Program Design

There are many variables that need to be taken into account when designing any training program.

These include:
- previous training experience
- training goals
- exercise selection
- training scheduling
- structural balance

I’ll address these points and more to provide some guidelines so you can design your own training program.

Training Goals

As with anything we do, we need to determine the reason for actually doing to make it worth while for this will keep us disciplined and consistent going forward. Many trainers don’t actually have specific or even general goals, and are usually the one’s who train for a while before dropping off when nothing seems to be happening.

You need to set both short term and long term goals. A long term goal might be to lose 10kgs in 6 months with a short term goal being to drop a dress size in 4 weeks. Your short term goal should generally be related to your long term goal, otherwise you’re trying to accomplish too many things at once and you’ll end up spinning your wheels.

Previous Training Experience

Your previous training experience will determine what program you’ll do. It will affect sets, reps, exercise selection and training schedule. If you’ve had a break from training for longer than 6mths or so, than it’s always best top drop back a “level” instead of going straight back into what you were doing. Here vary some general recommendations:

0 – 12 months training experience - beginner level
12 – 36 months training experience – intermediate level
36+ months training experience – advanced level

Now, depending on your progress and consistency you can reach these levels quicker. One thing to note though is that this is based on continuous training so if you’ve trained for 2 bouts of 6 months but with 3 months off in between, you’ll still be classed as a beginner.

A lot of trainers miss this point and want to start off at higher levels when optimal results would come from beginner type programs as the body needs time to adapt to increasing training stimulus (load, volume etc).

Exercise Selection

Before anything, remember this, “do what you need to do, not what you want to do.”

Now continuing with that theme, exercise selection is where most trainers mess up their programs. Your goal should be to stimulate the greatest response, no matter your goal, in as little time as possible. Sadly though, many trainers usually look in the muscle magazines for routines instead of doing their own research. These programs are usually advanced level programs and not suited for most “natural” trainers, let alone beginners.

Let’s compare some popular exercises in their efficiency.

Barbell Curls vs Chin Ups

Say for BB Curls you can lift 30kgs for 8 full range of motion reps and you can do 6 full range of motion reps for Chin Ups at your own bodyweight of 80kgs. Which exercise is more effective?

BB Curls – 30kgs x 8 reps = 240 total kgs lifted.
Chin Ups – 80kgs x 6 reps = 420 total kgs lifted.

Now, not only do you get bicep stimulus, but also upper back, mid back, lat and forearm stimulation so instead of using 1 exercise for each of those 5 areas, we’ve used one.

This is the number 1 reason to use multi joint compound exercises, purely for efficiency, especially if you’re a beginner with not a lot of training tolerance or an athlete who also spends plenty of time with sport specific training.

One aspect over looked for most beginner programs are bodyweight exercises. One should be able to handle their own bodyweight before adding external load. Squats, Lunges, Inverted Rows and Push Ups should be the staple of all initial programs. Most of the time these exercises yield a greater total weight lifted than lighter using light external wt for less efficient exercises.

Push Ups vs Bench Presses

You don’t get too many trainers, especially males that do Push Ups for their main chest exercise except when they don’t have a bench available for Bench Presses. Often Push Ups are better choice allowing for muscles to be used and even a greater load being lifted. Say you can Bench Press 30kgs x 10 reps at a bodyweight of 80kgs, keeping in mind for a regular Push Up from the feet you lift about 60% of your own bodyweight.

Bench Press – 30kgs x 10 reps = 300kgs total kgs lifted
Push Ups – 48kgs (60% of 80kgs) x 10 reps = 480 total kgs lifted.

Until you can Bench Press at least 60% of your own bodyweight for the same reps you can for Push Ups, than Push Ups are the best option. Also with Push Ups you’ll also recruit your core muscles, shoulder and scapula stabilisers as well as low back muscles on top of the chest, deltoid and tricep muscles that the Bench Presses uses.

You need to use exercises that will provide the most stimulation in the least amount of time.

