The ‘100’ Challenges – Are They Worth It?

Hop on YouTube and you’ll find an almost endless amount of 100 day challenges.

One problem with these is that people get bored quickly.

A second issue is that some movements are too hard for the required reps.

Sadly a basic level of strength and proficiency in the desired movement is required.

The overall benefit though is you’ll get very good at doing that specific thing, plus there will no doubt be some localised and perhaps global hypertrophy as well as a boost in general fitness.

There are various options whereby people do 100 reps (any reps really) of something per day.

Oh and these are all working reps as well, so it doesn’t include warm ups.

A few of the most common are:

• 100 Pull Ups a day for 100 days
• 100 Push Ups a day for 100 days
• 100 Squats a day for 100 days

You can do the reps however you choose, the aim is simply to hit 100 per day in this example.

Doing the same thing for 100 days straight can really boost your skill in it, although it can also lead to a type of neural fatigue that affects your ability to perform the movement well as a downside.

Say you’re going to go for pull ups.

It’d be wise to start off doing 10 reps every hour for 10 hours to hit your 100 reps target.

Whereas if you opted for squats you could probably smash out 100 reps in less than 15min on day 1.

Therefor it’s worth remembering the type of movement you choose will be reflected in the difficulty spike.

I was thinking about this last night and the fact that most movements tend to be bodyweight ones.

Why not try it with loading I though, then after a bit of common sense thinking the potential for burn out and various other issues popped up which would require a cycling of the loads which is something people are not so good at doing.

Another thought that came up was this – could you train this way for an entire year?

What would the benefit of such a mammoth task be?

It’d cultivate a mindset of resilience that’s for sure, plus it can help break any long standing habits and fears that in not doing exactly as you are in training will have you lose all your gains (personal demon).

So what movements would be best picked?

Three that offer the most and for your buck would be required.

Or you’d need to have supplementary movements that you can put in to satiate anatomical needs.

As an example:

1st Challenge – 100 pull ups for 100 days – any grip or loading variation, etc

A1 – Pull Ups x100 reps – any rep breakdown required
B1 – 5×5 – either a squat, hinge or push movement*

^^ In the 5×5 I’d work up to a top set of 5 for the day in a movement and then keep this variation while dropping the loading back to 70% of that top 5 then adding a few % of load to it each time until what was once a tops set of 5 is now the working 5×5 at which point the variation would change.

*This secondary movement would be utilised to fill any gaps, provided the energy was there.

2nd Challenge – 100 squats for 100 days – loaded variation – barbell, front etc

A1 – Front Squat x100 reps – any rep breakdown required
B1 – Top Set Rotation – either a hinge, pull or push movement

The loading could stay as the descried 5×5 above or perhaps you’d cycle a 6 session rotation of 5/3/2/5/3/2 – meaning in session one you work to a top 5, then a top 3 in session two and a heavy double in session 3 which leads you into session four whereby you drop back to looking to hit a new top 5 and so on.

After 6 sessions the supplementary lift variation would change.

3rd Challenge – 100 Clean & Presses (or just presses) – any style of press on bar, DB, KB etc.

A1 – Clean & Press x100 reps – any rep breakdown required
B1 – 5×1 + 20reps – – either a hinge, pull or squat movement

For supplementary loading here you’d be hitting 5 progressively heavier singles, then take 60% of that top single and aim for a set of 20 reps.

Once the 20 reps are hit unbroken you’ve got two choices, first is to bump it to 65% and repeat until hit then do it again going to 70% before changing the variation of lift, the second is to immediately change the lift variation when you hit the 20 rep set unbroken.

You’ll find a lot of benefit to something as simple as this.

Apart from mental toughness you’ll also gain some impressive strength and potential lean mass too.

Of course your nutrition and overall recovery will play a roll.

Not also forgetting the need to have access to kit or a training facility that will allow you to perform this as well.

If you train at home this might be your set up:

1st Challenge – 100 pull ups for 100 days + supplementary KB Squat, Swing or Floor Press
2nd Challenge – 100 kb front squats for 100 days + supplementary KB swing, Row or Press
3rd Challenge – 100 kb clean & presses (or just presses) + supplementary kb squat, row or swing

Have a think and see what takes your fancy as you can do any movement you choose.

As far as GPP programs go this one isn’t the worst.

Of course the trick part is doing it 100 days in a row and waving the loads session to session for progression/recovery purposes.

I’m seriously thinking of doing it myself with some barbell because of no other reason than blind curiosity.

You may also like doing it with loaded carries, say 100m per day at your bodyweight or more, that’s 10k overall.

Your options are truly endless, it’s merely your imagination that may fall short.

Hey if you’ve done the same things for years it won’t hurt to go for something different for 100 or rather 300 days now will it.

I’ve done it with various bodyweight movements (some kettlebell ones too) and each was good fun.

Makes me wonder what I’d learn from using a barbell.

In the end if you’ve got no specific training goal/outcome then why not give this as go.

