• Muscular strength and power
• Hypertrophy
• Fat loss
• Cardiorespiratory endurance
• Speed, quickness, and agility
• Joint flexibility and stability
• Injury prevention

How can all of those be addressed within limited training time, unmotivated athletes, and limited resources?

Programming Is More Than Sets and Reps

Let’s break these goals down into their fundamental requirements:

• There must be a well-planned program that addresses the desired qualities.
• There must be an overload effect from applied stress.
• Time must be allowed for proper nutritional intake and healing for adaptation to that overload stress.
• The plan must be progressive, increasing the overload over time as the body adapts to existing levels.

So far, so good. However, recovery can throw a wrench in the works. Without as much attention placed on it as the workouts themselves, overtraining can rear its ugly head, leaving you with athletes who have:

• Difficulty progressing in workouts
• Increased potential for injury
• Increased risk of illness
• Decreased performance in competition
• Apathy toward training

In short, lack of proper recovery or too much training volume destroys everything else you’re trying to do.

Recovery Factors to Consider

Let’s consider some other factors in programming to ensure adequate recovery:

• Training components are normally scheduled within the five-day workweek at the college level.
• The imposed overload must be strong enough to create a demand on the system(s).
• Energy is required to meet that overload, then to recover from it. Many coaches forget that second part.
• Athletes also have other daily commitments, and are usually on their own when it comes to proper nutrition and rest (sleep) habits.

Adequate recovery from stressful exercise sessions does not necessarily conform to a 24-hour day, or a five-day work week. The greater the volume of work, the greater the recovery time required. Dig a deep hole, and it will take more time to fill in. Energy stores are depleted that must be replenished; muscle tissue is damaged that must be repaired.

When multiple adaptive responses are desired from one body (i.e., strength, endurance, speed) even more logical planning of the training stresses is required. The athlete doesn’t go to a closet mid-day, pull out a new body, and toss the fatigued one in the laundry basket. It’s the same body that needs to deal with all imposed stresses that day, until there is time for recovery. There is some overlap there, as some training components address multiple qualities simultaneously. For example, increased muscle strength can lead to improved running speed, all other factors remaining equal.

Even the average Joe Sit-at-a-desk-all-day requires recovery from a less-than-demanding lifestyle to do it day after day. How much more so, your hard-charging athletes?

And recovery isn’t just day-to-day. How long do your athletes rest between sets? Between interval runs, agility drills, and speed work? What work to rest ratios are needed? Moreover, what about two-a-days? Do you program strength training and conditioning on the same day? Speed work on a leg strength day? Which one to address first?

Say that your athletes have total body fatigue from a Monday workout. What should you do on Tuesday? Complete rest? But wait, that leaves only three more days to squeeze in more strength training, endurance running, speed work, etc. Help!

Programming Tips to Ensure Recovery

Don’t panic. Remember, the strength and conditioning coach at rival State U is dealing with the same dilemma. We know that rest days are just as important as work days, and that all training components require energy and create a recovery demand.

Take advantage of that training component overlap. Performing speed and agility work creates fatigue (a conditioning effect). Leg strengthening exercises in the weight room indirectly help running speed, and contribute to injury prevention.

Don’t be afraid to take what the calendar gives you. It’s okay (and necessary) to plan occasional complete rest days during the training week. They’ll give your athletes a chance to look after their academic commitments, and a day off can create greater enthusiasm when returning to training. Take advantage of scheduled school breaks (i.e., spring and between-term breaks) to ramp things up. In the offseason, you can challenge your athletes with more volume, and the net positive effects will carry over into the competitive season, when volume must decrease for game-day preparedness.

Example Training Plans for Planned Recovery

I recommend a maximum training segment duration of 8-10 weeks. Below are some example 10-week out-of-season training plans, broken down in terms of stress exposures and recovery time. I’ve laid out two traditional and three non-traditional plans for five days per week, and one non-traditional approach for seven days per week. Strength training (ST) is any weight room work. Conditioning (Cond.) would include any interval running, agility drills, or speed work.