Training Scheduling

This is another variable that trainers pick up from magazine workouts that is better suited to more advanced trainers. According to Alwyn Cosgrove, 95% of the population will respond best to full body resistance workouts every second day as they provide more recovery time for growth and strength increases. Once you have increased your body’s ability to tolerate more exercise without affecting your performance or lifestyle, than you can progress to a lower / upper body split which will have you resistance training 4 times a week. Anything more than this without specific periodisation and planning will more than likely lead to over training as we haven’t even taken energy systems workouts into account yet.

Unless you are being “assisted”, 5+ days of resistance training a week will not yield better results than 3 or 4 days. Bodybuilders build up enormous exercise tolerance to perform these types of splits over a number of years to be able to do this, as well as the aforementioned “assistance,” and is not a viable option for most of us.

Structural Balance

This should be the number one thing that you should strive for with each training program you do. Structural Balance to equaling out the work performed by the different joints of the body, through both total volume and weight lifted. A perfect example to use is Chest and Back work. A lot of self made beginner programs have a lot of Bench Pressing, sometimes using 3 or 4 different variations in a single workout, with limited Row or Pull Up work. This can cause muscle imbalances at the shoulder joint leading to serious shoulder impingement problems through poor posture and weak stabilizers.

This can be broken down even further into movement patterns of which there are 6.

1 – Horizontal Upper Body Pulling (Row variations)
2 – Horizontal Upper Body Pushing (Bench Press and Push Up variations)
3 – Vertical Upper Body Pulling (Pull Up, Chin Up and Pulldown variations)
4 – Vertical Upper Body Pushing (Shoulder Press variations)
5 – Hip Dominant Lower Body (Deadlifts, High Step Up and Long Stride Lunge variations)
6 – Quad Dominant Lower Body (Squat, Low Step Up and Short Stride Lunge variations)

This is where 80% of your exercises should come from. The best options for scheduling are:

Option 1 – Full body workouts performing 1 exercise from each movement pattern per session, preferably using a different one each session of the week

Sample

Monday – Deadlifts (heavy), Step Ups (light), DB Row (h), DB Bench Press (h), Face Pulls (light), DB Shoulder Press (l)

Wednesday - Front Squat (h), Reverse Lunges (m), Pull Ups (h), Handstand Push Ups (h), Inverted Row (l), Push Ups (l)

Friday – Single Leg Squats, Long Stride Lunges (l), Bent Row (m), Incline Press (m), Chin Ups (m), Push Press (m)

The extra rest days leave more time for you to grow and recover and although time constraints may limit the amount of remedial work you can do on training days, the 4 days off a week leave ample time to fit this in either at home or at the gym without dipping into your recovery stores.

Option 2 – Pair movement patterns for the upper body and having single days each week for each lower body pattern for a 4 times a week lower / upper body split

* it is not advised to pair hip and quad lower body movement patterns as they are generally to demanding and fatigue can become an issue with training quality.

Sample

Monday (Hip Dominant Lower Body) – Plyometric Jump exercise if training for performance, Deadlifts, Long Stride Lunge with back leg elevated on small step, Glute Ham Raises, DB Dorsi Flexions

Tuesday (Horizontal Upper Body) – DB Row alternated with DB Bench Press, Inverted Row alternated with DB Inline Press, Diamond Grip Tricep Push Ups

Thursday (Quad Dominant Lower Body) – Squat, Step Ups, Single Leg Supine Bridge with foot on step, Leg Press Dorsi Flexions

Saturday (Vertical Upper Body) – Wide Grip Pull Ups alternated with Handstand Push Ups, Chin Ups alternated with DB Push Press, BB Curl

Exercises for weak point area’s can be implemented easier in a split like this as you have less volume per session so each workout is quicker than full body workouts.

I hope this basic article assists you in designing simple training programs for yourself and any feedback on this article is encouraged.

very easy to read and undertsnad...thanks swanso for taking the time to do that!

Totally agree there, very easy to read and understand! Thanks for that! Time for me to sort a workout plan!