Slow Down to Spice Up Your Routine

An easy and effective way you can mix up your strength training routine so that you and your muscles don’t get bored is by simply slowing down your repetitions! Anytime we do resistance exercise, we are putting tension on our muscles, and the longer we place that stress on our muscles, the harder they have to work.

So, what exactly do I mean by slowing things down…

Well, there’s a couple of ways I recommend for you to slow your routine down to make it more challenging and to switch things up:

• Use a lighter weight (if you usually do biceps curls with 10lbs, go with 5lbs), so about half the weight of what you would normally lift, and try lowering on a count of 10 seconds, and lifting back up to starting position on a count of 10 seconds. Try 8 to 12 reps like this for all of the exercises in your current routine, and 2 to 3 sets each.


• Try body weight exercises in slow motion too. For example: use a 4 second count while lowering your body down for pushups, squats, and lunges, and then come up slowly on a count of 4 seconds. Do as many reps as you can until you are fatigued. Work up to 2-3 sets like this.


• Another great way to slow down is to add holds or “pauses” during your repetitions. You can do this with both free weight and body weight exercises. For instance, lower into a squat as you normally would and hold for 10 to 15 seconds before coming back to standing. Repeat again working your way up to holding for 30 seconds per repetition. If you are doing a chest press with free weights, lower and hold for 3 to 5 seconds, then return to starting and repeat until your muscles are fatigued at about a level 8.5 to 9 out of ten. You will also want to use lighter weight as adding holds definitely presents a new challenge!

These are just a few ways you can spice up your current routine and keep your body from hitting a plateau. Have fun and let me know how taking it slow feels for you!

Your Trainer,

Ashley