Changing Up My Routine for Consistency: A Contradiction


The title of this blog post may be confusing, let me explain.

While training and weightlifting with a friend of mine that has been at his journey for almost a year, I have learned some things about weightlifting and body building.

"Consistency is key."

 I've recently really gotten into weightlifting, like I'm obsessed with it now. I've been using the weight machines and free weights for a year - on and off - but I just kind of winged it. I know how to work each machine and the basic workouts with free weights, but lately I've been obsessed with how the body works with each movement and the muscles we target with each workout.

My usual week would look like this:
Monday - Legs
Tuesday - Arms
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Abs
Friday - Circuits

Very vague and unspecific...

So although my week and muscle groups may be consistent, the workouts are not. I was probably working out the same muscle on ab day when in fact we have four major muscle groups in our abdomen. Looking back, I have probably never or rarely worked on my obliques.

Last night, I actually did a lot of research for specifically ab day because today is Thursday. So I've depended on BodyBuilding.com for workouts and tips. Pretty much all I've been Googling and researching all day - abs.

So today will be experimental. I have five different workouts for each muscle group, and today I will see which of those workouts are too challenging and too easy - and I'm not just talking about different variations of crunches. There are a lot of workouts that I've never seen before that may require some gym equipment, which is fine by me! I love using different equipment because I have a whole room to myself at my school gym filled with workout gear.

When I find out which workouts are right for me, I will pick one workout for each muscle group and do 4 sets with 10-30 reps - the recommended sets/reps that I've seen. I will have my workouts and make a plan to keep with it for either six or eight weeks to avoid plateauing. Then if I am stronger, I can move onto the more challenging workouts and build from there.

Evernote has been very useful to me. Whenever I do major research on my laptop, I can write notes and insert pictures to follow different workouts. All my research is synced with my phone and so if I don't remember how the workout went, I can just access my notes through one source since I go through many sources for accountability and accreditation.

I've become my own trainer. I can find what is right, effective, and consistent enough for me. Thank you, Internet!


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