The lost art of programme design

Being able to design good programmes is the one of the fundamental skills a personal trainer needs to be able to demonstrate. Our clients’ success depends on our skilful manipulation of the training variables and our financial success depends on our clients’ achieving their goals while hopefully enjoying the process. This all means we need to write exercise programs that are physically stimulating, mentally interesting, challenging and varied.

The object of this article is to explore the fundamentals of programme design with a view to sharpening up our programme design skills and avoiding getting stuck in a programme design rut!

The most common problem I see is that the majority of trainers write programmes that they would perform themselves…i.e. trainers with a cardiovascular background write CV programmes, whilst trainers with a resistance background invariably produce watered down hypertrophy sessions. This is not personal training! A clients’ programme should reflect their needs and wants and not reflect the area of interest of the trainer.

I recently heard about a personal trainer who had every single one of his clients on a very similar programme regardless of their experience, gender, goals or medical constraints…

1) 10 minute bike warm up
2) 20 minute treadmill intervals (1 minute fast/1 minute slow – 10 sets)
3) 2-3 resistance exercises (mainly isolation, performed as part of a split routine)
4) “Sit ups” – flexion based core movements (no extension, rotation, lateral flexion etc.)
5) Stretch (as time permits)
Example programme designed by a not – so personal trainer

Reps were always in the 8-12 range, 3 sets were performed each time and the last set was, almost without fail, performed as a drop set.

This kind of programme design is far removed from the personalized approach we teach at Solar Fitness Qualifications. The trainer in question (not one of our graduates!) may well experience some positive results with his clients initially but, needless to say, it won’t be long before his clients hit the dreaded “performance plateau” and a client who ceases to see improvements in their fitness and increases in their fitness levels is very likely to take their hard earned money elsewhere, leaving our not-so personal trainer with a gap in his diary and a subsequent drop in earnings – not a good scenario.

There are a number of prerequisite stages that need to be covered before we even set foot in the gym. Follow these steps and your clients will soon be well on their way to reaching their training goals…

STAGES OF PROGRAMME DESIGN
1) Gathering information
The first stage of programme design is to gather information. Initially, this should take the form of an in depth medical questionnaire, a discussion of the clients general lifestyle (nutrition, time available, exercise history, likes, dislikes etc) as well as goal setting.

2) Health screening
After establishing our clients’ goals etc, we need to screen our clients fully to ascertain their readiness to exercise. The normal battery of static tests should be applied – blood pressure, Resting Heart Rate, Lung Function and Body Composition. Remember these tests provide personal trainers with a legal safety net and should never be ignored. The results of these static tests may reveal underlying medical conditions and also provide an opportunity for medical referral.

3) Fitness Testing
Once we have established that our client is healthy enough to commence exercising, it may be necessary to conduct some rudimentary fitness testing including appropriate tests for cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and proprioception/balance. This information can then be used to establish musculoskeletal fitness, energy system fitness, the setting of initial intensity levels and monitoring improvements in the coming months.

4) Review
On completion of this initial consultation, it might be necessary to adjust our clients’ goals if the gathered results suggest that they are unrealistic. Remember it is much better to under promise but then over deliver rather than over promise and under deliver! More often than not it is the trainer who will be blamed for the client not reaching their fitness goals, and not the client for non-compliance so ensure goals are challenging but realistic targets to improve your chances of success.

5) Personalised programme design
When we have gathered all the pertinent information, it’s time to put pen to paper and start being creative with our programme design.

The first rule of programme design is “treat what you find”. Fitness training IS therapy and we have gained a lot of information about our clients physical well being. The results of our testing should be the lynch pin on which our programme is based…

If the client is weak then they need to develop strength
Client is unfit then cardiovascular exercise needs to be prescribed
Poor flexibility? Developmental stretching is required
Poor posture? Postural correction exercises are needed
Weak core? Poor muscular endurance?
Poor proprioception? You get the idea!

Treating what you find is the very essence of personal training – an individualized approach based on the clients physical needs.

Not every client wants to be a bodybuilder!
Something I have noticed many trainers often do, regardless of their clients’ needs, wants or goals, is to prescribe split routines. Split routines are the reserve of the body builder or strength athlete and really have no place in the average gym users’ weekly schedule!

The whole point of a split routine is to permit large amounts of volume to be performed for individualized muscle groups to encourage hypertrophy to occur which is influenced directly by training volume. Very few of our clients are seeking such a specialized response from their exercise routines and therefore are most of them aren’t candidates for this type of training.

