Skip some rope

I'm always hearing excuses about people not having time to workout, blah, blah, blah. Well, I'm not going to get into the strength training part of it. Since 90% of Americans think cardio is walking on a treadmill, I thought I would save them some time. You can run on a treadmill for 30minutes and burn a decent amount of calories. However, the lifetime of joint aches and knee pains is not worth it. In a third of the time you can do one exercise in burn just as many calories. 10 minutes of jump rope is equal to 30 minutes of jogging 7.0 mph on the treadmill. There is a reason you see athletes jumping rope frequently. Jumping rope helps build agility and foot quickness. One common examples is boxers. They want to be light and quick on their feet, hence the tremendous reps of jump rope they do.

So next time your bored and want something different aside from running on the treadmill, pick up a rope. You'll be surprised just how tough lasting on it is.

Until next time, have a great week!

Best,

Doug Spurling, NSCA-CPT
dspurling@une.du

3 sets of 10 or 3 sets of 12?

Ask someone what they do for a workout. They may do full body, they may to body part splits. However, I can guarantee you that 99% use the same rep scheme. How often do you hear of people always doing 3sets of 10 reps, over and over again.

Now, don't get me wrong, for first time fitness goers and "general" conditioning there is nothing wrong with 3 sets of 10 or any similar rep scheme. However, your body will get use to that volume and you will quickly hit a plateau if you don't change it. The process of changing your volume, load, and rep scheme is known as periodization. A good program is periodized so the rep scheme is always changing, keeping the body guessing.
So, how many reps is good? Well, it depends on your body, your goals, and the exercise completed. Here is a general guideline that is used:

Power: 1-3 reps
Strength: 3-8 reps
Hypertrophy: 8-12reps
Endurance: 13+ reps

So, base that with your goals. If you are a football player looking for power and strength why are you wasting your time squatting 3 sets of 10 reps. Maybe a better load is 5sets of 5 reps. Same goes as someone looking for hypertrophy and definition. Completing reps of 6 will get you strong as hell, but muscle symmetry, unlikely.

This is just a guideline. Everybody is different. Some people may gain tremendous strength with 5 sets of 5 while others it may take something like 4 sets of 8. Those above numbers are just guidelines and overlap + or - a few depending on the person.

The idea here is to take a look at your program. Have you been doing the same rep scheme over and over again? Do you have the same volume for your squat compared to your biceps curl? Each exercise is meant for something different and should have a matching rep scheme. Keep your body growing and periodize your program.

If you would like more information on periodization or would like a program designed for you please contact me.

Best,

Doug Spurling, NSCA-CPT
dspurling@une.edu