Time for another installment of Programming 101 and I am going back to address an older Log I wrote on the same subject of Designing Your Own Strength Training Program. The first one was a little more technical than this one. Today we will cover the BASICS.
When Designing Your Own Strength Training Program you have to have a few things in mind and have a plan.
Consider the following (in no particular order because they are all of equal importance):
- Your goals
- Your skill level
- Your fitness level
- Strengths &Weaknesses
- Proper Exercise Selection
- Do I want to do this on my own and am I qualified?
Let’s address them one by one as always.
Your goals
When Designing Your Own Strength Training Program you have to have a goal or else you’ll be doing random shit that will not get you where you want to go. Your goal is very important and it should be specific.
EG:
- You want to do a Powerlifting/Strongman/Weightlifting meet (and when)
- You want to do an Adventure/OCR race (and when)
- You want to get JACKED and RIPPED (not specific)
- Or any other goal you have
All of these are different and require a different training approach and exercise selection.
You also should set smaller, attainable short term goal that get you to succeed at your primary goal. Small goals make the training better because you are always reaching them and seeing the progress.
The easiest example to use is Powerlifting. Say that you want to do a meet in 6 months and your current lifts are:
300 squat, 200 bench and 300 deadlift
A great set of short term goals could be:
- 1st 4 weeks: Improve technique
- 2nd 4 weeks: Increase strength
- 3rd 4 weeks: Hit a small PR on at least 2 lifts
Constantly address and revise your short term goals as needed too. Things happen and sometimes they are good and sometimes you need to adjust your training if they are not good.
Your skill level
This is huge because I see many people Riding Beyond Their Headlight.
Riding Beyond Your Headlight will get you in REAL trouble on a motorcycle, and in the gym it can at best, slow your progress, and at worst cause injury.
Honestly assess your skill level at the exercises you want to do and then do the exercise you NEED to do to improve.
As an example, if you are squatting and you get loose and sloppy in the bottom, adding bands and chains is not the best choice.
How about some sub maximal weight pause squats?
That will drastically improve your technique and confidence in the hole when heavier weights are reintroduced.
Your fitness level
This is a big one that is often overlooked by those who are Designing Your Own Strength Training Program. If you are in absolutely terrible shape you have to address it no matter what you want to compete in. And it is the easiest one to do.
Getting in shape, or improving GPP (General Physical Preparedness) is not complicated and it is not that hard. Listen, if you can’t walk for 20 minutes without having a heart attack or can’t make it through an average training session without getting gassed, you have bigger fish to fry.
Even Powerlifters need GPP because a meet is a long event and you need GPP to make it through the day.
Get in shape for the sport you want to compete in.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Figure out what you are good at and what you suck at.
Then work hard at what you suck at and make it a strength.
Brining up your weak points will make you stronger overall.
Let’s use an OCR race as an example. You might be pretty good at running on flat pavement and a treadmill, but you NEVER run up or down hills.
You better address this fast because you will be in a world of poop when you get to a race that is 3 hours long and is all hills.
Get the idea?
If you only work your strengths and neglect your weaknesses, you only reinforce the weakness.
Proper Exercise Selection
Proper exercise selection is a tough one for many people when the first decide that they want to try Designing Your Own Strength Training Program.
Watching the videos on YouTube and posts on Instagram, you see a ton of really cool exercises and want to try them. When selecting exercises, you need to ask yourself:
- Will this get me to my goal faster?
- Am I strong enough and/or skilled enough to use it?
- Does it address a weakness?
- Is it appropriate for my goals?
These are all simple and valuable questions.
Let’s say you weigh 150 pounds and have a 165 pound bench press, will doing the latest exercise you saw on Instagram from someone with a 2200 pound total help you?
Or should you focus on perfecting technique with lighter weights and hammering your triceps, delts and back do more?
The question answers itself.
Choose exercise that are not beyond your headlight that address your strengths and weaknesses and are appropriate for your goals.
Do I want to do this on my own and am I qualified?
This is a question that you must ask yourself before you try Designing Your Own Strength Training Program.
Some of you will want to jump in with both feet and do the programming yourself and some may be skeptical. The hard question is to determine if you are qualified to do it on your own or do you need a coach or program written by someone who is?
To illustrate this, how many of you have seen the guy at the gym training his girlfriend because he is a guy and guys know how to lift weights? The girlfriend doesn’t realize that the boyfriend is a wholly unqualified coach and is teaching her wrong. She is doing everything poorly and has awful technique. The problem is that he doesn’t know it and she trusts him, so she doesn’t either.
I’ve seen it a million times and you probably have too.
I’d say that for most people, getting a coach or a well written program is the best option when you are starting out, and maybe longer.
Why?
It saves time, stress and trouble. All you need to do is follow the program.
But, if you really want to try it yourself, go ahead but use this log as a guide.
If you want to get a coach or a program there are many out there. There are a lot of options for just about any goal you have and a lot of them are written by good coaches.
But some are not.
How will you know?
You won’t unless you go to a trusted source, such as Elitefts.com. We know the coaches here are all vetted by Dave and are the cream of the crop.
As a matter of fact (shameless plug) I offer this very service over at tpsmethod.com, and do many of the coaches here on their own sites.
If you want to check out my site, we offer programing for Raw and Equipped Powerlifting, as well as general fitness, or Training for Life (TFL) as we call it. And my readers here at Elitefts.cm get a big discount. Check out tpsmethod.com/elitefts_join/ to learn more.
So, to wrap this all up, if you want to try Programming 101: Designing Your Own Strength Training Program, use the tips in this Log and all of my other Programming 101 series.
You’ll be ahead of the game.
Did you miss last week’s log?
READ IT HERE
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
December 2, 2021
