When should you change your workout program? One way to avoid hitting a plateau when exercising is by religiously changing your workout routine. When you hit a plateau, you will not see any progress. Consider changing your training from time to time. How often you make the modifications will depend on several factors. The changes include where you are on your fitness journey and how experienced you are.
Change Your Workout Program to Promote Muscle Growth
When your body adapts to a new routine, it stimulates muscle growth and strength. Varying your activities will lead to muscle breakdown, recovery, and increased stability.
In addition, when you stick to the same routine, there are chances you might inadvertently miss out on exercising specific muscles. But when you vary the exercises, it can help you exercise different muscle groups and address any weaknesses.
You gain muscle tone and improve your physique by altering your routine. Changing your workout program will help you exercise different muscles and burn more calories. In addition, adding variety and varying your body movements will help to stimulate your muscles.
Progressive overload causes you to change your workout program but does not replace your workout. Thus, you need to change your workout program regularly to grow your muscles.
Change Your Workout Program for Rest and Recovery
You can check your rest times if you notice you are not making any progress. Switching up your rest times can make a vast difference. Maybe you are resting too much or not getting enough rest and recovery. Take shorter rest times if you hope to burn fat or increase your heart rate. But if you are weightlifting, take longer rest to help you recover.
A Deload works best for people who train hard and follow a structured exercise routine. Consider changing your workout program when you feel tired or sore. A deload is when you take things a little easier with your exercise routine. It can include lifting lighter weights or reducing your training volume.
Reduce your weekly training sessions to reduce the stress on your body. Facilitating your training sessions will give your body and mind a break from training. In addition, a deload will help to prevent plateaus and minimize the chances of injuries and burnout. In most cases, you do a deload after intense training months.
Change Your Workout Program Once Your Body Completely Adapts
While adapting to your exercise routine is good, it can also work against you. Once your body gets accustomed to a program, the workout will no longer challenge you, and you will stop making progress. The solution is to challenge your body and stimulate it with new exercise routines.
Do not change your exercise routine too frequently. The best time frame would be to alter your sessions every 6-8 weeks. Remember that when you are changing your exercises, you do not have to convert everything at once. For instance, you can opt to change one major exercise at a time.
Also, consider making small weekly changes to your workout program to give you detailed, measurable improvements. One of the best times to change your workout is at the end of your training cycle during your deload week.