Tag Archives: Programming

Training With a Goal In Mind (Part II)

Posted by Tim on

Having a goal as vague as “lose weight” is a sure fire way to never reach that goal. Goals need to be specific. It also helps to have a vision of what you want to look like after your goal is met. “Lose weight” doesn’t say what you’re going to look like. Do you want a body of Halle Berry, or Rosie O’Donnell?  For some people, Rosie’s body could be a step in the right direction, but I hope it isn’t anyone’s end goal.

The same applies to guys trying to gain weight. I’ll be honest – I’m no expert in losing weight. Frankly, I’ve never had to lose weight myself, so I’ve never put a lot of energy into studying it. I know enough to advise people, but not enough to go in depth. Gaining muscle, on the other hand, is something I know a lot more about. Just as “lose weight” is a vague goal, “gain weight” or “get stronger” is setting yourself up for failure.

For one thing, “gaining muscle” and “getting stronger” aren’t always the same thing. Decide what you specifically want to do, and focus on that. Sets & rep schemes, rest intervals, and % of 1RM, are all important factors in achieving your goal. Without going super in-depth, let’s go over some basics of designing a training program depending on your goal.

As I’ve already noted, if your goal is to gain strength you’re going to train differently than if your goal was muscle hypertrophy. If strength is your goal, first find out your 1 rep max (the heaviest weight you can lift for 1 full repetition). There are a number of formulas for doing this (just search Google), or you could spend a workout with trial and error. Work your way up to a weight that you can’t lift. Go down 10 lbs and, voila, you have your 1RM.

Once you have your 1RM for your 3 main lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press), take out your calculator and write down some basic lift numbers. You’re going to be sticking to low reps (1-5 reps), 5-8 sets, and 80%+ of your 1RM. Because the weight will be a high percentage of your 1RM, you won’t be doing 8-12 reps, but you can certainly bang out 5+ sets. For strength – keep the reps low, sets high, and percentage of 1RM high.

Muscle hypertrophy (gaining muscle) is slightly different. Again, you’ll need to find your 1RM for your three main lifts. Once you know your 1RM, grab that pen and paper, a calculator, and get down to business. Reps should be higher (8-12 reps), percentage of 1RM should be lower (60%), and sets should be about the lower (3-4 sets). Although the weight isn’t as high, you’ll be pushing out more reps and often times going almost to failure.

Now, weight training can also be used for endurance. In this case you’ll keep the reps very high (20+ reps), the percentage very low (40-50%), and the sets high (8+ sets). This would be important if you are in a sport that requires power on a steady basis – soccer for instance. Pure strength would be more applicable to football, where short bursts of a lot of power are the norm.

Your training should change depending on your goal. If you want to gain muscle, lose fat, gain strength, or build endurance, use a few basic guidelines and design a program that will help you reach your goal. Make your goal specific, and have a vision in mind. All of this will help lead you to your goal, and  hopefully prevent you from having the exact same new year’s resolution in 2013.

The 1% (No, not THAT 1%)

Posted by Tim on

One of the best tips I took away from the Jim Wendler /  Mark Rippetoe interview (which you can view HERE) was something along the lines of  ”don’t listen to anybody. Just train for 10 years and make up your own mind.” This is a great saying, and something that I feel should be taken more literally.

If anyone were to actually train for 10 years without taking the advice of idiot ramblers on internet bodybuilding forums we’d probably all end up at the same spot. In the end, we all get to the same point. Some of us faster than others, no doubt, but the same. Those points would be this – lift heavy, eat plenty, build your program around 3 movements – squat, bench, deadlift. That’s 99% of what anyone will learn after 10 years of training (or maybe 5 years of training with honest self evaluation).

It’s the 1% that everyone argues about, and it’s the most ridiculous thing. One person says that you should look up when you squat, another guy says you should look straight ahead. Still another says you should look slightly downward. So what?! Just squat. You’ll figure out what works best for you. You may squat one way at first and later switch to something else. Training programs change with time, but they change in small ways. The basics (the 99%) stay the same, the minor details (1%) changes.

When using a program that wasn’t written for you it’s not always necessary to adhere to it 100%. It’s important to follow some basic guidelines, but every detail doesn’t matter. It’s those details that can change, and should change for each individual. A beginner isn’t going to use the exact same set/rep/rest period intervals that an elite powerlifter does, BUT he’ll still be doing the same exercises – squat, bench, deadlift.

And those exercises – squat, bench, deadlift – are not options. They are part of the 99%, and should not change. No matter your goal, whether it be endurance, strength, or muscle hypertrophy, you should be basing your workouts around these main exercises. Learn your 99%, and leave the arguing over the 1% to the goofballs on the message boards.

On a completely unrelated topic – check out this band – The Mechanical Kids. I had the opportunity to sit in the studio with one of the guys from this band a year ago or so. Only recently have I actually taken time to listen to some of their music. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a cool change-up for me. Hope you like it!

Top 5 Fitness Books (Part I)

Posted by Tim on

It’s not enough to just come out and start talking about training philosophies like an expert. I’m no expert, just someone with enough experience to know what works well for me, and also enough knowledge to know what will work well for most other people. Over the years my bookshelf has acquired quite a few books on diet, exercise physiology, recovery, and programming. After going through these books, experimenting with their concepts, and comparing them to others, I’ve come up with a list of Top 5 “must read” fitness books.

The first book on the list is “5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System to Increase Raw Strength” by Jim Wendler. Jim is one of the top guys over at Elite FTS, a company founded in 1998 by Dave Tate that focuses on high quality powerlifting equipment, but also is dedicated to providing loads of information to the weight lifting community. The skinny – Jim and the company he works for are some of the smartest guys around when it comes to being strong.

5/3/1 is a pretty short book, and one could easily read the entire thing in less than an hour. It’s not a super in-depth manual on how to properly perform hundreds of exercises. It doesn’t give strict guidelines for carb to protein ratios, or suggest (or sell, rather) garbage supplements. Instead it’s an incredibly simple lifting program designed to get your stronger. Perhaps that’s exactly why this book has become so popular. It gets rid of all the garbage that doesn’t matter and tells you the stuff you need to know in order to get strong.

The idea behind 5/3/1 simple. Take your four basic lifts (squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press), find your 1RM for each lift, and work a 4 week period going off specific set/rep schemes for various percentages of your 1RM. It’s spelled out exactly how to do it in the book, and it’s certainly simple enough to memorize. I’ll refrain from listing the program out of respect for Jim – I don’t want to give away his ideas for free. Needless to say, the program is easy to follow, but more importantly, it WORKS!

The basics of the workout are the same, but Jim includes a few assistance exercise workouts to go along with 5/3/1. Some are more complex than others. Anyone can pick the assistance workout that suits them best, or make up their own. Each day focuses on a different lift. After 3 weeks of beating up your body, the fourth week is a recovery week.

The simplicity of this workout allows people not to focus SO much on training, and be able to live life outside of the gym. A four-day program lets your body rest and recover, and since you aren’t training everyday, you don’t need to eat constantly. Everything is planned out, so you know what you’ll do each day in the gym. This helps ensure steady progress, and frequent setting of new PRs.