You have reached a plateau - welcome - the air is fresh up here but you are going nowhere or so it seems. Why does this happen? The answer is dead simple - it is that most people almost never change their exercise routines and they are performing the same sets and reps in the same old order !

This article will help to broaden your mind, I hope, and show you some ways of varying your training routine. There are lots of things you can do to vary your training routines so that you can get the most benefit for building muscle and losing fat. Some people think that changing their sets and reps will do the trick. But how about changing the following :-

Change training frequency and length of training session.
Change exercise type - free weight or machine based, multi-joint or single joint?
Vary the amount of resistance and time under tension
Change your stability base - sitting, standing, one - legged ?
Shuffle your exercise angle - upright, bent over, inclined or flat?
Change your rest periods between sets and rep speed.
Change your grouping - go for circuit training, super- setting or tri- sets?



I know lots of guys who stick religiously to 3 sets of 10-12 reps for each exercise. They also have the classic rest of a few minutes between their sets. Let us look at a few examples to help you get more creative:

Why not 10 sets of 3 , with just a mere 20 seconds of rest between the sets?

Have you thought about using a lighter than normal weight - try 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise.
Go for close to your maximum weight and 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.
Try a heavier weight and go for 6 sets of 6 reps and you can do a sprint on the treadmill for 3 minutes between each set of weight lifting.
Select one full body exercise - that would be , say, a dumbbell squat and presses. Do that exercise for a full 20 minutes. That is pretty intense but it does vary the routine.
Do a workout based on your bodyweight only - so go for the push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and dips. Add in a few squats and lunges.
Do a full circuit (12 different exercises) which cover the whole body -no rest between exercises.
Next time round, do the same as above but change the order round - last one first and so on.

Vary your speeds - on one workout go for faster repetition - on the next one go really slowly
Try to vary your weekly routine - one week you can do three workouts of an hour each. Next week, change that to five shorter workouts of just 30 minutes each.
In this article I have outlined some of the many ways you can vary your training routines which will get you results faster and you won't turn into a gym robot!

Robert Locke is an specialist in Health.
Visit to receive your own personalized metabolic rate calculator as well as 4 secret hard-body workout routines - both FREE. Click on the Truth About Abs.