Some call it program hopping, some call it muscle confusion, some call it simply, changing it up. In any case, it’s not an effective training strategy if you want to see real benefits from your training. I can certainly understand not wanting to be bored with your training as well. With that consistency is king and you’ll need it to master certain movements (whether you want to or not). Below I have 3 ways I've found work great to at least OK with my gen pop folks.
Consistency leads to mastery- If I had my way, I would want trainees to be on the same program, like the exact same, for about 6 weeks. I’m not a fool and realize most people won’t find that enjoyable so I compromise at 4 and since my pricing model matches well with that, that’s what I’ve stuck with and it’s worked. What I have found is that if I change the program just a touch after 4 weeks, for 4 more weeks, it gets the clients to develop good understanding of the movements. So, in the end, consistency is king both in showing up and in your training program. Variety is the spice of life- I’m not so hardheaded to think that folks won’t get bored with the program, so I’ll change reps, SOME variations and sets. Sometimes it's after that 4th week, and if not then, absolutely after the 8th week, unless someone likes where things are going. The cornerstone movements usually won’t vary all that much, hinge, squat, push, pull and carry. Why? Because those are the big money movements that provide you more bang for your buck the better you master them. The accessory movements are the ones that move the most, while still seeing benefits. For those that can’t help themselves- Should you run into a situation where you need weekly variety with someone, the best compromise for both sides are simple. Keep the main lifts the same, hinge, squat, push, pull, carry and then vary up the accessory moves. Keep the pattern, but change the exact exercise. Keep in mind this is less ideal, and will, for very short periods, work just fine, stick with one of the above otherwise. Example; Week 1 Squat as the main lift, 1-Leg RDL and 1-Arm Bench as your accessories. Week 2 Squat as the main lift, 1-Leg Hip Thrust and Landmine Press as your accessories, and so on. The above are best, to good, to still good but less optimal. If you find yourself in a rut (or someone you know is in a rut) consider one of the last 2 options to help kick start. Do yourselves a favor though, resist with every little bit of effort you have, total program hopping. It simply isn't a good strategy. Thanks for reading fam, have yourself a week!
1 Comment
I’ve been yapping a ton about injury prevention for our young athletes and just the general youth population. To me, one thing that still gets ignored by many that can help this is the value of in season strength training. Here are the 3 reasons people try to give and my counter to them.
The first argument I hear against this is that they should focus on getting stronger in the off season only. The most glaring issue with that statement is, most of these athletes don’t have an off-season these days, so how do you expect them to only get stronger in the off season? The vacant two weeks around holidays that they could probably use to recover and not get hurt and spend time with family? That’s a negatory friend. The next thing I hear is usually what follows above, I don’t want my athletes hurt or burnt out. As I’ve stated before, barring catastrophic injuries, which is not something you can really prepare for, in season training will have the exact result you seek in terms of not getting hurt. Assuming you use half a brain with the programming, athletes will likely be able to find more energy later in the season than if they did in season training than not. Also, not hammering athletes into the ground with mindless conditioning would be a way to prevent that, as many sport coaches like to do. The last thing I hear it, there’s no time to do an in season lift. B AND S to that. My teams do a 45 minute in season lift after practice and about 90% of them are better for it every time. It shakes out some of the soreness, maintains their mobility and keeps their strength, sometimes even makes them stronger during the year. Tell me where the downside on that is. To very little surprise for most, the downside to getting in an in season lift is very little when some thought is put into it. Hope everyone found this at least informative and helped dispel some of the silly ideas out there. Have a good rest of the week friends! I want to clarify something I said some time ago about something being better than nothing. It is still true, something will always be better than nothing, especially when it comes to exercise and movement. What I’m hoping to move more people to is from something, to something slightly better. My job as a coach is to find an appropriate challenge for my athletes and clients. That is what I am hoping for more people to do. It’s a sliding scale really. If we are talking about a very sedentary person that is super detrained (0), then getting from 0 out of 10, to somewhere between 1 and 3 is a perfect start. I think a ton of people live in this range which is OK if they can manage to stay with it. It is human to want to challenge yourself, if for nothing else, to prevent the lack of boredom. 0- Very sedentary 1-3- Walking, some body weight training, beginner yoga, host of other things 4-6- Fitness classes, small group trainings, jogging (see blog about either sprinting or walking, but some people still get here), novice strength training, again many other things 7-10 High end athletics and super intense workouts (building towards some sort of competition usually) So let’s say someone finds a low barrier form of exercise like walking and they get to the ‘3’ I referenced earlier. Should they themselves stuck on the proverbial hamster wheel, they may think about what’s next? Do they start to jog? Do they start doing a fitness class? Maybe look up a random weight workout on YouTube? Whatever it is, I’m my new hope is for more people find how to move to that 4-6 range without getting too frustrated. The reason is because most of the activities that will get someone into this 4-6 range are going to have either a community or a coach, sometimes both. Those two things right there will help them find the appropriate challenges for themselves for their entire lives, should they choose so. Even if it’s temporary and just want to go back to the walking, they now know it’s there. Also, coaches and communities tend to help folks to stick with it for the long haul.
My point is, I want more folks go from 0 to 1 AND from that 3 to a 4. It will help them sustain their fitness regimes for a longer period of time. IF you are one of those people looking to go from a proverbial 3 to a 4, please reach out to myself or your friendly neighborhood coach to get help moving to your '4'. Thanks for reading today friends, have a fun Thursday and great weekend! |
Details
AuthorJarrod Dyke, CSCS Archives
April 2024
Categories |