You can make real progress

It takes time to see improvements in your training. Unfortunately you won’t notice huge gains in strength or cardiovascular fitness after a week or two. But if you don’t mix things up fast enough you might reach a plateau. 12 weeks gives you enough time to lean into your workouts, get to love them and feel yourself progress – before moving on and trying something a little different. “At the end of 12 weeks, you can have an honest check-in with how you feel and decide if there is something more you would like to challenge yourself with. If you loved the programme, you can start another 12-week block of training with bigger goals, more confidence and better experience,” says Trigg.

How to plan a 12-week programme

“When creating a programme for most clients, I include two blocks of testing, then at least four weeks of building and a deload week,” says Trigg. The testing weeks will probably happen at the start and end of the programme, so you can get to grips with how you perform at first and then see how far you’ve come at the end. After your first week, you could do four weeks of training, have one deload week to give your body a rest, then repeat.

12-week workout plan: how long should you stick with a training programme?