Enjoy,
Ross

This is the best day to go for a PB is….

The 7 day working week, arbitrary as it is in the grand scheme of things has a large rule over life.

Regarding training it forces people into the mentality of ‘7day blocks’.

In truth the body doesn’t know what day it is.

All the body knows is stress, stimulus, tension, fatigue, recovery needed and so on.

Fun fact, according to the late & great Charles Poliquin the optimal training for people it to hit 3 out of 5 days and as such this was his favourite split: Functional Hypertrophy Example

Day 1 – Chest & Back
Day 2 – Legs
Day 3 – Off
Day 4 – Shoulders & Arms
Day 5 – Off

Then on day 6 you repeat day one and start all over again.

As good as this is it means training days will shift and this isn’t practical for some people and can make their training inconsistent which leads to frustration.

Thus the 7 day working week tends to be what people plan their training around.

A 4 day per week Upper/Lower is a common favourite – Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri.

Legendary Gymnastics Coach Christopher Sommer uses this.

It’s also been noted the that 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off tends to give the majority of people the best stimulus/recovery ratio.

In regards to hitting new PB’s though there seems to be a specific day that works best.

That day is…. Wednesday.

Looking back over older training protocols and splits that were 3 days per week (of varied nature and set up) it seems the most successful ones had this flow in common:

Monday (day 1) – Volume/Intensity – Medium Day 3x5x90% 5RM on day 2
Wednesday (day 2) – PB day – Heavy Day – 1×5 top set
Friday (day 3) – Density/Volume – Light Day – 5x5x80% 5RM on day 2

This is essentially ‘daily undulating periodisation’.

Why Wednesday seems to be the best day for PB’s can be up for further discussion.

Practically though it’s often because people have gotten over the weekend, aren’t playing catch up at work and now seem to have the energy reserves from eating well, getting to bed on time and being in a stable routine for a couple of days (Mon/Tues), thus priming the body.

^^ A simple way of saying the majority of circadian rhythms seems to have a mid week neural peak.

After Wednesday the bolas of volume is suited to the end of the week as noted above.

Although this set up can also work:

Monday (day 1) – Volume/Intensity – Light Day – 5x5x80% 5RM on day 2
Wednesday (day 2) – PB day – Heavy Day – 1×5 top set
Friday (day 3) – Density/Volume – Medium Day 3x5x90% 5RM on day 2

On a purely personal note I find my volume work happens best on a Monday, and the higher intensity medium volume loading on a Friday, however that is personal anecdote.

Looking back at older HLM set ups most did volume (light) on Friday and the and set the intensity (medium) for Monday.

You can play with this to see how it feels with the flow of your natural rhythm.

What if you can’t train Wednesday?

Aim for the hardest (or PB session) to be around mid week in general training.

As with all things training related this isn’t gospel, it’s merely a guide that happens to be consistently recognisable across the history of people that have lifted.

When do you find you’re at your strongest?

Oh and a little bonus bit of info – you’re at your strongest between 2-7pm ( a topic for the future).

Please do leave any questions below.

Enjoy,
Ross

Rarely does anything grow in old soil

Given all the tools we have available to us, each one with the potential to help us reach our desired goal/destination.

Why is it we only stick with a select few and often those that we came across first?

Mentally it makes sense.

We form a deep and strong bond with that which we first found to yield a solid result, and as such in doing it we’ll royally put in a good effort.

Yet this holds many back due to their ties to ‘insert method/tool’.

Meaning anything new is immediately met with hesitation, perhaps event resentment and contempt, then little to no effort tis put in because we’re already deemed it inferior before really letting it show us what it can really do.

As a species we are very good at finding the negatives.

You know, seeking out what’s wrong or why something won’t work, etc.

While quite a useful skill for survival and I’m quite the fan of objectivism, critical thinking and having a healthy skepticism, we must also acknowledge that such a bias can and often will hold us back if we allow it to.

Of course this is speaking from personal experience.

Given that is only one sense to view the world and one that is far less libertarian than the modern world would like, I understand my shortcomings in this life.

Accepting the knowledge that what got you from your initial point A to your current point B probably won’t take you any further is a wise thing to consider.

The dichotomy we arrive at here is as follows:

Doing what we like/want or doing what we fear/need.

These days plenty of people will take the route of saying that if someone is happy then leave them be, which is fair however it’s not useful to bettering ones self in their life, not really.

Very little grows in comfortable conditions, things grow in the RIGHT conditions and those might just be uncomfortable, harsh, challenging or just down right unpleasant to sustain, yet if that is what we need to truly grow then it is when something becomes a necessary evil.

I see things this way.

You may choose to stay exactly where you are.

I however can’t, because I want so much more from this life than to grow old in one place, too scared to move and hiding behind the guise of finding a happy place.

Happiness isn’t merely one thing, it’s the culmination of many.

That’s what makes a life worth living, that’s living life rightly.

Apply the above to your current fitness journey.

Ask yourself this, are you happy or merely indifferent convincing yourself it’s content?

