MIX AND MATCH
“If you’re working at sub-maximal e ort, you will achieve sub-maximal results”
In the gym or strength training from home, when it comes to pushing progress, variety is vital. “If you don’t adapt your stimulus,” says Ben Gotting, cofounder of e Foundry, “your body’s development will stagnate.”
Adding varied stimuli to a plan is necessary when there is either a consistent inability to increase the loading pattern, or physical development has stopped. For advanced gymgoers, Gotting advises changing programming every four to six weeks.
ere’s no shortage of ways to add variation to your sessions, but the method needs to challenge the body. “If you’re going to the gym and working at sub-maximal e ort,” Gotting says, “you will undoubtedly achieve submaximal results.”
He suggests that one of the best options to mix up your routine is the ‘rest pause’ method: “Work to technical failure in the ten- to 12-rep or 40-70-second time under tension range, for example, then pause for up to 20 seconds and try to force a further four to six reps out.” ‘Muscle rounds ’ are another option to add variety. “Take a load you can complete for eight to ten reps and go for six,” says Gotting, “then rest for 20 seconds and bash out a further six reps. Keep going until you have achieved 24 in total.”