It's a question I hear often. "What is the best training program?" While there are many good programs/philosophies, there are certainly many terrible ones as well. There is no single "best" program for everyone, but here are 10 key questions/principles to consider when trying to discover what may be the best plan for YOU. Everybody will have different things that they should focus on more than others, so you can't say precisely which principles are most important because that depends on the individual, but a great program will take most or all of the following into consideration.
It is imperative to have a personal philosophy that represents you and your training style. Your philosophy will define what, why and how you train. You should always be able to answer the question "Why?" when you're training. "Why am I doing this?" That goes for any specific exercise as well as the entire program in general. Without a strong "why", the likelihood of you maintaining any training program beyond a few weeks is minimal. Anyone can start something, but the big results come from the long term follow through. Some people want to lose a few pounds, some want to be able to play with their kids more often, while others want to be the most dominant athlete on the field. It doesn't matter what your "why" is, but it better be damn important to you if you decide to commit to a plan, or you will never reach your potential.
Many people give themselves deadlines, or enter short term challenges. You see it all the time in magazines, 12 week fat loss challenges, 6 week boot camps, last minute weight loss before a wedding, etc. Thats fine to get people started or quick motivation, but too often people see the end of that short term challenge as the end of their training, only to revert to a sedentary lifestyle, turn into a post marital blimp, or end up worse off then when they started. Consider this, your girlfriend is hot and trains her butt off for your upcoming wedding where she stuns the crowd with 119 lbs of hotness, 6 months later she's really comfortable and blows up to 199 lbs of donut licking couch space and is on track to crack 300 by next Christmas. Her "why" was a good wedding album. From here on out you're stuck digging a tunnel from your basement to escape this marriage like Andy Dufresne escaping Shawshank State Prison. I wouldn't say it is about the finish, because hopefully there is no finish. If you have a strong philosophy, then your program is something that you adopt as a lifestyle. Your short term goals will constantly change, but the major goal usually remains the same: become a stronger, healthier, better version of you. How you achieve that is the fun part that requires some thinking, planning and effort. The 10 following principles should help guide your path, discover what is important to you, and help you find the best program for your current goal, which you should already have or define very soon.
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Is what you're doing necessary?
Often times we see many people in the gym doing silly or ineffective exercises for several reasons. Maybe they saw it on YouTube and thought it was cool. Maybe it's ignorance, as if thinking that triceps kickbacks are the best way to stamp a horseshoe on your upper arm. Maybe their trainer wrote the WOD on the board so they follow along like a good sheep should. Even though it may potentially be injurious, or have nothing to do with their personal goals, some people unnecessarily perform exercises that either waste their time, don't benefit them, or hurt them. An example would be testing a baseball pitcher's 5000 meter row time. While some workouts or exercises may be hard, some are a waste of time, not beneficial and unnecessary for this particular athletes needs. Make sure that what you are doing is helping you get better and getting you closer to your goals. If it's not, dump it.
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Is what you're doing sufficient?
Evaluate if what you're doing is enough to help you be successful. For years many programs have promised huge results in 20 minutes, 6 minute 6 packs, or 7 second fixes. It's usually bullshit. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think you have to spend hours in the gym daily to get good results. I am actually fond of the minimum effective dose rationale, which means don't do any more than necessary to get a desired response. However, often times these quick fixes and instant promises give people an easy out to not work hard enough to achieve success. They think it is OK to be a pussy, or if they train for longer than 45 minutes their testosterone levels diminish to the point of developing raisin nuts. They basically find any excuse to be soft. Neither Michael Jordan, nor Kobe Bryant dribbled a basketball for 20 minutes 3 days a week to achieve greatness. They were consumed with their goal, and they made it their life. You can change those names to Rockefeller, Will Smith or any other successful person, but you get the point. If what you're doing isn't sufficient to get you moving closer to your goal, maybe you need to change directions or work a little harder.
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Louie Simmons Westside Book of Methods guarantees you'll be training in a way that will get you stronger.
Is what you're doing safe?
There's way too many "FAIL" videos on YouTube to have to explain this one. I love to see people working hard, but if what you're doing is beyond your ability or capacity, the reward is not worth the risk. Let's say you're not particularly skilled at the barbell snatch, it's probably not safe to try and bang out 75 reps as fast as possible in the name of fitness, otherwise be deemed a pussy for eternity. A good coach or program will allow a logical substitute that challenges your current ability and optimizes results while minimizing any unnecessary risk of injury. Not every workout should be the hardest session of your life. Practice more often, test when you're ready to perform safely.
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Is your program progressive?
Everyone should start a program with relatively basic and simple movement patterns. It's obvious that we should progress from light to heavier weights over time, but it seems less obvious to some people to master simple movements before training more complex movements. This is usually pigheadedness or ignorance. Some people think they are ready for kipping muscle ups before they can do pullups or dips. Or they try olympic lifting but can't front squat with their elbows up, deadlift with a flat back, or lift their arms straight up over their heads without their spines looking like a banana. A good program utilizes progression with weights, as well as movements. Simply making people use rubber bands for assistance or lifting with only a pvc pipe is often a bad idea. Use exercises that challenge you while allowing you to be successful and help you reach your goals, know your regressions and progressions, and you will advance faster with less pain and minimal stagnation of progress.
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Does your program, system or gym hold you accountable for your actions?