Be prepared to give away your old ways and adopt new ones, it’s the only way to grow.

Enjoy,

Ross

Unlimited Power At Your Fingertips – Part 2

Finger Strength Training Article

Back in part one we looked at a couple of easy to apply methods of improving finger/hand strength.

Hopefully this got into practice.

Moving forwards we’re going to look at a few more interesting ways of building on our base. 

Having strength is one thing, however the mindset for endurance also needs to be considered and practiced as well.

This can be achieved with the following:

• High Rep Work 
• Long TUT (time under tension)
• Repeated Efforts 

Easy as this can seem on paper the overall effort required is high and not for those that are looking for a quick result because beyond the first couple of weeks where you’ll have neurological adaptation the progress after this is going to require a lot of work. 

As such I’ve selected a few of my tried and tested methods of achieving the above. 

You’ll also gain an additional benefit that comes in the form of improved body composition (less fat mass, more lean mass), an increase in your VO2 Max & overall cardio plus a few new skills too. 

These will be your weapons of choice:

• Single Arm Kettlebell Swings (or Snatches)
• Pull Ups & Chins Ups with varied grips 
• Towel Everything*

*This means using a towel to thicken gripping implements or make exercise variations harder.

When you apply the above into your training you’ll find the need for total grip strength increases which when combined with the higher volume nature of this style of programming will help you in the quest for a handshake that won’t ever be forgotten. 

Starting off we’ve got single arm kettlebell swings (SAS), they’re fairly low skill and easy to learn. 

Aiming to swing for sets of 15-35 reps (once you hit 35 reps for multiple sets go up a bell) for 10 total sets, now I’d say that’s 5 each arm, although some monsters do 10 each arm. 

I’m not saying don’t do 10 each arm, just don’t sacrifice form for the sake of more work. 

More isn’t better when your form has gone to ruin, it serves no physical benefit.

If you wish to use kettlebell snatches I’d suggest mastering the SAS first then hiring a coach to teach you the snatch because anyone I’ve personally worked with that is self taught needs to start over from the beginning, do yourself a favour and put your ego away by asking for help from day 1.

The SAS can be used at the start of end of a session, at the start will provide more benefit to power production and at the end will help with base endurance, not tend to improve body composition.

A nice way to improve your work capacity if to set a time limit, I’d suggest 10-20min of swings per session, 20min is ample time to hit the top end goal of 10 sets of 35 SAS per arm if you don’t hit the target then don’t worry because it means you’ve got room to improve. 

Additionally, cycle through kettlebell weights. 

By this I mean have a Heavy/Light/Medium bell selection, for context these are mine:

H – 32kg, L – 16kg, M – 24kg

You don’t always need to use the same weight, and going up or down will actually provide you with more benefit in the long term, trust me. 

Moving on from this we have the Pull Ups, here is how to apply them (it ramps up TUT).

• 1 Pull Up, Hang for 5 seconds
• 2 Pull Ups Hang for 5 seconds
• 3 Pull Ups, Hang for 5 seconds 
• 4 Pull Ups, Hang for 5 seconds 
• Rest and repeat for 2-5 total sets – feel free to change grip each new set 

In regards to progress for this I have a few of options for you:

• Increase the length of hang, top end time is 30 seconds between pull ups (that’s damn hard)
• Add weight, so weighted pull ups 
• Use slow eccentrics (4-6 seconds) and also add a 2-3second pause at the top of the pull up

As you can see there’s plenty of options for progress, and while easy to apply they quickly escalate in their difficulty which I’m sure some of the sadists & gluttons for punishment will enjoy.

Finally we have my jovially described ‘Towel Everything’.

I literally mean you use a towel for everything exercise related. 

Bent over rows? Wrap a towel around the bar to thicken it and require you to CRUSH the bar to keep a good grip, or use two towels as handles to hold once again forcing you to grip them very hand. 

Same goest for pull ups, try throwing a beach towel (they’re stronger) over a bar and grip it in a neutral fashion and crack out your regular reps, I guarantee you will find the ROM deeper and the overall level of tension/torque far greater which will really provide a lot of bang for your buck. 

Fancy some bicep curls? throw some weight in a towel and curl it holding the ends of the towel. 

Seriously this super simply variation can make training for finger/hand and grip strength super effective.

