Training Programs: Effective or Waste of Money?

You all have seen the infomercials, lots of you have either been curious about doing them or have even gone and done them. But how can you tell the difference between effective training programs and useless ones? It takes a lot to answer this, and most of that answer has to do with how well you understand your body and its needs. Can your body handle the intensity of the program? Is it even intense enough? Are the training techniques, themselves, effective? Does it direct itself towards much needed areas of your body or does it only target your already ripped biceps and chest? What are you goals for this.... what do you want to get out of it? What are you ultimately training for? What are your short term goals/long term goals?

Before anyone goes and gets a training program, they should have a very good idea for answers to each of these questions... and I probably hit only a chunk of the iceberg. However, answers to these questions can only go so far because, let's be honest, sometimes things aren't advertised "as they really are". The only thing left to do after setting goals and picking through choices is to actually try them out. And when I say try them out, I mean, TRY THEM OUT. Work hard for it and follow everything they ask you to do. Dedicate yourself to it and make sure you stick to the plan. Set a timeframe (for example: one month of training 5 days a week) and do not stray from the plan once or else you will fall back into your lazy habits.

To add on to this further: don't feel like you have to rush to better your physical fitness. Don't buy into anything that tells you that it is a quick and easy method. Change won't happen in a matter of days. It takes time and effort, just like anything else. Work hard and you will see those results come in time. In a lot of cases, it may be detrimental to progress too quickly.

Now, I constantly see this one specific program on television and I can guarantee that most of you have seen it before, as well. It uses a technique called muscle confusion, which is well known within the fitness industry as being extremely effective. It also states that it covers all the major body parts in the training. The program is a 3 month training routine, which I will not name on here for the sole reason that I do not feel like advertising for them just yet. There is a training test to be done at the beginning, as well, to see if you are even ready and able to perform it, however, I can't see it being anything remotely hard for any dedicated Traceur. Based on the apparent organization (regimentation) and techniques involved in this program, I see some possible great potential, though. Therefore, come this January when I start my school semester back at home, I will go through this program. From now until then I do not have 3 months of time in a row to be able to do it (or will be supplementing with other planned training), so I will most likely just go through a number of the sub-programs randomly at my own leisure. My goal out of this is not only fitness-related, but it is to achieve a greater idea of the effectiveness of different training techniques. I want to learn new ways to achieve things and compare their effectiveness to others. After completing this program, I plan on providing a personal review of it and possibly moving on to other programs with the same frame of mind.