Why Consistency is more important than Variety in Strength Training
I’m in the final week of a 13-week block of training bodybuilding style and today I want to talk a little about why consistency matters more than variety in your training!
Many people think that it’s more interesting and “fun” to mix it up with their movement every day or couple of days to keep things interesting. There is even a very difficult to kill myth that “muscle confusion” is beneficial for adaptation.
Let me tell you, as both a certified personal trainer and a human who has been progressively strength training for going on 8 years…nothing could be further from the truth! 😂 I used to do P90X, Insanity, and other high intensity programs that left me sweaty, tired, with a fried nervous system, and, at best short-term results that were not easy to sustain. Then I had a phase of Peloton and cycling / HIIT workouts and while they were fun I realized over time I mostly enjoyed the music and the instructors, as well as the fact it felt like a rave in those studios. 🤣
Once I actually discovered well-designed, progressive strength training, centered around multipoint exercises that hit the major movement patterns (squat/hinge/push/pull) and realized how strong I could get by keeping the focus simple but sustaining it for multiple weeks at a time…it was like a lightbulb moment 💡
Obviously these lifts, like anything else that’s challenging in life, are skills…and developing a skill requires consistent practice!
📚Learning a language? > study vocabulary daily and ideally find a regular conversation partner
💻Learning to code? > try to build something from scratch and iterate on it regularly until it works
🏋️♂️ Want to get strong and fit? > Follow a well-structured strength and resistance program targeting the major movement patterns, and push yourself hard enough, for long enough, to slowly, safely, and sustainably see progress!
I’ve lifted heavier than 200lb in this pattern before…but never with this solid of a setup and this much control! To me that’s progress, and I know it’s setting up a PR in load down the road.
Until then, I’m happy trusting the process, and consistently showing up and practicing the pattern to make safe and steady progress. 💪