T Nation

Improvement? Strength or Movement

Bodybuilding
#1

Hi folks,

short question on my side.
I am beware of the fact,that when you change exercises you get stronger in the first place through the learning of movement pattern and secondary (later) muscular improvment.
But when do I know if my strenght increase is NOT only cause of catching the groove.

I started an undulated programm and remained the same exercises for 3 days a week for 4 weeks.(bench,squat,chins,dips,deads)
I switched weights reps,order of exercises etc.each time.
In the first session _I made a pre test of my strength levels on the exercises and 4 weeks later a post test.
I got stronger- well.But I also had done the exercises long time ago.

So i am not sure if it is because of the learned pattern-or cause of the well designed programm.
Thats why i also wonder why chad is switching the exercises every 6 sessions-how is it possible to measure progress then?

The point is,that i want to switch the exercises every 4 weeks to prevent boredom.Thats about 12 sessions for each exercise to milk them dry.
How do i know I am making progress then?
Regards,
science

#2

This is why you should be keeping a training log. You don’t even have to max out to see if you’re making progress. Simply compare your workouts from when you first started using the exercises.

Did you increase the weight you were using for your sets? Did you increase the number of reps you were doing with the same weight? That’s all you need to look at to see if you’re getting stronger. If the weights or the reps are increasing, you are making progress.