Basics of a Good Training Program

Every day I see questions about how to design, manipulate, or modify a training program, and what I think of the program.  Every day there can be 1,000 different answers.  When examining a program, it is possible to over-analyze and over-complicate.  The important questions to ask yourself are 1) “does the program contain all the elements of a good program?” and 2) “does this program align with my goals?”  Today I’ll let you in on the big secret to examining a program… There is no secret, just a few basic principles.

Programs are broken down into two categories for the majority of people in the world, GPP or General Physical Preparedness and SPP or Specialized Physical Preparedness.  There is a third category for competitive athletes when they are competing.  The focus of this writing is the first category, the GPP.

GPP, or General Physical Preparedness is a stage of training designed to improve your total body performance to prepare you better for the next stage of training.  For some, GPP leads to SPP, where somebody may be looking for specific aesthetic, strength, or power goals.  For the majority of people, GPP is preparing them for the Activities for Daily Living (ADL), which includes things like going to work, playing with the kids, yard work, etc. 

The GPP programs usually have a lot of large movements and contain some form of weight training and cardiovascular training.  These programs tend to have a linear progression (adding or reps each week) and seem very minimalist at first glance.  With the idea of making generalized improvements, these programs do not contain the more focused training techniques and exercises for good reason.  For example, a GPP Program would contain squats and other general movement to assist in strengthening the leg, hip, and back muscles used in squatting.  The SPP Program would also squat, but then have other squat specific movements like pause squats which address weak points of the squat. 

When looking for a well-designed GPP program, there should be five types of identifiable movements as well as cardiovascular exercise implemented over the training week.
The movement patterns are:

• Push – the motion of moving a weight away from the body i.e. an overhead press
• Pull – the motion of moving the weight closer to the body i.e. a row
• Hinge – the motion of bending at the hips i.e. a Romanian Deadlift
• Squat – the basic movement pattern of sitting down and standing up
• Resisted Movement – moving a weight, like pushing a wheelbarrow or  carrying a child

Cardiovascular training can take the form of:

• Steady State
• Low Intensity, Long Duration – walking on a treadmill or around the community
• Medium Intensity, Medium Duration – jogging on a treadmill or around the community
• High Intensity, Short Duration – Running at a consistent fast pace for 15-20 minutes
• Interval Training
• High Intensity Interval – Interval Sprints, Tabata Bike Sprints, Hill Training
• Circuit Training – Weight training where super or giant sets are implemented with minimal rest between exercises
• Metabolic Conditioning – Interval style circuits of weightlifting moves done with no rest between sets and exercises

Now that we have defined the movement and cardiovascular styles we can move on to the “ideal” rep ranges.  I use quotation marks because every body responds differently to the stimulus placed on their body and set and rep schemes vary from program to program.  Traditionally, an individual training for GPP is looking for one of the following goals:  Fat Loss, Muscle Endurance, Hypertrophy, or Strength (move more weight).  These rep ranges have been found to work for the majority of people, but like I mentioned, not everything works the same way for everybody.

• Fat Loss – there is no ideal rep range for fat loss because all reps will cause muscle growth and stimulate the metabolism.  The primary tool for fat loss is diet.
• Muscle Endurance – higher reps (12+ with moderate load between 50% and 70% of max)
• Hypertrophy – medium reps (6-12 reps with moderately heavy load between 70% and 80% of max)
• Strength – low reps (1-5 reps with heavy load between 80% and 100% of max)

When analyzing your program, it is important to include both weight training and cardiovascular training.  A good program will include at least one of each movement pattern and one of each style of cardiovascular training at the minimum.  Again, with GPP it is important to make sure the entire body is being trained in GPP, even when it is something we don’t like.

A sample two-day per week plan can be found in the table below.

Day 1 – Upper Push / Lower Pull	Day 2 – Upper Pull / Lower Push
1a Romanian Deadlift 1b Overhead Press 2a Suitcase Deadlift 2b DB Bench Press 3a Hamstring Curl 3b Face Pull 4a Reverse Hyperextension 4b Tricep Extension 5   DB Farmer’s Walk Steady State Cardio: Jog for 30 minutes	1a Goblet Squats 1b Chin Ups 2a Split Squats 2b Barbell Rows 3a Leg Extension 3b Face Pull 4a Calf Raises 4b Bicep Curl Metabolic Circuit for time: Squat Jumps Med Ball Slams Push Ups V-Ups

Though the design of the sample is simple, the program has both pushing and pulling movements along with a squat pattern, a hip hinge pattern, and a resisted movement.  Included are an aerobic conditioning aspect with the jog and an anaerobic conditioning with the Metabolic Circuit.  More importantly, the program touches every major muscle group.

By asking yourself a few simple questions and then doing an examination for all of the elements of general fitness, you can decide if a program is a good program for you or if you need to choose a program that is more suitable for your goals.  Again, start with “Does this program have all of the elements of a well-designed program?” followed by “Does this program complement my goals?”  Be realistic with the answer because not all programs are created equal and not all programs will get you to your goals.

Til next time, train hard!