How to Choose Your Next Training Program
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This article was inspired by a question I see pop up all the time on the MindPump Facebook group: “I just completed program X. What should I do next?” Many times, X is Powerlift, the program I wrote for MindPump, and that feels pretty bad, because it’s a sign I didn’t do my job well. When you finish a program, you should know exactly what to do next. If you don’t, your last program failed you. Whether that program was Powerlift or something else, this article can help to get you back on track.
The Problem With Programs
Unfortunately, I think most programs are failures in this regard. Remember, all programs are a means to an end: your goal (ostensibly, anyway) isn’t to run a program for its own sake. Instead, you choose a program to help you get bigger, stronger, build cardiovascular fitness, or to accomplish some other outcome. However, most of the goals will take longer than 10, 12, or 16 weeks to achieve.
As a coach and educator, I can’t write pre-planned programs that will take you all the way from A to Z, because there are simply too many variables along the way:
Why you’re training in the first place
How you respond to the initial stimulus
What hurdles life throws at you along the way
What I can do is give you some tools to identify those variables and respond appropriately.
The most straightforward way of doing this is by running my Unf*ck Your Program course. In a nutshell, UYP involves focusing on just one aspect of your training at a time, and, using an iterative process, experimenting to find the best possible program for you as an individual.
That’s the most straightforward way, but it requires a highly analytical mind and the willingness to sacrifice novelty. In other words, it’s admittedly not for everyone. In my experience, most people aren’t willing to make that sacrifice. They want to have fun with their training, try new things, and build a diverse skill set. That’s a great thing — but I’d argue that some discipline is absolutely necessary to make progress.
So the question becomes: how do you find a middle ground?
The answer here is fairly simple: when you’re looking for a new program, you should choose the one that’s most similar to the one you are currently running. That will allow you to more easily compare and contrast training methods and determine which ones are best for you. So, for example, if you just finished running Powerlift, you should choose another strength-focused program, not one aimed at powerbuilding or bodybuilding or functional fitness.
Don’t Mix and Match
I want to very quickly address the biggest mistake I see when choosing a new program: the mix and match. That’s what I call the idea of taking one aspect of one plan and attempting to apply it to a different plan. For example, you should not try to use 5/3/1 style AMRAPs with one of John Meadows’s bodybuilding splits. Jim Wendler and John have very different coaching philosophies that they used to write those programs, and combining different coaching philosophies is guaranteed to result in an amalgamation that’s less than the sum of its parts.
Try A Transition Block
If you simply can’t stomach the idea of running another program similar to the one you just finished, try a transition block instead. You can think of a transition week like an extended deload week that’s designed to give you the opportunity to try out some new methods. Keep volume and intensity fairly low, and lean into novelty as both a stimulus for progress and an outlet for your program ADHD. Limit the length of your transition block to 2-3 weeks, and then return to a program very similar to the one you just finished.
Get Some Help
Here’s my sales pitch: 1-on-1 coaching is always better than running an off-the-shelf program. It’s more expensive, but if you really want to make progress as quickly as possible, the value of an experienced coach and objective input on your training can’t be understated. If you’d like to work with me, you can click here to check out my coaching FAQs!