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Episode 2810:
Eric Leija emphasizes the importance of variety in fitness routines for achieving a lean and functional physique. By incorporating diverse movements and equipment, you can enhance your strength, avoid plateaus, and keep workouts engaging. His insights provide practical strategies to optimize your training.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.ericleija.com/variety-the-key-to-lean/
Quotes to ponder:
"Variety is the secret sauce that keeps your workouts interesting and your body guessing."
"By exploring different tools and movements, you not only build a balanced physique but also stay motivated and injury-free."
"Monotony is the enemy of progress, break through plateaus with a mix of challenges."
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[00:00:00] Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.
[00:00:24] So, press play on Good Sleep tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a good night's sleep. Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily.
[00:00:38] This is Optimal Health Daily. Variety, The Key to Lean by Eric Leija of EricLeija.com. And I'm Dr. Neal Malik, reading you some of the most popular health and fitness blogs out there, with permission from the websites, of course.
[00:00:52] Oh, and hey, before I forget, we're due for a little inspiration. It's the middle of the week. So, here's our inspirational quote.
[00:00:59] The only things that stand between a person and what they want in life are the will to try it and the faith to believe it's possible. Rich DeVos.
[00:01:10] Let's get right to it as we optimize your life.
[00:01:17] Variety, The Key to Lean by Eric Leija of EricLeija.com.
[00:01:23] You may have noticed that at Onnit Academy, we do some pretty off-the-wall movements around here.
[00:01:28] From ropes to get-ups and getting creative with kettlebell swings, it's safe to say we like to throw our bodies for a loop during workouts.
[00:01:34] And this isn't just for fun. Well, because it is fun.
[00:01:37] We do this because adding variety and switching up your workouts is a proven way to boost all aspects of your fitness,
[00:01:44] especially if you're trying to break through a weight loss plateau or hitting a wall in your performance.
[00:01:50] Adaptation, or why you should regularly switch up your workouts.
[00:01:54] Our bodies are designed to adapt to their environment.
[00:01:57] Whatever we throw at them, they do their best to make the necessary adjustments to handle the load, so to speak.
[00:02:03] In the context of performance and fitness, we see this reflected in our muscle fibers and metabolism.
[00:02:08] When we lift heavier weight or move in a new way, our muscle fibers strengthen and become more flexible to handle the increased pressure and range of motion we've given them.
[00:02:18] When we add more endurance, circuit training, or higher-intensity metabolic exercises to our regime,
[00:02:24] our bodies respond by kicking our metabolism into gear enough to handle the increased intensity.
[00:02:30] Shredded by switching it up.
[00:02:33] You may notice that when you're training for fat loss, progress tends to slow down the closer you get to your goal.
[00:02:38] This is because your body has essentially adapted to your new style of working out and eating.
[00:02:43] And if you keep repeating these workouts at the same level, your physique is most likely going to stay at that level as well.
[00:02:50] However, if you add new movements to your workouts that challenge your body again by increasing intensity,
[00:02:56] it will adapt accordingly by shedding more fat.
[00:02:59] This is also why high-intensity interval training workouts are some of the best you can do,
[00:03:04] because of the constantly increasing challenge it puts on your entire system.
[00:03:08] One study done on participants doing steady-state cardio, which means doing cardio for a long time at a slow, steady pace,
[00:03:15] and they did this on a bike versus those adding in high-intensity interval training illustrates this principle.
[00:03:22] It found that the group that sprinted on a bike for 8 seconds,
[00:03:25] followed by 12 seconds of light exercise for just 20 minutes,
[00:03:29] lost 5.5 pounds of fat,
[00:03:31] while the other group that did 40 minutes of steady-state exercise lost no fat.
[00:03:36] Here we see that by pushing their bodies beyond what they're used to,
[00:03:40] the group doing the high-intensity interval training version of biking
[00:03:43] were able to actually lose more fat in less time.
[00:03:46] Other studies show challenging your body with new or more intense workouts
[00:03:50] actually creates changes at a cellular level in your musculoskeletal system
[00:03:55] that causes it to burn more fat even while at rest.
[00:03:58] Not to mention, a flood of hormones that promote fat loss,
[00:04:01] such as epinephrine and norepinephrine,
[00:04:03] are released in higher amounts during exercises where you're challenging yourself.
[00:04:08] How to add variety to your workouts
[00:04:10] Adding variety doesn't have to equal overhauling your entire routine every other week.
[00:04:16] Instead, you can simply choose one of these variables to increase, decrease, or switch up.
[00:04:21] Variable 1, amount of reps and sets.
[00:04:25] Variable 2, intensity.
[00:04:27] Variable 3, workout length.
[00:04:29] Variable 4, workout duration.
[00:04:32] Let's just use intensity and workout time as two variables you decide to switch up in your workout.
[00:04:38] Maybe your normal routine is to work out for 45 minutes up to an hour each day, 5 days a week.
[00:04:44] Perhaps during that workout, you do 25 minutes of some type of cardio on the treadmill,
[00:04:48] a bike, or even jogging around the block.
[00:04:51] If you find you've hit a plateau, meaning you're not shedding any more fat,
[00:04:55] your muscle gain is minimal or your performance is stabilized,
[00:04:58] what you may need to do is increase the intensity of your workout,
[00:05:02] drop the duration, and only work out 4 days a week.
[00:05:05] You could switch to high-intensity circuit training.
[00:05:08] Kettlebells are obviously great for this.
[00:05:10] Pushing as hard as you can for 20 to 25 minutes straight,
[00:05:13] doing full-body functional movements,
[00:05:16] and drop the extra cardio.
