I touched a bit of a nerve with last week’s “Stop Working Out” post. Apparently there were a few people that didn’t like the fact that I was challenging what some have come to believe is a tried and true method to get in shape.
So I thought I would give you a bit of insight into my mind and how I think when I construct a training program.
For me, there are 6 Essential Elements in constructing a proper program…
1. Warm-Up – As I get older, the more I realize that I need a longer and more specific warm-up. Warm-ups used to be about running or walking on the treadmill for 5 minutes while reading some trashy gossip magazine, then finding a corner and static stretching for 5 minutes. These days my warm-ups for my clients involve ver specific exercises and dynamic stretches that prepare their body for the specific exercises that we are going to do for the day. My favourite warm-up exercises these days include Egyptians, Spiderman Climbs with a Reach, Circular Hip Flexor Stretches and Shoulder Swings.
2. Explosive – The Explosive element of my workouts serves 2 purposes. First, it’s to develop power. As a young athlete I was obsessed with vertical jump (mainly because I’m only 5’11″ so to compete with the big boys I had to be able to get off the ground). One of the fastest ways I found to help increase my jump was to add in some quality jumping prior to my main exercise. The second purpose for the explosive element is to fire up the nervous system. I’ve found that after a few good sets of jumps, I’m almost in a heightened state and really ready to lift something heavy.
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when it comes to jumps is doing too many. I’ve seen trainers turn this into a cardio session where they have their clients jumping for 5 minutes straight.
This element of the workout is meant to develop power and you can only do that through quality of movement. If you’re at a point where you’re jumping 20-30 times in one set, you’ve missed the point. Your last jump in the set should look exactly like, if not better than, your first jump. This will ensure you’re not reaching technical failure and won’t injure yourself.
3. Strength – Probably the most important element in the entire workout (outside of the warm-up) is the strength element. Above all else, strength is the reason we lift heavy stuff. Shoot, it’s the whole reason we lift anything at all isn’t it? It’s the emphasis that I make sure all my clients have in their workout – from my 13 year old daughter to the 70 year old couple that I train every week. When training strength for myself, I like to use grinding exercises like the 1-arm kettlebell Clean & Press or a kettlebell weighted Pistol. If I’m lifting weights for this particular phase of the program then my absolute favourite strength exercise is the barbell deadlift.
4. Assistance – Assistance Work is exactly that…finding exercises that will assist or compliment your main strength exercise for the day. I like to do my assistance work in a non-competing superset type of arrangement where I’m going upper/lower or push/pull. Some of my favourite assitance exercises include Glute-Ham Raises (I use these for warm-up as well), ANY type of row, Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squats (“Bulgarians”) and Lunges.
5. Finisher – Here’s where the fun begins. Back when I wrote “Stop Working Out”, I condemned the randomness of the “So whuddya wanna do today” approach that trainers take. The Finisher may be the only exception to the rule. Here’s where you can pick and choose how you want to “finish” your workout by increasing your heart rate and raising your metabolic rate to new heights.
=>Click HERE for Some of the BEST Finishers You Can Find Anywhere
The finisher is the element of the workout where I can combine exercises in a circuit format and leave my clients with that gut-wrenching feeling like they’ve really worked hard.
It’s the part of the workout that everyone loves and hates at the same time. It’s where you can “work your abs”. It’s where you can insert your interval training for fat loss and where you can do your high rep kettlebell swings or snatches and really push yourself.
=>Check out Mike Whitfield’s 33 Ab Finishers Program HERE
6. Cool Down – Cooling down is probably one of the most overlooked elements of programming. After your finisher, it isn’t enough to just stop and hit the showers. You’ll need some time to naturally calm your heart rate. This would be a good time to do some static stretching of tight muscle groups (don’t stretch what’s already loose – a pet peeve of mine).
After all of that, you may think that you’ve just done a 2 hour long training session. But with proper planning, believe it or not, the above session would only be about 45 minutes long and that’s with the warm-up and cool down INCLUDED.
Properly structured training sessions are how to reach your goals – fat loss, hypertrophy, strength, whatever.
Make sure you have a plan and know where you want to go.
We run into trouble when we start creating our workouts on the spot and asking ourselves “So whuddya wanna do today?”
Chris Lopez, RKC
Leave A Reply (2 comments So Far)
ralph
86 days ago
Chris-great article!! I bet most people only do half of what you should.
How many sets for strenght training do you recommend for general fitness? 2 to 3?
Gloria aka Nana G
78 days ago
Good morning Chris, I just wanted to compliment you on the fact that you share so much valuable info ‘for free’, in most cases others(no matter the subject matter) offer ‘teasers’, just enough to get your curiosity up, then BAM! you get the ‘for you my friend, for only $199 I will share ….”, but with you there is tons of useful, clear info..Thank you so very much!
I’m an overweight 65 yr old women that just recently lost 50 lbs and have 40 or so more to go, I work 2 jobs so time is very limited for me. I have purchased kettle bells and am very very interested in utilizing them safely and to the best use I can with my limited time. I found your site and am absolutely amazed by the wealth of info and instruction! I will be ‘starting my kettle bell’ workouts over the next couple weeks and am piecing together print outs I have made of your articles. I’m just having trouble finding which ones to begin with and how quickly to advance so will go back through and review all your info. Again, thank you so much for your wonderful gift to everyone.