Lifting weights creates small tears in muscle fibers, which are later rebuilt into bigger and stronger muscles.
This is the most fundamental explanation of how muscle grows.
But when you perform the same routine over and over, there is nothing for the body to adapt to. It has already adjusted to the same exercises, weight, and overall volume of the workout program that you’ve done time after time.
Of course this doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s important to keep this principle in mind: muscle will not grow unless you give it a reason to.
Not concerned about muscle growth? Fat burning follows the same principle. Think about the first time you go for a long jog outside when the weather starts getting nicer. Your running form is probably a little rusty, you’re breathing heavily, and by the end of the jog your lungs are on fire.
Even if it wasn’t a particularly long run, you burned a considerable amount of calories because the activity was very challenging.
But what happens over time? Your cardiovascular fitness improves and that same run becomes easier. As it gets easier you burn less and less calories because you become more efficient at the activity. You’re still running the same distance, but since you’re in better cardiovascular shape you don’t burn as many calories.
Similar to muscle growth, your body will not burn fat unless you give it a reason to. If you want to continue making fat loss progress, you would have to either run harder or longer.
With this principle in mind, you can see why following the same routine for a long period of time just won’t work. Eventually you will plateau, no matter what your goal is. To prevent this you need to implement some type of periodization.
Using Periodization for Long Term Results
Periodization means structuring your workouts in a specific manner to make continuous progress toward a goal. Your program starts as one macrocycle (one year or longer), then broken up into mesocycles (a few months) and further into microcycles (a week or even less).
You can use periodization for any goal; whether it’s building muscle, fat loss, increasing strength, or improving athletic performance.
At risk of getting lost in the weeds, I won’t go crazy in depth on the different types of periodization. The most important thing is that you understand the basic concept. We will focus on one basic type of periodization, called linear periodization, where the workouts are broken up into monthly blocks with the goal of hypertrophy in mind.
Using this method, the programming would be quite simple. You will stay in the same rep range for an entire month (mesocycle) and switch to a new rep range for the next month. For example, month one all of your sets would be between 15-20 reps, the next month 8-10 reps, and the third month 4-6 reps. Then you would return back to 15-20 reps for month four and repeat the cycle for as long as you want your macrocycle to be (a year or more). Again, don’t get lost in the specific rep ranges, focus more on the time frame and how often you’re changing the routine.
Here’s where people run into trouble: they sell themselves short. They look at 20 reps per set and immediately choose a weight that is far too light. In order for any program to work you have to challenge yourself whether you’re doing 1 rep or 100.
Let’s look at the big picture here; when was the last time you did 15-20 reps for an entire month? Probably never. All too often we get stuck in the 3 sets of 10 reps mindset because that is considered “optimal” for hypertrophy. You know what’s horrible for hypertrophy? Doing the same thing over and over. If you’re in a situation where you don’t have access to a gym and only light weights at home, this is the perfect opportunity to incorporate a high rep training block into your routine.
Another aspect of programming is frequency. Frequency is how often you work a body part, typically measured on a per week basis. Most lifters typically incorporate a “bro split”, working each body part one day per week (i.e. chest day, arm day, leg day, etc.). On the opposite end of the spectrum are full body workouts, where you work your entire body multiple times per week. Rather than dedicating a full day to let’s say, chest, you work it two to three times per week. Basically, it would be less volume per body part per workout, but over the course of the week the volume would add up. In between these two models of frequency are upper/lower/upper/lower and push/pull/legs routines.
Research indicates that higher frequency may be better for muscle growth. This has led some experts to shun the bro split, but honestly I’ve had a lot of success with it, particularly when I first started training. I’ve moved to higher frequency training but will still throw in a bro split every now and then to break up a training cycle.
Why Changing Routines Too Often Isn’t Optimal
On the other end of the spectrum are people who do completely different workouts every single time with no real end goal in sight. There are forms of periodization that do change every workout but it’s structured in a specific manner. Some people have this fascination with “tricking” the muscle by doing all sorts of different exercises haphazardly, which is ludicrous (gotta shock the muscle bro).
You can properly periodize a program by doing similar exercises each workout. What would change are the reps and overall volume.
If you naturally gravitate to certain exercises, it’s probably for good reason. You may be particularly adept at that specific movement. Or you may be strong or have a good mind muscle connection. On the flipside, there are exercises that you see many other people do that you may not like.
For me, I never liked overhead dumbbell tricep extensions. They feel awkward to me and put too much tension on the elbow, especially when using heavier weights. As a result, I’m not going to crowbar that exercise into my routine just to switch it up! There are plenty of exercises that I like way more that work the triceps.
How Often to Change a Routine
I like to change my routine every 3-5 months. I’ve been using a 6 day push/pull/legs routine with non-linear periodization (basically a heavy day and a hypertrophy day, hitting each group of muscles twice per week) for quite some time with pretty good success.
If you’re someone who has split their body parts for a long time, I would recommend experimenting with higher frequency training. You’ll soon get past initial fear of “not doing enough” for each body part once you start hitting everything two to three times per week.