When should you change your workout program?

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2014-09-28

This question is asked of me and the specialists on our site every single day. The answer is quite simple:

You should change your training program when it stops yielding results.

And that could conclude the article. But what kind of article would that be if it's only three sentences long? Let’s delve deeper.

Now, you probably have the following question: How do I know when the program has stopped yielding results?

Unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward. Determining whether there is a result or not is a rather abstract concept. Everyone interprets it differently. Moreover, the decline in program effectiveness doesn’t happen overnight.

In general, the average duration of a training plan's effectiveness is about two months. Why precisely that? Simply because the practice of many trainers and centuries of human experience indicate this number. But this is a very average figure. Let's look at three different cases when you should change your plan.

When to Change the Program After One Month?

Typically, one month is enough time to determine if this plan works for you or not. If nothing has shifted in that month, and you’re sure that the plan is at fault, then it needs to be changed.

Sometimes, two weeks is sufficient to understand this. But never less. Additionally, you must be sure that the lack of progress is indeed due to the inappropriate program. It may be that your nutrition is inadequate, or you’re not resting enough.

When to Change the Program After Two Months?

If the program showed good results at the start, but after a couple of months, you notice that progress has significantly slowed down – change the program. Usually, this is what happens in most cases.

When Can You Use a Plan for More Than Two Months?

If you’ve been training with one plan for 2 months and you still enjoy it, there’s no need to change it. Continue training. But don’t exceed more than another 2 months (i.e., a total of 4 months). I have never known anyone to stay on the same plan for six months and continue to progress. Remember:

The effectiveness of any plan will inevitably decrease over time! That’s 100%.

Moreover, I would clarify that the effectiveness starts to drop almost from the very beginning of using a new plan. But why does this happen?

Why Does the Effectiveness of the Program Decrease?

The fact is that any progress in training is nothing more than the body's adaptive responses to the load. That is, you provide the load (impacting the body through it), and your body starts adapting to that load. This is the essence of being trained. That’s all. Sooner or later, your body will adapt to any load. To prevent this from happening, you need to change it. In other words, you need to change your training program. You can read about how to do this in the article Principles of Changing a Workout Plan. Good luck!