In the previous articles, we’ve covered the assessment, exercise selection, and how to correctly warm up — now, we’ll build your actual strength training workout.
How you structure your training session is just as important as the exercises you select because it optimizes your gym time and helps you reach your goals quickly and effectively. In this article, we’ll introduce several guidelines for a good routine.
Good, Bad, and Ugly Programming
Let’s first look at a poorly designed program and compare that to a solid one:
The average Joe walks into the gym and starts looking for exercises to do. The athelte, however, has a program card in hand – or their trainer has it – and knows exactly what their next hour looks like. In the weight area, the average gymgoer thinks to himself, “I’m going to do ‘arms’ and ‘back’ today,” grabs some dumbbells, and does a few sets of bicep curls until he “feels a burn.” The athlete, on the other hand, already finished the second set of her main lift (say, a deadlift), is doing her “active rest,” and is ready to attack her next exercise.
Do you see the difference? The athlete is infinitely more prepared – she knows exactly what to do, how much of it, in what order, etc – whereas Joe Schmoe fumbles around and does exercises with little purpose. Ultimately, the athlete is done after 1 hour (sometimes less) and had a great workout, while the average gymgoer is still on the cardio deck watching CNN.
I see this all the time. And while you can still get some results, you’re not maximizing your time.
Follow these rules to build an efficient and effective workout to get results and change your body:
Big Lifts First
Do the lifts that take the most strength – squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc – early in the workout when you have the most energy.
Shortly after your warmup, your body is ready to handle the challenges of a heavy lift. Crush it then. If you wait, however, until after your strength is drained, you won’t lift as much. (It might even be dangerous depending on the technique.)
Bilateral First, Then Unilateral
Do your bilateral exercises before unilateral exercises. Generally, bilateral exercises are “big lifts” because they’re heavier. For example, you can deadlift much more than you can single-leg deadlift.
The exception is if a client trains primarily with single-leg exercises and only uses bilateral exercises to develop proper movement patterns. In this case, do the unilateral exercises first because they would be the “big lifts.”
“Power” Before Strength
In this article, “power” refers to any exercise where explosiveness is the priority — that can range from Olympic lifting to plyometrics to kettlebell moves. There are two key reasons why power comes before strength:
1) Moves like a clean or snatch demand a lot of energy. Thus, these need to be done when you’re least fatigued; any other time may lower performance and destroy technique.
2) In some situations, they can improve strength. Take, for example, a kettlebell swing: should you swing after a heavy squat or before?
I argue “before.”
First, if you’re doing a KB swing for power, you shouldn’t exhaust your muscles — maybe 8-10 at most for a few sets. Second, the athlete could see strength gains from the post-activation potentiation of an explosive, fast-twitch exercise.
Save Time With Supersets
A “superset” is a group of exercises done in succession. For example, exercise A, B, C, and D: perform these in order and repeat.
I like supersets because they cram the most amount of work in the least amount of time. I also use non-competing supersets because the exercises don’t stress the same muscles.
Silly example of a non-competing superset:
1. Leg extensions
2. Bicep curls
3. Situps
Would I ever use these exercises? No. But are they non-competing? Sure — legs, followed by arms, followed by abs.
After your leg extensions, you have two upper-body exercises before another set of leg extensions. (Depending on the rest between sets, that should spare the legs for a few minutes.) Now, you can return to the leg extensions with adequate rest while targeting two other body parts in the meantime.
Cardio At The End
Doing an intense interval in the middle of a workout will deplete your energy. Instead, do it at the end when you’ve finished all your important exercises — that way, you won’t interfere with your lifts. You’ll also finish with your heart racing and create a great “afterburn” effect.
Write It Down
To take your programming to the next level, you have to write your routine down and bring it with you. Hold it in your hand or lay it on the bench next to you. It’ll make a difference.
A program card needn’t be complex. It doesn’t have to be an Excel spreadsheet with formulas and tonnage calculations (don’t be a nerd like me) — just write it down in a notebook.
Example Workout Template
B: Power
1) Split-Stance Medicine Ball Side Toss: 2 sets, 8 reps each side (30 seconds rest)
2) 1/2-Kneeling Dowel Ankle Mobility: 2 sets, 10 reps each side (30 seconds rest)
C: Strength
1) Goblet Squat: 3 sets, 12 reps (60 seconds rest)
2) TRX Inverted Row: 3 sets, 12 reps (60 seconds rest)
3) Single-Arm Kettlebell Overhead Press: 3 sets, 12 reps each side (60 seconds rest)
Finisher:
Concept 2 Intevals
Stay tuned for the next article where I talk about technique. Even if you have the world’s greatest exercise program, you won’t get great results if don’t do the exercises correctly. Worse, you could injure yourself. In the next part, I’ll show you the biggest mistake people make when correcting their technique, I’ll teach you the proper way to do so, and I’ll give you some free coaching.
Throughout this seres, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of questions, so be sure to ask using the comment section of this post. Feel free to reach out to me via Facebook and Twitter to get your question answered. See you soon!
Leave a Reply