“MIXING IT UP” IS IMPORTANT, BUT MAYBE NOT IN THE WAY YOU THOUGHT…
A lot of us have heard about the importance of “mixing it up” in our fitness regimen. It's important to change the focus and approach to training every so often in order to continue making progress toward our goals and reduce our risk of injury. I do see a lot of misconception about this theory though. “Mixing it up” every month or 2 can absolutely keep us moving in the direction of our goals and help us stay injury free… but “mixing it up” every single training session, [cough… doing a different class/video every time you sweat.. cough cough], can have the exact opposite effect.
Particularly with strength training, in the short term, you want to be repetitive. The technical term is “progressive overload” which, conveniently, I wrote a blog about! “Mixing it up” comes into play in the long term. This strategy of shifting the focus and approach every 1-2 months is called "periodization". The workout formats change with each new training phase, but the workouts within each phase are fairly repetitive.
So that’s why the workout formats for the B Strong Fit Clubs don’t stay the same forever but don’t change every single week either. It’s also why we cycle through 4 different training phases over the course of 6 months. The graphic below sums up the periodization strategy I’ve found most effective when providing the same program to a wide variety of ages and fitness levels after 11 years as a trainer and 3 years of offering Fit Club subscriptions via the B Strong App. (I’m certainly not declaring this the only approach to strength training, just the best approach for the B Strong Fit Club.)
QUICK NOTE: Phases 2 and 3 can be interchanged. Research suggests that beginners benefit most from Hypertrophy coming before Strength. There’s also new, less conclusive evidence that experienced clients may benefit most from focusing on Strength before Hypertrophy.
Want to know more?! Here’s a more in-depth explanation of how the B Strong Fit Clubs “mix it up”; how each phase incrementally moves us closer to our goals and why consistently cycling through these phases keeps us from plateauing (or worse, regressing due to injury):
PHASE 1: ADAPTATION serves both the purpose of easing in the body of a newcomer who hasn’t trained in a while, (or ever), as well as rejuvenating the body of a seasoned client who just wrapped up the intense Performance phase. Whichever client you are, it’s important to dedicate phases of your training regimen to giving your joints and soft tissue, (muscles, tendons, ligaments), some TLC. If we only go “beast mode” 24/7, 365 we’re going to wear our body out… and there’s nothing more frustrating than having the results of our hard work disappear when sidelined by an injury.
PHASE 2: HYPERTROPHY - or “gainz” as the kids are calling it these days - is the technical term for “gaining muscle mass”. There are so many benefits to increasing our lean muscle mass - improved mental health and energy levels, reduced risk of chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes, and the fan favorite: the ability to lose fat mass more efficiently. Yes, gaining muscle can fast track fat loss, but it’s important no matter what your goals are. If the amount of muscle mass on our body stays the same, the limits to what we’re capable of stay the same, and when we reach those limits we plateau. Maintenance is a commendable feat, but if you have goals to improve your performance or change your body composition gaining muscle mass is an important step in the process.
PHASE 3: STRENGTH is pretty self explanatory - it’s all about getting stronger. For beginners especially, the body will gain strength during the hypertrophy phase too. The difference is that Hypertrophy creates more of a difference in our body composition while Strength creates more of a difference in our body’s performance, what our body is capable of.
PHASE 4: PERFORMANCE is all about intensity! We aren’t all pro athletes and we certainly don’t need to train like them, but challenging ourselves to move like an athlete - to move with power, speed, agility, coordination, etc. - can help us maintain our ability and independence as we age. For the B Strong Fit Club, this is the “beast mode” phase where I program metabolic conditioning (“METCON”) sessions. These high intensity interval training sessions include challenging strength exercises, intense powerful movements and athletic drills that when all combined can take our fitness to a whole new level (and trigger fat loss)!!
Then it’s back to Phase 1 to focus on protecting our body and making sure it can keep up with this new fitness level we’ve worked so hard to achieve! I’ll admit though - even after all these years, the transition from Performance to Adaptation can be the hardest for me mentally. (And I see some clients struggle with it too.) It can be challenging after feeling like a badass every session during Performance to give ourselves permission to “take it down a notch” in Adaptation and embrace an approach that doesn’t feed our ego as much. But I always remind myself that I’m not taking it easy… I’m simply shifting my mindset from getting serious about the intensity of my performance to getting serious about my body’s longevity (so I can maintain or even improve my performance for as long as possible).
And that’s the gist of it! Those are the 4 phases we cycle through in the B Strong Fit Clubs. Any questions?! Ask away!