Many people get a new workout routine from a book or magazine. Thats cool, but the book does not coach you, correct your form, or call you out when you're late or don't show up. If you're lucky enough to train with a group of like minded people, who have a great attitude and bring positivity to the gym daily, your experience will be better, and you won't want to let anyone down. I don't think anything beats training in a gym with a great, high-energy atmosphere. If there isn't a decent gym near you to train with great people, there are plenty of on-line resources that are great options as well. Tracking your progress in a training journal is huge, whether it be on-line or on paper. Accountability is the absolute best thing about CrossFit and similar style private gyms, everybody there wants to see you and see you succeed. Without a good crew at your gym to keep you accountable, an on-line community, like The Consummate Athlete, is the next best thing. This type of resource allows you to ask questions about your training and get feedback from people that know what you're trying to do, track your progress, and get better results because you're not going it alone, you have people in your corner rooting for your success.
Is what you're doing sustainable?
You may have the best workout program in the world, hell, it's exactly what Mr Universe did to win his 3rd straight title. You train hard, but the weight or volume is too much for your current ability, or the exercises aren't possible with your poor mobility, or you don't have the right equipment, or not enough time, etc. These types of hurdles will derail your training. Even if it is deemed the perfect plan, if you can not maintain consistency and regularity with your training, you'll go nowhere. What's perfect for one may be junk for another. One of the most important factors in any program is sustainability, you must be consistent with your training if you want to see progress. Find something that works for you and work hard to get better. Don't give up when things get tough, make adjustments and keep moving forward. The best program in the world is the one that motivates you to constantly be better than you were yesterday. A perfect plan on paper means nothing if you aren't putting in the sweat. Find the plan that allows you to train regularly, regardless of your goals or situation, and you will be successful.
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Does your program have flexibility?
If your program calls for a particular exercise, but you lack the necessary equipment, knowledge or mobility to perform it correctly, are there appropriate substitutions that would help achieve the desired response? Knowing the proper regressions and progressions are helpful, but, knowing how the body works is most beneficial. Some programs, exercises or gyms are based on specific equipment, like Curves - they do a circuit of machine based exercises- so if you're in a new place and don't have a particular machine, you can't do that exercise. But if you train a movement, you'll always have a logical substitution. It's not about the equipment, it's about YOU! Your body can adapt to anything, but the exercise machine can only do one thing. Adopt a training philosophy that focuses on quality body movement that can be adjusted and adapt to different environments. There may be a place for expensive machines for some people at certain times, but never make any machine the focus of a program or session. If the focus is your body and the movement, you will always have options and flexibility in your program.
Is your training fun?
Unless you train simply for general fitness, I'm not a huge fan of training for entertainment. That's what books, sex, and those little motorized horses outside Wal-Mart are for. Sometimes we see people do things out of boredom, like squat on BoSu balls, slackline snatching, or foolishly chug beers while lifting to get a few cheap YouTube fans. You should switch things up occasionally to avoid boredom, keep yourself motivated, and most importantly, to stay interested and consistent with your training. But, refrain from silliness that doesn't help you achieve your goals, might get you hurt, or could cause you to be the butt of jokes on the Drywall page. Remember your "Why?" Trust you me, we will all laugh and make fun of your dumbassedness, and share your idiocy all over the book of faces, guaranteeing that your mother will ignore you at Thanksgiving. If you're an athlete, it's not about entertainment, it's about getting better and staying healthy and on the field to contribute to your cause. Being injured helps noone. Keep the goal the goal and you'll have more fun than everyone else when you win the championship. Train safe, stay focused, make personal records, win every fuckin thing. That's fun.
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Does your training have variety?
Some have said that 80% of the benefit comes from 20% of your efforts. Only a few exercises will bring the biggest bang for your buck, but, if you are repeatedly performing the same exercises, with the same weight, in the same set and rep ranges, with the same rest periods, always doing the same thing, you will likely develop some imbalances, weaknesses, and prematurely stagnate your progress. If you are a professional pitcher getting paid millions of dollars to throw a curveball, you can expect some imbalances due to the specific nature of your training and lifestyle. Don't worry, you can afford whatever tool or surgery you'll need to fix yourself later. Make dat money, dawg. For the rest of us athletes, we want to be happy, healthy and horny. A busted shoulder and elbow from overtraining the same things will severely cut in to your morning masturbation sessions. Keep yourself healthy, train with enough variety to eliminate imbalances, keep things interesting, and allow you to make a few extra PR's once in a while. Variety in training is paramount to improve athleticism and maintain balance.
Is your training program focused?
They say variety is the spice of life, but too much spice only leaves you with a burnin butthole. Keep things simple, focus on the meat and potatoes, and add just enough spice to keep things balanced, fun, and motivating. I never heard of a delicious Pumpkin-apple-lemon meringue-key lime- cherry- mince meat- pecan- chocolate mousse- peach cobbler- sweet potato pie. Excessive variety ensures that you won't get enough practice on the few things that bring the most benefit to your training. It's like stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. Focus on improving only about 3 or 4 things in your training at a time, and try to keep the other attributes from falling too far behind. Only beginners improve everything simultaneously. The better you get, the slower your progress comes and the more focus you need in your training. Train in a way that improves your current abilities and helps you reach your goals, and eliminate the bull shit that has no place in your current system or philosophy.
Joe Meglio's Deadlift Like A Man Program is focused on getting your deadlift numbers way up and therefore making you strong as hell.
A lot of these principles may seem redundant, while others seem to contradict each other. The point is to push optimally in one direction without sacrificing too much ground in another. You can't have everything all the time, but you can prioritize what is most important to you right now and you'll achieve great things.
Join The Consummate Athlete today and discover what your current training may be missing get the answers to the problems that are holding you back.
Join The Consummate Athlete today and discover what your current training may be missing get the answers to the problems that are holding you back.
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