5

Ways To Know A Workout Program Will Work

If youre reading Mikes book, youre already closer to your goals than most people.
You obviously know that, one, you need to be on some kind of program to make
maximum progress, and two, some programs are better than others.

As a certified strength coach and fitness editor for the past decade, Ive been
consumed with programs. Every month, Im on the hunt for something fresh and
challengingyet practicalto give to readers of Mens Fitness and Muscle & Fitness
magazines. Ive helped to publish over a thousand different workout plans in my
career, and have probably tried 50 or so personally. And as much variance as there
is between them, the best ones have always shared a few characteristics.

1. The Volume is Low to Moderate
For a sport that gets little mainstream attention, its amazing how completely pro
bodybuilding has managed to influence the general publics perception of how to
train with weights. Ask almost any guy in a gym how to build a big chest and hell
rattle off a dozen different chest exercises designed to work the muscles from every
possible angle.

Now this approach isnt wrong, but for most of us, its inappropriate. What works for
bodybuildersmen who have been training for years and often have superior
genetics and/or use steroidscant be expected to work for the regular joe who also
sits at a desk 810 hours per day and suffers from stress.

You probably dont need nearly as much training volume as you think you do, so
grinding through more than five exercises per workout at up to five sets each is
overkill. I cant say it doesnt workbecause its the only way most people know
how, its potential has been provenbut you can get jacked in much less time and
with much less effort.

And this isnt just the magazine editor in me trying to sell you a cover story. Look at
the average training volume most of todays best coaches are recommending:

John Meadows: 1012 total sets
Jason Ferruggia: 1216 total sets
Mike Robertson: 1015 total sets
Jim Wendler: 1114 total sets
Ronnie Coleman: 247 total sets!!

Just kidding about that last one, but you get the idea. Note also that Im talking about
work sets, and not ones you use to warm up or work up to the loads you need to use
to get the job done. Erring on the side of lower volume will improve your ability to
recover and increase your intensity. Youd have to pace yourself to survive 20 total
sets, but you can use much heavier weights and go all out if you only have 10 sets
ahead of you. Youll also find that if you do switch to a higher-volume program just

for fun or varietys sake, youll get more out of it. Lower-volume routines make you
strong and get you out of the gym quicker so you can recover and grow. Keep the
total number of sets in your routine to about 15 or fewer.


2. The Exercise Sequencing Makes Sense

When a trainer pitches me a workout that starts with lunges or supersets something
like a row and a shrug, I can tell theyve never tried it themselves or used it with
clients. In a well-designed workout, each exercise should set up the next one.
Generally, the heaviest or most intensive lift is put first, followed by lighter work,
isolation moves, and small-muscle exercises.

If youve been training a long time and are handling very heavy weights, or have
some injuries to work around, you can re-work this template to put the isolation
lifts or accessory moves in front of bigger exercises like the squat or bench press.
Doing so can warm you up and pump you up so you can handle big loads on these
more intense, riskier lifts later on in the workout. So my point is that while there are
no rules that must apply to every workout, you must know why youve placed
certain exercises where you have.

If you know your core is a major weak point, it makes no sense to train it at the end
of a session when youre already so fatigued you cant hold a plank for a minute. A
few sets of planks done first thing, perhaps before squatting, will help you squat
more safely and allow you to give your core your sharpest attention. Thats how
weaknesses are rectified.

Starting a workout with lunges when your knees arent very warm is asking for an
injury. Likewise, placing grip-intensive exercises at the front of a routine is begging
you to drop weights mid set by the end of the session.

Know your goal and the things you need to prioritize to get there. Consider how
each exercise you do will impact the ones after it and how important it is that they
will be impacted. Listing these priorities may be the most helpful tip for determining
the proper order of your exercises. And when in doubt, take a cue from point #1
above and cut an exercise out entirely. Most people do too much.


3. Pushing and Pulling is Balanced

I remember assigning a very well known strength coach a big workout feature story
for Mens Fitness. Because of his reputation, I was excited to see what he would come
up with. When he turned it in, one thing seemed to be glaringly wrong. It contained
no rowing movements.

There was plenty of bench pressing and other chest work, and he even included
pullups for the back, but not a single dumbbell, bent-over, or cable row. Not even a
freakin reverse fly!

When I asked him about it, he said he figured that our readers just wanted to get big
pecs and arms and didnt care about their backs, so he didnt bother to focus on back
work. Needless to say, I asked another trainer to re-write it.

What that joker didnt realize, or didnt seem to care about, was that regardless of
what you want from a workout, it has to address what you need also. Im sure few
guys out there want to do face pulls, but if they want to bench press big weights
without painand avoid shoulder surgery down the linetheyll find a way to
work them in.

However many sets you do of exercises that draw your arms forward in front of
your chest, you need to do at least as many that pull your shoulders back. In fact,
some coaches like a ratio of 2 or even 3:1 of pulling sets to pushing. This ratio may
not appear in every phase of the program but it should show up more often than
not. If youre following a 12-week plan with little to no rowing, youre going to pay
for it.

Without a strong upper back, the chest and shoulders are susceptible to injury, and
the imbalance will ruin your posture. The same idea applies to your quads and
hamstrings.

Your workout must be balanced and give as much attention to the backside of your
body as it does to the front.


4. Its Adaptable

How you feel on any given day in the gym varies widely, and a good program
controls for that. Maybe you dont have the focus to work up to a max single, but you
could handle a 5RM. Or you feel especially good and want to take the weight you got
last week for 10 reps and hit 15 with it. Your program should allow you some
leewaythe freedom to sub different exercises in, vary your intensity, and work in
a range of reps rather than a rigid number. It should also have easier workouts or
de-loads built into it.

A major aspect of identifying a good program is simply being able to tell if its doable
for youat your level of experience and in the training environment you have
available. The Westside Barbell template is a fantastic strength protocol, but I doubt
it would do you much good at a Planet Fitness where you wont have access to safety
squat bars, bands, or focused training partners. You have to be realistic about the
kind of training your gym will permit you to do and find a program that can
accommodate it.


Question also if the supersets a program calls for will be practical in a gym when the
after-work crowd starts pouring in. And are some of the exercises too hard? If you
cant do a dragon flag or a set of 10 pullups, is there any recommendation being
made on how to modify these lifts?


5. Its Inspiring

This is the most important aspect of any program, and at the risk of invalidating
everything Ive already written, I have to mention it. If youre wowed by a program
from the way it looks on paper, or the way it made you feel in your first workout,
you have a very good chance of making impressive progress on itregardless of
whether it was written by a 10 year-old.

Believing in your training and being excited to do it gives you that indefinable
mental edge that makes it workall logic be damned. You get a kind of placebo
effect, at the least, that will carry you through its flaws.

To echo what I wrote above about bodybuilders, this is partly the reason so many
people can succeed with bodybuilding programs that are all wrong for them. Maybe
youve only been lifting for six weeks, but hell, you want to be the next Ronnie
Coleman. If you can consistently attack your workouts with enthusiasm and
visualize your gains, youll be well on your way.

And if that doesnt work, just find yourself a better program!