When it comes to building muscle, the answer is “Nowhere near as much as you think!”
With any programme there needs to be a ‘settling in’ period, where your goal is to simply master the skill of each exercise.
Your focus in this phase should be on the following…
▪️Range of motion
▪️Tempo
▪️Control
▪️Stability
▪️Muscle contraction
And trust me, if it’s an exercise that’s new to you, this’ll take a few weeks.
Once you’ve got good at the exercises, then you need to progress them.
Progression comes in a number of ways…
▪️More weight
▪️More reps
▪️Slower tempo
▪️Better control
▪️Higher volume
If your coach is changing your programme every few weeks, you’re limiting your chances of progression.
When you’re intermediate/advanced, It’s not uncommon for a programme to last 4-6 months before its needs refreshing.
Yes of course we can phase the programme (lower reps for strength, higher reps for endurance, mid-range for hypertrophy) – but the only time I would typically refresh an exercise would be when there’s been no progression for 3 weeks, an injury/niggle prevents you doing it, or you just don’t enjoy it.
For beginners, I would consider changing the programme after 6-8 weeks, just to give them a change of scenery and exposure to novel and fresh stimulus, but again, I’d be emphasising the importance of skill mastery rather than amount of weight lifted.
Steve
