One thing I frequently observe is highly motivated individuals going to the gym, performing random exercises, and ultimately not seeing results. This often leads to discouragement and, eventually, quitting the gym altogether. The good news? This cycle can be avoided by having a clear plan and a solid understanding of how to program and arrange exercises effectively.
As the saying goes: “If you’re failing to plan, you’re planning to fail.”
This article is the first of a two-part series where I’ll share insights into how I approach programming. In this piece, I’ll explain what programming is, why it’s so important, and the key variables to consider.
Keep in mind, this is just one approach—it’s not a magical solution. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to training. Programming depends on multiple factors such as goals, experience, and personal preferences. The most important thing is to find a method that resonates with you and is sustainable in the long term.Subscribed
The Importance of Programming
You might ask: “Why is programming so important?” That’s a great question.
First, what exactly is programming? In this context, programming refers to planning individual training sessions, structuring your training week, and mapping out the progression you want to achieve over the following weeks and months. This all ties into your overall goal.
Once you’ve defined your goal, the next step is to outline the smaller steps required to achieve it. This plan is your program—a detailed map to success. If your plan is realistic and well-structured, there’s no reason you won’t reach your goal.
The Different Capacities of the Human Body
This might sound simple, but things get more complex when you try to create a plan. How do you balance different goals? For example, what if you want to be strong and have great endurance, or be explosive and flexible?
To tackle this, it helps to classify the human body’s capabilities into “big families” such as strength, flexibility, speed, endurance, and motor control. These fundamental capacities can also combine to form more specific attributes:
- Strength + Speed = Explosiveness
- Strength + Flexibility + Motor Control = Mobility
- Strength + Endurance = Strength Endurance (the ability to repeatedly perform an effort at a certain weight)
Breaking down your goals into these smaller components is critical. For example, if your goal is to become more explosive, you’ll need to focus on getting stronger and faster. These capacities can often be trained separately before integrating them into a cohesive program.Subscribed
Adaptation: The Core of Progress
Once you understand these capacities, it becomes clear that reaching your goals often involves developing multiple elements simultaneously. While it’s tempting to see training as a collection of exercises, it’s more accurate to view exercises as tools for creating specific adaptations in the body.
The body adapts to the stimuli you provide. If you want to get stronger, for instance, you need to apply a stimulus that encourages strength adaptation. This stimulus will differ from the one needed to improve speed or endurance. Interestingly, the same exercise can be used to target different adaptations depending on your intent.
An Example:
Take the squat—a well-known exercise.
- To train for maximal strength, you’d focus on lifting as heavy as possible.
- To train for explosiveness, you’d focus on lifting a specific weight as fast as possible.
The intent and method dictate the outcome.
Next Steps
In next week’s article, I’ll go into detail about the methodology I use to program my gym sessions. This will include strategies for training different capacities and examples of how to integrate them effectively.Subscribed
Key Takeaways
- Following a plan will significantly improve your chances of achieving results.
- Keep track of your progress to measure success and adjust when necessary.
- Prepare your gym sessions in advance to maximize efficiency.
- You can work on multiple capabilities at the same time, but you can’t develop them all equally. Be clear about your objectives and prioritize them accordingly.
- Unless your goal is bodybuilding, avoid training like a bodybuilder. “Bro splits” are likely ineffective if you only go to the gym 2–3 times per week.
Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll dive deeper into practical programming techniques.