Programming Questions

Programming Questions

There are more training programs available to follow than ever before. There are also more training facilities and types of training people can choose to do. This is all great, but leaves a potentially larger gap for holes in programming considerations. We must stop looking at each training session individually, but rather look at how the training session plays into the weekly, monthly, and yearly plan. Within each session, each exercise needs to be evaluated to determine if it has a proper place in the training session. This will lead to these seven questions to consider when creating a training program. If you have more to add, please feel free to comment and let us know what you would add. 

        The Seven Questions

Why are we doing this? The internet allows for people to see different exercises that maybe they wouldn't have thought of before. Unfortunately with that, comes no understanding of someone is performing the shown exercise. If you don’t understand why you’re using an exercise then it likely doesn’t need to be in your program. What will get views and likes doesn’t always lead to progress towards the goal. Understand why you’re using each exercise and why it’s at a certain place in the workout. 

Do we have to do this? Let’s use the barbell bench press as an example. For most athletes and most people, there is likely more reason to use a dumbbell variation over a barbell for your pressing movements. If you like a movement, like the bench press, ask yourself if there’s a better variation or way to load the exercise. The more you can ask yourself this question the better the program will become. 

Is it safe for the people doing it? There are many exercises that I used to get as strong as I could that I would never have some other people do. It wouldn’t be safe for them to attempt these exercises such as a suspended good morning with bands loaded to the bar. Great for high level lifters, but not for most people wanting to improve their fitness. 

Can we teach it? An exercise is only beneficial if you can safely teach it to people. Before I really understood how to use and manipulate bands and chains in training, I didn’t use them with our clients. I began using them once I had a full understanding of how, why, and when. The olympic lifts are fantastic, but many teaching them are going against the point of the exercise which is creating little return on the exercise and increasing risk of injury. 

Do we have the equipment? If you don’t have the proper equipment to safely perform an exercise, then it doesn't matter how great the training response is. An example now is wanting to do box jumps, but only having metal boxes available. The bloody shins aren’t worth it. Save the money and get soft plyo boxes and eliminate fear of shins with the people doing them. 

What is the goal? This is always something that makes me laugh when coaches say “you have to do this exercise” or “you have to use this machine”. Is that the one exercise separating the person from their goal or is it the exercise needed to force the athlete to the training method? When you really examine what the goal of the person you’re working with, you'll begin to see many roads to get there. Always ask if this helps in the ultimate goal or is it something I would like to see happen. Often times, those aren't the same thing. 

How do we evaluate if it’s effective? One of the things we push for our clients is the ability to do a bodyweight pull up. Why? Because we have seen it improve athletic performance, relative strength, decrease shoulder and elbow pain, and many other benefits. Regardless of the goal of the person training, everything gets better when a bodyweight pull up is achieved. You must have an idea of what a training stimulus should/could do and also a way test against it. This will keep programming honest and help remove training bias from program design. 

Nick Showman

Showtime Strength & Performance

www.showtimestrength.com