Hey everyone ! Lately I have found myself making up my workouts as I did them. Essentially doing whatever muscle gorup, exercise, reps and sets I feel like doing in the moment at the gym. The reason I do this is because it allows me to adapt my training style according to the way I feel. For instance yesterday this was my workout:

 

30 clean and jerks for time

Superset: Deadlift and pull ups 5x5

Superset: Pulldown and barbell row 8x4

Superset: Dumbell row and pulldowns (on a different machine) 8-8-6-4-2

 

This is essentially a back workout with a crossfit workout on top. Other days I do strict bodybuilding workouts, whereas some days I do strenght work.

 

I wanted to make this thread to ask you if this is something you belive to be an effective way of training. Have you ever done this yourself ?

This is an unstructured way of workingout that allows the body to adapt to the moment that you are in.

Wheter or not this is superior to a normal scheduled style of training, I can not tell. However what I do know is this: Take two different types of people:

The first person walks in to the gym with a game plan of doing every exercise in a strict way and has a note book where he tracks every detail in his wokrouts.

 

The second person walks in and does a hardcore workout without caring to much about what he did the last time and hits the weights HARD in that moment.

 

In theory the first person should get the best results. Why ? Because he tracks his progress and makes sure that he increases his work capacity everytime. But the second person simply KILLS IT in the gym, going till failure, going past the pump, living through the pain, NOT stopping at those precious 8 reps. I think that the second person might get better results, because he simply goes all out compared to the first person.

 

I like to improvise my workouts because it is fun and I get a sick pump and a good feeling when I leave the gym. On the other hand I can not help but wonder if this is actually a good idea or not. Because If I do not have a structured program then I am not tracking my progress, at least not in a micromanaging way.

What do you all think ? Is not having a structured way of working out bad even if you know that you are hitting every muscle gorup once a week and somewhat evenly ?

 

And for those in need of extra information:

My main goal is bodybuilding / fitness / taking care of my health. I workout about 4-6 times a week focusing on making sure that all my muscle groups are worked at least once a week. I am clean bulking in a slow and controlled manner, only gaining muscle over a long period of time.

I rekon that's a great idea William!

 

Honestly I struggle at times to do exactly what you said, and go into the gym without a plan. But over the last month in particular I have found it getting easier to go in to the gym without a dead-set idea of what I will do. I normally have a general idea of what I will do, so haven't really made a workout on the spot just yet, but like you said it has plenty of benefits.

 

A lot of the time people will just do their workout, hit their reps and sets and leave, even if they feel like they have more energy and could actually push that little bit harder.

 

Going into the gym thinking you will just crush whatever you do would definitely have benefits. But I don't know if you would want to do that all the time. On occassion would be good, but I think having that structure is still important for checking progress on your lifts etc.

 

In the end I suppose it all comes down to your overall goal, and whether or not you are achieving it by doing whatever, whenever and however you want to in the gym.

 

Jordan

Well, to be honest I was on a plan like this for the last few months and I didn't like it.

 

I always felt like I was not in a routine and lacked focus.

 

For me I need to see progress. Hitting the same routines each day of each week mentally tells me that I amon track and working hard.

 

Maybe if my life wasn't so chaotic It would be different. but for me I work harder when I know I am on a plan.

I rekon that's a great idea William!

 

Honestly I struggle at times to do exactly what you said, and go into the gym without a plan. But over the last month in particular I have found it getting easier to go in to the gym without a dead-set idea of what I will do. I normally have a general idea of what I will do, so haven't really made a workout on the spot just yet, but like you said it has plenty of benefits.

 

A lot of the time people will just do their workout, hit their reps and sets and leave, even if they feel like they have more energy and could actually push that little bit harder.

 

Going into the gym thinking you will just crush whatever you do would definitely have benefits. But I don't know if you would want to do that all the time. On occassion would be good, but I think having that structure is still important for checking progress on your lifts etc.

 

In the end I suppose it all comes down to your overall goal, and whether or not you are achieving it by doing whatever, whenever and however you want to in the gym.

 

Jordan

Well, to be honest I was on a plan like this for the last few months and I didn't like it.

 

I always felt like I was not in a routine and lacked focus.

 

For me I need to see progress. Hitting the same routines each day of each week mentally tells me that I amon track and working hard.

 

Maybe if my life wasn't so chaotic It would be different. but for me I work harder when I know I am on a plan.

Hey William

 

Great post. Reading through it, and from my perspective, there's no right or wrong way to approach training. Well, I take that back. There IS a wrong way to approach it, but that involves not training in the first place!

 

For me though, I'm most definitely Person One in your scenario. I have a plan and a notebook which I use to record my weight and reps. This stops me from becoming lazy (or feeling lazy) and helps me avoid plateaus.

 

I like your idea of CrossFit WODs. I like the idea of not knowing what I'd be doing once I get to train, but I know that I'd still be recording what I lifted so I could continue to measure my progress.

 

Thanks again for the post, and have a great 2015.

