Going to the gym is often the biggest barrier to working out. But then folks go, get it done, and are glad they went. Yet for others, hitting the gym is only half the battle; the other half is against a much tougher foe – boredom.

If you’re the latter and you want to change up your workout routine while staying focused on using exercises to build strength, then this article is for you. For women who want to learn more about how to gain strength, check out these three tips.

Why should you change up your routine?

Ever heard of a workout plateau?

After your body is used to the strengthening exercises you’ve been doing, you might notice they feel easy. Too easy. As a result, you aren’t making the same gains you once were, which can leave you feeling frustrated and wondering how to build strength again.

Luckily, there are several ways to get past the workout plateau. It could be diet-related or sleep-related, or your plateau could have more to do with your training. The body loves variety and challenges. Shake things up by trying new exercises to build strength, pushing yourself to lift heavier (safely), or extending your workout duration.

But no matter what the cause of your workout plateau, change is essential if you want to keep progressing. So, without further ado, here are several ways you can switch up your workout.

1. Cross-training for overall performance

Cross-training is an effective way to improve performance, especially for individuals interested in overall fitness.1

For example, one study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looked at whether the benefits from cycling would carry over into runners’ performance and aerobic capacity.2 For two weeks, participants did six sessions of 6x10-second “all-out cycling” against resistance (7.5% of their body weight) with different rest periods. Subjects refrained from intense exercise 24 hours before the tests, but otherwise continued their normal workout routines.

Overall, the researchers saw an improvement in performance, but performance adaptations seemed to depend on the work-to-rest ratio. An 80-second rest period showed better results for both endurance and power compared to the 30-second and 120-second rest groups.2

Besides improving overall fitness, cross-training can also decrease your chances of injury (depending on what you choose, of course) because you’re targeting different muscle groups while giving others a chance to recover. However, the most interesting finding might be that cross-training can be an effective alternative when recovering from injury.3

In a study published in The Journal of Injury, Function & Rehabilitation, researchers compared a group of 50 healthy runners to 50 runners who had recently been injured but had returned to running.3 Both groups did a variety of cross-training exercises, such as swimming, lifting, biking, and yoga, after which their metabolic, cardiopulmonary, and gait responses were compared.

Contrary to the researchers’ hypothesis, both healthy and injured runners had similar cardiopulmonary and metabolic responses. The authors concluded that cross-training might have helped the injured group maintain their fitness and prevented or minimized the “metabolic decline” that can occur when recovering from injury.3

Whether you’re injured, or you need to break up the monotony, or you are no longer seeing gains, cross-training can provide you with a new set of skills to learn and master, keeping you mentally engaged and excited for the next workout.

2. Strength first, power second

As previously noted, the body likes variety, so consider modifying some of your favorite examples of strength training. For instance, if you do body-weight squats, then you can add weight, or you can really shake things up with jump squats, an exercise that helps you develop explosive power and burn calories.

But as much as modification can help refresh your workout routine, keep in mind that your fitness level should factor in, too. Research has shown that athletes are more effective when they develop strength as a foundation for power.

One meta-analysis on strength training examples analyzed 107 studies on power (plyometrics) and strength training (resistance training) in youth. Published in Frontiers of Physiology, the review noted that while power training was more effective at improving youth jump height, strength training was more effective for sprinting and lower body strength measures.4

3. Cardio approach depends on your personal goals

If you have been researching how to increase strength and activities for muscular strength, then you have likely heard claims that cardio sabotages muscle gain. But ultimately, it comes down to your routine and training.

So, which activity is an example of muscular strength? Although cardio is not usually thought of as a muscle strengthening activity and won’t bulk you up the way weight training does, research shows you can get stronger and build localized muscle. Examples include cycling, swimming, kickboxing, boxing, and even running.5,6

However, if you don’t consume enough calories to maintain the surplus needed for putting on muscle or perform at too high of an intensity, then cardio can work against your goal.

The takeaway

Now that you know how to approach exercises to build strength, support yourself with the right protein powder. Thorne’s Whey Protein Isolate helps maintain healthy muscle mass and supports muscle repair after injury or training.* Our formula contains 2.3 grams of the amino acid leucine, the optimal amount of this nutrient for muscle repair and maintenance.*

What’s so special about leucine? During times of physical activity, illness, injury, or undernourishment, the body goes into the state called catabolism, in which it breaks down internal stores to fuel itself. Leucine initiates the switch from catabolism to anabolism, when the body begins to rebuild itself.

Research suggests that leucine in the amount of 2.3-2.5 grams at a given time is needed to stimulate the recovery and growth process.7

References

  1. Tanaka H. Effects of cross-training. Sports Med 1994;18(5):330-339. doi:10.2165/00007256-199418050-00005
  2. Kavaliauskas M, Aspe RR, Babraj J. High-intensity cycling training: the effect of work-to-rest intervals on running performance measures. J Strength Cond 2015;29(8):2229-2236. doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000000868
  3. Peng L, Seay AN, Montero C, et al. Metabolic, cardiopulmonary, and gait profiles of recently injured and noninjured runners. PM R 2014;7(1):26-33. doi:10.1016/j.pmrj.2014.06.013
  4. Behm DG, Young JD, Whitten JH, et al. Effectiveness of traditional strength vs. power training on muscle strength, power and speed with youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Physiol 2017;8. doi:10.3389/fphys.2017.00423
  5. Hudelmaier M, Wirth W, Himmer M, et al. Effect of exercise intervention on thigh muscle volume and anatomical cross-sectional areas-quantitative assessment using MRI. Magn Reson Med 2010;64(6):1713-1720. doi:10.1002/mrm.22550
  6. Konopka AR, Harber MP. Skeletal muscle hypertrophy after aerobic exercise training. Exerc Sport Sci Rev 2014;42(2):53-61. doi:10.1249/jes.0000000000000007
  7. Churchward-Venne T, Burd N, Mitchell C, et al. Supplementation of a suboptimal protein dose with leucine or essential amino acids: effects on myofibrillar protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in men. J Physiol 2012;590(11):2751-2765.