When to change your exercise routine I When should I change my workout

YouTube, what's going on? Welcome back to the channel. In this video, we're going to talk about how often should you be switching up your workouts. Should it be every week? Should you be doing a new workout every single week? Should you be doing a new workout every month, every 2 months, every 6 weeks? Should you be doing the same workouts throughout the week and switching up? What are we doing here? We're going to cover all that and then some, so stick around for this video. There's 3 main points we're going to cover here. Number 1, this is the most important, that's why I'm starting with this, you need this in order to see results from your workout because I think if you're— I think at least, I think if you're working out you want to see results, right? You want to see your body change, you want to see more defined muscles, you want to get stronger, you want to improve your health, you want to see results, right? This one basic scientific principle is what you are going to need. So we'll cover that first and foremost. That will then bleed us into what to avoid doing, like how I put it in red, avoid. You like that? I appreciate that. And then number 3, we're gonna talk about do this. So we're gonna talk about what you should eventually end up doing once we know these 2 things, then we'll know what that's gonna be. So first and foremost, and you might have heard me talk about this before on my channel or if you read my articles, 'cause I wrote an entire article about this, but there's one main thing that your body needs in order to change the way you look. Either whether it's change the way you look or change your strength again, get stronger, build lean muscle, all that kind of stuff. And that is the simple scientific principle of progressive overload. That is what your body needs. Now, what does progressive overload mean? Very simply put, this is literally what it means. Very simply put, it just means you're doing more over an extended period of time. So let's say, for example, you begin lifting 10 pounds for 3 sets of 8 reps, okay? That's what you did, say, week 1, right? Let's say over the course of time you are now lifting 30 pounds for 3 sets of 8 reps. That would be progressive overload over time. Let's say, for example, you were doing 10 pounds for 3 sets of 8 reps, and then let's say you did 10 pounds for 3 sets of 9 reps, and then let's say you did 10 pounds for 3 sets of 10 reps. That would again be progressive overload as well, because you are getting better, you are doing more over a period of time. There's a certain cycle your body has to go through in order to change your body. And I'm really— I'm harping on this because people just think like, oh, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go exercise or do whatever, and my body's magically gonna change. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. I wish it was, it'd be a lot easier, but it's not that easy. Your body has to go through this cycle where essentially you provide a stress to your body. Your body then has to recover from that stress and then adapt to that stress. Why? Because, you know, you're basically telling your body— your body doesn't know that you're looking to build muscle and get stronger and change your physique. Your body just knows that, like, whether you're picking up a boulder in, you know, 1542 or you're, you know, trying to change your physique in 2021, your body just knows stress. So when your body gets stressed and there's a stress great enough on your body that it has to adapt to that stress, 'cause it's, again, it just says, shit, like we're basically in danger. We need to make sure we can endure this, endure, endure? I don't know the right word, so I'm just gonna keep it rolling here, but you get what I mean. We can manage this stress, we can handle this stress next time it comes around. And so that's the basic fight or flight response, right? It's like, that's why we sweat, for example. There was a stress and we're like, wow, we're really hot. Like, gotta make sure I cool my body down. I'm going to now sweat. And that's literally like the most basic thing, right? It's the same thing here when we're talking about lifting weights. You need to provide that stress great enough on your body or your body's not going to change because your body doesn't want to change. Your body likes homeostasis. It likes staying the same because that's the easiest for your body to maintain. It takes the least amount of work. It's super easy, like just homeostasis. If you want to change your physique, if you want to change your body, you have to put a stress That is great enough on your body in order to change. And so again, if you're lifting 10 pounds for 3 sets of 8 reps, in 6 months, if you're still lifting 10 pounds for 3 sets for 8 reps, your body's gonna say, listen, buddy, like, why would I change? I've already adapted to this. You know, maybe week 1 or week 2 it was hard, so your body had to adapt to it. But once it's adapted to that specific stress, why would it keep changing? There's no reason. You're not giving your body the stimulus to say, hey body, like we need to continue changing because it's already adapted to that. And it said, all right, cool. I've gotten efficient at whatever stress this is. Again, it doesn't know it's 10 pounds for 3 sets of 8 reps. It just knows stress. So your body says, all right, I've already adapted to this. I've gotten used to this. I'm very efficient at doing this. Why would I keep changing again? Like I would waste my effort and just like randomly get more defined muscles just because like, no, I'm not going to do that. Right? So it doesn't change and you don't get stronger and you don't change your