Programming: What is it?

Today's article is going to be on programming. To start off, I'd like to say that if anyone wants to read more in depth about proper programming, definitely check out the book Practical Programming. I got a copy of Amazon for like 20 bucks or so and it was definitely a wise investment. It will cover some of the topics I am going to talk about with more detail and actual empirical evidence.

Anyways - how do we program our weight training? Well, this will depend on your training level - beginner, intermediate, advanced, or elite. For purposes of this blog article we are going to speak mostly about the first two, with some description on advanced programming, and little to no subject matter on elite programming. This is because elite programming, simply, is very difficult and scientific. 

To start, I am going to provide a small description of the beginning, intermediate, and advanced athletes for further understanding.

Beginner weight trainers will be athletes that can produce gains from workout to workout. Linear progression is a good example here. If you are able to consistently put weight on the bar from workout to workout that means you are, by definition, in the beginner phase of weight training. These are the athletes who can move their 1RM up 10 lbs a week for months. Think of the noob gains that most of us experienced when we just started weight training. This type of trainee can provide enough stress on the body from the weight training of one day, and be able to recover enough before the next training session, that their body has super compensated in between and gains have already been made. The programming for this individual would be pretty basic and discussed further down in the article.

Intermediate weight trainers will be the persons who need multiple training sessions to produce gains. Generally, this could be anywhere from one week to one month. The vast majority of regular gym-goers and athletes fall into this category. This is where a more scientific approach is needed and practical programming and periodization comes into play. Since the 1RM of this weight lifter is pretty static and not constantly changing as in the beginner, %'s of 1RM (intensity) will be utilized, as well as mesocycles, microcycles, and macrocycles. These 'cycles' describe the length of time for an athlete's training block. The programming for this type of trainee will be more specific to their goals.

Advanced weight trainers will comprise a very small number of athletes and even smaller number of gym-goers. The average trainee will never reach this stage. Advanced weight trainers must structure their training based around longer macrocycles which is generally broken down into four week training blocks. An athlete at this stage must accumulate fatigue over 100s of weight training sessions to produce enough stress on the body to provide results. The programming for this individual will be extremely sports specific to certain goals and deadlines, often structured on a timeline to account for major competitions. 

Athletes that fall into the elite category will have to "overreach" or accumulate fatigue through workouts over a series of months or even years to provide enough stress on the body to produce gains. Think of many top level Olympic athletes than plan their training schedules in four year blocks where they attempt to be perfectly peaked for their ultimate performance at the Olympic Games. 

Programming: How do we do it?

Beginner Progamming:

I generally recommend and firmly believe that all beginner trainees (and any athletes, for that matter) should incorporate a wide variety of bodyweight exercises to develop kinesthetic awareness and overall body coordination. This will ensure long term success and health in any sport or activity over time. An individual should include all of the following in his daily activities at least 3 times per week, to the limits that he or she is capable of:

-Push-ups

-Pull-ups

-Handstands and handstand push-ups if possible (against a wall)

-Dips

-Abdominal exercises (sit-ups, plank holds, etc)

-Lunges

-Jumping - Broad Jumps, Vertical Jumps, Box Jumps, Squat Jumps

-Running - steady jogging and some sprinting

***And a steady diet of daily mobility work. Proper motor control and adequate flexibility should be absolute and strictly enforced goals of ANY weight lifter, PERIOD!!! 

Actual programming for the beginner is extremely basic, at this point. Three days a week of actual weight training will be adequate to provide sufficient gains and anything more than that would be unnecessary. The goal every weight training session should be to use more weight than the workout before. I usually recommend beginners stick to 5 or 6 main compound movements with varying accessory exercises depending on imbalances and/ or personal goals. The main compounds should and always will be, as far as I am concerned:

1) Barbell Squat (back squat, front squat)

2) Barbell Press (standing military, flat bench)

3) Pull-up (chin-up, pull-up, neutral grip)

4) Barbell Row (underhand, overhand)

5) Barbell Pull (clean, deadlift, snatch, straight leg deadlift or RDL)

And each workout should consist of at least three of the above. I always say to include squats everyday because that is one exercise that will generally adapt the fastest and lead to more overall body gains than anything else - you simply get the most bang for your buck with the squat. 