Traditional Five-Day Plan #1

• Number of strength training sessions: 40 (20 each upper and lower body)
• Number of conditioning sessions: 25
• Total number of exercise sessions: 65
• Number of total rest days: 25
• Ratio of actual work days to total rest days: 45:25

Traditional Five-Day Plan #2

• Number of strength training sessions: 30
• Number of conditioning sessions: 25
• Total number of exercise sessions: 55
• Number of total rest days: 20
• Ratio of actual work days to total rest days: 50:20

Non-Traditional Five-Day Plan #1

• Number of strength training sessions: 20
• Number of conditioning sessions: 20
• Total number of exercise sessions: 40
• Number of total rest days: 30
• Ratio of actual work days to total rest days: 40:30

Non-Traditional Five-Day Plan #2

• Number of strength training sessions: 30 (15 each upper and lower body)
• Number of conditioning sessions: 15
• Total number of exercise sessions: 45
• Number of total rest days: 40
• Ratio of actual work days to total rest days: 30:40

Non-Traditional Five-Day Plan #3

• Number of strength training sessions: 15
• Number of conditioning sessions: 15
• Total number of exercise sessions: 30
• Number of total rest days: 40
• Ratio of actual work days to total rest days: 30:40

Non-Traditional Seven-Day Plan

• Number of strength training sessions: 18
• Number of conditioning sessions: 17
• Total number of exercise sessions: 35
• Number of total rest days: 35
• Ratio of actual work days to total rest days: 35:35

Training Plan Comparison and Discussion

If 10 sessions each of quality strength training and conditioning will result in good progress, imagine the results possible with the number of exposures offered in the non-traditional training formats above, especially coupled with a greater number of recovery days.

For example, the 15 upper body and 15 lower body strength sessions in the second non-traditional plan are plenty of opportunity to induce strength gains in a single out-of-season period. Also, 15 conditioning sessions are more than adequate to increase cardiorespiratory fitness. Note that 40 complete rest days are scheduled here to facilitate recovery from the 30 actual training days, making this a sound training plan.

The 7-day example uses 18 full-body strength training sessions and 17 conditioning sessions coupled with 35 complete rest days. Again, a more-than-adequate number of exercise exposures with plenty of built-in recovery time to allow for optimal adaptation.

Compare these to the traditional examples. In the first, 40 strength sessions and 25 conditioning exposures, but only 25 complete rest days in the 70-day plan. Overtraining may be more likely here. Similarly—and possibly quite worse than #1—example #2 is characterized by 30 full-body strength sessions, 25 conditioning workouts but only 20 complete rest days.

More is not always better when it comes to physical training. Properly planned overloads in the weight room and on the track must be logically placed over a training period, along with built-in recovery days. Train your athletes hard, but also train them intelligently. 

Featured image: VK Studio/Shutterstock

The post How to Properly Program recovery for Your Athletes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The methods that worked like a charm 10 years ago are relics by today’s standards. Teaching methods and coaches are evolving, as are the cookie-cutter software programs. In many respects, the convenience of these programs is worth its weight in gold. But are we losing some of the magic when we do it this way?

My Coaching History

I can’t speak for all coaches because I don’t know what they are up against. My story is a bit of an unusual one for a college strength coach. I paid my coaching dues in a unique way. I started at Eastern Kentucky University as an intern in the spring semester of 2000. Six weeks into my internship, my Head Strength Coach, Mike Kent, took the head job at the University of Louisville and had to leave. Because of the relative newness of his position at EKU, the administration was unprepared and asked me to fill in until a search could be conducted for Coach Kent’s replacement. I worked for three months alone, trying to keep an athletic department strength program afloat.

One of the most difficult tasks while filling in for him was programming the way he programmed. Get this: Kent wrote out every individual program by hand. Each team would have either one sheet or a series of sheets that would carry that team for a month or two. He created each plan in Excel, where the exercises would be built into the framework of the sheet. Then he would spend his weekend hand-programming loads for each athlete over the scope of the entire athletic department. One red pen, followed by hours and hours of work. Kent’s meticulous programming ensured every athlete got the level of individual attention that he felt they needed.

