If you are an athlete that is training for a sport the best thing to do is train for that sport by practicing that sport. If you are a golfer play golf and practice specifically the basics of teeing off, chipping and putting and playing golf games. If it’s tennis you practice your back hand, serving etc along with playing the games. If your idea is to improve your bench lift you add more weight as time goes along. The body will adapt and get stronger in the bench lift to the demise of other areas of the body. If you are a Martial artist you practice your art. The body gets better at what ever it is asked to do by the practice of that specific sport. No great revelation there. The old adage is true. Practice practice practice to get better at what you want to get better.
However, if you are not training for any specific sport, but just for health and strength then an issue can arise by the repetition of the same set of exercises. The body will natural become efficient at what it is asked to do and overall gains over time will decrease. Through the repetition of theses exercises there can be an imbalance in the body as you practice a set of skills and ignore other parts of your body. If you vary your exercises so the body does not know what to expect it has to work harder. That is what we need for health benefits. We need to fool the smart intelligent body and not let it become complacent in it’s movements due to it’s self efficient ways of learning how to do things better. Not that we work harder but that the body works harder by being challenged from many approaches.
As mind and body are one the challenges of a varied workout will also work the mind, but it is the body we are discussing here. If a new demand is placed on the body by a varied routine the body will not become accustomed to what is demanded of it. If you do the same thing all the time there are diminishing returns. One could say that progressively adding weight to the same lifting routine challenges the body, but the movement is the same. It is movement along with added weight that needs to be varied. You need to move with intelligence and knowledge to protect the body from harm. This is why it is good to learn from many instructors various forms of exercise.
There needs to be a holistic approach to strength and conditioning. Don’t just run for cardio or Lift weights for strength, stretching for limberness. Yes you do lift weights for strength, but repeatedly the same exercises all the time and just increasing the weight lets the body lock itself knowingly into the same movement. You can bench 400 lbs, but can you scratch your back without aid of an implement. Lifting weights the old fashion way where you isolate parts of the body to push a lot of weight thereby getting little muscle tears that in the long run will cause most of the shoulder and back issues people have. Using machines that restrict movement of the body can also be damaging as too much strain tends to be put on one area of the body. You need to be WELL ROUNDED. Do many things and vary what you do for strength and condition. And don’t forget the joints. There are many exercises that will work the joints and don’t even require any implements
You need to increase strength of large and small muscles. Work the stability muscles and tendons. Most people don’t work the breaking muscles (Muscles that stop a movement) when they push weights as they are doing a slow grinding push. Doing fast controlled movements with lighter weights and halting the action quickly will work the breaking muscles. This will give a different kind of strength to the body by working the tendons from a tense – to relax – to tense action. A karate performer will move quickly and stop quickly using breaking action to develop power and not need an over muscled body to do some amazing things.
How do you keep the body guessing and working hard? Use many tools. Kettlebells, Clubbells/Indian clubs, Sandbags, Balance exercises, Core exercises, Yoga, Pilates, Body Weight exercise, Battling Ropes, Joint Mobility exercises Martial Arts, Free Weights, Aerobic exercises, all in a balanced and progressive way. Do not become attached to any one methodology.
The key words being:
Progression – Increase weight, complexity, time,
Foundations – Build a foundation of knowledge on which to progress from
Control – Move with a controlled purpose of movement
Variety – Vary things up all the time
Commitment – Commit to a regime of staying in shape and stick with it
Intelligence – Learn things and do the smartly.
Diet – Lets face it this might actually be the most important EAT HEALTHY.
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Izzzy Barish is a contributing writer to Martial Arts Combat Training. He is a retired Martial Arts Instructor-Karate Do & traditional weapons and a Certified American Kettlebell Coach. Izzy is also a practitioner of Pilate’s & Yoga and is 58 years old & the grandfather of four. Visit him at http://www.izzybarish.com/excersises.htm & www.izzybarish.com
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Izzy,
Super article! I really like the portion about the breaking or stopping muscles. This topic deserves an article in it self.
I also like your recommendations about mixing up your program and that someone who is training for health, fitness & longevity needs to train differently than an athlete who peaks for a specific season. Keep the great articles and video’s coming.
P.S. Thanks for mentioning the proper eating part, most people miss this.