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Program Design | ||||
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This entire web page is geared
towards helping you design your own program. Building a better, healthier
body with weights is an ongoing process. Your experience, fitness levels,
and goals may all change, which is usually accompanied by a change in your
program. This article will help you choose variables such as sets, reps,
rest, tempo, exercise selection and training frequency. This article will be directed strictly towards weight lifting program design, and won't include other factors such as diet and aerobic excercise. You can find that info on other pages like the original programs page. Many of the variables are interrelated, so this article may at times seem confusing. Just read it twice, and if you have any questions, let me know! Exercise SelectionWhen choosing exercises for your weight lifting program, here are a few things you should keep in mind:Muscle Balance - working chest but not upper back can lead to a dangerous hunching forward of the shoulders that can lead to injury. Try to keep the work load between opposing muscles similar. Goals of Program - are you looking to improve performance in a sport? If so, choose exercises that mimic the movements you use during your sport. If not, stick with more multi-joint exercises. Equipment Available - do you have access to free weights? machines? Take inventory of the equipment available to you so you can develop a well balanced program. Training Experience - you always hear how great an exercise the squat is. But if you are just starting out, the squat can take a lot of time to master, and should not be perfomed with poor form. You might consider sticking with leg press and leg extensions until you build up your strength base, and start practicing the squat with little or no weight. Free weights or machines? - machines are nice for novices because they allow for quick muscle learning, and are very safe. However, free weights should not be avoided because little or no movements in real life are as 2 dimensional as machine movement patterns. Training strictly with machines can cause weak stabilizer muscles, and increase your risk of injury. Sets and RepsProbably the question I get most often is how many sets and reps to do. The answer, of course, depends on your goals. Here are the answers:Hypertrophy - a.k.a. growth!If you've never lifted weights before, you can walk into the gym and throw around some weights for a month or two, and you will most likely experience some growth. After that you'll be fighting for every ounce! The most commonly accepted range of repetitions is about 8-12 to failure for growth. This number stimulates the greatest release of testosterone and growth hormone.The number of sets you do can also vary greatly. I have had success with both the HIT (High Intensity Training: one set to failure) method of training, as well as multiple sets. In my course we were taught that for optimal hormonal changes, aim for about 5 sets per muscle. I prefer to do 2-3 exercises, with 2-3 sets each for a total of about 6 sets. If you do try the one set to failure approach, make sure to make that one set count, using drop sets, rest/pause, forced reps, etc. Keep rest periods short, 1-2 minutes between sets. Whatever method you choose to try, it won't work forever. You have to alternate if you want to avoid a plateau. Some say every 4 weeks, some every 6, and some people make every workout different. I would recommend at following the same method for about 4 workouts before moving on. Keep track of your gains, and you'll know if you should use the same method again in the future. StrengthIf your main goal is to increase your strength and power (without too much increase in body mass, i.e. for wrestling, etc.), you'll need to lift heavier weights. The fact is, you won't significantly improve your 1 rep max if you always lift a weight for 15 reps to failure. In order to adapt to heavier weights, you need to expose your body to heavier weights. Aim for reps in the 1-6 range, always starting with ample warmup, and use a spotter!Lower reps like this is usually associated with higher intensity, which is inversly related to volume. Whereas hypertrophy requires a fair bit of volume (reps x sets, i.e. 10 x 6 = 60), you can't have a lot of volume with heavy weights. But you can increase the number of sets without increasing the volume too much. I.e. 8 sets with an average of 4 reps is only a total of 32 reps, about half as much volume as when training for hypertrophy. Rest between sets should be longer to allow fuller recovery for maximal effort: 2-4 minutes, i.e. 2 minutes for small muscles, 4 minutes for larger muscles. EnduranceAs you might have guessed, endurance training requires high reps. And to keep the volume similar, you should keep your sets close to or less than for hypertrophy. Aim for 15 reps or more, and 2-6 sets, depending on how many reps. I.e. only 2 sets of 50, but 6 sets of 15. Rest should be kept short, around 1-2 minutes.At first you may wonder why anybody would want to bother training with such high reps. Well, it will help your physical condition in many useful ways, primarily better fuel utilization (development of more mitochondria will increase fat burning capacity) which makes you feel more energetic, and you'll be able to endure longer workouts better. Program Design for SportsSomething I haven't touched upon much on my web page is the use of weight training to improve athletic performance. The course I took did focus a fair bit on just that, and I will put what I learned here!Most, if not all sports, have seasons: the off-season, pre-season, and the competetive season. Training can vary substantially from season to season, as it would make little sense to workout 4 days a week if you have to play hockey for 3! Here is a quick look at how the training generally varies from season to season: Off-seasonThe off-season is ususally used for general strength and endurance increases, and maybe some hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass). In some sports however, mass increase may be unfavourable, and hypertrophy should be avoided. The off-season can vary from one or two months up to 6 months or more. Generally, you should set up the program to allow 4-8 weeks of pre-season (sport-specific, power training) followed by one light, unloading week prior to competition/competetive season.Exercises used can be non-sport-specific, preferably large muscle, multi-joint exercises like deadlifts, squats, barbell rows, bench press, etc. Since the goal is strength and endurance increases, medium to light loads with high volume and short rest periods should be used. Reps in the 6-12 range are good for strength and hypertrophy, but aim higher if endurance is more important. 1-2 minutes rest is good for stimulating growth response. Pre-seasonThe pre-season should include training to benefit the athletes performace directly. In many sports, explosive power is very important, and training will include low rep, heavy training, perhaps even some plyometrics. Many sports have common movement patterns, and these movements should be mimicked in the gym to strengthen it. For example a shot-putter would do a lot of heavy squats, incline and should press.Exercises should be more sport specific. The athlete, or his coach, needs to analyze the athletes movements will performing the sport, and determine which exercises best mimic those movements in the gym. Since the focus will be on low reps, heavy weight power training, overall training volume will be reduced. Large, multi-joint exercises not specific to the sport may be dropped in favour of some single-joint exercises that work the muscles the way the sport will. The goal is now to increase strength and power. The movements should be similar to those used in the sport, we will use heavy loads, low reps, low to medium volume, and longer rest periods. Reps in 1-6 range for sport specific movements, maybe slightly higher for non-specific. 2-5 minutes rest (depending on muscle size, bigger muscle=more rest) for more complete recovery between sets for maximal performance. Competetive seasonThe athlete will most likely be quite active during his/her competetive season, and so as not to limit their performance, we will cut down on training volume further. In fact, we will limit training to once or twice a week, and we will stick with just a few multi-joint exercises to maintain strength. Few total sets, low reps/heavy weights with 2-4 minutes rest.An example would be squats, bench press, shoulder press on one training day, and deadlift, chinups, and leg curls the second training day. Do 3 heavy sets for each exercise with 4-8 reps each. |
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Exercise is not without its risks and this or any other exercise program may result in injury. To reduce the risk of injury in your case, consult your doctor before beginning this exercise program. The advice presented is in no way intended as a substitute for medical counsulation. The developer of Muscle101.com disclaims any liability from and in connection with any information conveyed on this web page. As with any exercise program, if at any point during your workout you begin to feel faint, dizzy, or have physical discomfort, you should stop immediately and consult a physician. | ||
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