 

Cheers

Hey everyone ! Lately I have found myself making up my workouts as I did them. Essentially doing whatever muscle gorup, exercise, reps and sets I feel like doing in the moment at the gym. The reason I do this is because it allows me to adapt my training style according to the way I feel. For instance yesterday this was my workout:

 

30 clean and jerks for time

Superset: Deadlift and pull ups 5x5

Superset: Pulldown and barbell row 8x4

Superset: Dumbell row and pulldowns (on a different machine) 8-8-6-4-2

 

This is essentially a back workout with a crossfit workout on top. Other days I do strict bodybuilding workouts, whereas some days I do strenght work.

 

I wanted to make this thread to ask you if this is something you belive to be an effective way of training. Have you ever done this yourself ?

This is an unstructured way of workingout that allows the body to adapt to the moment that you are in.

Wheter or not this is superior to a normal scheduled style of training, I can not tell. However what I do know is this: Take two different types of people:

The first person walks in to the gym with a game plan of doing every exercise in a strict way and has a note book where he tracks every detail in his wokrouts.

 

The second person walks in and does a hardcore workout without caring to much about what he did the last time and hits the weights HARD in that moment.

 

In theory the first person should get the best results. Why ? Because he tracks his progress and makes sure that he increases his work capacity everytime. But the second person simply KILLS IT in the gym, going till failure, going past the pump, living through the pain, NOT stopping at those precious 8 reps. I think that the second person might get better results, because he simply goes all out compared to the first person.

 

I like to improvise my workouts because it is fun and I get a sick pump and a good feeling when I leave the gym. On the other hand I can not help but wonder if this is actually a good idea or not. Because If I do not have a structured program then I am not tracking my progress, at least not in a micromanaging way.

What do you all think ? Is not having a structured way of working out bad even if you know that you are hitting every muscle gorup once a week and somewhat evenly ?

 

And for those in need of extra information:

My main goal is bodybuilding / fitness / taking care of my health. I workout about 4-6 times a week focusing on making sure that all my muscle groups are worked at least once a week. I am clean bulking in a slow and controlled manner, only gaining muscle over a long period of time.

I like to utilize this type of training on my deload weeks or when I go on vacation for a week since I will be either using another gym or not have a gym so I'll have to improvise. It's a great way to try new things and test yourself. However the majority of my training is a strict schedule rest time, progression ect. If my routine is 8 reps I do 8 reps and leave nothing in my tank but if I cannot add weight but still have fuel then I add a rep. I need to be focused since I have exactly 1 hour from the time I enter the gym until the time I leave.

I fully understand your point here, I love improvising my workouts but at the same time it is hard to know if it is working or not due to the lack of keeping track of the progress.

Hey everyone ! Lately I have found myself making up my workouts as I did them. Essentially doing whatever muscle gorup, exercise, reps and sets I feel like doing in the moment at the gym. The reason I do this is because it allows me to adapt my training style according to the way I feel. For instance yesterday this was my workout:

 

30 clean and jerks for time

Superset: Deadlift and pull ups 5x5

Superset: Pulldown and barbell row 8x4

Superset: Dumbell row and pulldowns (on a different machine) 8-8-6-4-2

 

This is essentially a back workout with a crossfit workout on top. Other days I do strict bodybuilding workouts, whereas some days I do strenght work.

 

I wanted to make this thread to ask you if this is something you belive to be an effective way of training. Have you ever done this yourself ?

This is an unstructured way of workingout that allows the body to adapt to the moment that you are in.

Wheter or not this is superior to a normal scheduled style of training, I can not tell. However what I do know is this: Take two different types of people:

The first person walks in to the gym with a game plan of doing every exercise in a strict way and has a note book where he tracks every detail in his wokrouts.

 

The second person walks in and does a hardcore workout without caring to much about what he did the last time and hits the weights HARD in that moment.

 

In theory the first person should get the best results. Why ? Because he tracks his progress and makes sure that he increases his work capacity everytime. But the second person simply KILLS IT in the gym, going till failure, going past the pump, living through the pain, NOT stopping at those precious 8 reps. I think that the second person might get better results, because he simply goes all out compared to the first person.

 

I like to improvise my workouts because it is fun and I get a sick pump and a good feeling when I leave the gym. On the other hand I can not help but wonder if this is actually a good idea or not. Because If I do not have a structured program then I am not tracking my progress, at least not in a micromanaging way.

What do you all think ? Is not having a structured way of working out bad even if you know that you are hitting every muscle gorup once a week and somewhat evenly ?

 

And for those in need of extra information:

My main goal is bodybuilding / fitness / taking care of my health. I workout about 4-6 times a week focusing on making sure that all my muscle groups are worked at least once a week. I am clean bulking in a slow and controlled manner, only gaining muscle over a long period of time.

I like the idea of using this method as a DELOAD week from @Adawg38

William,

 

I guess I am more of a hybrid between you and Scott. Like Scott, I need a plan or routine to follow. Like you, I like to modify on the fly. For example, I am sticking to a four day per week Push/Pull routine. However, on the first 2 days I use supersets with reverse pyramiding. On the last 2 days, I do multiple muscle giant sets and sometimes I keep the rep range the same and sometimes I pyramid it. The bottom line is I maintain the 4-day per week Push/Pull routine with supersets but I change the exercises and the rep ranges frequently.

 

John