The 4 P's of Positively Prodigious Program Design

Well, I did it. I survived January. I train at a local YMCA and January is always insane. People seem to come out of the wood work. It is a chore to simply navigate my way through the sea of people without getting a dumbbell dropped on my big toe.

On the bright side, January is always the best time of year to people-watch at the gym. There are times where I will just sit back and watch random acts of silliness and poor gym etiquette between sets. People standing on BOSU balls, teenagers using way too much weight, and lets not forget my favorite; curls in the squat rack. Nothing makes me want to punch a kitten more than when I see some glove-wearing bro Montana posted up in the squat rack banging out sets of barbell curls.

Another thing that drives me nuts is the lack of individuals out there following a program. Many of you may realize by now that I am very passionate about assessment and programming. I've dedicated a lot of time to learning the ins and outs of assessment and the art of designing good programs, so one might imagine I get a little fired up when I see the lack of people out there following a program.

"Remember there is a huge difference between training and working out. Workout is "for the day". These are the people that go into the gym do a few of these, a few of those, and measure their fitness and "progress" by how tired they are. Yes, they may remember their best bench press or fastest mile time, but they don't train specifically to be better; only to be tired. Somehow this makes sense to them. And it well make sense if your goals in life are to be average. If you fall into this category, I applaud your working out and general fitness efforts. But we are here for a different reason: to put together a comprehensive system with an end goal." - Jim Wendler

Aside from laziness and pure lack of common sense, I would argue one of the biggest ailments affecting the average gym-goer is Training A.D.D. Training A.D.D. occurs when those with a short attention span go to the gym and do whatever random workout they feel like doing that day. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do. These individuals continue to spin their wheels, week after week, following whatever workout was posted in the latest edition of Shape magazine or FLEX.

Training ADD is the single biggest reason for stalled progress in any fitness program. It's like throwing darts blindfolded. Do you think most successful athletes take this approach? Think again.

 Don't be like Mike

Look, I know we are all busy. Work, family, house, the list is long, but it's really not all that complicated. You can still train 2 times per week and follow a good program. I have several clients that do exactly that.

So what defines a good program you ask? Well, there are 4 main elements and they all start with the letter P so you should easily be able to remember them.

1. Program

Successful programming implies you have to be following one in the first place. It really doesn't have to be that complicated. Just make sure your program revolves around these elements/movements.

• Nutrition
• Strength Training
• Squat
• Hinge
• Press
• Pull
• Lunge
• Core
• Conditioning
• Recovery

Set some goals, keep a training log, and have a plan.

If you are following all of the guide lines above, congratulations! You are actually following a program. If not, you are still wearing that blindfold and trying to hit that damn piñata.

If you still aren't sure what to do, educate yourself or seek help from a qualified professional. I have several resources listed throughout this site (including me) that can help you.

2. Progression

Progression involves increasing the stress placed on the body through an increase in difficulty. There are several elements of progression, but to simplify I will categorize into two types:

• Movements - This involves making movements more challenging by decreasing the mechanical advantage the body has against load. For example, a conventional deadlift is more challenging than a trap bar deadlift because the load is placed farther away from the body's axis of rotation. If a particular movement feels too easy or you feel you have sufficiently mastered it, you may progress it to the next step. A progression chart for the deadlift might look like this:

Pull through > Single KB RDL > Barbell RDL > Trap Bar DL > Sumo DL > Conventional DL

• Progressive Overload - Adding weight and/or repetitions over time. Pretty straight forward right? 

3. Periodization

Periodization is the planning of training to prepare the body for an event or end goal. Periodization is most commonly used by athletes, but you can use it to get better results if you understand how to simplify the principles.

The water gets a little murky when discussing periodization, largely because many coaches have different beliefs and it depends on what population you are working with. Some coaches believe it doesn't work at all.  Several types of periodization exist. Block, concurrent, linear, and soviet to name a few.

My belief is that periodization, in the traditional sense, only works with those who have very specific goals. Examples include powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters that are striving to make a certain total by a specific date, high level track and field athletes, and endurance athletes (marathoners, triathletes etc.).

For those who have more general goals (probably most of you reading this), a more simplified approach is needed. For this I will turn to whom I consider to be the Yoda of the strength and conditioning world, Mr. Daniel John.

In Dan John's first book, "Never Let Go" he discusses the AIT formula. With this approach, one simply breaks their training into three distinct phases:

1. Accumulation - Play time. During this phase one might try some new things such as participating in a new sport or developing a new skill. Maybe you never tried kettlebells before or you want to take up golf. Have some fun. Through this process you continue to work on your body composition goals or whatever else drives you, but through the lens of this new endeavor you begin to rethink and re-imagine your primary goals. Sometimes when we try something new we realize exactly what we have been missing.
2. Intensification - Time to ramp things up and take it to the next level. In this phase we zero in on exactly what we found was missing in the accumulation phase and set out to improve it. This involves setting some goals and getting a little more specific with our training. For example, if you found your strength was lacking you might prioritize improving your deadlift during this phase. Be specific!
3. Transformation - Putting it all together. Take everything you have learned and accomplished in the first two phases and put it to the test. By now you have expanded your mind and improved a weakness. Now make a big push, train hard, and hit that goal.

Each phase should last anywhere from 4-8 weeks. When you have completed the cycle, take some well deserved rest, then begin the process again. I think this is a great way to approach training for the general population year round.

4. Patience

In today's world of instant gratification nobody wants to actually give the process time to work. Anything good does not come easily or quickly. Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep the big picture in mind.

Speaking personally, it has taken me years of perseverance to clean up my squat technique. I've never been a great squatter, but I refuse to let that get in the way of my strength goals. After what seemed like an eternity of reading everything I could get my hands on, extra core and mobility work, and simply squatting more often I finally hit my goal of a 405 (double bodyweight) back squat last month. There were times when I considered giving up the lift altogether, but that's not in my DNA so I kept grinding.

Any good program takes time. Stay the course, train hard, stay focused and the gains will come.