Program Hopping Is Hurting Your Progress (What To Do Instead)

November 2, 2020

You’ve heard it time and time again, but consistency is key for achieving any worthwhile goal you’ve set out for yourself.

It’s the major game changer. It can separate the successful from the unsuccessful.

What can separate the successful from the unsuccessful even further is consistency combined with a well-constructed plan that is closely followed and properly executed.

In fitness and bodybuilding, you won’t get very far without it.

You must be consistent with your nutrition, recovery, and last but not least, your training.

Showing up to the gym 4 to 5 days a week and putting yourself through grueling workouts isn’t always enough.

What do your workouts look like and are you being consistent with your training?

I don’t mean are you making it to the gym on a regular basis. That’s the easy part.

I mean are you closely following and properly executing a well put together plan that is purposeful and focused around progressive overload?

Are you consistently following a program week after week, focusing on improvement in some form?

If not, it’s time to rethink how you spend your time in the gym and how you approach your training.

Find or create a well-designed program and consistently follow it.

Focus on progressively becoming stronger and more efficient at the exercises you’re performing within your training program.

By continually applying an amount of stress that is greater than what your muscles had been previously accustomed to, your muscles are forced to adapt.

Muscles increase in size, strength, and you’re building your physique—given that you’re eating well and recovering well.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Then don’t make this one extremely common training mistake that could be holding you back from reaching your full potential.

What Is Program Hopping?

Program hopping is arguably the most common training mistake that holds people back from seeing results from all the effort they’re putting in at the gym.

It’s also exactly what it sounds like—hopping from one program to the next, every few weeks.

Never consistently sticking with one program long enough to see significant progress.

Why Do People Program Hop?

Constantly looking for the next best thing

Some people believe there is a perfect training program somewhere out there, and they’re always looking for it. Always in pursuit of the latest and greatest.

Well, guess what? There is no perfect training program.

If there were, there wouldn’t be so much confusion about which program to follow.

If there was one perfect training program, we’d all be following it.

We’d all be doing the same exact exercises, for the same number sets and reps, same training load percentages, same rest periods, and same training techniques.

But it doesn’t work that way. There are many different training programs that will work.

Put together a plan that involves compound exercises, training techniques, and training principles that work well for you.

Consistently follow that plan, making small adjustments as needed to optimize it.

Progressively get better at the exercises by increasing the demands placed on your muscles and nervous system.

If you can do this, the training program will bring results, assuming your nutrition and recovery are in order.

Easily bored

Maybe they’re not in search of the best possible plan, but maybe they get bored easily.

This is understandable and very common, but it’s still not a good reason to program hop.

Ask yourself why you’re bored.

Are you not seeing progress?

If you’re not seeing progress, dig deeper.

Ask yourself why you’re not seeing progress.

Take a look at your nutrition, sleep, stress levels, and recovery.

Take note of anything that could be holding you back.

For most people, seeing progress is fun, motivating, and makes training even more enjoyable.

If you’re still bored or if that’s not reason, maybe you need a training partner. Maybe you need to find a new gym or need new music to listen to.

Remind yourself of your “why.”

Why you train and why you want to achieve your goals.

This can give you purpose, direction, and make you look forward to your workouts more. If you don’t have a specific goal, set one.

It’ll give you something to pursue which can be motivating and fun. It can also contribute to giving you a sense of purpose.

Unrealistic expectations and not trusting the program

Unrealistic expectations can definitely result in program hopping.

Maybe they didn’t pack on 10 pounds of muscle in a month as they unrealistically expected, so they assume the program isn’t any good.

Maybe they had two bad workouts in a week and they think it’s the programs fault.

Some people aren’t satisfied with seeing their bench press go up 5 pounds every month

Realistically, that’s great progress and something to be proud of. If you gained 5 pounds on your bench each month for 6 months, you’d increase your bench by 30 pounds! Be patient and realistic with your goals.

Many people also believe they’ve hit a plateau when they haven’t been able to go up in weight on a certain lift for only a few weeks. That’s not a plateau.

Give it at least 6 weeks, and look for other small ways you may have improved other than going up in weight. That’s not the only way to make progress.

