Good morning. The Paralympics start today! Catch the opening ceremony pre-show at 1pm EDT followed by the parade of nations at 2.

Get pumped for even more mind-boggling athleticism and happy tears for people you’ve never met but might become obsessed with by September!

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Periodization. Period.

There are two types of people: those who can’t move on and those who move on sooner than they should. Those who fear change and those who fear commitment. Those who seek consistency and those who seek novelty.

Which one are you?

Wherever you fall on that spectrum, I bet there’s a solid chance that it also aligns with how you exercise. Some people start a routine and wouldn’t change a thing as long as they live if they could. Others of us frequently bounce around from exercise to exercise, trend to trend, craving variety. 

Bad news: Neither extreme is very good for you.

Good news: Finding a happy (science-based) medium is great for you!

On one side of the coin, if you keep doing the same thing forever and ever, you’re going to plateau. Don’t expect progress if you never progress.

On the other side, you can’t perpetually increase a variable (like weight or volume) forever and ever to infinity and beyond. You also can’t switch up exercises every week and expect to make significant gains in any one area.

We’ve got to find a happy medium. 

Progressive Overload

While progressive overload (increasing weight, reps, volume, etc.) is an essential component of exercise, we also need some degree of reset and then change-up. When I refer to “changing things up” in this article, I’m primarily referring to your exercise selection. You should always be progressively overloading in some way, with periodic reset periods (that’s periodization). But your exact exercise ~routine~ is what needs some degree of time to develop—but not too long. 

And to not bury the lede any further, when it comes to resistance exercise, that sweet spot of how long you should do something before changing things up seems to fall somewhere in the 2–4 month range. 

I certainly wouldn’t do anything for less than one month before switching up or moving on. Four weeks is barely enough time for your body to adapt neurologically to the new movement pattern and muscle recruitment. You’ll continue to see gains well past this timeframe if you persist.

On the other hand, doing the “same thing” for more than six months or so is probably not going to be too beneficial. You’ll likely see very diminishing returns at that point, because you’ve adapted so well to whatever you’re doing, and it’s time to move on. You’ll also likely need at least one rest week by that point.

Change ain’t a bad thing (if done right)

So how do we change things? Well it starts by taking a break. The length (a few days to a few weeks) depends on how much intensity and volume you’ve been putting into your training and how long it’s been since your last break. 

Then you can restart your training at a new baseline by altering one or multiple of numerous variables, including:

• Changing exercises for a muscle group (back squats to leg press)

• Changing exercise symmetry (two arm/leg exercises to single arm/leg movements)

• Changing weight/rep schemes (low weight + high reps to high weight + low reps)

• Changing rest period lengths (3 minutes to 30 seconds)

• Changing frequency (once per week to three times)

Regardless of what you change, the key is planned progression over time. While the concept of “muscle confusion” that you may have heard is a bit of an overblown myth, there’s still a kernel of truth to it. Putting our bodies through new challenges, movements, ranges of motion, etc. will produce a new stimulus for us to adapt to.

Our bodies are very efficient. They generally adapt to whatever stimuli are placed upon them—but no more and no less. 

The same concept applies when you’re attempting to make changes to your body composition. Whether you’re cutting (losing fat) or bulking (adding muscle), one month is barely long enough to see significant progress. Give it longer than that. However, going hard at one of those objectives for over six months nonstop could also be problematic and lead to some negative side effects. Cycle through these changes and give your body time to rest and recover between periods of stress.

Just like the stock market, we can’t only go up and up and up forever. We need some ups and downs. As long as the trend over time is up and to the right, you’re good!

Think of some other analogies. 

• A day: You can’t just keep going forever. You need to sleep and rest.

• Work: You can’t just keep going forever. You need weekends and time off.

• Reading: Just because you can read 60 pages in one hour doesn’t mean you could read 1,800 pages if you just kept going for 30 hours straight. It’s the law of diminishing returns. 

This is the concept behind periodization. It’s a scary word but a concept we all intuitively understand. Every so often, we need a bit of a rest and reset before grabbing the reins and then ramping up the intensity again.

So there you have it. 

To recap:

To the person afraid of change, please don’t just do the same exact exercise routine indefinitely. You’ll stop making gains and might even regress. At least every six months, switch something up.

To the person afraid of commitment, please don’t keep moving on to something new every week. You’re missing out on gains that come with consistent progressive overload. Stick with an exercise/movement (while progressively overloading it) for at least one to two months before moving on to something new.

Hope that’s helpful! Let me know how this landed with you. And if you feel personally attacked, it’s okay, cuz same. One of these hit home for me as well!

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Evaluate yourself. Which side do you lean more toward in your personal life? Does that carry over into your exercise life as well? Do you catch yourself moving on way too soon or way too late?

Level 2: Whichever way you err, dial it back a bit. Change can be gradual, but make moves toward the happy medium.

Level 3: Either write out your own or work with a coach/program to develop a fully periodized plan, taking you through mesocycles and macrocycles over the course of a year based on your goals.

This newsletter is brought to you by… me!

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Know someone else who might be? I’d love to get to know you and/or your business and see how we can partner together. Reply to this email!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Listen: This might be the best year for music I’ve ever lived through. Currently enjoying the heck out of Sabrina Carpenter’s latest album.

• Follow: Ezra French, a fun, talented, entertaining, inspiring Paralympian I’m rooting for!

That’s all for this week. Have a great Labor Day Weekend & I’ll catch ya in the ‘ber months! 🍁 

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).