Choosing or Designing a Strength & Conditioning Program: Part 2

Herschel Walker, one of my early
strength program influences

In the past, one thing that I just assumed to be true is that everyone that lifted weights followed some type of program.  I started lifting weights in at school in 9th grade.  I had always been in sports, and I was lucky enough to go to a high school that supplied strength & conditioning programs.    A year or two before that I would lift weights at home on a Kmart bench & rack set using a bar, weights, and dumbbells collected from garage sales.  Even then I would look in Muscle & Fitness magazines to get programs, and even though they were more for bodybuilding then for athletics, it started me on my way.  And even before that I followed the simplest of programs that I developed from hearing what things Hershel Walker and Walter Payton did, being push ups, sit ups, and hill sprints.  I had a certain amount of each that I would do an weekdays and a different amount for weekends.

Then when I started meeting others in my college rec center that would just go in and do whatever new thing they saw in a magazine.  This isn't all bad, but they would not record anything, and they'd change it up once they found something new in a different magazine.  I thought that was just college kids, but I am still meeting people that want to be serious about losing fat, gaining muscle, and becoming healthier, but still are not following a program.

To become better and reach your goals, you need to choose or develop a program and stick with it 6-8 weeks before moving on to something different.  That doesn't mean that you'll be doing the same thing over and over for that amount of time, but will be following your plan for that long.  There are programs out there like Crossfit that change things up all the time, which can be successful, but you should have a go strength & conditioning background before starting something like that, and even when following a program like Crossfit, you should be recording what you are doing.

If you're going to start a strength & conditioning program, you will (or should) be dedicating time to that program.  Because of your time investment, you are going to want that program to help you accomplish your goals.  That's why in Part 1 I started a list of things to consider when choosing or designing a strength & conditioning program.  The list so far includes...
       

          1. Use a program that is specific to your goals and needs

          2. Use primarily free weight and bodyweight exercises

          3. Train hard over training long

          4. Train using ground based, multi-joint movements

Here are some more things to consider when choosing or designing your strength & conditioning program.

5. Train with progression.  Einstein told us that it is insane to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.  Your body will adapt to your workouts, thus it will take more to expect results, including building strength, increasing muscle, and/or burning calories.  There are many ways to progress your workouts; lift more weight, add more reps, decrease rest time, and increase variation difficulty are a few.   You can only decrease your rest time so much, especially if you want to increase strength.  Adding reps can work to a certain extent, but can increase your workout time and lead to overtraining or overuse injuries.  I am mostly in favor of increasing weight or exercise variation.  Although it is more a subject for a different article, don't think that lifting heavy will make you grow unwanted muscle mass, there are other variables that you have to include to get there.  However, lifting heavy or increasing exercise variations will help you with any fitness component from building strength and muscle to loosing weight and getting tone.  

6. Train with variety.  Before I'd had mentioned that you should stick with a program for 6-8 weeks before moving on to a different program.  However, within that program there should be variety.  First, the exercises that you do each day do not have to be the same, even if you are following a program that consists of performing total body workouts.  When I design total body based programs, they'll consist of a minimum of two different days that are alternated.  Each day may be very similar in set up, but the exercises chosen are different.  For example, Day 1 may include the BB Front Squat and Day 2 would contain RFE DB Front Squats to accomplish the same movement.  This allows each day to be slightly different.  When following an upper/lower or a push/pull split routine, there will obviously be differences between days, but my split programs will almost always contain four workout days.  This way Day 1 and Day 3 will be similar but different, as will Day 2 and Day 4, in the same way as the squatting example above.  