Keep workout days separated by at least one day of rest - a Monday, Wednesday, Friday lifting schedule works perfectly, but any days of the week are fine as long as they are separated by a day of active recovery (As in, you are still doing your bodyweight stuff on these days). It is good to have a Workout A, and a Workout B, so that you can utilize all the compound movements effectively. 

So for example, you would perform Workout A on Monday with back squats, bench press, and deadlift, Workout B on Wednesday with front squats, standing military press, and row, and Workout A again on Friday with back squats, bench press, but possibly cleans this time instead of deadlifts. 

For most main compound exercises - focus on getting five work sets. The exception here would be deadlifts, cleans, and snatches. I always recommend lower sets and lower reps in the deadlift (i.e. 3 sets of 3), and more sets but absolutely lower reps in the cleans/ snatches (i.e. 5 sets of 2). The amount of reps will depend on your phase in training - I always recommend that a beginner starts using higher reps (between 8 and 12) to develop proper motor patterns and a good cushion of hypertrophy before moving towards strength. Keep in mind though that strength will develop steadily either way as long as you are pushing yourself. The last rep of every set should be difficult but not crushingly so. For example - you may do five sets of 10 on bench press, increasing the weight on every set. On the last set of 10, your tenth rep, you may struggle to get up, but know that you could have squeezed out 12 reps if you really tried. 

So lets break a beginner's week #1 down:

MONDAY - WORKOUT A: 

1) Back Squat: Two warm up sets, followed by 5 sets of 8 with increasing weight each set. 

2) Bench Press: Two warm up sets, followed by 5 sets of 10 with increasing weight each set.

3) Deadlift: Two warm up sets, followed by 3 sets of 3 with increasing weight each set. 

4) Pull-ups: 3 sets of as many reps as possible

Accessory: 3 sets of abdominal exercises, 2 sets of lower back (hyperextensions or other), 2 sets of rotator cuff strengthening exercises. Reps for these in the 15-20 rep range.

WEDNESDAY - WORKOUT B:

1) Front Squat: Two warm up sets, followed by 5 sets of 8 with increasing weight each set.

2) Standing Press: Two warm up sets, followed by 5 sets of 10 with increasing weight each set.

3) Barbell Row: Two warm up sets, followed by 5 sets of 10 with increasing weight each set.

Accessory: 1 set each of abs, lower back, and rotator cuff. 2 sets each of bicep exercises and tricep exercises. Reps for these in the 15-20 rep range.

FRIDAY - WORKOUT A (variation #1):

Repeat Monday, replacing Deadlifts with Cleans for 5 sets of 2, and Pull-ups for Chin-ups. Do different ab/ lower back exercises.

An athlete may continue on the above scheme for several months before exhausting the noob gains, while garnering a great amount of strength and functional mass. By this point, they will (or should) have developed good motor patterns, technique, and overall body conditioning, strength, and work capacity that they can choose a more sports specific approach or move into directly targeting specific goals with better results. Then, they would move into the intermediate phase of training:

Intermediate Programming:

Once the athlete has developed crucial motor skills, proper barbell techniques, and has a general understanding of their body, they will have access to more specific training towards their goals. This is where they must ask themselves:

-What are their goals and why?

-How do they plan on achieving them?

By asking these questions, one can have more direction in the gym, and motivation to create a solid training plan that address their needs and wants in the physical spectrum. Want to become a bodybuilder? You will have to structure your training around higher reps. Want to become a powerful athlete? Focus on lower reps with higher weights, more explosive movements like the clean and snatch, and do more sprinting and jumping to activate more fast switch muscle fibers. 

