Day in and day out, I see loads of athletes and regular fitness enthusiasts who have hit plateaus in their quest to get stronger, bigger, and leaner – or run into injury issues. Each situation is unique, but one thing that I am always especially attentive to is learning whether someone has recently altogether overhauled their approach to training.

As is the case in so many things in life, “Slow and steady wins the race,” “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and “Don’t run sideways on treadmills while wearing jeans.” Actually, that last one wasn’t all that applicable to what I’m getting at, but it’s probably still good advice to heed for some of our easily distracted teenage readers.

I come across a lot of “program hoppers” in what I do. These are individuals who might do four weeks of Sheiko, four weeks of 5×5 workouts, four weeks of Crossfit, four weeks of German Volume Training, and then four weeks of Tae-Bo DVDs in spandex. At the end of this five month journey, they are somehow more fit – but literally have no idea what training principles were key in them achieving that end. Everything was too muddled; they overhauled the entire strength and conditioning program rather than keeping the valuable stuff.

About 8,000 strength coaches before me have used the line, “The best program is the one you aren’t on.” Well, I would agree with that – unless, of course, it means that this new strength and conditioning program leaves out all the important stuff that you learned from previous training experiences.

I mean, honestly, I’ve heard of guys going to strength training programs where they only squat, bench, and deadlift. They don’t even do warm-ups; nothing else stays! Then, after six weeks of this program, they email me to ask why their shoulders, back, and knees hurt. Uh, maybe become the only thing they kept from your old program was specificity? With no single-leg work, no horizontal pulling, and no mobility work, it’s a surprise that they have only been diagnosed with a musculoskeletal injuries – because they probably should have been institutionalized for being so dumb that they’re a harm to those around him.

For instance, rather than tell this individual to stop squatting (he actually kept a pretty good neutral spine on the way down), I’d encourage him to a) get a squat rack, b) get a training partner/spotter, and c) put on some clothes.

Major kudos for rocking “The Final Countdown,” though; seriously.

Where am I going with this, and how does it apply to you? Well, the message is very simple: never overhaul. Instead, tinker, fine-tune, adjust, or whatever else your thesaurus recommends as a synonym. Good strength and conditioning programs all share certain things in common, and anything that deviates from those qualities isn’t worth it. It’s something that I really tried to take into account when I wrote Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.

To take it a step further, I encourage you to be leery of those who encourage you to adapt an entire discipline and change everything that you’re doing. I find that even in the most injured and hopelessly weak folks that come to me for help, I can always find several things that they’re doing correctly that deserve to stay. This is something I’ve seen in some of the best physical therapists and strength and conditioning coaches with whom I’ve worked in the past, too. A good professional should work with athletes and clients to meet halfway on what works, not simply pass judgment on a strength training program and overhaul it altogether.