Variety is key to health and fitness. Here is my personal and Weider’s lists to spark new ideas for our next workout session.

WORKOUT TRAINING PRINCIPLES BY THOMPSON

Integrated functional training

Isometric training, strength training in which the joint angle and muscle length do not change during contraction

Machine-core supersets, using balance disks in conjunction with machines to engage core muscles

Plyometric training, designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system

Posterior training, exercise targeting only the posterior muscles

Resistance training circuits, high-intensity aerobics using various types of resistance exercises with little or no rest periods

Sequence sets, adding one exercise every circuit without a rest period; up to 10 circuits

Slow-motion training and Speed reps

Total body supersets, a superset consisting of an exercise for each lower body, core, and upper body muscles

Variety training, changing your routine every session

WORKOUT TRAINING PRINCIPLES BY WEIDER

Compound sets, working opposing muscle groups in back-to-back fashion, taking as little rest as possible in between sets

Continuous Tension, performing each rep of an exercise by never allowing the weight to rest

Muscle priority, training your underdeveloped muscles first

Pre-Exhaust training, pre-fatiguing a larger muscle with a single-joint movement followed by compound movements

Pyramiding, doing first set with less weight for more reps, increasing the weight and finally decreasing the reps again

Set System Training, doing more than one set for each exercise

Split system, split the body parts into two or three sessions and workout two or three times per week

Staggered sets, training smaller body parts like forearms in between all sets for your major body parts

Supersets, alternating two exercises for the same muscle group, taking as little rest as possible between each set

Tri-Sets, doing three sets in a row for the same body part with as little rest as possible in between sets

REFERENCE: Bodybuilding 101, ©1995, Robert Wolff, Contemporary Books, Lincolnwood, IL; Wikipedia, Joe Weider, en.wikipediorg/wiki/ Joe Weider, November 2009