Keeping your body guessing

[JNel04]

what is the theory behind switchin up ur routine (reps/exercises/split/weight) to keep your body guessin? should you do it every so often...say every third week or so or more than that?

let me give you an example using my chest workout
Week 1
Flat BB Bench
Incline BB Bench
Decline BB Bench
Incline DB Flys
Standing Cable Crossovers
Dips

Week 2
Flat DB Bench
Incline DB Bench
Decline DB Bench
Flat Bench Cable Crossovers
Dips
pushups

Would i be better off keepin this routine and switchin up the exercises every week (like i do now) or would it be better to do week 1 workout for a couple of weeks and then do week 2s workout for a week and go back to week 1 for 2 weeks?

any advice is always appreciated

[kstone6tb]

I pretty much do that exact routine. I switch it up every week. Sometimes up to 4 different routines per body part(doing single muscle a day split) depending on what muscle. One week, I'll do really high weight with low reps and negatives, with the week being low weight/high reps with burnouts and such. I feel like this gives me the best results in never getting in a groove that your muscles adapt to. Hope this made sense and good luck bro.

[JNel04]

i get u bro. i just never really new if it was a bad thing to ALWAYS be changin it up.

[S.P.G]

switching up can be many different things, rest between sets, rep range, angel of the movement, week lay out, number of sets. but you don’t need to do all these at once. I like to use them one at a time, changing every 3 weeks on rep range, then maybe do that routine backwards, then change exercises ect, ect, I think a good rule of thumb is to change every 3 weeks…its all about when you body will adapt then preventing it....

[Flexor]

switching up can be many different things, rest between sets, rep range, angel of the movement, week lay out, number of sets. but you don’t need to do all these at once. I like to use them one at a time, changing every 3 weeks on rep range, then maybe do that routine backwards, then change exercises ect, ect, I think a good rule of thumb is to change every 3 weeks…its all about when you body will adapt then preventing it....

That's good advice. I like to keep a lot of things in the locker so that I can change it around over a long period of time without running out of things to do.

Even if muscles are sore from a workout, is it possible that the body has adapted and will not grow, but just repair to the same level again? I guess its a good idea to change every month or so just to be sure...

[Lavinco]

The main reason people swith up their shit is because their bodies plateau after doing the same thing for so long.
You should consider changing everything about your workout, diet and resting about every 3 months. Find something that works well for you and then completely change it after you plateau but stay consistnt until then.
It's sometimes referred to as "Shocking the body" among other things.

[JNel04]

i get everything you guys are saying, but is it possible to not run into a plateau?

also i know this is a lil off topic but would u guys consider this overtraining if i did chest in the morning followed by tri's at nite or the combo of shoulders and tri's. and then the split of back in the morning and bi's at nite?