Okay, now that I have your attention, please devote 3 minutes of your precious time to reading something that will save you weeks and potentially months down the line when it comes to seeing results from your training.
After all, you're already probably doing 3-4 sessions per week, 60 mins at a time, and wondering why the hell aren't you seeing the results you want??
Far be it from me to know the exact answer to that problem, but if your interest is piqued by what you've read so far, odds are that you may have made this mistake yourself in the past (we've all been guilty of this).
So, what do I mean by programme hopping?
You've been there before. You've been following a plan for 4-5 weeks, and the honeymoon period is starting to come to an end. Up until now, you've been lifting heavier and heavier each session, adding reps steadily, and hitting a PB each workout.
But now the weights feel HEAVY. You only matched your reps on that incline DB bench press this week instead of adding 3 to your total. You're frustrated, you're demotivated, you think you're going backwards. So, what do you do? You switch things up, and write yourself a completely new programme, with new exercises galore. Now you get to experience that sweet honeymoon phase again. You think: "Let those PBs roll in, I'm ready."
Now, while doing the above is tempting, it's also going to be detrimental to your progress. This goes for whatever your goal is, be it getting stronger, building muscle, working on your endurance, or fat loss. Switching things up too soon will actually make you worse off than sticking with your temporarily frustrating programme with the apparently stalled exercises. Let's break down why.
Your body is an adaptive feat of wonder. It is forced to get stronger and more resilient after each training session. But this process isn't rapid. It takes time. Not to mention that those consistent weight increases you see at the start of the programme are more about you getting better at the skill of lifting that particular weight rather than you actually causing a huge signal for your body to grow or get stronger.
It takes a good few weeks to months to reach a point where those skill-based improvements have been tapped out, and now we're in the hard-fought territory of actually having to grind out additional reps and increases in the weight on the bar. But this is where most of the magic happens when it comes to seeing the effects on your body.
Once you're in the phase of double progression, this is where things get really productive. What do I mean by double progression? Well, let's say in Week 6 you get 8 reps of a bicep curl, and the rep range is 8-10. In week 7, before adding weight you stick with the same weight as week 6 and get 10 reps. Then in week 8 you go heavier and start again.
Basically, double progression is spending a few sessions with the same weight you've been lifting, trying to get more reps until you've hit the required number and now you're ready to higher. This is where virtually every programme ends up eventually. But most people don't experience it, instead choosing to change things up when the fast progress is exhausted.
So, next time you hit that first wall, don't look at it as a sign of trouble and a need to change things up. Look at it as a challenge, expect it to happen, and stay confident in the knowledge that now you've made it to the part in your training plan where you have a chance to test yourself. The reward: that elusive progress that you've been after all along. The cost: DOMS, the occasional nauseating session and moments of questioning why anybody would put themselves through set of 15 reps on the hack squat...
Now get back to training and stop scrolling on your phone.
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