How to Structure Your Training Sessions for Dominant Results
I like looking back at training programs I wrote 6 months to a year before and see my thought processes then versus now. Usually, it’s pretty laughable.
I first heard from Alwyn Cosgrove that you SHOULD actually be pretty embarrassed by programs you wrote a while back, otherwise you probably aren’t pushing yourself enough in the continuing education department.
With how rapidly the fitness industry evolves, this is a realistic expectation. I can guarantee my programs will look slightly different in 2015 than they did in 2014, just as they will look slightly different in 2016 compared to 2015, and so on.
Sure, there are certain principles that will pretty much always remain true (e.g. don’t injure people, scream at the top of all deadlifts, etc.), but METHODS are always being tweaked, based on the results that clients are getting and feedback from said clients. After all, I could think an exercise or programming strategy is the greatest thing in the world, but if it doesn’t work for most people, then it probably needs to be tossed.
One programming strategy that I very much believe in is the principle of the essential.
Every single thing you do in the gym should have a specific purpose designed to elicit a certain response (fat-loss, muscle growth, greatness).
This was reinforced to me this past week as I worked my way through Leo Babauta’s, “The Power of Less”.
The book was all about cutting out the non-essential items in one’s life and focusing on what truly matters. I dug it, as I am a tad bit OCD when it comes to organization and reducing life clutter. It’s to the point where I almost throw out too much stuff.
“Hey babe, have you seen that necklace my great-grandma gave me right before she died??”
Crickets…
Therefore, when I was going back through some programs recently, I was kind of disturbed.
I was doing too much crap with people.
Everything in the programs were solid and served a purpose, but I had to ask myself,
“Is this REALLY getting this person maximum results in the shortest period of time? Or is some of it just fluff designed to take us through a full 60 minutes? Am I wasting people’s time with certain things?”
I decided that I had a lot of fluff with my current programming model that I had to re-evaluate. And it’s funny because I had a hard time deciding what truly belonged and what didn’t. It’s easy for me to do in my personal life, but in my head I was thinking,
“Well, improving soft-tissue quality in the adductors is great, and I have to have those 6 mobility drills…oh, and the plyos…and the medicine ball work…I can’t take out the loaded carries, no, you can’t make me!”*
I came to this conclusion;
If you try to attack every single thing in your training sessions, it’s like life…you won’t really improve much of anything!
And yes, I understand that’s the whole point behind periodization. You allocate specific periods of time devoted to primarily improving maximal strength, or speed-strength, or endurance, among other qualities. But I’m referring to things on more of a local level.
In other words, if you went through your program today…is everything you are doing completely necessary?
Let’s walk through a typical program structure and look for areas where you can cut out the non-essential and focus your training for dominant results.
The criteria is this;
Is a particular something maximizing your time in the gym and getting you to your desired result in the most efficient way, without sacrificing the quality of the session?
If it is not, it gets put on the back-burner. Let’s begin…
#1: The Warm-Up
This is an area of my programming that I really realized I was “fluffing up”. I would have clients go through 5-10 muscles on the foam roll, taking about 5-7 minutes. It may not sound like long, but again, is it really necessary?
I see this a lot in gyms too, where people will hit the foam roll mat and just writhe around for about 20 minutes and then go into their session.
First off, foam rolling is not a warm-up.
It’s simply a tool designed to make your muscles more pliable for when you START your warm-up.
Think of the 2 or at most, 3 muscles/areas of your body that are “tightest”. Roll those areas for 30ish seconds and get off the foam roll.
You don’t need to enhance the soft-tissue quality of your entire body prior to each session. Feel free to roll to your heart’s content in front of the TV at night, but when you are in the gym, it’s time to get results. And I’m realizing spending a bunch of time on the foam roller is not the best use of people’s time.
After I have people foam roll, I was having clients go into about 6-7 mobility drills designed to enhance/maintain their overall movement. This is the section of the program that I really looked at critically. Of course, we want people to move better, that’s sort of been the industry mantra for the past 5-7 years.
But what does that mean?
At this point, I’m not entirely sure. For clients who had symmetrical 2s on their FMS, I used the drills to maintain movement quality. I would hit t-spine mobility, adductor mobility, some scapular upward rotation, and some hip flexor stretching, as examples. But I’m not sure if this is all that important for those who have their FMS score in the bag.
If they HAVEN’T gotten to a symmetrical 14 on the FMS, you can have a little more play with the warm-up, as improving movement quality is the number-one goal at that point in their training.
That being said, only use the drills that get a positive response. Re-screen after each specific drill designed to improve their lowest score, according to the hierarchy. If it doesn’t do anything, toss it. If it improves something in the screen, keep it until it stops working, and then move on.
Think about it like this;
If someone has a solid FMS, do they really need a warm-up that includes a bunch of mobility work?
If they can walk in cold and hit a solid 3 on the deep squat, does that particular person need to be doing a set of 10 reps of split-stance adductor mobilizations prior to training? Just because adductor mobility is promoted as something that’s great to have that doesn’t mean you have to devote time to it in the warm-up if they already have it! Everything depends on the person you have in front of you.