They believe they need to “confuse” or “shock” their muscles

Unfortunately, people still believe they need to “shock” their muscles to grow. You might also see this referred to as “confusing the muscles.”

They believe they need to keep their body guessing, so they constantly change their workouts every week or two.

All the major training variables change.

Their exercises completely change and the order of their exercises change. They try to “confuse the muscles” by trying a different training technique every week.

Rep ranges and rest periods are inconsistent. They’re all over the place. They’re inconsistent, making it difficult for muscles to adapt and progress to be tracked.

There’s a way to shock your muscles into growth mode, but that’s not it. Have too much variety and you don’t give your body a chance to progressively get better and better at each exercise and adapt to the training stimulus.

Improvement from week to week over the course of months on a set of exercises is how you “shock” or ” confuse” your muscles. This forces them to adapt by becoming bigger and stronger.

They want to do everything they find on social media and the Internet

The Internet and social media is a great thing when used to your advantage.

There’s endless amounts of information easily available to you.

Learning on your own time, at your own pace, and in your own way has never been easier.

You can gather information and ideas. You can apply them, go through constructive trial and error, and throw out what doesn’t work well for you, and keep what does.

But it’s a double-edged sword. On the flip side, you can find ten different training programs with a quick Google search.

Some will claim to add 2 inches to your arms in 2 months.

Others will claim to increase your bench by 30 pounds in 6 weeks.

Another claims to pack on 10 pounds of muscle while losing 10 pounds of body fat in 8 weeks.

It seems as if there is an unlimited amount of promising training programs. They’re all so tempting to try and you want to do all of them, right now.

You can go on social media and find the routines and exercise videos of some of your favorite fitness models and bodybuilders. They look great and they’re doing something that you’re not, so now you feel like you have to be doing the exercises they’re doing.

See the problem?

This makes people stray from their training program before they even give it a chance to bring the results they want.

They switch to an entirely different program too often or they start throwing in a bunch of different exercises that they found on Instagram or YouTube.

They’ve deviated from their plan and they lack consistency with their training.

I’m not saying don’t try new things. This is a great way to learn and find what works for you and what doesn’t.

But changing your entire training routine every few weeks is when problems arise. Make smart changes.

If you found a bunch of exercises that look interesting, try swapping one of your accessory movements towards the end of your workout for the new exercise. Then stick with that exercise. Perfect your form. Pay attention to how the exercise feels for you and try to get better and better at it.

Once you’ve done that for several weeks, then decide whether you’ll keep it, or toss it.

Whatever the reason is for the ever-changing training approach, if you want to accelerate your progress and start seeing better results from the work you’re putting in at the gym, stop the program hopping.

Why Is Program Hopping Bad?

When you’re program hopping and constantly rearranging your workouts every few weeks, it’s very difficult to consistently apply the principle of progressive overload—gradually and continually increasing the amount of stress placed on the musculoskeletal and nervous system to promote increases in muscle size and strength.

You need to constantly challenge your body and give it a reason to change.

You can do this by:

✓ Increasing the amount of weight lifted.

✓ Increasing the number of sets, resulting in more total volume (weight x sets x reps = total volume).

✓ Increasing the number of repetitions, resulting in more total volume (weight x sets x reps = total volume).

✓ Increasing training frequency.

✓ Decreasing rest periods to complete the same amount of work, or more, but in less time.

✓ Increasing time under tension.

✓ Increasing the range of motion.

These are the most common ways to apply progressive overload.

If you’re a program hopper, many of the major training variables are constantly changing.

You’re changing the order of exercises, the exercises you’re doing, and the training loads and techniques used. It’s an entirely different workout every few weeks.

Your body won’t be able to adapt to the training stimulus since it’s constantly shifting.

If the body isn’t able to adapt, muscle growth and increases in strength won’t be optimal.

How can you gradually get stronger and more efficient at a set of exercises if you’re not consistently performing them under similar circumstances? You’ll eventually get stronger, but your rate of progress will be slower than you’d like.

What training approach do you think will drive adaptation and build more muscle?

Consistently sticking with a set of exercises and getting better and stronger at them.
Constantly changing your program and all the major training variables, making it difficult to track progress. Never truly allowing enough time for adaptation to take place. Never being consistent and patient enough to allow the training program to produce results you’re satisfied with.