The Difference Between Sheets and White Boards

The coach-athlete relationship is an interesting one. When it comes to compliance, athletes are mandated to show up whether they like it or not, and they don’t have a say in their programming. If you are a private trainer or own a gym/box, your clients have more say. But one thing shines clear in all settings — the people training in your space want to feel like they are being given their due attention, not just as members of a group but as individuals.

There are only a few instances where using a whiteboard is acceptable in my facility. Most of the time, we use whiteboards when we are teaching. When we are trying to get techniques dialed in and where loads are not necessarily a priority, the first month or so is a great time to rely on a whiteboard. Again, in my situation, which is very specific, we will also keep a team on the whiteboard if the team members are not showing a level of dedication. Let’s face it, nobody on campus takes weight training as seriously as I do, and there are some teams who “go through the motions.” I advise my assistants to act accordingly. There’s no need to devote hours and hours of programming for a team that will not give an acceptable effort.

Again, I understand that in a CrossFit box, most clientele can be transient and not as consistent as a college team that is required to show up. That makes the individuality piece more of a headache since you don’t know the next time your clients will show up. But nothing tells your clients you are all in with them, like handing them each a sheet with their name on it. It’s a simple gesture that speaks volumes about your commitment to their progress. Yes, it can be time-consuming, but it can also be a difference between a lackluster effort and a herculean one.

Computer Programming Vs. Hand Programming

I have never used a computer to run percentages for one of my programs. I have always done it by hand. And honestly, I have never used a set percentage to assign loads except for deciding loads for the beginning of a hypertrophy cycle based on a newly minted one-rep max. The method I use is one that Coach Kent taught me, and it’s based on that method’s natural evolution after 16 years of doing it that way.

Computer programming based on percentages, to me, makes some pretty bold assumptions for the duration of a training cycle. First off, if you use a linear method as I do, you probably write for eight to 12 weeks at a time. If I write a twelve-week hypertrophy/strength/power program for a football player, code the weeks with prescribed percentages, and then tap in a one-rep max to be our baseline for the percentages, I am asking the athletes to be perfect with their nutrition, their rest, their effort — at all times. And let’s face it, none of them are. It’s nearly impossible for a person to be that dialed-in all of the time.

Hand programming gives me several advantages that a computer will never provide. First, even though I use what looks like an algebraic formula in my head to determine loads, I get the flexibility to adjust on the fly. You need that flexibility when Joe Blow rolls his ankle the Friday prior. Hand programming gives me an out when I realize that the whole team is about to bonk, and an impromptu deload week is what is needed. It allows me (or forces me, really) to get a complete read on each individual and holds my ass to the fire to stay engaged with each of my athletes. You can ask me at any time of a training cycle what the weight on so-and-so’s bench is on his second set, and 99 out of 100 times, I will know what’s going on.

How I Program

If you were to watch me program, this is what it would look like: I have a stack of sheets, and each one gets the signature “pause and think.” I have to look at the athlete’s name and quickly review and remember what this person did last week. Then the writing begins. I will program a sheet twice a week in some training phases, once for the first half, then once for the second. It keeps me as current as possible for each individual.

When it comes to coaching, I am selling an idea. I am selling a formula. I am asking my athletes to have complete faith in me as I make decisions for them. The way I operate gives my athletes complete freedom not to think. They come in, and their job is to be focused and present and, most importantly, ready to perform. I do all the thinking for them days earlier, so they can just come in and kick ass.

Hand programming is part of that. If I hand you a sheet of computer-printed numbers, it will excite you as much as combing your hair or putting mustard on your sandwich. But when I give you a sheet with my handwriting on it, you should see someone who is partnered with you. The handwriting tells the athletes I have taken the time to think about them every day of every week.

The post It’s 2021 and I Still Handwrite My Training Programs. Here’s Why appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

When you’re coaching personal or group training, you’ve probably come across a sluggish client, or one that doesn’t pick up on exercise cues, or they muddle through their training with no enthusiasm. And, this bothers you because it’s not occasional as they’re almost always like this.