Now don’t worry I won’t leave you hanging, here’s an example week of training where you can apply the above:

Day 1 – 

W/U – Mobility + Plate Pinch Farmers Walks (varied loads)

A1 – Towel Deadlift x5/3/2/5/3/2/5: 4/0/X/0 (Wrap towel around bar for thick grip)

B1 – Close Grip Press x5 x4-6: 4/2/X/0
B2 – Wide Grip Pull Up x5 xAMRAP: 4/2/X/0
C1 – Plate Pinch Curls x100 reps (varied loads each set)

C/D – General/Required Stretching 

Day 2 – 

W/U – Mobility + Plate Pinch Farmers Walks (varied loads)

A1 – Front Squat x7/5/3/7/5/3: 4/0/X/0

B1 – Dip x5 x4-6: 4/2/X/0
C1 – Wide Grip Pull Up x1/2/3/4 – 5 sec hang x2-4 sets
D1 – Towel Tricep Extension x100 Reps
D2 – Towel Face Pull x100 Reps 

C/D – General/Required Stretching

Day 3 – 

W/U – Mobility + Plate Pinch Farmers Walks (varied loads)

A1 – SAS – 10min Time Cap – Medium Bell x15-35 reps per set 

B1 – Press Behind Neck x1/2/3/4/5 x2-3 sets: 4/2/X/0
B2 – Pendlay Row x2/4/6/8/10 x2-3sets: 4/2/X/0
C1 – SAS – 10min Time Cap – Medium Bell x15-35 reps per set

C/D – General/Required Stretching

Apply this knowledge for 6 weeks at a minimum.

Please also fire across any questions you have regarding the above. 

Enjoy,
Ross 

A Simple Strength Template – Battle Tested

“Strength is never a weakness” – Mark Bell

I’ve always liked that quote.

Needless to say it fits my personal bias well, and over the years strength/performance have always been a driving factor in the training I’ve programmed for various clients.

This style of training isn’t for everyone.

Strength isn’t the focus for some, even though it is the most useful quality and the foundation for pretty much everything in live, not everyone is enamoured with the idea of getting under a heavy bar or lifting a chunk of weight off the floor.

The template below is very basic.

You won’t find many moving parts in it and this is where the magic can be found.

In doing less you’ll be put in a lot more focus and have less distractions, ideally most sessions will be finished within 35-60min tops (depending on how long you rest).

The set up for training sessions will be as follows:

3 Day Per Week Option:
Week 1 – A-B-A
Week 2 – B-A-B

5 Day Per Week Option:
Week 1 – A-B-A-B-A
Week 2 – B-A-B-A-B

The protocol for each Main & Supplementary Lift:

Main Lift:
Session 1 – 1×3 – Work to a top set of 3, use as many sets as needed
Session 2 – 5×2 – Using your 3RM from Session 1
Session 3 – 2×5 – Using 90% of your 3RM from Session 1

Rest as needed although no longer than 240 seconds

Supplementary Lift (same as main):
Session 1 – 50 reps using 75% of 3RM – sets of 4-5 reps
Session 2 – 50 reps using 65% of 3RM – sets of 5-6 reps
Session 3 – 50 reps using 85% of 3RM – sets of 3-4 reps

Rest as needed although no longer than 120 seconds

The Sessions Movements:

Session A –
A1 – Clean & Press – As noted above
B1 – Sandbag Carry & Squat* – 15min Max Volume, 20m carry then a set of 5-10 in the squat

Minimal rest in B1.

Session B –
A1 – Snatch Grip Deadlift – As noted above
B1 – Arm Over Arm Sled Pull & Sled Push** – 15min Max Volume, 20m pull, push the sled back & repeat

Minimal rest in B1.

*You can do any from of loaded carry, this can be a sled push, or you might opt for a clean then barbell front racked walking lunges for 20m (that’s a spicy variation).

**You may again play with the variation here, you might go for something like a renegade row with a pari of 32kg kettlebells then a 20m farmers walk.

The basic idea behind this is that you’re going to get a lot of work done on a very few movements.

The magic is in the rep/set protocols for the 3RM, these can be used on any compound lift as they allow for a natural ebb/flow of strength, however the overall trend you want to see in your tracking is an increase in total workload and weight lifted.

An ideal option for those that are short on time and want something simple.

While you may add in smaller accessory work (reverse flies, lateral raises, or more body building focused bits) I’d suggest doing those in-between the rest of A1.

Feel free to fire across any questions for the above.

Enjoy,
Ross

The Value Of Groups

How you can make a low value client a high value one 

Regardless of budget constraints.

Hello there,

By value we’re talking monetary.

Nice as it is to do this for love and the overall goodness of the world, that doesn’t pay the bills 

As such here’s the option easily to apply today to help you unlock more earning potential.

Firstly we need to establish what the difference is between low/high value clients.

As an example a LVC may be someone that has paid for a one off session or perhaps just a short training program for some guidance (say £50-100).

A HVC is someone that is paying upwards of £500 for a month of coaching (area/demographic can increase/decrease this).

So how can you help the former evolve into the latter 

Group Training – SmallMedium/Large (4-20+ people)

A solid option for the person that did a one off session costing £50 because all you need to is offer them this gift, 2 sessions per week for the same £50 and all they’d need to do is share the time with 9 other people.

 Medium group, and if you have them all paying £100 per month for 2 sessions per week then that’s 1k in your pocket (this means your hourly value for training comes out at £125per).

 In regards to pricing for small group them £100 is a minimum, and ideally £200 per person works better, however you’d want to limit the places to 4 people total, this still bring out your hourly rate at £100 (for 8 session in a month at £200 a head).

