I try to make it to the gym a few times a week, but I don't have hours to spend there. I'm getting bored with my lifting schedule. How can I liven things up and keep myself interested in working out?
-- Omar Minaya (stupidly traded Mike Cameron)
It's good that you are noting your boredom and aren't content to simply plug away at the same old routine for months and months. It's important to keep changing parts of your workout around, as much for keeping your interest as for continuing to make gains. There are a number of things you can do to keep your workouts compact, intense and interesting.
Try mixing in supersets or compound sets to decrease your rest periods and add intensity. This will keep your heart rate up and maintain a "burn" in your body. Supersets are going from lifting one muscle and then a different muscle with no rest in between; for example, do triceps extensions immediately followed by biceps curls. Rest for 45-60 seconds and repeat. Compound sets are very similar, except you will be working the same muscle group in both exercises. For example, bench pressing immediately followed by flies.
You could also try to mix in some drop sets, which are great for building muscle size and strength. A drop set works by doing a moderately hard weight until you have almost reached failure, then immediately decreasing resistance by 15-20 percent and doing another set with no rest; take another 15-20 percent of the weight off and do a third set. Then you've completed a single drop set. Mixing in different types of sets into your workout will change up the pace and intensity, and should be challenging enough to fend off boredom.
I feel like all Inside Fitness ever talks about is getting big. What about those of us who aren't interested in maxing out on muscle mass, who want to maintain our weight and tone? Don't we matter at all? If you're even reading this, I'd like some advice on what and how I should be eating in order to maintain my weight and maybe even lose a couple of pounds.
Ideally, there are five main things that we should be getting from our diets: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and good fats (monounsaturated and omega-3s). I won't bore you too much with the details about where you can find these foods, but I will give you some advice about how to eat.
If possible, you want to be eating smallish meals every few hours throughout the day. It's important to never go too long without food and also to try to avoid getting really full. The reason for this is all about metabolism. When you are eating consistently through the day, you ramp up your metabolic rate so that you are burning more calories during everything you do. By keeping your blood sugar relatively constant, you never feel the lethargy of being really full and never feel the emptiness of being really hungry. This equals more energy and more calories burned - two things that everyone wants.
To summarize: try to eat quality foods in decent portions frequently throughout the day. Also, like with exercise, set reasonable expectations for yourself. Don't try to be perfect all the time. It's much better to be consistently good than infrequently perfect. Making small dietary improvements gradually can go a long way over time. Just try to make smart decisions (and follow my sound advice).
Why do I get sore after I lift sometimes and not others? If I don't get sore from a workout, does that mean I'm not pushing myself enough?
-- Adrian Roe, Ukrainian culture enthusiast
The cause of delayed onset muscle soreness (the soreness we get from lifting weights) is thought to be caused by microscopic tearing of muscle tissues and peaks approximately 48 hours after muscle exertion. These tears have positive results and eventually lead to greater muscle size and strength - reasons that we exercise at all in the first place. Although a good workout doesn't always make you feel sore the next day, a little bit of soreness is a nice reminder that we really went hard in the gym the day before.
As you get accustomed to a workout, muscle soreness will tend to decrease over time. Stretching is a good way to minimize soreness the next day, although it won't prevent the pain entirely. Soreness isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you are sore for five days after a workout, it's usually a sign you went too hard. Try decreasing resistance or volume the next time you work out, and your muscle soreness should go away after a couple days. As a general rule though, don't be overly concerned about the soreness that you feel.