The majority of our clients will benefit far more from performing different whole body routines 2-3 times weekly plus an appropriate amount of cardiovascular exercise on the days in between.
Full body training uses large amounts of energy, eliminates the need for lots of isolation exercises, is extremely time efficient, promotes muscular balance and trains the body as a single synergistic unit – which is how it normally functions. All it takes is a single missed workout from a weekly split routine and the whole programme becomes unbalanced whereas missing one day of whole body training will, other than a missed exercise opportunity, will still address all of the clients’ muscular needs. Also, human nature being what it is, it’s quite likely that if a client is going to miss a workout, it’s going to be one they enjoy less or find hardest and chances are, that’s the one they can’t afford to miss because it’s the one that addresses their weaknesses.

Whole body training requires creativity on behalf of the trainer, intelligent planning, correct ordering of exercises and also belief from the trainer that whole body training is a viable and useful method of training and not for “beginners only”. Writing split routines is relatively easy as it allows for a “kitchen sink” approach to exercise selection – no need to select quality exercises based on merit or functionality when you can do them all in a single session!

When teaching programme design I use the following template to help my students learn how to correctly order their exercises. This template does the hard work for you by balancing movement patterns and avoiding overlapping muscle groups.

1) Compound leg exercise e.g. squats
2) Horizontal pushing exercise e.g. bench press
3) Horizontal pulling exercise e.g. bent over rows
4) 2nd leg exercise (preferably also compound) e.g. lunges
5) Vertical pushing exercise e.g. shoulder press
6) Vertical pulling exercise e.g. lat pull downs
7) Triceps exercise e.g. tricep push down
8) Biceps exercise e.g. bicep curls
9) 1st core exercise e.g. stability ball crunches
10) 2nd core exercise e.g. 45 degree back extensions

By slotting exercises into the above template, the trainer can easily produce an effective and well balanced whole body routine. With regard to repetitions and sets, these values are goal and fitness level dependent but somewhere between 8-20 reps for 1-4 sets should meet the majority of exercisers needs. Begin with a conservative approach to intensity and volume with the view of making the workout more intense over time as the client becomes fitter and more able to perform the workout. Remember that you don’t have to use the same rep and set scheme for all the exercises. Distribute the volume of the workout as necessary. For example you may have the client perform 3 sets of the leg exercises but only 2 sets for the rest of the body and only 1 set for the arms at the end.

Making progress
Once the basic programme has been designed and has been followed for a period of time, it will become necessary to manipulate the training variables to promote further improvements in fitness…

The training variables include the following:
Altering the rep range
Decreasing the rest periods
Increasing the number of sets being performed
Changing the exercises e.g. from machine to free weight
Increasing number of exercises per muscle group
Increasing the load being used
Altering the order of the exercises
Progressing exercise complexity/skill requirement
Increasing the balance or stability demand of the exercise e.g. progressing to stability ball exercises
Using unilateral (single limbed) movements
Combining exercises into complexes, supersets or adopting other training systems e.g. drop sets, super slow, pre exhaust or post exhaust training to name a few.

Periodic manipulation of the training variables and rotation of exercises should result in an almost endless variety of workouts without having to resort to split routines which are best left to bodybuilder wannabes and aren’t really suited for the majority of our typical clientele. There is nothing wrong with split routines per se, just the fact that they are often prescribed to clients’ whose requirements would be better met by whole body programmes.

A beginner’s guide to running

(Please note – before beginning this or any other exercise plan, please seek the advice from your doctor)

Running is one of the most natural, beneficial and convenient forms of exercise available. It’s relatively cheap, requires very little specialist equipment and can be done virtually anywhere at any time. Running burns calories, strengthens the heart and improve lung capacity whilst reducing the likelihood of suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart disease.

Running has many benefits to offer, but making the successful transition from inactivity to regular pavement pounder can be difficult. This article will show you how to go from complete novice to regular runner in an easy, structured and progressive way.

