If it Doesn't Challenge You, it Won't Change You

Good morning from my little guy...

Grady Bear <3

I had a pretty decent day off yesterday, sleeping in until 8:30, doing some leisure reading, walking the Fitness Pups, getting a workout in and oh, yeah...eating!

After about 75 minutes at the gym doing cardio and triceps, I stopped by the grocery store for some post-workout fuel and ended up walking out with a 9-piece vegetable roll. Sushi is great for post workout because it's got a good ratio of carbohydrates to protein. (Especially if you are a fish eater- you'll get that extra protein!)

I obviously don't do the fish, but I can't get enough of this veggie combo of carrots, cucumbers and avocado. Plus, I am also a wasabi addict so sushi hits the spot!

Yum!

It's officially cutting season which means it's time to buckle down on my diet, up the cardio and change up my weight lifting routine. I gotta get rid of this winter bulk to prepare for my half marathon coming up in just over a month! Five extra pounds feels like 20 when you're 5'2'' and running over 13 miles. And lets just say...I've got a little more than five to lose. However! I'm strong and feeling really good about my workouts so I'm right where I need to be to start the cutting cycle.

Last night I couldn't sleep so I decided to redo my workout split. For those unfamiliar with lifting lingo, your workout split is basically the way you separate your body parts into days of the week. Here's a couple examples to give you an idea:

Example #1: 7 Day Split
Day 1: Quads/Calves
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Chest/Triceps
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Hamstrings/Glutes
Day 6: Shoulders
Day 7: Rest
Repeat

Example #2: 5 Day Split
Day #1: Lower Body
Day #2: Back/Biceps
Day #3: Rest
Day #4: Chest/Triceps
Day #5: Shoulders
Repeat

Remember, if you aren't challenging your body, you wont change it!

The human body is highly adaptable so it only takes a few weeks for a new routine to become second nature and become less challenging. It's important to change your split every now and then, in order to keep your body guessing. Besides changing our training split in terms of number of days or the order in which we train body parts, we can also change things like number of reps, weight, number of sets, rest time etc. From what I've read, studied and experienced, I think it's best to change up your split every 12 weeks minimum. 

This morning's workout, my first day of my new split, was a tough one, as one of the changes I made includes moving up from three sets of each exercise to four sets. I also changed my repetitions from 12 to 18 so the overall volume of my workouts is going to be a lot greater. Hopefully I will see some good results from this!

Question of the Morning:
How often do you change up your exercise routine?