How often to change training at the gym: personal clarifies

People who ask for exercise advice are often looking for a simple answer. This, however, is not always possible, since things are never so simple when talking about physical activities, especially when the theme is about change training at the gym.

Unfortunately, there are no studies that exactly answer this question, as it depends a lot on a number of different factors, such as goals, type of training, frequency, among others.

But if you’re thinking of changing your routine, here are some points to consider, according to the personal trainer Manoel Rangelfrom Sao Paulo.

How to switch workouts at the gym

Make the progressive increase in bodybuilding

The progressive increase in weight or series is the most common way to change training at the gym when looking to evolve in bodybuilding.

“If the student does ten repetitions, for example, we have to increase about 20% of that amount every four weeks. In addition to increasing the repetitions with the same weight, we can also maintain the series, but increase the load”, he explains.

“Remembering, however, that this will only happen if the person maintains the constancy of training. Therefore, only if it complies with all the plans, it is possible to make this progression”, he adds.

Rangel states that there is also a technique called “deload”. This is the period in which strength training has its intensity reduced, in terms of load, volume or both.

“After a month of training, we lowered the intensity for just one week to prepare the body for the next increase. This greatly reduces the chances of injuries and improves the student’s performance and results”, says the professional.

What exercise routine to keep? It depends on your goals

According to some research already published, people gain more strength when they do varied exercises and for different muscle groups, instead of always keeping the same movements – in addition to being something less monotonous and repetitive.

An example of this would be alternating between squats and leg presses for the next few workouts, rather than spending several weeks doing just one of the two.

On the other hand, a study published in the The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research pointed out that excessive change of movements can have a negative influence on muscle gains. That’s because, by not practicing a specific group so much, their progress may not be as fast.

This condition, however, only applies to complex multi-joint exercises, such as those performed with a barbell – contrary to what happens with gym machines, which do isolated work.

But in the end, does it matter?

If you have a performance-related goal to lift a certain amount of weight, or something similar, maybe yes. But if your focus is on taking care of health and well-being, this may not be a relevant factor.

And what about aerobics, when to change training?

Many people do treadmill training practically in a loop, keeping the same pace for weeks without any change in speed or incline, for example. This is a problem?

In that case, for a race or even a HIIT, the Subjective Perceived Effort ScaleMore known as EPSEwhich ranges from zero to ten, with zero being rest and ten being maximum effort.

“A moderate continuous workout, for example, has a person running at the same speed throughout the entire workout. Here, the ideal is that she points out a perception of effort between six or seven. However, when it continues with the same tempo and speed, but starts to give a lower note, that is the time to make a progression”, Rangel points out.

It is also worth noting that, according to a survey published in Europe PubMed Centralcardiovascular conditioning can undergo adaptations after about a week after starting training.

These evolutions have, however, been shown to plateau within three weeks if no additional progressive overload is applied.

So what to do with all the above information?

Adaptation occurs quickly, but also stabilizes without a continuous stimulus. Even so, we all have an adaptation “threshold”, where a more significant effort will be needed to progress.

However, even if you find out a lot about the subject, the ideal is always to look for a professional to guide you on the exchange of training at the gym.

“Many people believe that, because they know how to do the exercises, they can prescribe training – which is not true. The personal trainer, in turn, thinks about several variables before going through a workout. He knows what to do for the student to progress, how much time to give the body to recover, etc”, emphasizes Manoel Rangel.

“In addition, professionals in this area need to be constantly updated, because the science of physical exercise is always bringing new studies and articles”, he adds.

Therefore, only a personal trainer is able to select the student’s physical assessments and, based on that, interpret and determine the progression and amount that person will be able to do, as well as the right time for it.