It’s cold and dreary here in Baltimore, but spring is on the way and just around the corner.  What does one usually do around April or May? Spring cleaning, of course! I’m messy, and disinterested in actually cleaning anything, but at this time, with the season on the horizon, it’s time to throw out the old and stale and bring in the new training exercises, methods and programming.  If you don’t re-examine what you’ve been doing every so often, you’ll never be up to speed with your body’s continually changing needs.

Step 1: Identify The Clutter

Ask yourself these questions:

• What have I been doing?
• Why have I been doing it?
• Have I gotten the results I had been training for?
• How do I currently feel?

This seems really basic and obvious, but you would be surprised how few people actually take the time to examine their daily routines (after all, a routine is by definition minimally variable).  Those who are hungry for new results overhaul their lives when things stop progressing.  As time passes and an athlete gets closer or farther from their season, training methodology must change.  If one never takes time to make sure his goals and training are congruent, then hard work will be in vain – working hard AND SMART is what world-class athletes do.

Step 2: Compare to the Past

• How do I feel compared to when I used to do things differently? Do I feel better or worse?
• Has my body changed in positive ways?
• Have I performed better as a result of new techniques?

Step 3: Test New Variables

Nothing works for everyone, and results vary from person to person.  If you feel more fatigue, aren’t enhancing your performance, or have reached a plateau, then shame on you if you don’t try something new.  Your body will always become more efficient at any given exercise or program over time, resulting in diminishing returns.  Ever see those folks who go to the gym and perform the same routine for years? Of course you have; those are the folks who never get new results.

Even when you are being diligent with a set routine of arm care given to you by a therapist, team, or strength coach, for example, your body will still adapt to it over time.  How do you combat this? You ask? Changing your angle of pull is one of the easiest ways.

Take Blackburns, for example.  The 6 exercise Blackburn series is an incredible routine to increase scapular stability.  Yet, you’ll plateau at these just like any other exercise.  By changing the angle of pull, you can created a new stimulus for your muscles with a very simple tweak.

Performing Blackburns, for example, at a 45 degree angle will change the muscle recruitment on the rotator cuff when compared with performing them on a flat bench, thus giving your muscles a new stimulus.  More scapular depression is achieved and the rhomboids are more strongly recruited when you use a steeper angle for prone rotator cuff and stabilizer work.  You could use any angle from 0-45, but any higher than that would start getting away from the rotator cuff and the scapula stabilizers that we want to hit using Blackburns.  Simple tweaks like these can be the push you need to get through a plateau and keep making progress.

There are lots of ways to vary your training which I will highlight in more depth in an upcoming article.

Step 4: Throw Out That Which Isn’t Working

I’ll give you an example of a recent change I made using steps 1-4, just on the hunch that it might be holding me back: I had been using 4lb weights for my standing and prone shoulder circuit for the past 2 years now, but I had only moved up to that weight when a friend of mine told me that 4lb was the “healthy pro” standard for his organization.  I was happily using 2lb weights (and throwing harder than I ever had), until he told me that 2lbs was the weight only rehab guys were using for their shoulder work.  So, I graduated to the heavier weight, and never threw as hard again as I did that fall.  Was it the extra 2lbs? I couldn’t say.

So just recently, suffering through a few week bout of dead-arm, I decided to go lighter.  I am plenty strong in my shoulder, with no popping, clicking or instability to speak of (it didn’t used to be that way), so I figured I could maintain that level of strength by changing my rep and weight scheme.

I used to do this:

• (3x/week) 2×12-15 with 4lb

Now I do this:

• (3x/week)  1×5 w/5lb ; 2×15 w/2lb

Why did I do this? The short set of 5 reps with the 5lb weights will make sure I maintain maximal strength, but don’t tire myself out, while the 2 sets of 15 will give me a lower workload while still giving my muscles endurance and therapeutic work.  I never felt fatigued using 4lb weights, but my velocity wasn’t as high as I felt it should be, so I made a choice to change it up and see how it goes, to see if there was something actually holding me back. So far, I still feel strong, stable, bounce back quickly and feel fresh. Cool.

Step 5: Restock Your Shelves With Fresh Methods

If you’re plateaued, fatigued, or underperforming, get some fresh training in your life!  As we have been discussing, you can get new stimuli to your muscles in a variety of ways…

If you’re fatigued, plateaued or underperforming (or suspect you might be):

• Change training volume
• Change weight
• Change both
• Try new variations
• Switch exercises altogether
• Try a week of active rest (if you’ve been going very hard for at least a few weeks)
• Enter a new training phase (more on periodization here)
• Get more sleep
• Re-examine your nutrition

If your performance is increasing:

Keep doing what you’re doing!  But, don’t forget to be introspective about it and be open to new methods because nothing works forever!

In an upcoming article I’ll share with you some easy tweaks for your shoulder work, forearm work and the sleeper stretch.