Working out vs Training
A workout is a series of instructions that you go through. A workout is static. A workout doesn’t show you how to make progress. A workout has nothing to measure. Stop doing workouts!
Training
When you have a training program (programming) you know exactly how to progress and you have measurable benchmarks that show you the progress you have made and demonstrate positive progressions in your strength or athleticism. This builds motivation and forms the habits required for long term adherence.
Elements of a Good Programming
Progressive Overload
This is the #1 most important aspect of good programming. Your program needs to progressively overload your effort each week. There are many methods to do this.
An excellent example of this is the popular “couch to 5k” program. It starts out with a very short run and over time uses progressive overload to increase the effort of each session by a marginal and manageable amount. The athlete who completes the program is now able to finish a 5k running race and has a clear progression to work through towards the goal. The work they do for each workout is progressively overloaded (increased) creating a defined path for forward progress.
The simplest form of progressive overload for a strength training program is linear progression.
A simple example of linear progression is if you had 5 sets of 6 reps of 100 pounds for your bench press and you achieved 6 reps for all 5 sets the next time you came to the gym you would start with 105 pounds. This would be a 5 pound linear progression. Each time a workout goal is achieved we add 5 pounds in a linear fashion thus progressively overloading the workout.
This type of progression is generally prescribed by most beginner programs in the strength world such as Starting Strength and StrongLifts 5x5 (2 popular beginner programs)
The other way to achieve linear progression is through raising workout volume. Volume is simply the number of repetitions you do within each workout multiplied by the weight you lifted. If you completed those 5 sets of 6 reps at 100 pounds you could try for 5 sets of 7 reps on your next workout. This would represent an increase in workout volume. This is also a valid form of progressive overload.
I love to use this method in particular for dumbbell training. Many times it is difficult to simply jump to the next dumbbell in line if you make your sets so often I will increase by 1 rep per set each week until I have achieved 8 reps per set, and then I will increase to the next dumbbell weight and decrease my reps to 5 and repeat this sequence.
Linear progression is the simplest to understand of the various methods of progressive overload and the easiest for beginners to understand. If you are just starting out you want to ensure your program is making small and incremental changes to your workout volume, either through reps or weight, distance, time, or any other measures depending on your goals.
Goals
Workout programs have actual goals. They aren't just to mindlessly burn calories. They could have a goal of building strength, raising vO2MAX, increasing FTP (Functional Threshold of Power), increasing speed, agility, power, vertical leap, the list can go on and on. The point is you aren't just mindlessly churning on a treadmill hoping for some nebulous result. You have a goal and a plan.
Recovery
The next element of good programming is acknowledging the importance of recovery in building muscle. If your program teaches the tired notion of “no pain no gain” run the other way. For the purposes of building strength smart programming will win out over brutalizing your body.
The "no days off" and "beastmode" memes on the web might have you believe the best way to build muscle or get rippled is to just go balls to the wall 24/7. Any serious athlete knows that you want to peak for your event, so first of all intensity could be seasonal, and of course you don't want to land yourself into the breakdown recovery trap.
There are various ways to deal with this in a well structured program. Just as an example you could plan a deload week every 8 weeks. A deload week is simply a week where we intentionally lower both intensity and volume to allow our bodies to fully recover. Intensity is simply the difficulty of a movement. If you are doing standard push-ups you may do knee push ups on your deload week. Studies have shown keeping your muscles engaged, but not overly taxing them is superior to a full rest where the athlete does nothing.
Another example would be having actual rest days throughout the week, phasing your workouts so you are not overly adapted to any movement.
In a well designed bike racing program you will do pace work, speed work, intervals, and low intensity recovery rides. What you won't do is just go balls to the wall maxing yourself out till you puke every workout and expect the results of an athlete with smart programming.
Plateau
Eventually on a beginner program linear progression will create a plateau. A plateau is when the athlete has failed to progress for over a period of time.
There are MANY methods to overcome plateaus including
- Deload & Raise volume at lower intensity (more reps of an easier movement or weight). This is known as raising workout volume. If you were stuck at 100 pounds on bench press for 5 reps you could lift 80 pounds for 12 reps for a few weeks before progressively overloading back to 100 pounds. If you keep trying the same 5 reps every week and failing you won’t get stronger. You need to change it up to force a new adaptation for your muscles in a different rep range.
- Planned rest periods where volume & intensity are reduced for at least a week to allow for adequate recovery.
- Total rep goals instead of set goals. To raise volume on my squat I employ a high volume day where I take 75% of my normal heavy load and give myself a goal of 50 repetitions. I take as many sets or breaks as is required to hit my overall volume goal. This is a form of rest pause training.
- Go back in your workout several steps and just use the workout programming to advance you back to the part where you were stuck. So if you were stuck trying to achieve 5 sets of 5 of our 100 pound bench press example you could go to 80 pounds and work through your 5x5 and then 85 pounds on the next workout, and then 90 pounds, etc. You would eventually get back to your previous weight and may have gained the strength required to break the plateau by lowering the intensity and allowing your body to recover.
- Drop sets: You have a volume goal for your set of 10 reps, for example. If you fail to achieve your set goal you would immediately lower the intensity to obtain the 10 reps. So if you were benching 100 pounds you would lower the weight to 80 pounds and complete the set. You could use a slingshot also to raise workout volume and overload the top of your reps.
Periodization
The final element of good programming is Periodization. Periodization is a big topic and there are many philosophies to tackle it. periodization is a workout topic for intermediate and advanced athletes. The beginner will see quick adaptations and generally will do better with simpler workouts and lower workout volume.
Periodization is a method where the athlete trains for mix of training phases to support overall goals. For example a bodybuilder might train for power, strength, and muscle hypertrophy (muscle size). Again this is not something the beginner needs to worry about.
Periodization is outside the scope of this article, but you can identify if your program uses some form of peridozation fairly easily. Does your program work you through a variety of rep ranges and/or training modalities or does it mainly prescribe the same things day in and day out for every exercise.
StrongLifts 5x5 is a good example of a workout that does not include periodization. It's a straight set beginner program with simple linear progression. Great for beginners, because that's going to be most effective, but for a trained weight lifter this will lead to overtraining, join issues, and most importantly it will kill your gains! It will be effective in the beginning, because it's a new adaptation and then eventually stop working.
That's the part you need to take with you, you have to constantly force your body to adapt to new adaptations. This can be done weekly, daily, monthly, every 3 weeks, there are so many philosophies on how to do this.
A simple example might be as follows
4 weeks - Train for strength. Do big barbell movements in the 5x3 rep range and rest for 3 to 5 minutes between sets. The goal would be CNS adaptation and maximal strength gains.
4 weeks - Hypertrophy - rest for 60 to 90 seconds and run a basic push/pull/legs split or 3 day per week fullbody split (the topic of another post) - The goal would be to force muscle growth
4 weeks - Metcon - Kettlebell work, hiit training, calisthenics - Goal to raise muscle endurance and raise VO2MAX
cycle back to strength. This is just basic workout phasing. You can go so much more in depth with this.
Get Nerdy Here
I would suggest people who don't design programs yourself, such as me, stick with known programs designed by professionals that have been proven to work. NOTE: Professional most likely do not include your favorite instagram or YouTube personalities, that's not to say there aren't some good ones... there are just so many bad ones.