How to Avoid an Exercise Rut

Article written by Behavior disorders

If your workout remains the same for too long, you’re missing out. Your body gets used to repetitive exercise, and it doesn’t gain muscle the way it should when you begin your training. You end up with diminished returns, which is to say that the energy you exert is not equal to what you get for that time and effort.

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Shocking the Muscles

There are a few ways to go about, but the idea is to give your muscles a bit of shock by asking them to do something they aren’t used to doing. Some people get around this by switching which parts of the body are worked on which days.

Another option is to change which exercises you use for a particular part of the body. Legs are an easy example because there are so many ways to strengthen your legs. You might go for a jog one day, leg weights another and squats at the end of your week.

Creating a framework for your routine that changes consistently is key in avoiding the exercise rut.

Trial and Error

Through trial and error, you find which exercises work for you. That gives you more options to add to your repertoire which ultimately reduces the chances of you suffering from a rut. Adding increased weight to your warm up session, doing forced reps or practicing the rest-pause technique can help.

Once you’ve found some options that work for you, save them until you start to plateau. Using those other exercises will help you get over that hurdle much faster than adding more weight.

A Brief Overview of Medicine in Hong Kong

By Phineas Upham

Hong Kong is a modern city, so it’s hard to believe that there are only two medical facilities offering six-year degree programs. That’s only a portion of a story that stretches back to 1887, involves a bit of revolution, and comprises the structure of modern medical education in Hong Kong.

1.-Medical-Team

In 1887, the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese was founded with the core mission of teaching medicine to the Chinese. This effort was founded and funded by the London Missionary Society, which would later become the Council for World Missions. The college’s first graduate was Sun Yat-Sen, who would become the founding father of the Republic of China.

Sun fell in with a group of revolutionary thinkers who were popularly dubbed “The Four Bandits”. They began publicly speaking out against the ruling Qing Dynasty, which stubbornly refused influence from Westerners and routinely declined sending scholars to learn from those more technologically advanced. It was not until the first Sino-Japanese War that Sun would see the opportunity to overthrow China’s dynastic system and create something new.

In 1911, the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese became the School of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong. Today, it is one of two facilities offering study programs to students hoping to practice the science of medicine. These facilities also place students in internships, which are requirements before a student is able to properly practice medicine. Exams, however, are rigorous. Consider that Sun Yat-Sen was one of only two graduates from a class of just 12 people. Today, students can expect a pass rate of 5-10%.


Phineas Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Phineas Upham website or Facebook page.