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Keep your Body Guessing
Author: James Flanders  | Posted: 10-11-2007 | Comments: 0 | Views: 11 | Rating: (55)  (?) 
If your workout routine isn't delivering the results that it once did, making a few simple adjustments could be just the ticket to jumpstart the effectiveness once again.
For years I basically worked out the same way week in week out, month in month out, year in and year out. What happened? Eventually not much. I reached a plateau. My body adjusted and I stopped making progress. Don't get me wrong, I was still in good shape. But, I just wasn't seeing the results that I wanted to see.
I know I'm not the only one who has fallen into that rut. When I used to workout at the local gym I remember seeing the same people doing the same routines the same way week after week just like me. Guess what? Most of them weren't making much progress either. There were a few exceptions, but overall, I think most people were disappointed with the results of doing the same old thing.
Listen and listen carefully. Settling for the same old same old when it comes to your workout is a very bad decision. Not only does it lead to boredom, which leads to losing motivation, which may lead to an end of working out altogether. But, it also leads to stalling on a plateau. On the other hand, changing things up on a regular basis can keep your workouts interesting, keep you motivated and keep you seeing great results.
Simply making small adjustments to your workout program on a regular basis will keep your mind engaged and keep your muscles guessing. That will equate to increases in strength, better muscle definition and greater fat loss.
Let me give you some examples of how you can change things up.
If you enjoy jogging you can shock your system by adding a few sprints into the mix. Not only will this make life more interesting, but if will really boost your metabolism.
Every few minutes kick yourself up near your maximum speed and hold it for twenty or thirty seconds (or whatever you can handle), then slow back down to a jog. A few minutes later, do it again and then again and again. Adding five or six sprints to a jogging routine can have a huge impact. This is called Interval Training, and studies have shown that it can increase the effectiveness of your workout BIG TIME. It will literally supercharge your routine.
This same technique also works with strength training. For instance, when you work your upper body, if you are in the habit of starting a workout with push-ups, then moving on to pull-ups, then moving on to whatever, try changing the order of the exercises and you'll be surprised at what happens!
You can also alter the tempo of your repetitions. If you generally move in a steady, up down, up down motion, change it up. Instead of quickly lowering yourself down on a push-up, squat or whatever you happen to be doing, take several seconds for that movement (DOWN, two, three, four, five, six), pause and hold at the bottom of the rep, then explode back up.
To ad to the variety you can do the positive and the negative of each rep way way sloooow (DOWN, two, three, four, five, six, HOLD...HOLD some more, UP, two, three, four, five, six). Your total number of reps per set will decrease, but with a slow rep you will find all sorts of stabilizer muscles beginning to kick in that normally don't get much of a workout at all.
A great way to really shock your system is to do what I like to call Mega Reps. Mega Reps are repetitions that last as long as you can possibly hold the particular position you are in. For instance a low squat, the mid point in a push-up, the top of a pullup, or my all time favorite handstands.
Combining, "UP one, DOWN one" movements with, "Up, two, three four, DOWN, two three, four" and "UP, DOWN, two, three, four" movements and the occasional Mega Rep will give you mega results whether you are doing bodyweight exercises or lifting weights. If you try doing mega reps with weights be sure to always use a spotter.
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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/keep-your-body-guessing-256418.html
About the Author:James Flanders is a teacher and motivator specializing in physical and spiritual health. His new CD "Eat, Drink, Move, Breathe" and DVD "Make The World Your Gym" are getting great reviews. They are available at his fitness site: http://www.weightlessfitness.com/
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By: voterperson | 19-07-2008
This is a survey. When you answer please give details for each answer.
AND CAN YOU ANSWER THIS WAY:
FOR EXAMPLE YOU PICK B: (B) Focus on the many people who told you are thin/skinny
DON?T JUST PUT THE LETTER
(1) If around nine people (for example) over the years said negative things (or what you perceive as negative) about your weight, however, everyone else (numerous people) tells you that you are thin/skinny, single digit sizes would you think about:
(A) The few people who said negative things about your weight (or what you perceive as negative OR
(B) Focus on the many people who told you that you are thin/skinny and single digit sizes
(2) Do you focus on what you looked like in:
(A) In the past
OR
(B) What you look like now
(3) Do you focus on what people said about what you look like weight wise
(A) In the past
OR
(B) In the present
(4) If you were at a party and someone said to you ?I see you are being good? (meaning you are not eating anything fattening would you think they did not think you are thin
(5) If you are were at a party and someone said to you ?I see you are being good? ? (meaning you are not eating anything fattening) would you think they were just referring to the food that is being served?
