curls, and finish off with hammer curls. Notice how your grip will change from one set to the next. For another example that would work the back muscles: Start off with pull-ups, do a set of bent-over rows, then finish it off with chin-ups. Try out different combinations to see what works best.

Mix up Your Split Workouts

This is one is super easy. As long as you're doing split sessions (which you should be) just swap the exercises that you normally pair up for different ones. Even just switching the order of a split around can have a very noticeable effect. Think about it, if you always do a chest session right before you work on your shoulders, you'll always have more energy for your chest exercises, and you're always starting them out fresher. By staring your session with the shoulders, you may find that you're able to push yourself harder and give them a better workout.

The idea here is to always keep your body ready and adaptable. You'll stay stronger overall, and you'll make more progress for the hours of training you put in. Your body is remarkably like your mind. They're both stimulated by change and variety. By remembering that basic principle, you will see more progress in the long run.

Alejo Arizona is a performer and fitness expert based out of beautiful Jerome, Arizona. You can go here to check out his fitness website.

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Health and Fitness: Build-Muscle
Alejo Arizona

Email Address:SubscribeBuild Muscle Article FeedFind More ArticlesSearchRecent ArticlesWhat Are Some Methods to Develop Muscle Without the Assistance of Weights?BPI Super Pro - How This Supplement Can Benefit YouBPI Solid - 6 Important Things To Know About This SupplementBPI Rx6 - Answers To Your Frequently Asked QuestionsBPI A50 - Facts About This Supplement You Should Know Before BuyingBPI Arimedex - What Are The Benefits Of This Supplement?Pull Ups As An Excellent Way To Build MuscleBio-X Power Meal - 6 Things You Should Learn About This SupplementBio-X All Natural Power Whey Protein Bar - 6 Important Facts About This ProductAdvanced Genetics Alpha - What You Need For A Well Built BodySubmitted On February 05, 2012. Viewed 2 times. Word count: 674.

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Arizona, Alejo".".5 Feb. 2012EzineArticles.com.7 Feb. 2012 .APA Style Citation:
Arizona, A. (2012, February 5). . Retrieved February 7, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Ideas-­to-­Add-­Variety-­to-­Your-­Weight-­Training&id=6862438Chicago Style Citation:
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