Characteristics of effective training programs, part II
Characteristics of effective training programs: essential basic movements
The characteristics of effective training programs begin with something simple: a program has to be built on movements that actually deliver results.
In reality, all programs revolve around a “handful” of basic movements and their variations. We’re talking about squats, lunges, horizontal rows/presses, vertical pulls/presses, and trunk rotation and flexion.
Exactly which variation you include in your training program, how you do it and how much of it you do depends largely on your goals, but also on the individual’s physical characteristics. Given the specifics of their sport, bodybuilders, for example, have to keep the balanced development of the whole body in mind. Sport specialization often leads to a disproportionately developed physique. Although bodybuilding training is often not considered functional, bodybuilders are in fact among the few trainees who follow the principle that the body needs to be developed in a well-rounded, proportionate way. Just look at cyclists: the legs are there, but the upper bodies are practically nonexistent.
What matters is that even if you don’t use or need a certain movement in your main sport, you should still run through it every now and then, even if only in a small volume and without significant weight. That way you at least maintain joint mobility and some of the coordination feel that performing the movement requires. For example, if you don’t do vertical presses regularly at all (for whatever reason), you should still do the movement occasionally, in a small volume and very lightly.
Let go of a rigid mindset
All too often we tend to split exercises into “good” or “bad” and choose them in very black-and-white terms. It’s common to hear that squats are good but seated leg extensions are a bad exercise. Or that the standing barbell press is a great exercise, but the vertical press on some machine is a bad one.
In reality, most exercises with a bad reputation are not nearly as useless or bad as claimed. What matters is choosing exercises based on your goals and context. For example, machine exercises are a very good alternative in the case of certain injuries, insufficient strength levels or technical skills.
Results matter, not the tools themselves
If your goal is to add 3-4 kg of muscle mass, it doesn’t really matter whether you reach that goal using a barbell, dumbbells or machines. Many trainees make one big mistake: they focus too much on exercise selection, but don’t focus enough on which exercise to use for a specific goal.
Despite my decades-long disdain for machines, some time ago I tried focusing more on leg extensions in order to make progress in my squat. My squat itself tends to develop the posterior chain strongly, but the quadriceps muscle doesn’t want to take much part in the squat movement. And you know what? It worked: giving the quadriceps muscles isolated help moved my squat forward.
Do yourself a favor. Sit down and write out exactly what you hope to achieve with your training. Strength numbers?
Muscle mass? Power? Jumping ability? Lowering your body weight? Next, assess your arsenal of exercises, as well as other potential exercises that suit your goals but that you don’t do for some reason. After that, try to assess your exercise selection and how well it matches your goals. You may come to astonishing conclusions.
The Pareto principle
We’ve heard a lot about the 80/20 rule, but people often fail completely at applying it. The idea is that 80% of results actually come from 20% of what you do. The question is: which are those 20% of activities/exercises that should deliver that 80%? Moreover, you shouldn’t get stuck only on exercise selection; this also applies to training frequency, the number of sets per exercise, the rep count per set, and so on.
Only you can find these things for yourself! But the most important activities that deliver results are worth figuring out. Imagine that you cut 30% of what you currently put in to reach your goal and still get 97% of the results. A worthwhile trade, isn’t it?
Consistency and regularity before intensity
A common and well-known trait of beginners is that their progress is very significant within a short time.
However, beginners’ ability to push themselves and their commitment tend to be short-lived and irregular. Usually the first workouts are accompanied by the mindset of “the more and the harder, the better.” What beginners fail to grasp is that training is a process. Occasional one-off, all-out workouts may produce some result at first, but as time goes on, it becomes more important that training is consistent and that the intensity used in workouts is planned over the longer term. When I flip through my training log, I have so far done 81 workouts, which averages out to 4 workouts a week. And by no means is every workout, every week, taken to the limit and to complete exhaustion.
That’s simply not realistic. Bret Contreras has said that if we look at five consecutive workouts, one of them can be very light, three should be of moderate effort, and one should get “everything you’ve got.”
If you train regularly, this kind of approach is OK.
Original article: 10 Principles For Better Programming
Author: Janar Rückenberg (translation)
Come and train! ArtGym
