Give Your Workout a Chance

It's important to vary your workouts occasionally and do a complete reevaluation every 4-6 weeks if you want to keep moving towards your fitness goals. This periodic change in training programs provides the stimulus required to keep your body from adapting to your usual routine. Adaptation leads to plateaus in results.

Some of us, however, change too often, flipping back and forth between different routines every week. Often this is because we want instant results and our current program doesn't provide them. We immediately change to the latest exciting exercise program we just heard or read about.

Changing routines too often can lead to diminished results. You need to give your workout plan a chance by sticking to it for 3-4 weeks. It takes this long for your body to physiologically respond to that particular training stimulus. Switching programs before 3 weeks won't allow you to fully benefit from your workouts and makes it very difficult to evaluate progress.

During those 3-4 weeks you need to track your results daily. Record your training program, what you eat and take body measurements. Tracking progress is one of the most important success factors in fitness. Studies have clearly shown that people who take the time to track their progress have greater success rates than those who don't. Finally, if you don't keep a written log it will be impossible to decide whether your program is working and what changes need to be made.

When making changes modify only a few variables at a time. You want to stimulate your physiological system not shock it. Drastic changes could diminish your overall results and also make you more prone to injury.

If you give your program 3-4 weeks and have a little patience you'll be on the right track. Keep a record of the three basic components (training, nutrition and results) and you'll easily put together a road map to fitness success.

Dr. Lanny Schaffer is an Exercise Physiologist and the President of The International Fitness Academy. For more cutting edge fitness information go to http://www.aerobic-exercise-coach.com