Why You Should Do The Boring Stuff Just A LITTLE Longer

So you bought an exercise video that told you you needed "muscle confusion", or maybe you went to a boot camp where thy changed every single aspect every single day: new location, all new exercises, different sets/reps, and even the trainers changed to 'keep your body guessing'.

Good for you... you're doing it wrong.

Not only has the effectiveness of this approach been debunked in the scientific literature, it's dangerous, costly, and usually leads to either injury or over-training.

Training guru Charles Poliquin has stated that after 6 times of repeating a given rep/set/intensity/rest combo, your body will adapt and gains will cease. This doesn't mean that every single exercise should be changed at each and every session. Rather, it means that your training can be 'periodized'  to make the most out of a regular routine, maximizing the effectiveness of a given workout multiple times before moving onto a new routine.

An easy way to do this is to simply mark the 1st of each calendar month as the date that you start a new routine. This may not be the most effective way to aggressively make gains, but it's a method that's far less likely to leave you injured [the worst kind of plateau] after your first 4 months of exercise- a statistic that bears out for MANY recreational gym-goers, even CrossFitters- while you continue to make incremental gains toward your long term goals.

So, wait to change it up every 4-6 weeks, or you're just drinking koolaid.

Stay Strong, Friends.

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