physique. You don't change your You don't get more defined muscles because you're not giving your body that stress it needs. And so in order to make sure you actually see results, which again, I think if you're taking the time to watch this video and go do workouts and things of that nature, you probably want to see results, right? So if you want to see results, you have to make sure you are having progressive overload. Now, 2 quick things here. Number one, I wrote an entire article on progressive overload. I'll put it here in the description of this video. Video here below. Number 2, I also talked to my YouTube channel. I'll put a video here above on how to progress the weights you're lifting because you're probably like, hey, when should I increase my weight, or how heavy should I lift, and all that kind of stuff. I have an entire video here on YouTube about that so feel free to go check that out. Then number 3, because I get this question asked a lot, people ask me, well, Eric, I only have 10-pound weights, or I only have 5-pound weights, I only have 15-pound weights. What I say to that is like, There's nothing wrong with that. That's awesome. It's better than nothing, number one. But number two, just, just know that like you can only take your physique so far with 10-pound dumbbells. And I know that's kind of like some people might not tell you that and they'll, oh, just do my bodyweight workout and you'll look like this. And like, that's just not the reality because again, it's, it's not the way that science works. You need to be able to have progressive overload over a period of time. And I'm not saying you got to lift hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds. Like, We would all just be lifting cars at that point. But you have to be able to have this progressive overload. So, you know, if all you have is 10-pound weights, again, nothing wrong with that at all, especially if you're just starting out. But, like, over time just have the proper expectation of you can only take your body but so far with just 10-pound weights or just dumbbells or just bodyweight. Because, again, you don't have the progressive overload concept. And somebody's probably gonna ask me, well, can't I just keep doing more reps and more reps and more reps? And it's like, You could, but 2 things, and we'll talk about this here in a second actually as well. Number one, what are you gonna do? Sets of 50 reps? You're gonna do 3 sets of 50 reps with 10-pound dumbbells? Your workouts are gonna take 3 hours. It's not very practical, so good luck. And then number two, again, we'll talk about this a bit more here in a second, at that point you're not actually getting a stimulus for body composition change, like build muscle, lose fat, that kind of stuff. You're getting a stimulus for cardio, which is like great if you want to improve your cardio, like, you know, whatever. But like, if you want to change your body, you're not giving your body that stimulus. And so that— those 3 points right there, just kind of keep that in mind as you're going through, because I get that question a lot with like, oh, I just have this, or I just have that. Nothing wrong with that, but just realize there is going to be a limit to what you can do with your physique. And so whether investing into more heavier weights or investing into a gym or whatever the case may be, That's just gonna allow you to take your body a bit farther. So I'll leave it at that. But you need progressive overload. So I hope you understood that. And again, any questions on that, feel free to drop below. Now, knowing that the most important thing in your workouts is progressive overload, that is the most important thing, what should we now avoid? Let's think about it here logically for a second. Let's say you're doing something called— the term is program hopping. Where you're kind of doing one workout this week, one workout the next week, one workout the next week, and then one workout the next week. So in 4 weeks, you've done 4 different workouts, right? And I mean, like, Monday is a workout, you know, Workout A. Next Monday, Workout B. Next Monday, Workout C. Next Monday, Workout D, right? That's 4 different workouts on, just say, that Monday. Where are you having progressive overload? 'Cause let's say, for example, on Monday you're doing a goblet squat for 3 sets of 5 reps. With 30 pounds. Sweet. That's awesome. And then on the next Monday you're doing a Bulgarian split squat for 3 sets of 8 reps with 15 pounds. Okay, cool. And then on the next Monday you're doing a barbell back squat for 4 sets of 6 reps with 100 pounds. Okay. That's awesome again. And then workout D, you're doing a dumbbell front squat with, you know, 20 pounds in each hand for 3 sets of 10 reps. Okay. So, all of those— that's great. But where are you having progressive overload? Where are you doing more? Where are you getting better? Where are you increasing weight? Where are you increasing reps? This isn't happening because you're changing your workouts every single week. And that's why you should avoid changing your workouts every single week. And I know for some people, they're like, oh, well, I like it and it keeps me engaged. And like, again, if that's what you want to do, that's Totally up to you, but just know that it is not the most optimal by far if you actually wanna see results. If you're actually chasing results, changing your workouts every single week is not going to help you. It's just not. It's not going to help you. And again, think about it what you may, but that's just, again, the scientific principle of progressive overload is not going to be there if you change your workouts every single week. Whereas opposed to, again, let's just say week 1 you did 3 sets of 5 with a goblet squat