Programs vs. Workouts
If you’re reading this blog, chances are pretty good you’ve done a workout, or, at the very least, are interested in workouts.
Additionally, it’s more than likely you’ve heard about “workouts of the day” or have seen a headline somewhere that goes something along the lines of, “Try this workout X Celebrity or Athlete followed for Z Movie/Show/Photo Shoot/Competition.”
There are certainly no shortages of workouts available in the world of fitness.
Businesses that thrive on individual workouts are booming! CrossFit continues to be a fitness titan, and organizations such as Orange Theory, Soul Cycle, Barry’s Bootcamp, and more, are on the rise.
What these systems do really well is create a very challenging workout, one that leaves the members with a feeling of accomplishment, in a great community environment with a super high energy, fun atmosphere.
In our opinion, one way to enhance and complement those awesome components that these exercise regimens do so well is to utilize a more long-term focused program rather than randomized short-term individual workouts.
So, what is a program, and how does it differ from a workout?
Simply put, a program is an outlined and organized series of workouts, all put together with a purpose.
Workouts really need to follow a planned, thoughtful, intentional progression over the course of time (a program) in order to help a person reach their goals in the most effective and efficient way possible by reducing the risk of plateauing or getting hurt and honing in on a singular focus.
Where the workout is a random Lego piece, a program is the whole Lego roller coaster set, complete with instructions on how to put it all together! Where many workout Lego pieces can be put together into a semi-random assortment that might result in something cool, the Lego set that is the series of workouts within a program will be designed, very intentionally, to result in a specific, and awesome, outcome.
Don’t get me wrong, random Legos can be a lot of fun, and build some cool stuff, and the same is true for random workouts!
However, over time the human body adjusts to what is repeatedly done in training, so having a program that can move and change at appropriate times keeps the body from getting stuck in this place where no gains are lost, but, unfortunately, none are made either.
Random workouts, although challenging, are often the same challenge, or at least very similar in nature. While at first this will change the body, and lead to improvements, after enough time the body will get smart and stop adjusting because it is no longer being tasked with a new stimulus.
That’s the reason why the aforementioned exercise regimens feel amazing upfront. You work incredibly hard, sweat, burn calories, build muscle, but then the results fizzle out over time no matter how hard you work, because the workouts themselves aren’t grouped in a way that builds on top of the previous workout.
If you’re someone who has specific goals and accomplishments you wish to achieve in the world of strength, fitness, and health, then a random approach will often yield random results, and may not necessarily help reach those desired outcomes.
If the goal is to recreationally exercise, break sweat, and move your body, then the random workouts might be an appropriate approach especially because of their motivating, engaging, and energizing delivery system.
Another way to look at it is this: If you’re faced with a really tough math problem for the first time, it’ll take some serious effort to figure out the answer. But if you’re given that same math problem for four or five days per week, for months on end, you’ll get really good at THAT math problem, and only that math problem, and it won’t take much effort to answer it after only a little bit of practice.
On the flip side of the workout coin, where all workouts follow a similar style, is the very real possibility that those random workouts are challenging wildly different aspects of fitness, while simultaneously improving none of them.
One day you might be doing a workout that is great for improving the ability to move lighter weights for a long time with many reps, the next day you might be trying to lift the max weight possible only once! Then, the day after your max effort lift, you might not even touch a weight and instead go for a long run and do some gymnastics-y type stuff. All of these will feel super tough, mostly because your body is prepared for none of them.
While all of those various types of training are awesome, none of them are really given enough practice time to be developed and improved in the randomized approach. To use the math analogy from above, it’s like trying to get good at math, but one day you’re given a question regarding the politics of 1960’s in Spain, and then the next your tasked with playing “Chopsticks” on piano. All good skills, but they won’t necessarily further your math ability!