If it’s a personal training session, it’s easier to ask if anything is distracting them.

Even if there is, they’re under no obligation to tell you. These people are paying you for the hour, and they’ve shown up, even if it’s half-heartedly.

In a group exercise setting, it’s not advisable to single someone out, and it is probably unethical. All you can do is motivate and encourage the group.

The old me might have ruined this client because of my previous experience with coaching and group training. Push, push, and push harder, but now I know better. Seeing how some kids were ruined by coaches using this method made me see the error of my ways.

Not everyone responds to a hyperactive, in-your-face coach.

Many people see trainers as boot camps, punishment instructors, and it’s better not to feed this stereotype.

So, what do you do?

You could ignore them and hope the problem goes away. But you’re a coach who cares, so this is not an option. The other option is to put into action the following advice in this article.

Is it perfect? No, but using this advice combined with your experience, you’ll be more likely to keep than lose the client. And that’s a win.

Why Clients Resist Change

Even when the client is in front of you doesn’t mean they’re all in. they may flip flop between stages of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM). Remember TTM from your studies? If not, here’s a quick refresher.

The TTM is used in health psychology to explain or predict a person’s success or failure in achieving a proposed behavior change.

Here are the six stages of change:

1. Precontemplation: Not acknowledging there is a problem behavior that needs to be changed
2. Contemplation: Acknowledging there is a problem but not yet ready or sure of wanting to make a change
3. Preparation: Getting ready to change
4. Action/Willpower: Changing behavior
5. Maintenance: Maintaining the new behavior change
6. Relapse: Returning to old behaviors and abandoning the new change

Usually, the client in front of you is either in the action or maintenance stage, but that doesn’t mean they can’t regress.

When the client has a change of heart, they can relapse into old behaviors or slip back to the preparation and contemplation stage.

This regression could be the reason for their sudden loss of motivation and enthusiasm. No amount of encouraging, yelling, or positive talk is likely to help here.

What You Can Do

Now is the time to remind them why they’re here.

• In a personal training setting, this takes fishing out their consultation form and reminding them of their short or long-term goals.
• Then, asking them if they still want to reach these goals.
• If yes, that’s great, and hopefully, they refocus on the task at hand.
• If not, their goals may seem too ambitious because of a change of circumstances or heart.
• Then, between you and the client, adjusting these goals to suit them better will help.
• When the client feels a part of the process, and it’s all about them and not you, this creates more buy-in from the client.
• Then ask the client if any obstacles affect their ability to reach these goals.
• Some clients will immediately answer, and some will not.
• You need to remain quiet and listen while the client thinks and responds. It must be their barrier and not one you suggest.
• From there, between the two of you, come up with solutions for these problems. Small steps the client feels comfortable taking will help them move forward and regain some pep in their step.
• In a group setting, between sets of exercise or breaks in the action, remind them of the health benefits of exercise.
• It is not unusual to have ups and downs, and progress is not in a straight line.

Explain why you structure the class the way you do and the why behind some of the exercises. For example, a hinge movement is a perfect way to pick something off the floor to save your back.

This explanation helps the unmotivated client by adding an extra incentive to stick with it and see how exercise benefits them outside of the gym.

Communication Builds Relationships

Not everyone feels comfortable talking about their issues in a gym setting or with other fit people around.

Therefore, it’s important to open a line of communication with the unmotivated client.

With group exercise, this means making yourself available before and after class to answer questions and concerns. Or providing a business card with an email address so they can correspond this way. Will everyone take you up on this? Probably not. The best you can do is to make yourself available.

The power of knowing that someone is in their corner is sometimes enough.

In a personal training session, sharing something about your personal experiences, both good and bad, as a coach and being transparent might make it easier for them to open up versus thinking trainers are perfect people with exercise and nutrition.

Then the client might be more inclined to talk about the issues which are holding them back.

If they do, listening and not trying to fix it is key.

Knowing what’s going on allows you to tailor your program and your message inside the session. If they don’t tell you a thing, at least the client knows they have a listening ear in you.

