Stop Switching It Up: The Case for Repetition in Your Training

0:00This is Casey Young, Registered Dietitian and Certified Personal Trainer. I help women over the age of 40 get fit, lose fat and gain. Confidence we will talk all things, fitness and nutrition on the podcast. Let's get started. Hello everybody, it's Casey and welcome back to the Inspire Fitness Podcast. Welcome, welcome, happy Friday to all of you. I'm back in my studio. I'm back in my office. I've been out on spring break vacation with my family and it was wonderful. Nothing like wild, crazy, no big adventures. We did just a lot of relaxing. We had a lot of downtime. We did fight some major Florida traffic, which wasn't always super relaxing. But overall we had a wonderful time. I arrived home very, very late or very, very early.

1:01However, you want to look at it this morning. We had a late flight into Chicago last night. We knew this. Unfortunately, the airline kind of changed our flight on us a couple of times. So we had to go with a difference, maybe less ideal alternative to get us home in a timely manner. And so we chose a late flight out last night. Got into Chicago around 12 30 p.m. A.M. A.M. Not p.m. A.M. last night. And it's about a five hour drive from Chicago. And of course, we were anxious to get home. But I really didn't think we were going to push all the way. I told my husband, let's just get a little bit north, maybe north of Milwaukee. Let's just get a hotel room, crash for the night. And yeah, that didn't, that didn't happen. We were fighting kind of a winter storm mix of rain and sleep and snow that was kind of building in Wisconsin. And so we were watching that on the radar. And then, you know, you get about three hours from home and it's like, let's just go.

2:04So my husband said, I'm all right. Let's go all night. And I'm like, wait, what? This is not how I roll. I'm an in bed kind of early kind of person. And yeah, so I was dosing on and off throughout the drive. And you know how that goes. Soarnak, like slept just not enough. We did come rolling in this morning. I think we pulled in the driveway about 605 a.m. Which is like, I'm wide awake at that point, right? And anyway, I did go to bed for a little while, but I just spent a little off today. So bear with me for this podcast, everybody. I'm coming back from vacation. I should feel nice and fresh and ready to roll. But I didn't get a lot of sleep last night or wasn't very quality sleep. So we're diving in today. And we are talking about stop switching it up. And we're going to talk about the case for repetition in your training.

3:04So those of you who have been in the inspired fitness program, you've kind of been a part of a someone of a transition in the programming that I have been offering within the program. And essentially we've been moving to different phases within the program. Since almost like back in June of last summer. So it's almost been a year that we've been at this. But basically just kind of going into more of phase like programming style, by the way, I'm going to talk about in the next podcast episode. We'll get there, I promise. But essentially we've had some changes in how we've been formatting the program. And I think it is to the benefit of everybody involved. I think it is just a much smarter, much better approach to the progressive overload that I've been talking about for quite some time. But we're definitely going to emphasize, you know, why we want to stick to a phase like programming method and why we want to get away from doing random workouts

4:07without an emphasis and focus on progressive overload. Because essentially, I don't want to say you're wasting your time because I still think it is beneficial anytime you're picking up weights and working with strain training, working strain training into your fitness routine. But it's just a lot smarter way to train. So essentially we're going to talk about how we can stay focused and kind of looking at our training phases and our training cycles with that purpose and intent of I'm trying to show up and number one, do this consistently, which is not always easy. But number two, I want to get the biggest bang from my buck, right? Like I'm assuming you're here for a purpose and you're trying to get strong, trying to see muscle definition, you're trying to maybe get some body recomposition going. And when that is your goal, there's a way to train in a way that is smarter for you. Essentially, we're fighting the wellness industry, right?

5:09Wellness industry sells novelty. We want a new program. We want a new challenge. We want a new format every 30 days. Or we want just to be, you know, having a ton of variety in our workouts. And unfortunately, a lot of us women in men life, we've often been kind of trained to think that if something doesn't feel hard or new or if I'm not always changing it up, that is not working. The truth here is that constantly rotating workouts means your body never really gets the chance to adapt and the adaptation is where the results live. So if you've ever thought, I've already done this workout. I should do something different. I want you to hear this episode. And let me just also speak to, you know, within the program, we've always just kind of had a core structure to our lifts that we've been using.

6:10Highly emphasizing compound movements. So we were doing a lot of similar, similar movement patterns, all right? But again, repetition is where the results live. And when you can, you can repeat a specific workout over a period of time. And it's so much easier for you to make that progress and take those jumps of that progressive overload. So essentially, I've talked about this on the podcast. I've talked about this within the fitness program. You hear me talking about progressive overload. Essentially, it is doing slightly more over time. That could be more weights, more repetitions, using better form, deeper range of motion, slowing the movement down. Okay. That the direction matters more than the magnitude. I want you to remember that. Okay. So as long as you're making incremental little teeny tiny changes over time,

7:11whether it's, you know what? I think I'm just getting my form dialed in a little bit better. I'm getting just a bit deeper range of motion into my squat. That is progress. Okay. It doesn't have to be five pounds weekly. Nor will it be for many of you who've already been in the program for quite some time, or you've been strength training for quite some time. Bigger jumps are going to happen early on when you are just getting started. Yes, you can easily jump from those five to ten pound dumbbells in your squat. Not a problem. Maybe in the next two or three weeks, you're up to 15 pounds already. Okay. That progression doesn't always continue at that rate, unfortunately. But there's a lot of ways to keep making progress. Okay. I encourage you to write it down, right? Like I encourage you to write your lifts down. Write your lifts down. What weights are you using? And think about your rated perceived exertion. This is going to be one of the best ways for you to make sure that you are following a progressive overload and using that in your lifts.