The answer: A.

Which form of training do you think will drive adaptation and build more muscle?

Consistently performing flat barbell bench press, incline barbell press, and dips. Keeping track of your progress. Focusing on progressive overload week after week for 3 months. Increasing both your flat and incline bench by 15 pounds and increasing your dips by 10 pounds.
Supersetting cable flyes with push-ups, then doing flat dumbbell bench, and incline barbell bench drop sets for 2 weeks. Then switching to doing incline dumbbell bench superset with incline dumbbell flyes, a chest press machine, and flat barbell bench for 3 weeks, then switching training routines again.

The answer: A.

Program hopping won’t allow you to easily make the proper adjustments each week to ensure you keep challenging yourself by demanding more of your body. By proper adjustments, I mean where to add weight, increase the number of repetitions performed, or the number of sets completed.

There are other training variables to consider, but these are the ones that are most important to track and adjust. If your workouts are all over the place, making progressive adjustments to your training will be very difficult.

Maybe you perform flat barbell bench press at the beginning of your workout one week, then the next week you do it third after you’ve already done incline dumbbell bench and flyes. Even though you’re still doing flat barbell bench press in your workout, you’re doing it under different circumstances. One workout you do it first when you’re fresh and at full strength. The next week you do it third when you’re fatigued and you aren’t sure what weight to use. Tracking progress will be tough if you’re benching under different circumstances each week.

This is why it’s important to not deviate from the plan too much. When you consistently follow a plan, exercises are performed in similar order and with similar rest periods. This makes applying the overload principle, tracking your progress, and making progressive adjustments much easier.

What You Should Do For Better Results

Consistently follow a detailed and well-designed program if you want to build a substantial amount of muscle, become stronger, and build an impressive physique.

Make sure the program is geared towards your personal goals and experience level. It should focus on progressive overload.

Consistently stick with the plan. If it’s bringing results, keep going with it. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The shortest amount of time I’d suggest following a specific program is 8 weeks. Even if you’re 4 weeks in and not seeing the results you expected, you may be progressing in minor ways you aren’t aware of. Or maybe once you hit week 6 you’ll break through and start progressing.

Don’t make the mistake of changing programs as soon as you stop going up in weight, reps, or sets.

Not seeing an increase in strength for a week or two isn’t a plateau. That will eventually happen, but don’t switch programs yet.

Give it time and make sure your form is solid.

Maybe it’s not the program that sucks, maybe it’s that you aren’t sleeping well, aren’t eating enough, or your stress levels are too high.

Don’t be so quick to blame the program. Make sure you’re doing everything right outside of the gym.

You can also tweak the number of sets and the rep range you’re working in.

If you’ve been doing 5 sets of 5 reps for 8 weeks, try progressing with a different set and rep scheme. Maybe 3 sets of 10, 4 sets of 6, 4 sets of 8, or pyramid your sets and increase weight as you lower the numbers of reps.

An example would be doing 4 sets of 10,8,6,4 while increasing the weight 5 to 10 pounds each set.

Your workouts don’t need to be 100% identical week after week. Some variables can change, but you shouldn’t be doing an entirely different workout that’s not even similar to the previous week.

Keep the main compound lifts the same, swap some of the accessory lifts if you’d like. Maybe you alternate every 2 weeks between 2 different accessory lifts. Whatever you do, focus on getting better

Do you increase your bench press by switching up your workouts every other week? Nope.

You increase your pressing strength and build a larger chest by consistently sticking with a plan, executing that plan properly, and progressively getting better at the chest exercises by going up in weight, sets, reps, increasing range of motion, or doing more work in less time with the same amount of weight or greater.

You don’t build a larger chest by changing your chest workout every other week.

Stop the program hopping and be consistent with your training. Be patient, set small goals along the way to give yourself purpose, boost your motivation, and make your workouts more exciting.

Go through constructive trial and error.

Find what works well for you, and what doesn’t. Base your training around the training principles and exercises that work well for you, and build on that.

Apply progressive overload and make sure you’re doing everything right outside the gym to make the most of your workouts.