One of the biggest reasons why I try to keep up with a Wednesday weekly check in is because of change. Things change as you go along. You will also spend time testing different things to find what is right for you. Changing up workouts is an important part of getting stronger. Have you ever heard people talk about leg day or something similar? There is a reason why it’s a practice to exhaust one muscle group but give it a break in between the next time that you work out that muscle group. I’m just going to refer to it as leg work outs for the purpose of this article.
Recovery
The biggest reason why you need to give your legs a break in between tearing them up is recovery. You’ve torn up those muscles by pushing them to the limit and now you need to let them build back up. Just like a callous that grows bigger and stronger the more you use your hands, your muscles will grow bigger and stronger the more that you work them out. However, callouses can’t grow to protect your hands if you never give those hands a break. Instead, you will just end up tearing them up.
Pushing Harder
When there are days between you working out your legs, it gives you the ability to do more. I can’t run a marathon every day. However, if I run that marathon once a month, I would still build up the strength and endurance. When you have the ability to completely max out the muscles in your legs, you will see bigger gains. Instead of tearing up your leg muscles a little bit, you push until you just can’t anymore. The torn-up muscles work harder and build up stronger than if you just did a couple reps.
Versatility
If you just do the same things every day with your workouts, it can get boring. Mentally, it just becomes another chore that you have to get done that day. By focusing on different things every day, you are letting your mind change focus and do something new each day. This also is a bonus physically. Doing the same thing day in and day out becomes normal. Your body adapts to what you’re doing, and it becomes harder for you to continue to see improvements.
Better overall body
I truly love being able to improve myself every day. I like working out because I like to see how far I’ve come. When I focus in on different areas each day, it gives me the ability to build stronger more parts of my body. If I stuck to the same thing, then there is no way that I could work out all those muscles each and every day. I used to do this at one point and my workouts usually looked like twenty minutes of running. Some squats, pushups, sit-ups, etc. Then followed by a little bit of basic weight training. There really isn’t anything wrong with this kind of thing. Many people are happy with this kind of workout. However, If I want to see some major improvements, I will have better success by being able to focus on all the different areas. For Instance, If I want to have stronger arms, I will need to work out my forearm, inner bicep, outer bicep, the three parts of the triceps, going up into your traps and all the muscles into your back. This will give you all the tools that you need to build up stronger arms and see some real improvement. However, there are just as many muscles in your legs as well.
Mentality
It’s actually really good for you mentally to continue to experience and instigate change. Not change to the point of no routines and chaotic lifestyles. Change that you can mentally learn to adapt when needed. The healthier that you get, the more that you need to change to continue to improve yourself. Lifting more weights, getting more protein, changing your diet, running further, etc. It’s important that we all learn to be able to make change and grow. Having mental strength helps us to all get through the rough times.
Mel's Health and Fitness 