 For large groups of 20+ having a fee as low as £30 per head for the month, perhaps even £20 won’t break the bank (in some places £50 is seen as low fee, FYI), you may find that the same 2 sessions per week works nicely here and if you get say 20 people at £30 each that’s £600 total (£75hourly value) – this can be the ideal option for online offerings.

You’ll still be able to solve the problems that your clients have.

It’s just the case that they’ll have the added benefit of additional support from fellow peers in their position.

There’s not loss in the level of service they receive, they get the very best for the lowest possible price, truly a win-win 

You’ll find this also opens up more time for you.

In this time you can either offer more SGT/MGT/LGT this further serves to boost your income.

It might take some time for this to gain traction as you’ll still need to market and connect with your available clients while showing them how you have the solutions to their perceived problems 

This is where it’s a good idea to keep in touch with people.

You’ll find previous clients a great place to start when looking for participants, after all they showed they valued your service enough before to pay for it (LVC) so there’s a high chance they will once again invest, especially if they’re getting more for the same fee.

The same is true for online work in upselling from LGT to MGT and so on (people will pay for what they grow to value & need), the last 2 years is proof of that 

The key is offering solutions to people problems because provide enough info that appeals to their emotional drivers and they will use their own perception/rational (bias) to fill in the gaps and convince/justify themselves they need what you’re offering.

Essentially you’re looking to offer something that is of such great value for an affordable price in such a way people won’t want to say no (limiting spaces and using application forms to secure a place is useful here – good old FOMO) 

The above is also focused on the lifetime value of a client as well, after all if someone will pay £50 a month without any issue for a year that’s £600 yearly value to your business, and if they stay for 3-5 years (the average) then that’s up to 3k of lifetime value.

This is worth keeping in mind because the longer you can keep a client the more opportunity you have to help them make a lasting change in their life.

If you’ve not utilised the above, I’d highly advice it.

Enjoy,

Ross

100 of My Top Training Methods – Part 5 – My Own Training Programs (Battle Tested)

100 of My Top Training Methods – Part 5 – My Own Training Programs 

Hopefully you’ve had some time to digest all the previous sections of this 5 part series and have collated some questions. 

What we shall be looking at today are programs directly taken from my own training over the last couple of decades. 

These won’t be applicable for everyone yet the progression elements will be useful.

It’ll also give you a glimpse into how my own mind works when it comes to putting something together as you will see specific trends. 

Today’ theme: Performance/Strength Programming 

You will find we touch on all the other method and considerations motioned over the series. 

• Trigger of Hypertrophy (Muscle Damage, Mechanical Loading/Tension, Metabolic Stress)
• Frequency 
• Volume 
• Intensity 
• Density 
• Goal specific.

Now for the programs.

1 – Full Body for Boxing 

I did this three days per week along side a lot of boxing (3-4 sessions per week), as such to not overly effect recovery I’d lift weights in the AM and then box in the PM.

Two sessions were alternated: A-B-A, B-A-B

Session A – 

A1 – Front Squat 7×2-3
B1 – Pull UP 10×5-10
B2 – Overhead Press 10×2-3

Session B –
A1 – Bench Press 10×2-3

A2 – Chin Up 10×5-10

B1 – Deadlift 7×2-3

Parameters: 

• Loading started cycle at 70% estimated1RM for the chosen lift
• Progression single rep on pull ups
• Progression 0.5-5kg on the barbell movements  
• 2-5min rest between sets 

It served well to bring up base strength, I found working based on weight goals useful for this (1/2 bw press overhead, bw bench press, 1.5xbw front squat target and 2xbw DL) as I was new to lifting at the time it seemed logical to base the targets off of strength to weight ratios.

This also allowed to reverse engineer a progression cycle based on 12-16 weeks of training.

2 – Upper/Lower Split for Boxing

After milking the first program as long as possible I topped out in standard LP and hit my goals all be them not very high ones, from here the recovery started to become an issue as I was doing a lot of extra CV on the side and didn’t think to count this towards my total volume of training.

Silly me. 

As such to continue progressing I needed a tweak and after reading various works and upper/lower split was gone for, once more on an A/B session rotation 3 days per week. 

Session A – 

A1 – Front Squat 10×5

B1 – Deadlift 5×5

Session B –
A1 – Bench Press 10×5

A2 – Pull/Chin Up 10×5-10

Parameters: 

• Loading started cycle at 70% estimated1RM for the chosen lift
• Progression single rep on pull ups now with added load*
• Progression 0.5-5kg on the barbell movements  
• 2-5min rest between sets

*loading the chins was a mistake, I wasn’t ready for it. 

I dropped overhead press because I was weak at it and my ego didn’t like, this was a grave mistake I’d come to realise in the years to come. It’s also worth nothing that I’d do 50-100 reverse flies at the end of each boxing session, along with 4min of plank variations. 

My programming would again be in cycles working backwards from the target numbers, however this time around a deload week found its way in after 7 weeks of progressive work. 