Phase one – Preparation.
“Prior planning prevents a pretty poor performance” as we used to say in the Royal Marines! All this means is that before we go off half cocked, we need to make sure we are ready to begin our new routine and that any possible obstacles are removed. To make the early stages of running training as easy as possible, let’s address these essential points:

Running shoes.
The correct footwear is essential for safe and comfortable running. The wrong shoes can make running a nightmare! This doesn’t mean you need to rush out and buy the most expensive shoes you can afford. Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean best. Sure, you can spend £100+ ($200) on a pair of top of the range shoes, but will they really make you a better runner? Probably not! As a novice runner, we don’t need ultra light racing flats, or shoes built for speed, we merely need shoes that offer good cushioning and support. When buying a pair of running shoes, try them on wearing the socks you expect to be running in, jog around the shoe shop to make sure they feel okay, wear them in your home for a day or two to make sure they don’t cause you any discomfort and don’t be afraid to take your unused shoes back to the retailer if they aren’t right for you. It’s also worth noting that running shoes have an expected lifespan of 4-6 months. After this period the cushioning starts to degrade and the support may diminish. Replace your running shoes often to avoid lower limb injuries. When buying running shoes, make sure you get the advice of a professional sales person but be aware they might well be on commission and their recommendations could well be influenced by that fact.

Running clothes.
Whatever you are comfortable in will be fine for running, so long as you can vent when you get hot or add layers when you feel cold. For cold weather running, long sleeves and leggings might be useful, as might a hat and gloves. In the heat, a sun hat is vital, and shorts and a t shirt might be more appropriate. If you run at night, it’s worth investing in a high visibility top to avoid becoming a traffic accident statistic and a light rain jacket might be useful for those damp days. Finally make sure your running socks are snug fitting and won’t rub to give you blisters.

Running routes.
It’s worth having an idea of where you are going to run before you head out the door on your first workout. Running on the roads is okay, but would you enjoy running in the countryside more? Is your “home patch” very hilly, and consequently, going to make your early days as a runner harder than necessary? Is your running route relatively free of traffic, well lit at night, avoids passing through any unsafe areas? We want to make your initial foray into running as easy as possible so by eliminating as many potential hazards as possible. Seek out places that will be a pleasure to run in, not ones that make you dread starting!

Optional extras.
If you are the sort of person who really likes to buy other odds and ends to enhance your exercise experience, the following might be useful, but are by no means essential: A heart rate monitor to measure how hard you are working, a watch with a timer to measure the duration of your workouts (and ordinary watch will suffice) a GPS to measure how far you have run, an MP3 player to entertain you while you exercise, and a Camel Bag – a drinking system worn on your back ideally suited for people who want to keep their hands free while exercising. There are plenty of other running related products on the market, many of which are touted as essential but remember, some of the world’s best runners come from the most impoverished of countries and often run bare foot so don’t feel you have to buy ever running product available to be a good runner!

Phase two – Setting a schedule.
The UK’s Health and Exercise Advisory board (HEA) recommends performing aerobic exercise 3 times a week for a duration of not less than 20 minutes to make improvements in aerobic fitness. It’s suggested, where possible, that these workouts are performed on non-sequential days e.g. Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

Before we even take our first running step, it’s a good idea to plan when we are going to run. Certainly we need to meet the minimal requirements set down by the HEA if we are expecting to gain benefits from exercise. Look at your schedule and make 3 “running appointments” per week so you know when you are due to workout. Treat these like any other appointment – just like a meeting with a work colleague. Do your very best not to break them, and soon you’ll be on the way to making exercise a life long habit.

Avoid over committing your self in the early stages of your new running endeavour – stick with the 3 sessions of 20 minutes a week initially. This way, you are less likely to miss a session, whereas, even with the best will in the world, those 6 sessions of 45 minutes you planned out will fall by the wayside and your dreams of becoming a runner will be over before they have begun. Once we have established out schedule and feel comfortable with it, we can then add to it.

Phase three – Let’s get started!
Running for 20 minutes can be a daunting prospect for a novice runner, whose last experience of running was doing laps of a football field in the rain while at school! Because of this, we are going to break down our 20 minute minimum session time into running and walking. Our aim, over the next few weeks is to run more and walk less until we reach a 20 minute total of running time with no walking. Once we can run for 20 minutes in a single session, we’ll start to increase the length of our runs, run faster or more often. We’ll cover running progressions a moment…

Warming up
Before we head out the door and start hitting the pavement, we are going to spend a few minutes getting our bodies ready for the exercise to follow. Chances are, your body is about to go from a dead stop (having been sat in a car or at a desk, or even laid in bed for an extended period) to exercising so we need make the transition from non exercising to exercising gradual. This will enhance your running experience by making the first few minutes of your run less stressful, may prevent injuries and helps get your mind ready for exercise as well as your body.

Because running is essentially a whole body exercise, it’s well worth spending a few minutes warming up all the major joints…the ankles, knees and hips. One of the best ways to do this is by performing some step ups at the foot of your stairs. After a couple of minutes of step ups, you should feel a little warmer and your breathing and heart rate should be elevated. Next we need to gently stretch out the muscles of the lower body, especially he hamstrings, quadriceps and calf muscles. If you are unsure of what stretches to perform, do a search on the internet or seek advice from a fitness professional. Spend a 10-20 seconds on each muscle group in the lower body before heading out the door. We’re now ready to head out the door…!

Walk/run/walk.
Our first few sessions are going to begin with walking rather than running. Walking will contribute to the warm up and overall workout but will also act as a recovery when we get tired from running. When walking make sure you stride out purposely with your head held high, shoulders held down and back and arms relaxed, swinging freely. Drive your heels into the floor and push off your toes, walking briskly. You should feel slightly out of breath, having to breathe through your mouth rather than your nose and you may even begin to sweat lightly. For many exercisers, this “power walking” will provide workout enough in the early stages of our new fitness regime. If this is the case for you, keep with the walking 3 times a week for 20 minutes per session until you feel ready to attempt running. I suggest heading away from your start point for 10 minutes, then returning along the same route for your first few sessions until you have an idea of how much distance you can cover in the allotted 20 minutes.

If, after a few minutes of walking, you feel comfortable I want you to break into a run. When running, concentrate on a heel/toe action, light foot falls and keeping the upper body relaxed as well as a regular breathing rhythm. Don’t set off at a sprint, but a comfortable run which you can maintain for at least 1-2 minutes. After you have run for 1-2 minutes (more or less depending on your individual fitness level) slow back down into your power walk. You should aim to stride out as you did before and do your best to maintain the good walking technique we used a few moments earlier.

Repeat this walk/run/walk sequence until you have been exercising for 20 minutes. The intervals of running and walking are completely intuitive – run or walk for as long as feels comfortable. If you are feeling tired walk more, and if you are feeling okay run more. Remember we are only just starting out and we have plenty of time to increase your speed and/or duration.

Once you have completed your 20 minute session (well done by the way!) have a gentle stretch to try and minimise any post exercise muscle soreness. Mildly sore muscles are to be expected after performing a new exercise routine – at least in the early stages. Don’t worry if your muscles feel a little bit sore for a day or two after your workouts…you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s merely your body saying it has done a bit more work than usual.

Progression.
Now the first workout is completed, we have a bench mark to compare all subsequent sessions to. The aim of the next few weeks or months is to walk less and run more, until we are able to run for 20 minutes without having to take any walking breaks. YOU are in charge of how you progress your workout. You can use a stop watch and time your run/walk intervals and add a few seconds of running while walking a few seconds less, or you can use lamp posts as indicators of distance travelled…it’s really up to you. However you decide to monitor your progress, it is essential that your regularly increase the time spent running and minimize the time spent walking, working towards our initial goal of running for 20 minutes straight. Once you are able to complete 20 minutes of running without having to take a walking break, stay at this level of activity for 1-2 weeks and really get used to performing that amount of exercise.

Once we have consolidated our progress and have regularly run for 20 minutes, 3 times a week for 1-2 weeks, you should be ready to push on to new levels of fitness. There are a number of options that can utilized to make your workouts more demanding and you can use one or more of these as you see fit.

Option 1 – run more often. (e.g. 4 times a week)
Option 2 – run further (e.g. for 25 minutes)
Option 3 – run faster (e.g. run the same route but aim to do it quicker)

As a general rule, it is suggested that we never increase the duration of any single run, or our weekly mileage total by more than 10% at a time. This means if you are running for 20 minutes; don’t suddenly increase the duration of your next run to 30 minutes, but to 22 minutes and so on. Increasing mileage/duration in jumps greater than 10% can lead to overuse injuries. Also it’s a good idea to restrict running to no more than 4-5 times a week and make sure you have 1-2 days free from physical activity. The body is a wondrous thing, but does need time to repair itself from the rigours of regular exercise.

The finish line.
It might well take weeks or even months to go from the initial walk/run/walk programme to running for 20 minutes plus without stopping…but once you manage it you’ll feel an amazing sense of achievement and satisfaction.

And, once you have a basic level of running fitness, why not consider joining a friendly running club or entering a fun run? You might have lofty aspirations of running a marathon one day, or merely running to stay fit, slim and healthy. No matter what you choose to achieve with your running, continue to enjoy your running for a very long time to come.

Patrick Dale
http://www.solar-fitness.com/

So you want to get fit?

So, you’ve made the decision to start getting some exercise – that’s great! But where should you start your new journey from Couch Potato to Fitness Fanatic? In this article, I hope to help you map out a plan to get you on the road to improved health, fitness and wellbeing.

Step One:
Get a check up. It’s an irrefutable fact that exercise is good for you. It can reduce your chances of suffering many common chronic diseases, help you control your weight, improve your general health, and give you more energy and so on. There is a long list of benefits associated with exercise but exercise also comes with some risks. Because of this it is vital that you get a full medical examination before commencing your new exercise regime. Your doctor will be able to screen you for any medical conditions which may worsen because of your new routine. It is very VERY rare for a medical practitioner to tell you not to exercise, but they may suggest certain restrictions if a particular condition is discovered – e.g. low impact exercise for morbidly obese exercisers or avoiding overhead weight lifting in hypertensives. If in doubt – get checked out!

Step Two:
Decide on how much time you can realistically spare for exercise. The truth is that if you are short of time and your exercise programme becomes an inconvenience, it is very likely that your plan will be a non-starter or certainly a short runner. Calculate exactly how much time you have spare each day and look for ways to maximise that time. Are you really going to want to commute for an extra hour to get to the gym across town? Or are there better ways to use your valuable spare time? Remember it is not necessary to spend hours and hours exercising every day. 20-30 minutes, 3-5 times a week will yield amazing benefits. The average person spends 4 hours a day watching TV…you need to find less than 4 hours per week for exercise!

Step Three:
Explore your exercise options. There are literally hundreds of ways for you to exercise. Some will suit you perfectly, others will be completely unsuited to your needs, your personality or your goals. You can choose from aerobics classes to weight training, from Pilates to swimming, from jogging to tennis. From the almost endless list of possibilities, choose activities which you think you will enjoy. If you have “two left feet” then maybe hip-hop aerobics isn’t going to be for you. Not a great fan of loud music, shiny chrome and mirrors? Maybe the local Fitness Studio isn’t for you. I guarantee you that there are plenty of activities out there which will suit your personality and physicality so do some research, look around and then select something you feel comfortable with and not intimidated by. The caveat is that whatever your chose, you should enjoy.

Step Four:
Make a commitment. A plan is just a meaningless piece of paper unless you commit to following it. Decide on a start date for your new, healthy lifestyle and zero in on it. Make it an appointment in your diary and stick to it. Work towards it so that when you reach your intended commencement day, you are ready to start. Plan ahead for this day. Have you booked your place in the class? Bought some appropriate work out clothing? Arranged a baby sitter? Do everything in your power to make this as easy a process as possible. The last thing you want is for uncontrollable details to derail your new healthy lifestyle.

Step Five:
Do it! Get off the couch, out the door and get started. Procrastination will ruin even the very best intentions. A journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step or so they say, so make that first step now. Your old life of inactivity has an inertia all of its own and it’s absolutely vital that you make a clean break from it. Put it behind you and move onwards and upwards into your new healthy lifestyle. Treat this change like a battle – attack it with tenacity and aggression and you WILL win.

Step Six:
Stick with it. You’ve done the hard part – you got started. Now you need to keep that momentum and maintain your new active lifestyle. Tell your friends what you are doing, keep a workout diary, and set your self some goals. Take a look at my article “Habits of Effective Exercisers” and you’ll learn about a number of excellent strategies designed to help should your motivation levels start to wane.

Step Seven:
Enjoy it! Look back on what you have achieved and take pride in it. At the very least you have broken away from the gravity of your couch and have now made moves towards a new, healthier lifestyle. And remember, it’s not a race – there’s no hurry, take it a day at a time, a workout at a time and you WILL make improvements and progress. You will have done what many people never manage to do – taken positive steps to improve your health and fitness. Good for you!

I hope that gives you a plan of action to get up, out and exercising. It’s time to stop thinking about getting fit and start doing something about it – Just do it! The rewards and huge!

Patrick Dale
www.solar-fitness.com