The program that worked in month one is NOT the one that’s going to work in year 2
The biggest issue with most people’s training isn’t that their training program is a haphazardly thrown together mish mash of random stuff they’ve seen with no structure or progression built into it (although that IS a problem) - no, the biggest issue is that the random mish mash program they’re doing has been basically the same one they’ve been doing for months or even years. When you consider our clients programs change every 4-6 weeks as we progress into a new training block you begin to realise how ineffective staying on a program for 12 MONTHS PLUS is likely to be. No wonder people are struggling to get any changes happening.
The program you’re currently doing is probably one you’ve done for ages now PLUS it’s one you enjoy which PROBABLY means it’s easy for you and won’t force the adaptations you’re looking for from your body. Results from training DEPEND on you stepping out of your comfort zone. And the easiest way to do that is to train in a specific way for 4-6 weeks, at which point your body will start to settle into a nice comfort zone, at which point you change it up and GET UNCOMFORTABLE again.
Changing your program doesn’t mean just jumping between a “strength phase” and a “hypertophy phase”. Although that’s a good way to do things - it’s a lot more complex than you think. Just jumping between 8 reps on everything for one month then 15 reps on everything the next month is NOT what we mean.
When we need to adjust training we might do things as simple as: adjust the training split / play with rep ranges / play with tempo prescriptions / insert or remove intensifiers / increase frequency and decrease volume for target muscles / increase volume and decrease frequency for target muscles / adjust intensity on select movements / insert or remove movements / etc OR we may change the program altogether to something unrecognisable from the previous block. Having a coach who knows how to make the right call is half the battle solved.
If you’ve been doing the same thing for ages it’s time NOW to change things up.
Strength Lab - Personal Training, Body Transformation Coaching and Competition Preparation
Personal Training Hawthorn, Melbourne