(6) If a person who is heavy tells you that they think you are average size and size 8/10 BUT everyone else (even strangers) always tells you that you are very thin and size 4
(A) Do you listen to the person that called you average and ignore the ones who told you that you are size 4 and skinny
OR
(B) Do you listen to the people that told you that you are thin/skinny and size 4 and ignore the one who said average and size 8/10?
(7) If you bump into a person that wears glasses and they asked if you gained weight and the then they take off their glasses and saw that the glasses they were wearing were their old pair that magnified everything and realized you did not gain weight and still are skinny
(A) Do you accept the fact that they realized it was the glasses that made you look bigger
OR
(B) Or do you read into their remark and refuse to believe them
(8) If your mom notices you lost weight and says you are thin enough and you were always thin
(A) Would you think they did not think you were always thin
OR
(B) Would you just think they noticed you lost weight
(9) If you had food poisoning and came back to work two days later and a coworker saw you and said you are skinny and later on they said that what they meant is that your face looked like it lost weight and when one isn?t smiling one looks paler and their face looks thinner
(A) Would you accept that they were just talking about your face and they thought you were always thin
OR
(B) Would you read into their remarks
(10) If a vendor tells you that they have size 10 jeans to sell and you are a size 6
(A) Would you think they were just trying to sell the jeans and would say this to a size 2
OR
(B) Would you think otherwise
(11) If a female cousin of yours asks you if you are a size 8 due to the fact they are cleaning out their closet and you tell them you are a size 8 and they reply I THOUGHT you are a size 8 but could not remember if you told them you are a size 8 or 10
(A) Would you accept the fact that they thought you are a size 8 but had a memory lapse and could not remember if you told them size 8 or size 10?
OR
(B) Would you think they did not think you are a size 8
(12) You go into a health store and purchase two herbs and then once you pay for them you ask the clerk how much should be taken and he says most woman weigh a 160 pounds but you weigh a little less. You ask him to clarify and he says he thinks you weigh a 130. This upsets you because everyone is always saying that they think you are 110 pounds. (KEEP IN MIND WHEN HE SAID THIS REMARK YOU WERE STANDING BEHIND THE PARTITION, YOU ARE WEARING A COAT AND ALL HE CAN SEE IS YOUR ARMS AND FACE)
(A) Do you say well he cannot see me because I am standing behind a partition
OR
(B) Read into his remarks and think otherwise
(13) If you are wearing pants that balloon at the hips and a male friend of yours says you have ample hips, however, the next day when you wearing pants that do not balloon at the hips and he looks at you says ?No you don?t have ample hips it was just the pants you wore yesterday??
(A) Do you accept the fact that he does not think you have ample hips and it was only the pants that did it
OR
(B) You do not accept his answer
(14) You are at the Xerox machine making copies. A female coworker comes over to make copies and you ask her if she thought you were thin and she answered ?Well? in a hesitant way. But then she left because she did not want to wait. However, later on she saw your entire body and ran over and said ?My God you are thin. I always saw you sitting so I never realized how thin you are?
(A) You would accept the fact they thought you were thin
OR
(B) Would you read into their remarks and thought otherwise
(15) If someone tells you that they think you are a size 5/6 and they also say that their employee thinks you are a size 5/6 but you have hips but they do not think your hips are big
(A) would you accept the fact that all they are saying is you are thin with shape
OR
(B) Would you read into their remarks and thought otherwise
(16) IF your female therapist (who is thin) says to you: (1) ?You are the right weight for your size? (2) ?You are not overweight or underweight? (3)and the therapists asks ?Do you like to be thin because it is ok to be thin? (4) ?You are thin not skinny: (5) And the reason I don?t call people thin is Because some people are insulted when you tell them you think they are thin, they say why do you think I am too thin and Because many times I associate thin as being too skinny, thin usually isn?t in my vocabulary?: (6) ?You cannot go by definition of thin but by the person. Let me explain: In other words lets say a girl by the name of Donna is blonde. When you look at the definition it doesn?t say Donna is blonde, it says blonde is a color, same applies to thin. You are thin. I said you are definitely think absolutely thin. I said it about six times. Again you are absolutely and definitely thin. I will repeat it again.? and she repeated it a few more times
(A) Would you accept the fact she thinks you are thin
OR
(B) No you would not
