Want results? Change your training stimulus

As the summer wanes away and the stifling heat gives way to brisk fall air it is time to change your workout program.

Exercise is physical stress on the body; when properly applied the body adapts to the stress by becoming stronger and/or fitter. In order to ensure that a workout program continues to be effective it is important to change the training stress on a regular basis. this is the theory of periodization as described by Canadian professor Tudor Bompa which is actually based on the work of endocrinologist Hans Selye who described how the body adapts to and accomodates a stress such as exercise.

my recomendation is to change your workout program as the season changes; this is an effective way to organize training so that you are adjusting your training input on a regular basis. think about it this way--you use your body differently at the different times of year. During spring and fall when the weather is warm but not hot (in many parts of the country) it can be more pleasant to be outside while during the heat of the summer and the chill of the winter it can be more comfortable to exercise indoors in climate-controlled health clubs or studios.

If you plan a year-round workout program (the macro-cycle in the parlance of periodization) then plan on spending more time training outdoors--running, cycling, walking or doing fitness courses in parks during the more pleasant times of year and adjust the training program to use indoor facilities when the temperature spikes in the summer or drops in the winter.

This type of seasonal periodization is just a suggestion; the important thing is that you are changing your training stimulus on a regular basis. If you do the same training program for too long your body will adapt to the stress and the training stimulus will lose its effect. so no matter how you organize your training, be sure to change the level of intensity (for example the speed or distance of a run, or the amount of resistance used) and/or the type of exercise (resistance training with free weights or bodyweight, cycling, running) on a regular basis. but since the body will adapt to a training stimulus in about 10-16 weeks than changing a training program on the seasons seems to be an effective way of structuring a long-term exercise program.