We are on the right track, workouts are feeling good, nutrition is balanced. So what happens now? There are a few different ways to keep things feeling fresh, understanding what makes you tick is very important, after all it’s your progress!
We could focus on a specific goal, this could be a particular lift so a squat, deadlift etc or a distance time goal such as 1000m on the rower in x minutes. The goal should play well with the other parts of your workout, it’s the overall workout that’s helped to get the progress.
There is also adapting the workout to increase intensity, in this instance, we can slowly build the workout intensity by increasing the weights, reps and sets we perform – quick note here, be careful not to make your workout too long! In this instance, we could use several methodologies:
Week 1 – 7.5kg 3 x 10
Week 2 – 7.5kg 3 x 12
Week 3 – 10kg 3 x 8
Week 4 – 10kg 3 x 10
You get the idea, important to note that we can’t (unfortunately) continuously increase weight. So trying variations of the movement can help. Alternatively, we could mix the weights in the sets, so increasing the middle set to the higher weight, then the last 2, finally upping all 3 sets to the heavier weight. Note – I often get asked about breaking/pausing during a set, this is where you stop at say 5 reps into a 10 rep set, grab a couple of breaths, then continue. Is it cheating? – I’ll let the keyboard warriors decide, however, from a purely functional point of view, there will be times that the new weight is on the ragged edge of our ability, and quite frankly how else are we going to get used to it? I’m yet to see a small child learning to walk get called out for only getting halfway to their parent….. Maybe those rules change when we get older?
That gives us a couple of routes through, find a goal or build upon our current workout, there are of course many other ways to continue progress, such as splitting the workout down, i.e. upper days, lower days, functional days, cardio/weights split and many more. The key is finding something you want to do and that gets you exercising.
Next junction – Nutrition. We would have been on point with our energy expenditure, and with progress it can be easy to allow a few more treats, cheat meals etc in as we deserve it – right? Well, whilst I would not suggest having a few tasty treats is a bad thing, we need to find the new balance. Great the magical maintenance calories bubble – exactly, so magical that it occupies a small sentence at the end of a social post or worse still isn’t an option in the less rounded calorie trackers.
There is a great reason for this, deficit is straight forward, you chop off 150 calories – doesn’t matter if you are out by 50 as either way you’ll still land in a deficit. Maintenance, well, it doesn’t have as much leeway. Typically, if we have been in a deficit when we start to up our calories we will see a slight increase in weight, 2-3lbs is normal this is the body adjusting it’ll level out. Also, as mentioned in previous posts, we may need to go past maintenance depending on the goal and our continued progress. The energy balance works both ways – food is fuel, fuel is needed for expenditure of effort. Start with a small increase, add in 50-80 calories, this could be by having an extra piece of fruit or a slightly larger portion size. Patience is key here, small incremental steps will allow the fine-tuning needed.
Lot’s to take onboard, as always, if you have any questions or would like some help speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.