Hi and welcome back! Today I’m going to discuss the key elements of a strength training program. The who, the what, the where, the why and the how these principles are applied and the best way to use them to get that lean sexy body. When you’re putting together an exercise program you need to consider weekly volume, exercise selection, weight used, timing, volume, duration, ribs, and sets. Each of these eight variables are very important to a positive outcome. None can be overlooked. If one is off it could throw the whole thing off. Also, changing the variables can change the adaptation that happens to your body, or physical capabilities. It’s all based on the SAID principle, or Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. Ooo, big words. Never mind that. Basically it means that you can program your body to do exactly what you want it to do. (Within reason, folks.) If you can only squat 45 pounds to start you probably won’t be breaking any world records. However, you can program your workouts so that you can easily lift a lot more over time. You can also program your workouts for rehabilitation, hypertrophy (muscle building), fat loss, and sport specific performance. Many cool things can be done with the right programming. Your body is capable of more than you think it is. Okay enough rambling, let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of a program.
Nuts and bolts of a program
The first thing one must consider is weekly volume. How many days is right? Well it depends on a few things:
- Your abilities
- Your genetics
- Work schedule
- Home life
- Workout split
If you’re just starting out chances are your recovery isn’t going to be optimal, so I generally recommend first-time newbies to start out slowly and build up:
- 2 to 3 days a week for newbies, depending on age and life schedule
- 2 times a week for older, or busier, people
- 3 times a week for younger or less busy/stress types
- 3 to 4 times a week for people who have trained before (maybe)
- 5 to 6 times a week (max) for advanced athletes
Over that and chances are you are over training. Of course that depends on how intense the workout is, too. Generally best results tend to come from very intense workouts, not more workouts. So I stress quality over quantity. Meaning if you’re just going to go to the gym to go through the motions, because you have to do 5 workouts per week, then less might be better for you. I’d rather a client do 3 workouts per week at 100% intensity then 6 at 80%. As you know by now reading my blogs, intensity matters. 80% effort will not yield you 80% change. You need a 100% effort to start to change, and that requires focus. That focus is lost if you over-train. So find the balance that is right for you. Younger advanced athletes generally can train more. De-conditioned, older, or beginners should start slower, most of the time. There are exceptions; for instance, I’ve seen programs so intense I would only prescribe athletes 3 times a week. I’ve also seen young beginners with good genetics do fine with more than 3 workouts a week. So do this: look in the mirror, ask yourself, “Who am I?” Are you young, old, de-conditioned, or conditioned, athlete, overweight, stressed, busy? What’s your deal? How badly do you want that lean sexy body? When you find the balanced answer to that question you can then start with step one, Weekly Volume, to build your program.
Please join me next week where I will be discussing step two, Exercise Selection. If you have any questions or comments please leave them below. Thank you, Donovan.
