What A Good Workout Program Should Include - 5 Things

Making progress in the gym doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but it does require some thought and planning. If you’re setting out to get in shape by hitting the gym, here are some things to consider when making your plan.  

FOLLOW THESE FIVE PRINCIPLES & MAKE GAINS FOR YEARS TO COME!

ONE: MOVEMENT SELECTION BALANCE

Build the base of your program around the compound lifts like the squat, bench press, overhead press and deadlift. These lifts will involve maximum amounts of muscle per exercise and will give you full body strength. After those are in place, use accessory movements to target specific muscles combined with other functional exercises that involve more than one muscle group at a time. A couple examples of that would be barbell curls that can be loaded heavily combined with dips that challenge the shoulders, triceps and chest all at once. Be sure to include just as many, if not more, pulling exercises like rows than pushing exercises like presses to keep your back and shoulders healthy.

TWO: PROGRESSION

In order to get stronger, your program needs to have progression built into it. There are different ways to build progression into a program but we often use the double progression model. Here’s an example: This week you will do 3 sets of 8 overhead press at 50lbs. Next week you’ll stay at 50lbs but do 3 sets of 10. The following week you’ll do 3 sets of 12 at 50lbs and then the following week you’ll go back to 3 sets of 8 but at 55lbs. We drive your strength up with increased volume (reps) and then later we bring the volume back down but increase the weight. You can make tremendous progress in this fashion. We can’t stress enough the importance of keeping track of your workouts and using progression to drive improvement. 

THREE: ENERGY SYSTEM TRAINING

Our bodies have 3 different systems that work in concert to provide us energy for physical activity. One is for super short, super high intensity work. One is for intense work that lasts just a bit longer, and one provides us sustained energy at a lower intensity. When you’re setting up your training it’s important to develop each of these systems. It can be uncomfortable to run sprints or go super hard on the assault bike for 30 seconds, but if you include training for each energy system you’ll be a much more well rounded athlete with fantastic heart health.

FOUR: RECOVERY

We don’t actually get stronger while we’re working out or lifting weights. We get stronger when we RECOVER from lifting weights. If you’re hammering yourself day after day, week after week but not recovering, you’re going to end up burnt out and possibly injured. Take days of rest during the week and take a de-load week every 4-6 weeks to give your body a chance to deal with accumulated fatigue. 

FIVE: ACCOUNTABILITY

We don’t think you’d be surprised to know that most successful people in all areas of life have some degree of accountability to someone. Get yourself a training partner, a friend or a coach that knows if you’re staying consistent with your plan. It really does make a difference. 

Need help? Apply for coaching HERE.

All our best,

Jonathan & Blakley