Do I need a personalized strength training program?

This is a question I get asked frequently as a personal trainer. My answer may surprise you.

But first I’d like to make an important distinction that I think is relevant to start the conversation. Training is different from exercise. All training is exercise but not all exercise is training. Exercise is any movement that elevates the heart rate and works the muscles. Regular exercise is critical for good health and great for building  general fitness. Examples include fitness class, bootcamps and follow-along videos such as Fitness Blender. Each exercise session isn’t necessarily connected to the previous or subsequent sessions.  Training, on the other hand, is a structured series of exercise sessions that progress toward a specific fitness adaptation such as increased strength or muscle mass.  A  training plan can be generic or personalized. Generic training programs can be purchased from a coach or personal trainer, but in order to be personalized, a trainer or coach would have to perform an individual history and physical assessment prior to writing the program and no two programs are alike. 

So now back to the question at hand: who really needs a personalized training plan?  I think there is a widespread notion that a personalized training plan is universally  “better” than a generic one. However, most people, especially beginners,  would do just as well with a properly designed generic program. This is because the most important ingredients for making initial gains in muscle mass and strength aren’t in the nuances of the training program itself but rather relate to 2 critical, and often overlooked, training principles. Those principles are 1. long term consistency and 2. progressive overload. Let’s look at each of these things in turn, and finish with who might need special considerations. 

Consistency

The single greatest determinant of progress in training is consistency over time. The body adapts from repeated exposure to a training stimulus. If the gap between training sessions is too great, no adaptations are accrued (and the risk of injury is high). See Figure 1 for a schematic representation of how the body adapts to successive stressors. In Figure 1A you see improvements in performance over time, while in Figure 1B there is no cumulative impact from the sporadic or infrequent exposure to the stressor. In this case performance is an improvement in strength or an increase in muscle mass and the stressor is a single workout. The best program applied inconsistently (Fig 1B) will always be inferior to a good program applied consistently (Fig 1A). Stated differently, without consistency, the program details are irrelevant. When training is paused for a period of time - even 1 month - the majority of improvements in performance are lost. So finding a way to stick with something, even when life gets chaotic (which it always does) is the single most important determinant of progress.

Figure 1A

Figure 1B

Progressive Overload

This is a concept that relates to how strength and muscle are built. Quite simply, the principle is that in order to get stronger and build muscle you must gradually increase the amount of weight you lift. Sticking with the same weights, sets and reps every time you workout won’t require your body to  adapt to anything more. Adhering to a program for several weeks while gradually increasing the load (weight) and volume of work (set and/or reps)  is necessary. Meanwhile, many people’s “training” consists of varied workouts that change from one session to the next, for the sake of novelty. This is good for engaging people in general fitness for health but not the correct strategy for gaining muscle and strength. Once a plateau is inevitably reached with one program, continued progress requires a new program to which the body can adapt. Thus, a proper training plan to build muscle and strength should have “instructions” built in for progression within a single program, as well as an overarching structure of successive programs. 

Once you have followed a training plan consistently for a long period of time, and build the requisite foundation of strength and muscle (and a good solid habit of heading to the gym), then a personalized approach may need to be the next step IF further goals are sought.  Examples include advanced sports specific training, bodybuilding, competition lifting etc.  If, on the other hand, the goal is to maintain general strength and muscle for health, simply repeating the training plan in an annual cycle may suffice. 

The exceptions to this advice, and those for whom a personalized training plan might be important from the beginning, include those with physical limitations due to prior injury or due to specific health considerations including pregnancy and medical conditions. These populations require consultation from specialist trainers. 

The take-away here is that the nuances of the program itself are much less important than seeking assistance to 1. stay consistent and 2. apply the principle of progressive overload to your training. The role of a personal trainer or strength coach in this regard is not to be underestimated. But eventually, the goal should be for the client  to learn these principles and develop autonomy in order to establish a lifelong habit of lifting. Thus the goal of working with a fitness professional should be to learn how to be more autonomous in the gym. 

My online strength training program Women Who Want Muscle (WWWM) was designed with education, accountability and support in mind. Afterall, self-sufficency is the foundation of lasting change.