Forgive what may be a silly question, but I’m still fairly new at lifting. I know someone (lifting for years, quite big) who never does the same workout (for any given bodypart) twice in a row. What is the downside to this kind of lifting routine?
the disadvantages depend on what you are training for. as a bodybuilder the disadvantages would be (as i see it): chosing a new workout each time, measuring progress, inability to ‘learn’ the movement. As a strength athlete the disadvantage would be confusing the neuro-muscular system, and hindering gains. Again i’m generalizing, the disavantages also may depend on the person. certian fast twitch people with explosive nervous systems may need a new program everytime they workout to maintain progress (poliquin mentioned one of his athletes is like this). a slower twitch person with a less potent nervous system may not work well on a plan like this.
Scott – I think the important part of your question is IN A ROW. A question that might shed a little light on this is: How often does he train? He may be doing a HIT type system, or he may have an A/B split going. If you’re training 2 days on, one off, you’d most likely do an upper body/lower body split. I do 2 full body workouts a week, but they don’t duplicate the same movements. There may be no downside.
The only potential downside is the learning curve of the exercises and adaptation. And that will depend greatly upon the persons goals. In faith, Coach Davies
i have often wondered what the meaning of “in a row” was myself. this is how i understand it. i have 4 different upper body routines (2 push and 2 pull). each of these routines always falls on their specific day of the week. push 1 = wed, pull 1 = thur, push 2 = sat, and pull 2 = sun. each of these routines are kept fresh by the rotation of certain exercises every couple of months. but essentially these rountines are the same routines every week. week in and week out. i think what “in a row” means is that you shouldn’t do routine “a” on monday, sit on your can for a few days and then follow it up with routine “a” again. as long as you perform a different routine in the meantime the cns sees this as different and the adaption is stalled or at least slowed down. make any sense? anyone else see it this way? kevo