Just a quick question that I’d like to hear peoples opinion on. When bodybuilders talk about changing up their routine when things get stale do they just mean changing up the rep/set scheme and exercises or is it recommended that you follow a completely different routine.
For example, I’ve used TBT for awhile and still enjoy it (not bored yet) but I’m wondering is it best to go with a split (OVT, shut up and split,etc) or just change some exercises and rep/set numbers around. My goals have not changed in that I’m still going for a combo of mass and strength.
It can be both. Doing the exact same exercises with a 5x5 instead of 3x8 will certainly confuse the muscles, however generally, when someone says change a “routine,” they mean a program, like from TBT to ABBH, because new exercises usually cause the most muscle confusion.
One of the most important things in this sport is finding what exercises work best for your own body. Which ones target your muscle groups most directly, and allow you to get stronger and stronger at a fast enough pace.
It’s also about finding your own recovery abilities to a large degree.
So it is rare that you will find an intermediate and above bodybuilder that will just up and change his ENTIRE routine for a completely different one.
Normally what happens is one bodypart or one exercise will stall out, and will be switched out for another exercise or the routine for that muscle group (sets/reps, or frequency of training) will change.
If a bodybuilder’s ENTIRE routine stalls out, it is possible that they were doing way too much or way too little, but 9 times out of 10 it is a problem of diet.
In other words, once you find something that works for you (example: incline bench for chest, leg curls for hamstrings, etc.) then you don’t want to fragg that and change your whole routine. If there are some parts of your routine that need changing, change those, and keep what you find works for you around until it stops working.
[quote]acelement wrote:
It can be both. Doing the exact same exercises with a 5x5 instead of 3x8 will certainly confuse the muscles, however generally, when someone says change a “routine,” they mean a program, like from TBT to ABBH, because new exercises usually cause the most muscle confusion.[/quote]
If you really want muscle confusion, use the P90X system.