3 – Pull/Push/Legs Split – Gym Based – 5 day rotation 

Arguably one of my more successful routines for building some muscle, not only due to the programming, it was also because of eating more and allowing more time for recovery as well. 

Pull Day – Day 1

A1 – Deadlift 5×5

B1 – Pull Ups 6×4-6
C1 – Bent Over Row 6×4-6
D1 – Reverse Fly 4×25

Push Day – Day 2
A1 – Overhead Press 8×3
B1 – Bench Press 6×4
C1 – Dip 4×6
C2 – Reverse Fly 4×25

Rest Day – Day 3

Day 4 – Leg Day 

A1 – Front Squat 6×4
B1 – Squat 4×6
C1 – RDL 4-6×4-6

Day 5 – Off, the next day the cycle above repeats

Parameters: 

• Loading started cycle at 80% estimated1RM for the chosen lift
• Progression 0.5-5kg on all movements  
• 2-5min rest between sets

As you can see my own programming is very basic and a little boring, however it did allow for a lot of solid movement skill to be earned, the only down side in the eyes of many is that it’s not a body budding program, it’s always based on training in the early AM with a second session of a martial arts nature in the PM. 

4 – One Lift a Day – Olympic Lifting Focused 

Like many a PT i soon felt the need to impress people on the gym floor that would either watch me train or read my laundry list of qualifications.

Truth be told no one really cares what you can do beyond the point of it being a novel trick, they replay care about how you will help them because while you might think that looking cool will draw in a lot of clients, it doesn’t quite work that way. 

This was a 5 day per week program, an the faction plates again come out to be used, you see adding 0.5kg to lift (if done three times per week) takes about 7 weeks to work up a 10kg increase.

Day 1 – Snatch – 45min – sets of 2-3
Day 2 – Squat – 45min – sets of 2-3
Day 3 – Power Clean & Push Press – 45min – sets of 2-3

Day 4 – Power Snatch – 45min – sets of 2-3

Day 5 – Off
Day 6 – Clean & Jerk – 45min – sets of 2-3
Day 7 – Off 

Parameters: 

• Loading started cycle at 80% estimated1RM for the chosen lift
• Progression 0.5kg on all movements  
• 2-5min rest between sets

As time went on there would be more lifting variations that cam into play, often charing them every 3 weeks as I’d use the first week to get a feel for the new lift, the second to set some minor PB’s and the third to either match or beat the those records from the previous week before closing a new lift variation.

This allowed for more recovery while also appeasing my exercise addiction, yes it was an addiction.

5 – Kettlebell Program – No Gym Available – Strength & Conditioning 

There are a plethora of KB training programs with a  simple google search, this one served me very well for close to a year. 

Ideally a minimum of 2 sessions per week, however more also works nicely with these 4 options in a rotation. 

Session A – 

A1 – Kettlebell Snatch 50-100 reps per arm

Time allotment of 35min  

Session B –

A1 – Double Kettlebell Swings x15-35

A2 – Renegade Row x10 per arm

Repeat for 70min

Session C –

A1 – Double Kettlebell Clean x1

A2 – Double Kettlebell Squat x3

A3 –  Double Kettlebell Press x2 – actively pull the weight down in the eccentric portion

Repeat as many sets as possible in 45min 

Session D – 

A1 – Turkish Get Up – alternating singles 

Repeat for 55min 

Parameters: 

• Loading choose suitable kettlebell 
• Progression – vary loading by 4-8 kg session to session 
• Rest as needed 

This was rather enjoyable and forced me to master a weight before deciding to change the variation, it also worked well with the other sports I was doing at the time, when using a 3 day per week training frequency it allowed for some variety in regards to not training the same things on the same days. 

6 – One Lift a Day – Strength Focused 

Back to a super simple way of training that was inspired by reading a lot of older Russian texts where their lifters would train one lift because that is all the were able to do and it provided them with excellent progress. 

This gelled very well with my personality of doing less better.

Day 1 – Deadlift – 45min – sets of 5
Day 2 – Bench Press – 45min – sets of 4-6
Day 3 – Bent Over Row – 45min – sets of 4-6

Day 4 – Squat – 45min – sets of 5

Day 5 – Off
Day 6 – Weighted Pull Ups – 45min – sets of 4-6
Day 7 – Off 

Parameters: 

• Loading started cycle at 80% estimated1RM for the chosen lift
• Progression 0.5kg on all movements  
• 2-5min rest between sets

Believe it or not I got pretty strong doing this having my numbers climb heigh of a 2xbw bench, and 3xbw squat/deadlift. 

As you can see again notable lack of strict overhead pressing because it was, well, terra-bad (yes a combination of terrible & bad, it was a disaster), and again I’d do postural work (100 reps a piece) & planks at home (4x1min).

It’s fair to say this style of training isn;t for everyone. 

7 – Short on Time – Minimalism Bias 

There was a time where getting into the gym wasn’t easy and what time there was allowed for only a real effort/focus on one lift, as such I opted for a lower body & upper body day. 

It’s worth also noting that due to travel I’d also do doorway pull ups, band pull apart and planks on a daily basis, plus I was still able to get in some  martial arts training. 

Day 1 – *Deadlift
Day 2 –  Close Grip Bench Press – active focus on pulling the weight down.

*Alternate weekly with deep squats.

Parameters: 

• Loading started cycle at 80% estimated1RM for the chosen lift
• Working to top sets – week 1 8reps , week 2 5 reps and week 3 3reps, then repeat
• Back off work  – week 1 sets of 10reps, week 2, sets of 8 reps, week 3 sets of 5 reps
• Loading for back off work was 80% of top working set
• 2-5min rest between sets

You’ll be amazed at how much volume you can get in when you’re forced to focus.

This style of training isn’t for everyone mind you, it requires a deep focus and love for repetition. 

Once I’d hit the third week and a top three, going back to 8’s I’d try to lift more than previously done where possible, or if additional load wasn’t possible then the aim for more total back off sets would be the aim. 

You will need to make sure you track all of your numbers, and give there is only two sessions per week it’s very easy to track. 

8 – Programming Gem – Further into the Russian Rabbit Hole 

I first read about monthly volume in the original Poliquin Principles & also Beyond Body Building touched on it in a round about way, it’s a topic that has been covered quite a lot when you look for it. 

Basically it revolves around you hitting/setting a specific amount of work and breaking it down in to weekly targets namely: 15%, 28%, 35% & 22% base don 4 weeks of training.

The next month the volume increases by 10-20%.

Example based on 100 Presses a month:

Month 1:

Week 1, total lifts 15% (15% of 100 = 15)

Week 2, total lifts 28% (28% of 100 = 28)

Week 3, total lifts 35% (35% of 100 = 35)

Week 4, total lifts 22% (22% of 100 = 22)

Month 2: + 20% on month 1 volume – 120 squat this month 

Week 5, total lifts 28% (28% of 120 = 34 )

Week 6, total flits 35% (35% of 120 = 42)

Week 7, total lifts 22% (22% of 120 = 26 

Week 8, total lifts 15% (15% of 120 = 18)

You’ll notice the order isn’t the same in how the % is dished out and that is because from week to week the total number of working reps you want to do alls needs to change by 10-20% as well, this is it achieve what the Russian’ called ‘waviness of load’. 

9 – Programming Gem – 3 Week Waves 

Chances are if you’ve read my rambling you’ll have seen the term 3 week wave’ plenty of times, and the reason for my favourable and repeated nods to them is  because they work very well with the nodes natural rhythm for working hard.

After 3 weeks of either accumulating volume, intensity and things that need to push us forwards we tend to last about 3 weeks before we need to take the foot off the gas, you can do this several ways, and below will be the one I used in my programming most frequently.

Rep progressions: week 1 5×6, week 2 5×8, week 3 5×10 – add weight drop back to 5×5

Step Loading: week 1 100kg, week 2 110kg, week 3 120kg, – drop back by 15kg and start again 

Lift rotation: week 1-3 front squat, week 4-6 high bar back squat, week 7-9 low bar back squat, etc

These are my most utilised ways to program 3 week waves.

You can use any rep/load/lift ranges you like there is not set rules. 

10 – Programming Gem – Compensator Acceleration Training (CAT)

This was the brain child of Dr Fred Hatfield and is the process by which you will accelerate each rep in the concentric action with as much controlled force as you can muster, the ideal loading for this is around 78% 1RM. 

You’ll find that you can apply it to heavier loadings up to 87% of 1RM however you will need a high degree of base strength and to keep the reps limited to one to two thirds of your max effort.

So 78% will get most people around 8 solid reps in most cases, so taking the above you’d want to go for sets of 3-6reps, meaning you’ll leave plenty in the tank and can truly focus on the force production in each rep. 

You can do static sets of 6 or 3 with the 78%, however you’d do well to change increase/decrease it each set, so 3,6,4,3,5,6,4,3,5,4,6 and so on. 

When you want more volume, opting for more sets is the best way forwards using CAT. 

Secondary theme: Classic Programs/Books to Review & Try 

Chances are looking through some of my programs you’ve started to fall asleep, however it’s worth remembering those are for my own personal goals and those of you that have met me in person will know of their effectiveness despite how opposed to conventional wisdom they are. 

Keeping these in mind we shall now look at some classic programs that you can go and download for free to plug and play. 

Be sure to go and check them out because each program has a full system of its own. 

11 – Wendlers 5/3/1 – Classic

Honestly a great program with multiple variations, the essence of it is to build up to a top daily set and complete as many reps as possible with it, then after several weeks of this you get a planned deload. 

The other benefit of this program is that it has people starting out their programming numbers based off of a 95% training max, which is very sensible.

Honestly it’s a real gem of a program, so I suggest you go buy his book. 

12 – The Smolov Squat Cycle 

A tough program that will add a hefty amount to your squat, running this once a year for a few years can really be a benefit, I’ve personally run it 4 times in my life and gained on it every time. 

