New Year, New You

 New Year, New You

A.K.A.: Designing a Kick-Ass Program to Achieve Your Goals

Simplifying Your Workout Program

Now that it's the start of a new year (yes, I know, I'm a month late in getting this out😏), I thought it would - quite obviously - be a good time to put out a series of posts on some of the various keys to designing, and then maintaining, a workout program, whether your goals are building muscle mass, losing body fat, gaining prodigious amounts of raw strength, or some combination therein.  And perhaps the fact that I'm putting this out at the end of January may not be such a bad thing.  If you are already having trouble sticking to your New Year's resolution(s), then just maybe I can be of some assistance.

 For Part One in this series, I would like to offer some basic tips for getting "back to the basics" and simplifying your workouts.  Each post in the series will build upon the previous ones, so this seems as if it's a good way to start.

Tip #1: Consider Using a Full-Body, 3-Days-Per-Week Program

Whether you are just beginning a workout program, or whether you have a hit a plateau that you just don't seem to be able to "get over", it's always good to get back to the basics and keep your workout program as simple as possible.

Don't overcomplicate your workouts.  And this goes for anyone who is trying to gain muscle, build strength, or lose bodyfat, even highly advanced lifters.

One of the best ways to keep it simple is to start off this year by getting back to a full-body, 3-days-per-week program.  Train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then give yourself plenty of time to relax on the weekends.  Or, if you enjoy a really long workout session to start the week of workouts, then "begin" your program on Saturday, and then train on Monday and Wednesday before taking off Thursday and Friday to rest  for your BIG Saturday session.

Full-body workouts are not just for neophytes, beginners, or intermediate lifters.  Even "advanced" lifters would do well to try a full-body program, at least occasionally.

In my "Mass Construction" article I wrote for IronMan Magazine over ten years ago, here is what I had to say about the benefits of full-body workout programs:

 Full body training is “the bomb” for several reasons.  First, training the whole body seems to promote overall growth better than “split” training.  It acts as an anabolic catalyst, so to speak, triggering growth everywhere, even if only a few exercises are performed.

Second, full body workouts allow you to train each bodypart more frequently.  Yep, you just read that correctly.  Frequent is good.  Recently, it has become almost a fad to train infrequently and irregularly.  The rationale has been that increased rest between workouts will aid recovery, and therefore growth and strength.  It sounds simple, it sounds like it will work, but unfortunately for many that have tried it, it just doesn’t work that way.

While it’s true that you can’t train heavy more than once-per-week (at least until you become very advanced) you can train several times each week using workouts that aren’t that heavy.

Look at all of the great lifters from the past sixty years (especially the ones that weren’t on steroids) who had fantastic physiques and were freaky strong, and you won’t find any of them that got great results from infrequent training.  From Marvin Eder to Bill Pearl to Arnold Schwarzenegger to Pat Casey to (current World’s Strongest Man champion) Mariusz Pudzianowski, all of them trained (or train) each muscle group at least twice per week.

Also, if you look at all of the good systems of training over the last twenty years—from Bill Starr’s full body 5x5 workouts to Louie Simmons’s Westside Barbell system, to the full-body powerlifting methods of Russian coach extraordinaire Boris Sheiko, to the “grease the groove” training of Pavel Tsatsouline—the one thing these workouts all have in common is they train the major lifts frequently.

Tip #2: Utilize One-Exercise-Per-Bodypart Workouts

The great Reg Park was a big proponent of both full-body workouts AND one-exercise-per-bodypart training.

Whether you are going to use a full-body workout or a multi-bodypart split program, one of the best ways to maximize your training time is to minimize your number of exercises per bodypart.

I believe there are multiple benefits that you can reap by sticking to just one exercise every time that you train a muscle group.

If you are attempting to get stronger on a lift, then the one thing you need to do is a lot of work on that one lift! A great example (from a split program perspective) is from my last post on high-intensity, high-volume training.  Multiple sets of one exercise "teaches" your body to be more efficient at that one exercise.  The one caveat here, it must be said, is that - when attempting to build massive strength - you need to ensure that you are using the best form possible for your body type for the particular lift.  Using multiple sets of a lift reinforces the technique utilized.  This is great when your technique is "spot on" but it can also reinforce bad technique, as well.  So make sure that you have your technique "down".

When it comes to building muscle mass, one indicator of muscle is the pump.  Or, as Arnold might say, "da' pump".  I don't think the pump is the "end all, be all" when it comes to building muscle, as some writers and bodybuilders have claimed over the years.  But I do think it's a pretty good indicator as to whether or not your muscles are "primed" for building muscle.  Or not.  Also, some programs can be designed around the pump.  While others induce hypertrophy through non-pump mechanisms.

When it comes to getting a good pump in any muscle group, I think you're always better sticking with one exercise throughout the duration of your workout.  How many times, for instance, have you been performing an exercise, achieving a good pump, and then switched to a different exercise for the same muscle group, only to lose your pump (or at least have it diminish slightly)?  If you know that an exercise induces a great pump for you, then stick with it.

Tip #3: Stop Overthinking Your Program

Simplifying your workout program will really help to ensure that your workouts don't become overcomplicated, convoluted messes, but in addition to not overcomplicating, you also need to learn to not overthink your program design.

I always achieved the best results in my life by following a program and not thinking at all about it when away from the gym.  Instead, use those "thought resources" to focus on other things that will help you lose bodyfat and build muscle outside of the gym: designing a nutritional regimen or a meditation/yogic program, for instance.

To end with a little bit of philosophy along the same lines here, what follows is another excerpt from a previous article of mine, this one from the art and practice of Stoic philosophy:

 Wherever our minds go, there will the rest of our lives be.  With our thoughts, we create our world.  I don’t mean this in some airy, narcissistic, new-age sort of way – sorry, Oprah, but our minds do not create our reality – we cannot magically think ourselves rich or married to a Playboy bunny.  But our thoughts do create the way in which we handle our world.  If our thoughts are full of joy, peace, tranquility, thinking no harm to ourselves or to others around us, then this is how our lives will be.

Do not spend your time daydreaming about the past or worrying about the future.  Learn to live in the present, giving your mind – and therefore your body and the rest of your senses – to whatever current task you are occupied with.

Do you need to gain as much muscle as possible in the shortest period of time?  Then spend your time, and your thoughts, occupied with doing just this.  Eat the foods that are conducive to building as much bulk as possible.  Do not think about how in the past you have neglected proper eating.  And do not fantasize about the junk food you will eat in the future once you have acquired the body you desire.

Do the same thing with your training.  Follow the proper workout for building bulk – you can find plenty of good training programs here on my blog.  Whenever you find a training program, then give yourself over to just that style of training.  Do not waste thoughts on the training you did in the past, or the sort of training you will do in the future to “cut up” (whatever the hell that means) once you have acquired enough muscle.  And do not waste thoughts on how other people are training.

In short, only concern your thoughts with what is under your control.  This will not be easy at first.  It will take some time to train your mind.  But the time spent will be worth it.