[00:05:17] Because of the change to the intensity and duration,
[00:05:21] your body will be shocked out of its normal routine and metabolism,
[00:05:25] which will cause it to adapt to handle new style of workout,
[00:05:29] aka you'll start to see changes again.
[00:05:31] You can keep this process going,
[00:05:33] experimenting with shuffling around your high-intensity short workouts
[00:05:37] with your longer workouts pushing heavier weight.
[00:05:43] You just listened to the post titled
[00:05:45] Variety, The Key to Lean,
[00:05:48] by Eric Lea of ericlea.com.
[00:05:50] And I'll be right back with my commentary.
[00:05:53] Dr. Neil here for my commentary.
[00:05:55] So when I was learning about exercise physiology,
[00:05:58] I always thought things had to be done a certain way.
[00:06:01] I had to follow a certain exercise prescription for everybody.
[00:06:05] And I know that sounds really lame and counterintuitive,
[00:06:08] especially based on what I now talk about.
[00:06:11] But at the time, I thought I knew everything.
[00:06:13] If everybody just followed these specific sets and reps,
[00:06:17] they'll get results.
[00:06:18] Well, in reality, now of course I know this,
[00:06:21] that doesn't happen.
[00:06:22] In fact, a couple of students just asked me the other day,
[00:06:25] they said,
[00:06:26] how long did it take you to start feeling comfortable
[00:06:28] with getting the people you trained results?
[00:06:32] So how long did it take you to actually feel comfortable
[00:06:35] recommending certain exercises, basically,
[00:06:36] and feel very confident in your ability as a trainer
[00:06:40] to get these people to get the results that they want?
[00:06:43] And I told them five years.
[00:06:45] And you know what happened?
[00:06:46] My students' mouths dropped.
[00:06:47] They said, five years?
[00:06:49] That's too long.
[00:06:50] And I said, you know why that is?
[00:06:51] It's because I was really stubborn.
[00:06:53] I didn't let any new information creep into my head.
[00:06:56] I didn't think about other types of training.
[00:06:58] I just stuck to what I learned out of the textbook
[00:07:00] and applied that to everybody.
[00:07:02] And that was my mistake.
[00:07:04] I probably would have gotten my clients to be much better off
[00:07:08] if I was more open-minded.
[00:07:09] And so one of the things that I was closed-minded about
[00:07:12] was high-intensity interval training.
[00:07:14] I thought it was unsafe.
[00:07:16] But luckily, we're learning through actual studies
[00:07:19] that it's relatively safe for most people.
[00:07:21] Now, of course, this depends on the types of exercises
[00:07:24] you're doing.
[00:07:25] For me, when I was doing box jumps,
[00:07:27] I've told this story many times before,
[00:07:30] box jumps was something that probably wasn't best for me,
[00:07:33] at least doing really high box jumps,
[00:07:35] because that's how I injured my back.
[00:07:36] I jumped up on a really high box,
[00:07:39] and when I reached the top of the box,
[00:07:40] I sort of didn't land on both feet,
[00:07:43] and I was sort of balancing on one leg,
[00:07:45] lost my balance, hopped off the top of a very high box,
[00:07:49] and landed on that same one leg, which tweaked my back.
[00:07:52] So instead of landing on both feet like you should,
[00:07:55] I landed on one leg,
[00:07:57] and that definitely messed up my back.
[00:07:58] So for me, that's something that I've stopped doing.
[00:08:01] But that doesn't mean I've given up
[00:08:03] on all high-intensity interval training.
[00:08:05] So what we are learning through some good studies now
[00:08:08] is that incorporating high-intensity interval training
[00:08:11] can help break through some of those plateaus.
[00:08:14] And for me, I found that when I started using
[00:08:17] this type of training,
[00:08:18] I actually saw better results.
[00:08:21] Now, that's just how my body adapted.
[00:08:23] Yours may be different.
[00:08:24] But I found improved results
[00:08:26] when I incorporated this into my routine.
[00:08:28] Now, that doesn't mean I don't do
[00:08:30] 40 minutes of low-intensity cardio.
[00:08:33] I still incorporate that.
[00:08:34] And in fact, this is kind of how I do things.
[00:08:37] One day, let's say Monday,
[00:08:39] I do high-intensity interval training.
[00:08:41] Tuesday, provided I didn't kill myself
[00:08:44] with that high-intensity interval training.
[00:08:45] I'll do some light cardio, 45, 60 minutes,
[00:08:49] maybe a easy jog, easy row machine,
[00:08:52] something like that.
[00:08:53] Wednesday, high-intensity interval training again.
[00:08:56] Thursday, you guessed it, low-intensity cardio.
[00:09:00] Friday, maybe rest.
[00:09:02] Saturday, maybe another rest day
[00:09:04] or some light cardio or high-intensity training,
[00:09:07] just depends on how I feel.
[00:09:08] Sunday again, maybe low-intensity cardio
[00:09:11] or another rest day, depending on how I feel.
[00:09:13] Maybe high-intensity interval training.
[00:09:15] But basically, I mix it up.
[00:09:17] I don't just stick to high-intensity interval training
[00:09:20] all the time.
[00:09:21] That's how you'll overtrain.
[00:09:22] That's how you can get injured.
[00:09:23] So if you do choose to incorporate
[00:09:25] high-intensity interval training,
[00:09:27] be safe.
[00:09:28] Always get permission from your doctor, of course.
[00:09:31] But choose moves that are safe for you.
[00:09:33] And hopefully, you'll start to see
[00:09:35] some of those results.
[00:09:36] All right, that'll do it from me for today.
[00:09:38] I'll be back here tomorrow for our Thursday show.
[00:09:41] So stay tuned for that.
[00:09:42] Where your optimal life awaits.