(17 ) Lets say you only saw your best friend for the first 18 years of your life. Then you move and saw her in 1973, 1977, 1985, and 2002 - just for about five minutes in each year. And the rest of the time you just talk on the telephone. Then on January 2008 the following telephone conversation took place: (1) Your best friend tells you while you are speaking on the phone that she is so surprised how the elementary school kids dress and they are more endowed. And that when she was in school she was a size 7 but now she is a size 12; (2) and when you tell her that you are a size 6/8 she said ?I thought you would be a size 10 because my mother is a size 12, my mother-in-law is a size 16, my friend Cheryl is a size 10, and another friend is a size 12, my sons girlfriend who is 19 years old is a size 3. I mean you are far from fat but the average woman takes a size 10. However, I don?t remember what you look like all I remember is you wore a pink suit with lipstick that matched, you must be skinny
(A) would you accept the fact she does not remember what you look like and the only reason she said size 10 is because of the women she sees on a day-to-day basis and the size 10 comment was made on the phone and not face-to-face
OR
(B) You don?t agree
(18) Lets say you are on the bus with a friend - you both are thin and she spots a girl on flag outside a Karate school in a bikini. And she said "IF you take Karate you can look like her too". She clarified YOU as meaning people in general. First you thought she meant you are not thin so you ask her and she said the following: (1) You are on the thin side. Yes you can accept the fact you are thin. (2) "You have a thin face" But you say to her "But I am thin every where" and she replied yes you are (4) She says ?I have a friend that is thinner than us? (5) And she also says ?No one would ever call you fat?; (5) And you are not anorexic which you are glad about. (6) And you tell her that everyone says I am skinny she replied: "Well it is better than every one telling you that you are fat"
(A) You would accept the fact that she thinks you are thin and she was just making fun of the flag
OR
(B) No you would not accept it
(19) You are at drugstore talking to a clerk (who is fat) you are thin. The female clerk asks you ?Did you gain weight. I mean before you were too thin but now you are perfect.? But this bothered you so you wrote a lot of letters to her and called her a lot to clarify. And then the next time you came into the store she tells you the calls and letters must stop. You say ?Just tell me do you think I am thin? And she lashes out at you and says ?NO, that she is thin? - even though you know she is fat.
(A) Would you tell yourself that the clerk had to say you were not thin because she had to say something nasty to get rid of you because you were pestering her and writing letters to her and the clerk knows you are thin and all she meant was that before you were too thin but you are still thin?
OR
(B) No you do not accept it
(20) You (who is a size 6/8) are at the park with your friend Tom. You are wearing an oversized sweater. He looks at the sweater and says (1) Size 10 body in a size 12 sweater? (2) ?I don?t think you are a size 10 all I am trying to do is make a comparison between the body and the sweater. I could have easily said size 50 body in a size 52 sweater, OR a size 100 body in a size 102 sweater.? - Then for some reason you and he lost touch for two years and then bump into one another and you both go grab a cup of coffee. An hour later out of the blue he hands you the following note that he wrote that he swore to himself if he ever ran into you he would give to you:
?You are not extra, extra large, You are not extra large, You are not large, You are not medium and has never been medium,. YOU ARE SMALL AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN SMALL. YOU ARE A SIZE 5 AND IF A SIZE 5 IS LARGE THAN YOU ARE A SIZE 1.?
(A) You feel all your friend Tom was doing two years ago was just trying to show the difference between the body and the sweater and Tom does NOT think you are higher than a size 5.
(B) You do not agree
(21) You are with your friend Patricia. She tells you that (1) ?I had a dream about the Beatnicks. I dreamt that John and Steve from the group liked us and we hung out with them. However, Steve the one you were with said I only like girls with plump legs and I told Steve you have plump legs and then I woke up? Keep in mind you always wear long skirts. You ask her ?do you think my legs are plump? Patricia said ?NO I HAVE NEVER SEEN YOUR LEGS AND IT WAS ONLY A DREAM?
(A) You accept the fact she said she does not think your legs are plump and it was only a dream
OR
(B) NO you don?t accept it
(22) In 1987 you were talking with Bob (your boss) and your friend Nancy. Bob says (1) Nancy you are skinny? (2) But when you ask him if he thinks you are thin - he says no, but knows you are obsessed with weight. Later on you think Bob said to you that he was only kidding. And you Know for a fact that your other bosses always say that you eat to live, we live to eat? Even though you have an excellent memory you cannot remember if it really happened or you imagined the above incident
(A) Do you say to yourself No one would flat out tell someone they are fat unless it was a joke. They might say something like you know you are a little bit overweight or something a bit more polite. The incident could be real because you think Bob told you he was clowning around. Also guys like to annoy girls and play on their sensitivities
OR
(B) You do not agree
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