We have a real passion for programming here at The Fitting Rooms and spend a lot of time putting together first-class, periodised training programmes and killer HIIT circuits to ensure you all get the results you deserve!

Individuals benefit from all different rates of programme periodisation and change, but as an average it has been found that a programme change every 4-6 weeks is optimal for most people. We periodise all our Shared Personal Training programmes every calendar month which gives our clients 4-5 full weeks per programme.

Here’s a few reasons to keep your programmes updated regularly:

  • Your body is clever and adapts quickly to training, unfortunately this leads to stagnation. A few small changes to the training stimulus ensures ongoing progress;
  • Any programme can see short term results and unfortunately this is why a lot of people get suckered into the same old programme week in, week out as they believe it works for them and are too scared to change it. However, to see long-term, sustainable results without plateaus, fatigue or injury, programming needs an expert eye;
  • One of the most overlooked element to programming is that boredom sets in quickly! You / your client will see far better progress when engaged and excited with the training programme and you’ll be amazed at how far periodised training programmes can go towards achieving this;
  • Achieve real, overall body strength, not just a big bench, squat and deadlift! If you want to be a powerlifter then fine, your programming will need to be very specific towards the three lifts. However, if you are training to be strong at a sport (or just for life) your body needs to be able to apply power and strength at different angles and positions, therefore a wider range of exercise selection is necessary.

With all that in mind, here are a few tips if you’re going to be writing periodised training programmes for yourself, or if you’re a trainer writing programmes for your client:

  • You shouldn’t just be chopping and changing exercises and rep ranges without thought and vision. Understand your long-term goals and methodically work towards them. Try to pick out areas of imbalance and weakness and bring them up into alignment with your stronger areas;
  • Remember you have a lot of options to vary your programming (rep range, volume, frequency, exercise selection, density, etc.). They don’t need to all change at once, and nor should they, but it’s good to know your programme arsenal;
  • Learn basic techniques first, if you haven’t got the foundations of resistance training sorted then there’s no point in getting too fancy with your programming.

For those of you in for training with us next week: it’s new programme time so bring your A-game!

CLICK HERE TO BOOK IN FOR A FREE TASTER SESSION WITH ONE OF OUR EXPERT PERSONAL TRAINERS IN LONDON BRIDGE TO SEE HOW WE CAN HELP YOU GET STARTED.