The programming for the intermediate is pretty straightforward, but at this point we will want to have established their 1RM in the major compound movements. By doing this, we can use intensity (remember, intensity is % of 1 rep max) to address their goals. Take a look at these charts for reference:

As you can see, strength, power, and myofibrillar hypertrophy - all characteristics necessary to be a good athlete - lie mostly in the 5 rep and under range (around or above 80% of 1RM). Whereas for a bodybuilder, 12-20  reps is their aim (60% and below) or a marathon runner, 20+. 

The athlete in this stage of training should begin to work on creating a workout plan structured around their goals and start understanding how programming works. This is why I am not going to talk about exercises, sets and rep schemes but rather give you the tools to figure that out for yourself, both in this article as well as others. What I will talk about is how to structure your training meso, micro, and macrocycles, as I feel this is more important.

At the intermediate stage, you must begin to accumulate fatigue over multiple workouts as previously mentioned. The best way to do this is to arrange it into weekly schedule. I am currently having a lot of success arranging my training around 4 week blocks and read that many others, both much more advanced than me and the opposite - less advanced. I would suggest to play around with the 4 week training block as it is pretty universal. 

A four week training block will begin with week 1 being a relatively easy week. Moderate intensity and moderate volume (i.e. medium-heavy weights, and an average amount of total sets and reps). Week 2 will begin and you should feel fine, not totally beat up or sore from the previous week. This second week will use heavier weights and more total reps and sets. You should begin to feel the affects of the heavier training by the third or fourth training session, and by the fifth session you should feel pretty beat up. A sixth training session can be utilized here to add more load if required, although I typically recommend 5 weight training sessions per week. Week 3 rolls around and you are totally beat from the prior two weeks with no real opportunity to recover. Week 3 is a blessing as you will lower back to a bit less than the weights used in Week 1, with less total sets and total reps. This will give your body the opportunity to super compensate. More attention should be given to the recovery aspects in this week - plenty of good food, rest, lots of stretching and foam rolling/ SMR work, active recovery still utilized. Week 4 should leave you feeling pretty well rested if you structured your program correctly, and ready to smash on weights. Here is your chance to set PRs - heaviest weights of the four weeks, with the least amount of total reps and sets. This is your "Performance Week". Hopefully you set some new 1RMs here, or 2RM, 3RM, 4RM, 5RM.... Any sort of PR to let you know you are making progress. Go for a 1RM if you feel it will fall, then you have a new PR to base your %'s off of for next week.

So to recap:

WEEK 1 - Base Week, medium weights and medium volume (i.e. 5 sets of 5 @ 75% on the Squat)

WEEK 2 - Overreaching Week, heavier weights and higher volume (i.e. 7 sets of 5 @ 80% on the Squat)

WEEK 3 - Unload Week, medium weights and lower volume (i.e. 4 sets of 3 @ 70% on the Squat)

WEEK 4 - Performance Week, heaviest sets and lowest volume (i.e. 2 sets of 2 @ 100%, or 1 rep at 105%)

Structuring your training around cycles like this can continue for a very long time - some experts would argue almost no one develops past this point. Obviously, if you do achieve greatness beyond this level of programming, you will have been in touch with great coaches and experts anyways to help guide you beyond it. For what it's worth, this is typically how most top level Olympic weightlifters structure their training - I know that the Chinese use the four week model and Russians use a slightly longer version of it, but it based on the same principles of a preparatory phase, an overreaching phase, a deload phase, and a performance phase. 

***Advanced and elite athletes will receive their own, highly specific training from very qualified sports scientists that utilize tools such as blood testing to see hormone levels and other factors to determine how training is affecting them down to a precise science. 

Anyways, I hope this article helps some of you create your own programs and develop a plan of action to move towards your own personal fitness and physical goals. Know that this type of programming can be virtually applied towards almost any area of fitness. If you want to run a faster 40 time you can utilize the same principles if applied correctly, it is just up to you to figure out how to translate intensities, reps and set schemes into 40 yard dash training (hint: think of running four 100 meter dashes @ 80% of your top speed....) Til next time. 

One last thing - take a look at the chart created by a top Russian sports scientist who found the optimum amount of sets/ reps per exercise for each intensity range: