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Ask Shannon: Fitness and Nutrition Q&A

Posted April 10, 2008 at 07:00 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Her Fitness, Training Programs, Her Health, Special Features, Q & A

With years of training under her belt, resident fitness and nutrition expert Shannon Clark is ready to help you on your way to a healthy, informed lifestyle. Got a question? her your inquiries, and be sure to check back every week for the latest Q&A.

Q: When it comes to changing my workout, what’s more important, just adding more weight and changing the number of reps I do or changing to an entirely different exercise?

A: Great question! This will depend slightly on what your goals are. If you are looking to add new muscle mass, it is probably best to change the exercises you are doing periodically. This will help to hit the muscle group from a slightly different angle, thus sparking more growth.

If you are solely looking for strength gains, on the other hand, then it is okay to keep the exercise the same but bump up the weight. Note that you should always be striving to make small increases in the weight you are lifting, but when it comes to increasing strength as the core goal focus, this will be most important.

When you switch to a new exercise, chances are the weight you are lifting will have to be lowered due to the fact that it is a new type of stimulus and you will not be used to performing this action.

Because of this fact, you will have some ‘downtime,’ so to speak, in terms of successively adding more weight, thus it’s not the ideal set-up for strength gains.

Regardless, however, after six months on any program it’s a good idea to take an entire week off to completely rest. Once you are rejuvenated and ready to get back on track, then it’s time to create a new program. Not only does this reduce the chances of overtraining, but it will also help to keep your motivation levels high since you’ll be less likely to become bored.

Q: What would be a better workout, 30 minutes on the bike or a 40 minute step class?

A:  Both will offer their own unique benefits so it’s important for you to assess the main reasons why you are doing the workout and then go from there.

The step class will offer more of a social aspect to the workout so if one of the main reasons you are looking to exercise is for this factor, this is likely going to be a better choice for you.

It is also going to heavily depend on the type of bike workout you are performing.  If you are just peddling at a moderate pace, this isn’t really going to be sufficient enough to experience many benefits and as such, won’t do you a whole lot of good. 

If, on the other hand, you are incorporating some sprint intervals in or something of that nature, then you will derive much greater benefits from it and chances are, the bike workout will be a better option for you.

One thing to pay attention with the step class also, is that these will vary widely in degrees of difficulty and as such, total calorie burn and physical benefits.

Try and find a class that’s fast paced in nature and incorporates a lot of up and down movement since this will increase the difficulty.

Furthermore, the more blocks you are able to place under your step, the greater the benefits you’ll receive.

Also, it’s a great idea to participate in both options, since this will increase the amount of variability you have in your workouts, which is also another key aspect to seeing improvements. 

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Tags: cardio workouts, cardiovascular fitness, clark, conditioning, fitness questions, increasing strength, muscle growth, stationary bike, step aerobics, strength training, training programs, weight training workouts, weights, workout progress

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