The other way to provide variety is to change up the intensities and/or rep schemes throughout the program.  Some programs will have a different intensity goal for each workout in a week.  An example would be where Day 1 would be moderately intense, Day 2 would be very intense, and Day 3 would be a light day.  The style that I generally prescribe is called weekly undulated periodization, which is where I change the rep scheme weekly.  Week 1 is moderately high rep (8-12 reps), Week 2 is mid-range (6-8 reps), and Week 3 is lower rep (3-6 reps).  Usually we'd go through this cycle twice before taking an unloading week (go lighter weight and/or usually alternated exercises to give the body a break from the norm), but is some cases will throw an unloading week in after Week 3.  I also usually progress the intensity of each set during a workout, especially in the bigger lifts, going from moderate intensity on the first set to very intense on the last set.

There are many ways to include variety while staying consistent with your program.  By sticking with a program that involves variety, you'll both get good at what you're doing, reach your fitness goals, and avoid boredom, overuse injuries, and overtraining.  

7. Train with balance.  Is this case, balance refers to training opposing muscle groups or movements evenly, not balancing on one foot.  When assessing and observing the football players during my first year coaching at one school, I noticed that many of the players had shoulders issues and were much weaker in the muscles in the back of their body (hamstring, glutes, lats, etc.) compared to the "mirror muscles" (quads, chest, etc.).  I took at the workouts that they did in the previous year and was very surprised what I saw.  Their upper body day consisted of push to pull ratio of 5 to 1.  This is what was responsible for their shoulder issues.  Their lower body days contained little to no work directed at the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, low back), and any work that they did get in the posterior chain was done with exercises using very little weight or where the muscles in the posterior chain were not primary movers.  This is why they had weak hamstring and glutes, which lead to injuries.

Don't let this be you, train with balance!

Make sure to train all parts of you body in some way.  You don't need to use isolation exercises to hit all parts, I actually suggest using little to no isolation exercises, but make sure you hit all areas in some fashion, and you should work opposing muscle groups equally.  One way that I help solve this issue is by designing workouts that use a push/pull split instead of a upper/lower split.  This way, as long as you use the same number of upper and lower body exercises on each day, you will be balanced.

8. Use a program you can and will do. A buddy of mine who was not into strength training at all once told me that he could get a very good deal on a Bowflex and asked if it was worthwhile getting.  I told him that I wouldn't waste my money on it (as I don't in most machines as I mentioned in part 1), but if it would be something that would actually get him to start and stay consistent with working out, it would be worth it for him.  He did buy it and was able to follow along with the video that came with it and he was seeing good results since he was consistently working out.  He has since moved on to buying a set of Powerblock dumbbells and does mostly free weight and body weight training following the guidelines in this post and has since seen great gains in his fitness and athletic ability, but the Bowflex got him started. 

My point here is choose something you are willing and can effectively complete consistently.  If you're new to working out and are out of shape, don't start with P90X as it takes a lot of time and is difficult (there is also other things I don't like about P90X for most people, but this isn't the post to go into that).  Even if you're someone with training experience just looking for a new program, there are some things you should consider in general when setting up or choosing a program.

First, will you have enough time to complete the program the way it is written, both short and long term.  Will you have the time on each day you workout to complete the workout?  Will you be able to complete the number of workouts a week the program calls for?  It is better to start out with a program that will take less time than you think you'll have, as you can always add to it, but a program may not be effective if you can't complete it the way it is written.

Second, will you be able to perform all the exercises correctly and at the intensity prescribed?  Again, choose a program that has exercises that you are comfortable with and that any new exercises are variations of past exercises that you have been capable of doing and have shown that you are ready for the next progression.

By following this guideline, you will be more likely to complete your workouts on a consistent basis without getting injured or lowering your self esteem because you can't complete the program as written.


I hope these guidelines help, and if you have any questions or want more clarification on anything, either leave a comment or email me at joe@speadsperformance.net.  Remember, for a program to work, you have to set a goal, work at it consistently, work hard, and have fun!  If you want to see some examples of programs, visit www.speadsperformance.net and search through past BSU programs and/or tactical strength & conditioning programs, or scroll to the bottom of the page to view programs for general public and a triathlete.