I was in the gym the other day, and a friend of mine (very big….~265lb former football player) asked if I wanted to workout with him a bit. I figured it would be good to do so. He is a certified personal trainer, and could check out my technique and give me a few tips.
At one point, he asked if we wanted to bench…to which I said “I don’t bench.”
This was the truth. I hurt myself bench pressing about 6 months and just never did it again. I stuck with dips and cable flys instead.
Well, I figured to give it a try again and see how I felt.
IT FELT GREAT! Looks like my injury was a thing of the distant past. WHY THEN HAVE I BEEN AVOIDING ONE OF THE BEST EXERCISES ON THE PLANET FOR UPPER BODY DEVELOPMENT?
Next, we went to do pull ups. Now, I have been doing pull ups at almost every workout for the past year. I never vary my grip in any way. Sometime I use a weighted belt for extra resistance, but that is it.
My friend immediately grapped a angled bar (used for cable rows), threw it over the pull up bar, and started doing these super-narrow grip pull ups. I never even thought of doing such a thing. I tried it out…AND IT FELT GREAT. Again, I was activating a different part of my back.
Next, we moved onto deadlifts where he showed me another tip (really squatting down super-low to engage more of the glutes). The day after my legs really felt it. I COULD TELL I REALLY STUMBLED UPON SOMETHING GREAT WITH THIS LITTLE ADJUSTMENT TO MY TECHNIQUE.
The point is….dont be afraid to mix up your workout a bit. Every couple of months, make it a point to do so. Don’t get in a rut and think that YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR ROUTINE. Changing things up will help you grow and make it more fun in the gym. In fact, if you get to the point where you start getting too attached to a certain routine….that’s a certain sign that you must start making some changes.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
what is the concept of “working-out” that you write of? ;)
Hey Ravi,
I completely agree with you on this. It is so important to vary your workout, not only to get to different muscles and get more enjoyment out of your routine, but also to get through plateaus of no gain.
You may find my article on exercise interesting at http://www.alexshalman.com/blog/2007/01/24/too-busy-to-exercise/ it covers a similar subject. Let me know what you think.
Best regards,
Alex Shalman
Hey Alex, thanks for the comment. I also checked out your article, it’s great. Especially the part about procrastination and lowering standards/ambitinos when it comes to exercise. So true.
I used to be so motivated in school to exercise, b/c I was surrounded by athletes. Now people look at me oddly if I just workout every day! They think I am obsessive or something. For me, it’s all just normal. Healthy habit or not, being out of the ordinary takes effort.
btw…I tried to add a comment to your blog, but the darn thing wouldn’t let me login! Not sure what’s going on with that.
Ravi,
Thank you very much for pointing out the comment problem. I believe it to be resolved. If it isn’t trouble would you mind double checking again to see if it will work for you? I do not want to lose valuable readers such as yourself to such an easy to fix dilemma.
Hey Alex,
I tried your site again and the comment worked this time. Subscribed to your feed so looking forward to the updates!
What motivated you to start blogging?
Hey Charity, FYI: picking up a martini glass DOES NOT count as working out! :)
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