for 30 pounds. Let's say week 2 you did 3 sets of 6 with 30 pounds. Let's say week 3 you went to 3 sets of 5 with 35 pounds. And then week 4 you did 3 sets of 5 with 40 pounds. Well, now you went from lifting 30 pounds for 3 sets of 5 to 40 pounds for 3 sets of 5. That, my friend, would be progressive overload. And the way you have that is you have continuous workouts week to week to week to week. Again, I don't mean Monday is the same workout as Tuesday is the same workout as Wednesday. Obviously it depends on how your workout program is set up, if you're working out 3 days a week or 4 days a week. Again, if you need more help on this, I have a ton of videos on my channel, so check it out. By the way, I just remembered I didn't shave, so if you're still watching this video, I forgot to shave, so I'm sorry about that. But with that being said, I don't mean workout on Monday is the same as workout on Tuesday is the same as workout on Wednesday. No. That's not optimal either. You want different workouts throughout the week, but then those weeks' worth of workouts should not be changing every single week. You want to avoid what is called program hopping. That's how people, you know, you're kind of just working out just to exercise, which again, if that's what you want, nothing against that, and who the hell am I to judge? But if you're watching this video, you probably want to see results from your exercise. And so if you want to see results, you should avoid changing your workouts every single week, and you should get on a program that is going to allow you to keep and have that progressive overload week to week with your movements. Again, this is all not just a squat. This is a bench press or a shoulder press or a chin-up or this or that. Like, week to week, you should be able to see your progressions over a period of time. So that is number 2, looking to avoid that, which brings us to number 3, which is do this: your workouts should be staying the same For anywhere between 4 to 8 weeks at a period of time. And again, talking about— I mean the week's worth of workouts. So let's say you're doing 4 workouts per week. You're doing lower body, upper body, lower body, upper body. Let's say you're doing lower body on Monday, upper body on Tuesday, Wednesday is rest, lower body on Thursday, upper body on Friday, right? Let's say that's your, that's your split. Those 4 workouts will look different. So I don't mean like your Monday and your Thursday lower body days are the Those should be different. They should be different. And again, your Tuesday and your Friday workouts for upper body should be different. But those 4 workouts different throughout the week stay the same for 4 to 8 weeks at a period of time. And this is because, once again, you are going to now allow yourself to have the ability to have this progressive overload. And progressive overload in and of itself is difficult. Again, when you're pushing yourself really close to failure, Adding a rep here and there or adding 5 more pounds here and there, like, that's difficult. It's really hard. It's even harder if you're changing your workouts every single week and you don't allow yourself, you don't set yourself up to have this progressive overload. This is why things like, and again, before I say this, like, I'm not, who am I to judge you if you like doing these things? That's totally up to you, man. But people ask me, well, you know, Eric, what about things like Orange Theory or HIIT classes or YouTube video workouts and those kind of things? What I say is, again, if that's what you enjoy, mazel tov. Rock it out. But that's not real strength training. Again, people ask me, well, Eric, we're lifting weights. Yes, but again, 2 things here which I touched on briefly, but I'll touch on again. Number one, like we just said, there's no way to have progressive overload. When you go into a workout on Orange Theory on Monday, it's not going to be the same workout on the next Monday, or a random YouTube video workout on Tuesday. in a random YouTube video workout the next Tuesday. It's like you're not having this consistency, you're not having this progressive overload week to week. And so when you're doing those kind of things, you take out the most important thing, which is progressive overload. And number 2, again, people ask me, well, Eric, we're lifting weights, how is that not, you know, how is that not strength training, whatever? There's a big difference in the stimulus that you give to your body. So for example, we talked earlier about like if you just had 10-pound dumbbells, you're like, oh, I'm just gonna keep increasing reps because that's what Eric told me to do. And like, okay, well, again, number one, you can do 3 sets of 50 reps each time if you— I mean, if you have that kind of time to work out for like 3 hours, I want your life. But number two, you're giving your body a different stimulus. Once you get past that, like— and again, this is a very general rule, so please, please take this with some leniency. Once you get past that, like, 12, 13, 14, 15 rep range. Like, what I would say 20 max. Like, once you're getting past that, like, you're no longer giving your body a stimulus for change for body composition goals, building muscle, building strength, those kind of things. You're giving your body a stimulus for a cardiovascular adaptation. You're not giving your body a physical, like, change adaptation. You're telling your body, hey, This is just a lot of work. Like, we're just doing a lot of work. It's not— again, normally speaking, when you're going such like short rest intervals, like a lot of those HIIT cardio classes or whatever, you know, whatever other classes go on there, it's such short intervals and people are so far away from failure that