To stick with it or not?

Spritcha said:

I don't want to throw a spanner in the works- but I don't agree that just doing 3 sets of 10 for a year is the optimal way forward.
I may not be an expert, but the way I understand it basic strength training is about finding the balance of specificity and variation- basically you challenge the body- its adapts- adaptation is development and growth- but once the body adapts, performing the same routine will be less challenging- hence less gains. While its true that gradually increasing the loading introduces an element of variation that creates further challenge- most will find thats not enough and progress will decrease (see Zatsiorsky). Many would argue that variation is required for optimal development- variation in the form of varied loads and rep schemes.
So- why not mix up things- a few weeks of 10s, then increase the loading and a few weeks of 8s, then 6s then 5s, then 3s- then reassess???
Or a few weeks of 10s, then some 5/3/1 stuff??

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dave said:

You threw a spanner in my psychological trick Spritcha. I put the time frame as 6 months to a year so that if he got to 3-6 months sticking to linear progression he would still feel good about getting that far. As you know most people stick to a program for what 4-6 weeks, so it was just an attempt to get him to at least stick to his program for 3 months hopefully 6 in total and get as much out of his linear progression and then change it up. You make a definite good point about variation but for a 3-6 month beginner the constant progression should be enough for him to progress rapidly in his lifts.

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