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Editors Note:

This article was written with the beginner in mind. It is for someone whohas not grasped the fundamental concepts of exercise and how to apply them. If you trulywant to learn how to create a better body you must start by understanding what the basicexercise variables are in a strength program and how they can be changed to suit theneeds of your body. I encourage you to read the article over and then print it off.

There is hean old saying that states, “A house is only as strong as its foundation”. Thisstatement can be reworded to read, “Training is only as effective as the design of theprogram”.The quest for endless achievements in training is directly related to efficient programdesign. Without a correctly structured program we’d have no direction. Our trainingwould be relegated to walking in the gym and doing whatever number of sets and repsthat we’d like. Our exercise selection would come to, “What do I feel like doing?” and“What will make me look better tonight?” There is a need for a better understanding of the acute variables that make up a training program.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

The first step in the program design process is to establish a desired outcome. Ultimatelythis is broken into two categories, performance enhancement and body composition.Before we get any deeper let me ask - are they any different? Aren’t we seeking toenhance our performance in the gym even if we are training to look good for the oppositesex? Our first goal must be to raise our conditioning. Conditioning can be thought of asour ability to improve upon our current state. There is no difference if that state is adecreased 40-yard dash time or adding five pounds of lean muscle mass.The performance enhancement camp is made up of athletes, weekend warriors andindividuals attempting to move and feel better. It can include the high school or collegeathlete all the way down to your 60-year-old who wants to move better. The bodycomposition group consists of competitive bodybuilders and individuals that seek todecrease body fat and increase lean muscle mass, their goal is purely physical. Before wecan determine the outcome we have to answer another question. Is body building thesame as building our body? Emphatically the answer is no, so our training needs tochange.

Once the outcome is determined, we now begin to think about our training splits. Thesesplits are body part, upper, lower and full body splits. Body part splits are the mostpopular and are focused on two muscle groups per session (chest/back, arms, andshoulders/legs). Upper and lower splits alternate between upper body days and lowerbody days, while full body splits are just that, a full body workout each session.Which is better? That depends on what our goal is. It is pretty much common knowledgethat if you are training for athletic achievement or function, you should be usingupper/lower and full body splits. The problem begins when our goal is body composition.Just because we’re trying to look better doesn’t mean we need to blindly follow what hasbeen done for the past 20 years.I understand the argument that you need to fully stimulate a muscle in order for it togrow. But is there really a difference between four chest exercises on one day and onechest exercise on four days? Yes, there actually is. In one day you’re maximally fatiguingit and hoping it will grow. Hitting it once four days during the week you’re ensuring thatit’s fresh and offering the better chance to grow.Repeated exposure is necessary for maximal motor unit recruitment. When you reallybreak it down, the ability to recruit motor units (muscle fibers) is the core of weighttraining.I never really understood the concept of hitting a muscle once every seven days and Ihated the endless challenge of trying to hit my chest from all different angles and beingoverly sore for three days. It just never was fun to me, plus I wasn’t growing as fast as Iwanted. If the best program is the one that you’re not on, then why waste time hitting thesame muscle the same way for four weeks? Why not hit it slightly different throughoutthe week and keep giving it the wake-up call to get big?While it may seem that I am just another anti-bodybuilding performance coach, in realitynothing could be farther from the truth. It is my job to use every tool in the box to get myclients the best results. So while I seem anti-body part split, I recommend them at times.Depending on the situation they can be just what the doctor ordered. It is my contentionthat for the majority of people for the majority of time, upper/lower or full body splitswill work the best.This all ties into the first decision you have to make in program design. We haveestablished that those who are training for performance or health need not worry aboutbody part splits, but what about the body composition crowd? Raise your hand if you’re acompetitive bodybuilder or fitness competitor. Now raise your hand if you’re someonewho wants to look his or her best. That’s a big difference. Competitive bodybuilders needto focus on specifics like distal muscle size and peaks. The majority of people trying tolook their best need concurrent increases in muscle mass and decrease in fat. So then whywouldn’t they want to have a more metabolically demanding workout every session thathits every muscle?

The Set and Rep Manifesto

The majority of training programs have no rhyme or reason whatsoever when it comes toprescribing sets and reps. In 1970 research came out that said three sets of ten repetitionswas the best for increases in muscle mass. Great, our training has sucked for thirty-sixyears. I understand that with the recent trend in the industry to alternate set and repranges, use less reps, more sets and some other methods making rounds, the industry hasbecome more educated. The problem we still face is that individuals are just followingideas. Even if you are not in the fitness industry and just work out, understanding the“Why” and not just the “How” will lead to much more success.The following pyramid displays the rep ranges and their qualities improved.Our issue is that way too many people are stuck between eight and twelve range andthink that is the only way they will get the desired body composition improvements.Combine this with your typically three to four sets and we have a problem. The samegoes for individuals training for purely neural improvement with one to four reps - theytypically stay with three to four sets as well.There is one other critical factor that needs to be considered when determining what repranges to use - Time Under Tension (TUT). Understanding the concept of tempo is verymuch a key to enhancing gains. Each rep is nothing more than the time that the workingmuscle is under tension. It is well established that to induce metabolically adaptations,one should strive for sets that last between 20-50 seconds. To achieve this time range,sets are broken up with a lifting tempo. If I were performing a set of dumbbell chestpresses for eight reps, I would use a tempo of 301. Adding three plus one equals fourseconds multiplied by eight reps and my set lasts thirty-two seconds. Set tempos areapplicable for every training goal, although I’d be careful to recommend it for powerwork. Tempo does also give more variability to training. For example using a 211 tempo,