your intensity is so low. And when I say intensity, I mean the amount of weight you are lifting because you just physically cannot Lift the heaviest weight you possibly can with 30-second intervals. It's just not going to happen. And again, when we talk about this progressive overload principle, it's based on higher intensity training. And again, higher intensity does not mean your heart rate is super high. That's not what high intensity means. So if that's what you're thinking, please try to work to get that out of your head as much as possible. I know it's difficult, but it doesn't matter how high your heart rate is getting. It doesn't matter how sweaty or out of breath you are. It matters How close are you lifting to your maximum weight that you can lift for those amount of reps, whether it's 5 reps, 6 reps, 10 reps, whatever the case may be? How close are you lifting to failure? How heavy is the weight you're lifting? And if you're resting for 30 seconds in between your sets, there's just simply no way possible you're gonna have the proper intensity, or again, like we talked about, the progressive overload. So again, like for example, let's say you're doing one of these HIIT cardio classes and like set 1 you do 3 sets of 10 reps with 60 pounds. Set 2 rolls around, you haven't even recovered from set 1 yet, so now you got to do 40 pounds. You still haven't recovered from that yet, this is the second set, now you got to do 30 pounds. Your workout performance decreased over a period of time. How do you think that's going to be beneficial for building muscle, building strength? It's not. It's not going to be beneficial. So you having these such short rest interval times and you like trying to do these like 20, 30, 40, 50 reps, like It's not. It's it's a different stimulus, and again, it's it's not a it's not inherently a bad or a wrong stimulus if you're if your goal was to like just build up your cardiovascular endurance or whatever the case may be. Like that's amazing, and that would help you with that. But like if you're doing workouts, I think you want to like see your body change, and just getting a better cardiovascular system is not gonna. It's great for your health, but number one, there's Plenty of other ways to work your cardiovascular system, which walking, whatever you want to do. There's plenty of other ways to do that. There's not plenty of other ways to like build muscle and change your physique. The only way you can do that is through strength training, building muscle, those kinds of things, right? So if you want, like, it's one thing, but you're not giving your body the actual stimulus to where it says, hey, we need to, you know, grow more muscles and grow more defined muscles and get stronger and overcome this stress. You're just like, doing a lot of work, that just adds up to like cardiovascular. That at that point, you're not going to see your body change. And that's why people like, they kill themselves in these like Orange Theory and HIIT cardio and all these kind of things. And like, again, if you enjoy it, mazel tov. But like, that's why people plateau and don't see progress, because they just continuously work one energy system that doesn't actually give them the benefits and the results that they're looking for. Like, most people want to see their body change. That's why they're going to Do the workouts. And again, like, if you have— if you're like, listen, I just like going just to sweat, like, I, you know, to each his own, man. Like, who am I to judge you? But if you want to see your body change, like, things like that are just suboptimal. So you want to make sure you're following a real workout program for 4 to 8 weeks. Stop trying to change your workouts every single week. Make sure you're having progressive overload. Make sure you're tracking your workouts week to week. You should be tracking your workouts. Like, when you go and do your workouts, I did 3 sets of 8 reps for 50 pounds. The next week, you now know you better beat that, or at least try to beat that. Even if it's just— let's say you did 3 sets of 8 reps at 50 pounds, right? Excuse me. The next week, you better get at least 1 set of 9 reps and then 2 sets of 8 reps at 50 pounds. That would still be progressive overload. No matter how small you think the changes are, that's still progressive overload. You're gonna see your body change. So— Make sure you're having that, avoiding that, and doing that. All right, you're probably going to ask me— oh, I almost dropped my marker— you're probably going to ask me something to the effect of like, well, what's a real strength training program? How do I find a real strength training program? I'll give you 3 things. Number 1, I've done a video here on my YouTube channel on how to create your own strength training program, so feel free to check it out. Number 2, it's totally free. Number 2, I've written an entire in-depth article on how to create your own strength training program. I will put it here below. Again, totally free. And number 3, if you want to, you can check out my website called The Clubhouse. And I have all of my training programs in there. I have, you know, 3 times a week, 4 times a week. I have a workout program for if you're a beginner, if you're brand new, if you want to grow your glutes. Like, there's a ton of stuff in there. So if you want to check that out and kind of like take the guesswork out of workout design and program design, again, I'll put it here in the description below. Feel free to check it out and you can go from there. All right. So hope you enjoyed the video. If you have any questions, questions, let me know below. Hit that like button, subscribe button, and the notification bell. I think those 3 things. Thank you so much, and we'll chat soon.