8:12But it doesn't have to be incredibly harder detailed to track this, right? Like you don't have to get out the spreadsheet. I know some of you like to, but you don't have to. You could just use a simple notebook and jot some things down. Start with basic stuff, maybe elaborate as you get a little bit deeper into it. Okay. But here's the thing with progressive overlook. The body only changes when it's asked to do something that it hasn't done before. Okay. And progressive overload is how you make that ask consistently and safely. We're not saying jumping from five pound dumbbells to 30 pound dumbbells overnight. Okay. That does not set you up for success or for safety being your primary concern. Okay. But we need to keep pushing just little by little. And why is this especially important for women in the Inspire Fitness program or thinking about jumping in? Because we have changing hormonal profiles, right?

9:14We have declining estrogen that affects our muscle protein synthesis, which means you need need consistent intentional training stimulus to maintain and build your muscle. The margin for random and inconsistent effort gets smaller. The argument for smart programming gets even stronger and more important as we age. So why repeating a workout for three weeks is our strategy? Why has this become our strategy within the Inspire Fitness program? Number one, you're either learning the movement, which you probably know the movements if you've been around a bit. If you're new to the program, it gives you that opportunity to get exposed to those movements and those movement patterns. So your nervous system is figuring out this pattern. And coming into that second week, you know what's coming. You can expect it. And guess what? You can start pushing just a little bit harder. You can lift a little heavier and move with more confidence.

10:15And then we do it again in week three, right? And this is where you start to dial it up even further. This is where often that physical progress and like, I have taken that jump or I am adding that rep or two. That's where that happens. And then you move on, but you're moving forward, not just sideways, okay? So this is why it's exactly why in our upcoming phase. We've got a brand new phase that's kicking off on Monday and the Inspire Fitness program is going to run for nine weeks. And I have you repeating each workout three weeks before we change it up, okay? So it's not because I'm getting lazy with my programming and it's not because I ran out of ideas, right? It's because how strength is actually built and we can actually track that progression. But here's here's what I understand. I get it. Portem is real. I've heard from some of you in the program like, I know what's coming and I just like it seems so repetitive, but.

11:20Portem and ineffectiveness are not the same thing, okay? And it's the comparison trap and it's seeing other programs with new content every week and assuming that's better. Or maybe just thinking back to how we used to do things where you could pick any random workout and feel good about it, right? Again, there's just a better way. And I encourage you to hop on board and trust the process because again, you're here for a reason, right? You are here for results and I'm telling you this is a better way to get those results. So if you're feeling like I've already done this and I'm in you're feeling it as a signal that you're you're just kind of like, you know, going through the motions. Try to just focus in on what can I do just a little bit better today? Because even though you're feeling like that novelty feels like progress, the repetition is the progress, okay?

12:21So try to reframe that repetition is where I make my progress, okay? So we talked about it, keep a simple log, even just the weights you use, how you felt, how many repetitions, that's your roadmap. And that's what you're going to refer back to every single week. The goal each week isn't to do something different. And I already mentioned it's not necessarily to take a huge jump every single week. It's to do the same thing, but find a way to do it just a little bit better, okay? So if you squatted with 15s last week and you felt like you had two repetitions left in the tank, right? That's your cue. The next week, maybe we're going to just push for an extra repetition or two or use that as your sign, you know what? Now I'm going to grab the 20s or if you've got those in between us, those 2.5 pounders in between, you can grab the 17 and a half, right? That feels like less of a scary jump for you.

13:22So progress isn't always the scale or the mirror. Sometimes it's the number and the notebook and only you know about that. And that's enough because at the end of the day, if you keep seeing that number and that notebook going up, little by little, one repetition, maybe every single week or one repetition, every 4th or 5th week, guess what? That's where the results are going to come. That's what's going to happen, okay? So let me remind you, you don't need more variety, you need more time with the right things. And that is what this upcoming phase is going to be built around. And that's why I built it for you, okay? So ladies, in the program, I can't wait to get us started on Monday with this brand new 9 week phase. I'm hoping you're going to like it. We're bringing back the splits, at least for the first 3 weeks, upper, lower, full body. And then we're adding in a 4th day for those of you who are in the program and lifting 4 days a week, you're going to emphasize a little bit more of isolation moves on Saturday, focusing on arms and on shoulders, okay?

14:35Those of you who are like, okay, this sounds great. I want to get in. Guess what? I welcome you. You can jump into the program with us and get started with this 9 week phase. InspireHW.com, click on Inspire Fitness or Better Yet DM me. Fit. Nutritionist on Instagram, Casey Young, RDCPT on Facebook. I welcome your messages. I'd love to help you get started. You'll absolutely hold your hand and get you what you need. So you feel comfortable and confident and ready to roll. I know those first couple of steps can just feel a little tricky. You can feel a little uncertain. And so I'm telling you that I'm here to help you get started. And we just wrapped up a great two week reset, strength reset. It was 14 days. I've got workouts built that if you're like, I have never even lifted before, but this sounds amazing. You have access to those workouts within the Inspire Fitness program. So I would love for you to jump in. I will give you direction on where to start with those strength reset workouts.

15:36You do those for a couple of weeks. You're ready to rock and roll. You can jump into this phase with us and make some really great progress because we all know what's coming right. I got a little tiny taste of it in this past week when I was in Florida sunshine, warmth, no layers of clothes. I got to lose the leggings and the hoodies and the best for like a full six days. It was amazing. I know the shorts are coming. I know the swimsuit season is coming. And I know that tanked up season is upon us. And I want to help you feel confident, right. And you want to feel good in your clothes as well. So make the commitment nine weeks. Let's do this together. I'm here to help reach out to me. Please, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to get you started. InspireHWA.com everybody. I hope you have an amazing Friday. Come ready to work next week, ladies. We're going to we're going to go and good things are going to happen. So thanks for being here, everybody. I appreciate you. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.