Everyone needs to warm-up, but not everyone needs isolated mobility drills that take up precious minutes when they could be actually warming-up! This would include some work on the treadmill, some medicine ball work, or just specifically warming up for the main lift of that day (e.g. doing 1-2 sets of 50% on the squat on a day when you will be working up to a 90% 1RM, for example).
So how do you maintain movement quality if you don’t attack it in the warm-up?
You build it in during the session.
EFFICIENCY. Instead of resting and checking out chicks in between sets of deadlifts, knock out a set of yoga pushups, for example (start in a pushup position, push your butt and hips up and back, keeping the legs straight, before returning to the pushup position and doing a pushup). These train thoracic mobility, scapular upward rotation, core stability, and glute activation all at once.
Do this, instead of doing specific drills for those qualities PRIOR to deadlifting. It makes more sense to do it within the flow of the session.
This is probably the biggest area of development for me. I was so attached to that freakin’ mobility work in the beginning of the session that I was losing sight of what that person was training for…to look better naked! I was doing t-spine drills simply because I knew that people probably can’t have enough, but I was losing sight of what truly needed to be focused on.
The best part is, with the above strategy, you can still dominate movement quality and get in more true work in the same amount of time.
Always be looking for ways to save time and do what really matters!!!
If you don’t move well, do 2-3 mobility drills (one for thoracic spine, one for the hips, and one for the scaps, for instance) and then get warmed-up! The warm-up is the warm-up for a reason. You are supposed to get warm!!
#2: The Strength Work
Ok, this is the meat and potatoes of any training session. In the programming model I employ, after the warm-up, depending on the client, we will move on to some power development, or, if someone hasn’t yet built a foundation of strength, we’ll go straight into either a deadlift, squat, bench press, or overhead press variation (the big four)…again, dependent on their ability level.
You just HAVE to attack the big, compound movements early on, otherwise your ability to do them effectively will diminish. You need to be dialed in 100% because they offer the largest return on your training investment.
Pick one “big four” movement for that day, and go heavy with it.
Ladies, that goes for you, too! This is the move that will set the stage for fat-loss, strength (go figure), and muscle growth. It will release boat loads of testosterone, which both genders need to optimize to drop fat. Ladies, you don’t have as much, which is why you will respond differently than a man to a heavy lift. You’ll just look better. Guys will just get bigger if they are eating enough.
This is one area of my program review that I’m pretty satisfied with and that I imagine will always hold true.
#3: Everything Else
After you hit that big lift, the session can go any number of ways. If you’re training for pure strength, this is the time to work on exercises that will bring up the big 4 (deadlift, squat, bench press, overhead press). If you want to drop fat, now is the time to hit some full-body circuits with an emphasis on getting in more quality work with the least amount of rest.
Because there can be a decent amount of variability, it’s easy to get carried away with doing a bunch of different movements that end up messing with your focus and ultimately draining your energy for training for the long-term.
Here’s a general truth I’ve found through the past few years;
If you are doing more than 5 exercises after your main lift of the day, you aren’t working hard enough!
I’ll get emails from guys asking different questions and after sending me what they are currently doing, I have to scroll down multiple times to see their training week!
Focus on what you really need. What will give you the most bang for your buck?
This is a broad example, but for the typical client, I’ll usually follow a template that looks like this;
B1) Vertical Pull 3 x 6-8
B2) 1-Leg Static Supported 3 x 8-10
B3) Core Anti-Rotation 2 x 6-8
C1) Horizontal Push 2 x 8-10
C2) Carry 2 x 40yd.
Again, that’s just one day, but the above is just to give you an idea. A 3-exercise circuit, followed by a 2-exercise pairing that hits pretty much everything. I am a huge fan of loaded carries, so I will work them into pretty much every session like that. They don’t require much technical skill, so while you are still breathing heavy from what you did earlier, you can still knock out quality work here.
I’ll post my full programming model on here at some point, so things will make more sense, but let’s keep this moving…
After the above, we’re pretty much done. There’s not much else people need in that specific time. You can hit a few foam rolls, but other than that, get out of the gym. You’ve done the important work that you need to do.
To sum up, this is what your training session should look like (after walking on the floor like Terminator entering the bar in that scene from T2)…
2-3 foam rolls
2-3 mobility drills (if necessary, otherwise, just warm-up for 3-5 minutes on a treadmill, with a few dynamic drills, and/or with your main lift for the day)
1 “big lift” (deadlift, squat, bench, overhead press), combined with a mobility drill during your rest period
3-5 assistance exercises
2-3 foam rolls
Boom, that’s it.
Do what is necessary. Leave out the rest. Decide what YOU need to work on, work on that, and go home.
I hope that made sense. It could have gone way longer, but since this blog related to focus, I’ll stop myself.
No matter if you are a trainer or trainee, take a hard look at your program and decide what is non-essential. It’s a very valuable exercise. No fluff!!
Dominate All Life,
Kasey, CSCS
*yes, there are voices in my head
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dan smedley
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kaseyesser