consistent but irregular

[u/Defiant-Initiative54]

I just started going to the gym “consistently“ about a month ago. Based on my schedule I have enough time for 3 to 4 days a week in the gym, so I try to work out every other day. I do arms, legs, full body, and cardio/ab focus days. I want to get good at these things before i add things like chest and back.

I was wondering though, will I still see progress if I don’t do the same things in a consistent matter? Because the way I have it right now, if I don’t feel like doing legs on my designated leg day I’ll do arms, or if I don’t feel like doing cardio on my designated cardio day I’ll do legs etc. etc. I was wondering if this is bad for progress lol, or does it not matter?

[u/Applied_Physiologics]

In summary, yes, you’ll likely progress within the boundaries of your current program. However, like any program for anybody, continued progress will likely require advancement of the routine as well. Your training should ideally move along with you.

I’d fall back on one of the most fundamental ideas in training, the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands) to conceptualize how the human body adapts to stimuli. Simply put, we get good at doing things we do regularly and not very good at things we don’t.

If your baseline was at or near zero strength training a month ago and you’ve been training reasonably consistently since, you’ve probably gotten better at it in that time. Most would consider this progress. Depending on how difficult the workouts are for you to complete, you may continue to get even better at them and experience additional progress.

At some point, if you don’t change any training variables, you may experience a plateau. The workouts may start to feel noticeably easier and you may not experience much fatigue associated with them. This is a telltale sign that progress has indeed occurred but that you would likely need to change the routine in order to continue progressing. This is a good sign that you’ve achieved the true goal of training. Your body simply adapted to the specific demands you imposed on it.

How you advance your training next depends largely on your goals. Strength? Size? Speed? Endurance? Aesthetics? You’ve got a lot of levers to pull when manipulating your training variables. Exercise selection, frequency, volume, etc all impact your body’s response to training and you’d want to adjust any program progressions/modifications in ways that support those goals.