It’s easy to get caught up in researching and exploring every new strength program you hear about to see if it might be better than the one you’re on currently. If you’re a hyper-analytical personality like me then the moment you start a new program it becomes less interesting. What you could be doing is always more intriguing than what you’re already doing. The paradox is that once you start a new program it ceases to be new and thus loses the exotic appeal of being a heretofore unexplored possibility.

The more novel something is the more interesting it can seem. I’ve been there: you hear about Dan John’s 10,000 swing challenge or another iteration of Smolov and you instantly have the resist the urge to quit whatever program you’ve been on for a few weeks to try something new.

A healthy amount of curiosity and the desire to explore what works best is always good for progress in any endeavor. But here’s a friendly reminder of something that deep down we all know to be true:

Your faith in your program and ability to adhere to it is more important than the actual program.

Now, of course, there will always be exceptions to this, but they are just that, exceptions.

Pretty much any well-known or semi-intelligently designed lifting program that picks decent exercises, allows progressive overload, and doesn’t injure you is capable of working well. Sticking to the basics of strength and conditioning (which have been pretty much unchanged for decades) will continue to drive progress. Of course, some programs are better than others for specific people with their unique goals, physiology, and experience but the bottom line is this: there is no magic bullet exercise, program, supplement, machine, or lifting cue that will make all the difference (except anabolic steroids… They make a huge difference). Consistency and commitment will always be the most important factors in success and development.

As an example, there’s a kettlebell program called Simple & Sinister.

The program has two lifts: the Kettlebell Swing and the Turkish Getup. If you only did those two exercises throughout your life would you be as strong and muscular as if you had consistently stuck to strength programs with several compound barbell lifts? Probably not. Kettlebell Swings and Turkish Getups are incredible exercises, but the program is meant to be more of a general physical preparedness as a basis for other sports and activities than a strength-specific program.

Having said that, I would be willing to bet that the average gym goer who randomly hops from program to program or follows no specific programming at all would get stronger and in better shape doing only those two exercises consistently and moving up to heavier and heavier kettlebells than they are by whatever they’re doing.

This is because a good program, when strictly adhered to, is more effective than the PERFECT program that you hop on and off of.

It all just boils down to how willing you are to pick a plan and relentlessly commit to it. After you give the program an honest try (without modifying it so much it doesn’t even resemble the original) you can re-evaluate and see if it’s worth running again or trying something new. Just remember: once you get a few weeks into that program its mystique and allure will probably decline.

The advice that you make the best progress in something when you commit to it applies to so many other areas beyond lifting and fitness. It is quite intuitive but also surprisingly easy to fall into this trap again and again. Many people quit Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu just when they become a blue belt, precisely the moment when the nuances and depth of the sport begin to open up. I’ve seen language learners become conversational in their new tongue and then decide they never really wanted to learn Spanish and switch another language when the going gets tough. People start relationships and then decide to call it quits before they’ve spent the sufficient time it takes to get to know and deeply connect with another human being. Just when people move past the point of sucking really badly at a new hobby, they decide to switch to another one which seems so much more interesting.

Is all of the initial time and energy sunk into that initial learning curve lost? Of course, the knowledge and lessons learned from that hobby may translate over to other areas of life but they would have transferred and applied even better into the next stage of development in that particular activity itself. I’m not saying it’s bad to try a million new things and switch around to discover what you like. What I am saying is that sticking to one endeavor deeply (though it is difficult to do) is an ultimately rewarding process that allows more profound levels of progression and development. (When I put it like that, it seems so ridiculously obvious and self-evident..)

In the lifting realm, out of boredom I’ve fallen into the trap of program-hopping or over-modifying and tweaking things into a hodge-podge Frankenstein plan hardly resembling the original idea many times. This almost always got me in a rut of spinning my wheels and not making much progress until I got back on a decent plan and stuck to it. The best progress I ever made in strength, levels of conditioning, and skills in other areas of life always came when I consistently stuck to one plan.

A decent plan, stuck to, is better than the perfect plan that you follow half-heartedly or inconsistently.

Sticking with a workout plan is never easy for me to do because once I start something new I can feel trapped and locked in. Everything else looks so much more interesting. But when I resisted that quagmire I kept progressing more steadily and was more satisfied with my improvement. If I could go back in time a few years and convince my past self to listen to this advice, I would be stronger and further along than I am now. I would be a more competitive strongman and certain lifts/movements that are lagging behind might be further along with everything else.

The flip side to the benefits of sticking with something (there always is one) is sometimes you need a change. Sometimes you are getting sick of doing the same thing week after week and want to experience something so foreign and novel that it shakes you out of your rut. That’s perfectly understandable and probably a good thing from time to time. The overall message here is that over the long course of your lifting, there should be key programs that you commit to for good amounts of time to avoid spinning your wheels. Beforehand, you decide on those programs and decide you will do whatever it takes to make them work. Throughout a life of training, those times of continued and consistent effort are the real drivers of progress and improvement.

Pick a decent program that you will enjoy, stick with it, and reap the benefits.