You’ll find also looking at Smolov Jr  is well worth your time as well. 

The Jr variation can be fun multiple times per year on compound lifts and for me personally has shown great progress all major lifts.

13 – Charles Poliquin – Super Accumulation Program 

A two week intensification protocol that has the aim of pushing you to overreaching and perhaps even in to mild over training.

He states if you don’t lose strength doing it then you’re not working hard enough back the aim is to force an adaptive stimulus through intense disruption of your homeostasis. 

Great to be run 2-3 times per years, often before a holiday as you’ll reap the rewards of things bouncing back and re-comping while you’re away.

14 – Super Squats 

A program as old as the hills, Peary Rader was quite the fan of this simple yet effective methods of training.

The book itself ‘Super Squats’ is worth getting a hold of because it has some interesting and thought provoking material in it, plus you’d only be hitting this twice per week with the end aim of hitting 1×20 at 300lbs (136kg) which is a respectable number. 

You’ll find adding lean mass is something that can quite easily happen on this program. 

I personally ran this a few times and eventually topped out at 155kg for 20, I tried to hit 106kg for 20 and tapped out at around 14 reps, it was just too much and a delaod was needed (you can also do this on DL as well if you feel inclined to). 

15 – Pavel Tsatsouline – Power to the People (& the Bear)

Two routines based off of the same movements. 

One is for strength development (done potentially daily), the other is for size (done 2-3times per week).

The book that accompanies this is also filled with great information and variations you can apply to the program itself. You will find yourself not easily putting down the book as it covers a lot of content that you may not be aware of in regards to programming, physiology and also technique. 

16 – Kenneth Jay – Viking Warrior Conditioning 

Not a person many people know about, plus in his work you’ll find some truly amazing kettlebell programming for the snatch that will send your VO2 and overall level of conditioning through the roof. 

I’ve done a few cycles of just this king of work with the kettlebell snatch, especially when travel for work was frequent and getting in the gm wasn’t on the cards as keeping a kettlebell in the car is easy enough. 

Plus there is a wealth of scientific information bequeathed by him as well. 

Be sure to add this book to your library, trust me you won’t be disappointed.

17 – Mike Tuscherer- Reactive Training Systems 

If you’re not one for planning specific numbers and would rather go by feel then this is going to be the book for you to read. 

Mike is a world class lifter and programming genius.

The nice thing about this style of training is it will allow for your days where you’re not quite on form and have you still leave feeling like you have achieved something, this is great for lowering the potential mental stress of trying to hit specific numbers. 

Be sure to add this to your collection.

18 – Programming Gem – Doing Too Much 

Our attitude of more is better and that we can simply outwork poor nutrition or our limitations is novel, yet also rather dangerous. 

When tracking your programming you want to look for clues to see if you’re near what is known as your MRV (maximal recoverable volume), you can see this by looking at the total volume & average intensity – see part 1 – and taking stock of if this is going up, levelling off or going down. 

Once it goes down the answer isn’t to do more, it’s to do less and take a break. 

I understand the fear that comes with this in regards to losing your progress, however it’s unfounded because you won’t lose progress by allowing yourself to remove and adapt, in fact doing so will have the opposite affect.

You’d think that many trainers would understand this, however they seem to think they’re exempt.

Meaning they can continue to work harder and keep pushing because they’re not like everyone else, which they’re not and it’s why many haven’t had results in a long time. 

Be sure to go back over your training and honestly assess if it’s working or not. 

19 – Programming Gem – Cycling Training Days

Going back to what we said in the first part about frequency and needing to build a tolerance over time, once you’ve built the tolerance you can apply cycling to it. 

This means you start of training 2 days per week, 3 weeks later add a session, 3 weeks after that add another session, from here you can add more days or start to add extra sessions in the day. 

Eventually though you must then let go of this and go back to training 2 days per week and then rebuilt it again with a higher average intensity and higher total volume. 

20 – Programming Gem – Pay for Experience 

One of the hardest things for any PT to accept is that they need to invest money to become better. 

We can do this in many ways yet most will try and do it for free by reading studies and going it alone, and while you can indeed build a ferocious mind and intellect doing this you will miss once crucial thing – practical application.

As such hiring someone who is further down the road or higher up the pecking order than you are will pay a  massive return on investment in the future. 

You will learn a lot of about programming, business, marketing, phycology, coaching and more.

Don’t be afraid to incest in your own progress from people that are more successful than you because these are the people that will have all the answers to the questions you don’t even know you need to ask. 

Final Thoughts, the aim of most people in fitness is to share knowledge and hopefully tis series has done just that. 

In conclusion, what we’ve covered is merely the start of how deep you can go with things in fitness, just take a moment to realise that everyone tends to go down he same rabbit hole, perhaps you might do well in your career to go down one that doesn’t have the allure of ‘sexy’ or ‘instant results’ because that is where everyone else will flock.

If you have any questions please leave them down below.

Enjoy,
Ross