Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we’re going to be talking about how often your workout should be changed. If you have any questions about today’s blog, then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188
So, long ago I had a client come in that had been working with a trainer for seven years, and when they first went in it was a great setup. They assessed them, measured them, did all that kind of good stuff and got him a new program, and this was seven years later that I was talking to him, and I said, “That’s great. How often did they change it?” And he said, “Change it? It’s been the same thing every time.”
So, for seven years this man has been doing the same program and never was measured again, never was assessed again obviously because he wouldn’t be making any progress, but never was really catered to again, was never treated as though there was a need for that and given that opportunity to progress, and I know that a lot of times that’s the situation. A lot of times whether we’re working with someone or we’re on our own, we’ve been doing the same thing over and over and over again. The funny thing is that we keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result, right?
So, that’s where a lot of people get frustrated. They start seeing that, “Well, I lost some in the beginning, in the six or eight week period, but then I really haven’t lost any since then, but I’m just going to keep doing it because it worked the first six or eight weeks.”
Well here’s the secret. If you haven’t been doing anything and you start doing something, anything will cause change. Here’s the reason behind it. Your body is highly adaptable. As humans, that’s what our bodies are made to do. They adapt to the situation, the surroundings, and what stresses or stimulation that we’re putting upon them, and so as we’re going through the same motions day in and day out, again, in the beginning they’re going to change because it’s something new, but after that, how do we cause that change to happen? How often should we be changing what we’re doing?
Well, there’s kind of two different schools of thought on this outside of the whole just don’t ever change a thing, which I think we’ve already assessed is not a good idea. But there’s two different schools of thought. Number one is that we change it up all the time. It’s called muscle confusion. For some and for certain purposes, it can be a great way to do things, but for long term health and fitness, typically that’s not going to be your best bet.
There’s a couple different reasons behind that, but one of the big ones is psychology. Your brain gets tired of having constant change just as much as it does having constant the same. So, if we change too often, our brain does not catch up with it, and we feel like we’re constantly having to work extra hard. I know a lot of people, and none of them want to work extra hard, right? Nobody wants to do that. So we want something that fits into our life but that’s efficient and is going to work.
So, what do we do? Well, we go back to research, and we find that if we are able to catch our body at the right point, we can create a sense of similarity and then create change that will allow our body to adapt. So, if you’ve ever hit that plateau where you’ve been working out for ever, and you can’t seem to change; it just feels like a struggle. Then you start to change something, maybe you go into a new program or you do something new, and all of a sudden you see change. It’s exciting, right? It’s because it’s how our body works.
So, after four to six weeks, our body is done with it. Typically I’ll tell you that the brain is like, “Wait, I could still do that a little bit longer. I’d be okay to not have to think for a little bit longer.” But at about four to six weeks, our body begins to adapt in that plateau. So, it starts to say, “Well, I haven’t seen anything new lately. I don’t really need to create any neural pathways. I don’t need to create new muscle memory. I’m good here; I’ll just stay here.” So, in that highly adaptable scenario that we were talking about, you get stuck. You hit that plateau.
So the secondary focus that a lot of people take is the approach of custom fitness where we know that the brain can handle so much and the body can handle so much, and we put the two together. So, by changing your program every four to six weeks and keeping it something maintainable through that time …
Now, I’m not saying don’t change it at all during that time. Rather, what I’m saying is keep a solid progression of things that are very similar, either changing the exercises to similar things or keep the same exercises and change the rep range or the duration or the density of the program throughout that four to six weeks. It will be enough change to create a change in your body, but not so much that you are driven crazy by it. Because if you are a busy mom like me or a busy worker, adding more stress to your life and more things to think about is usually not top on the list.
So, for me, if I can do a workout for four weeks and know that I’m going to change something each week but it’s not going to be so huge that I have to relearn the program, then I’m much more likely to do it, and we all know that consistency is the way that we get the success that we’re looking for, right? Whether it’s health and wellness or whether it’s a specific body result, consistency is how we’re going to get there. So, if we start to make a pattern of consistency, every four weeks we changed the program, then we stay on the program, and we do this, then our body starts to learn that pattern, and it starts to prepare for that adaptation, which makes it that much more beneficial.
So, if you are wanting the accountability and help with creating an action plan to see results, or are wanting to someone to help create a workout plan to push you to your greatest potential, then that’s what we’re here for. We work with our clients not just on fitness, but also nutrition. What we do is we will ensure that you are supported throughout every aspect of your health and wellness journey, and that includes making those eating changes. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.