Open Lines of Communication

In your career, you’re bound to train the unmotivated client. Would you mind not turning into the in-your-face coach and mistaking their lack of enthusiasm for an opportunity to push them harder? Instead, be understanding, open lines of communication, and remind them why they’re here.

Because then they will be more likely to stick around.

The post How to Coach an Unmotivated Client appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I am writing this piece in response to the MindBody article in the coaches-only newsletter. There were aspects of MindBody’s actions that I could understand, and agreed with many points put out in the follow-up by Breaking Muscle. Ultimately, I do not agree with any third-party vendor having control over the revenue of a business or business practices.

Breaking Muscle offered practical advice and I will add my own insights. Within are some of my experiences and what I am doing as a completely self-employed independent trainer during this time. Myself, and all others are simply trying to hang on with you in an already vapid and unjustly hyper-competitive industry.

My Briefing, My Clients, How I Pivoted

I have been working in the health and fitness industry for 20 years. With that, I have had to hold a variety of roles, work with a diverse range of populations, work in some unruly settings, and have had to creatively yet critically think on my feet for a variety of letdowns that came from relying too heavily on others in the industry or who were trying to capitalize on this market.

Don’t get me wrong, I have had some good experiences as well, but I am an independent trainer by choice for a reason. Needless to say, the reasons for much of my frustrations in this space have also set me up for a greater capacity to pivot in situations like we are all experiencing on different levels.

Over the years I have dabbled with distance coaching, online, and virtual training in conjunction with using an extensive array of tools that kept coming out that were to improve these methods, take payments, provide scheduling, and so on.

I have been sadly disappointed in many of my trials as the time and cost did not match up for myself, or my clients. I did not have the time to learn someone else’s way of running my business, and I quickly learned that my clients didn’t have the time or interest to learn new technologies on top of all of their other real-life responsibilities.

Again, don’t get me wrong as there are some useful technologies and apps for online and virtual training, but I have learned and have kept my current in-person clients during this time, by meeting them where they are at and keeping things as simple as possible for them.

My clients are now primarily professionals and those working in corporate environments. These are all people who use communication and scheduling tools like Gmail or Outlook, WebEx, Citrix, Skype, and Google Hangouts.

Ask your clients what they use and you figure it out if you haven’t ever experienced these programs. For payments, PayPal is one of the most secure, easy-to-use, quick responding, customer-focused companies I have used. I will also bet that a simple secure bank e-transfer for payments is also something your clients have used. Setup a Zoho or Freshbooks account, send invoices from there and manage things on your end that way.

Did I mention all of the above are free to you? Up to a certain limit of course but the charges are small.

I am not and never have been a fan of online coaching solely (just sending workouts) without getting to interact with my clients even once per week live. This is why in this time I have chosen to keep things interactive in live virtual coaching sessions.

It hurts my heart a little to make some coaching sacrifices that require hands-on and 360 views, but look at the big picture, suck it up, and realize that this type of training will only make you a better coach as it requires a lot of patience, stoicism, learning new verbal cues, and have some fun with it.

Your clients probably really need your kick adversity and challenges in the ass energy right now. This is one of the best times to really use your empathy and compassion skills and truly show up as the caring coaches you all are.

The support is more important right now than PR’s and aesthetic goals. These are also aspects that we know can help you bring more people on board with you because emotion sells and we are now selling hope, and not just health, fitness and performance.

While I value the power of us all coming together, I have learned that it is important to not have to rely on anyone or anything for my own life and livelihood.

Be agile and prepared. I want this for you too and hopefully, a synopsis of my experiences will help you do the same. Know and do what works first for you, then your client (yes that is in the right order), and stay on your path.

Please do know that when I say these things, I don’t mean losing your growth mindset and not connecting with others, just do your own life and business analysis first and find out what you really need instead of just taking people’s advice. Only you really know what you need to succeed in your business. Okay, and your immediate stakeholders and advisers.

I am happy to share with you a few people and resources directly related to this business market that might help you out during this time but there are many others. It simply depends on finding what’s right for you:

• Precision Nutrition is offering its ProCoach for 90 days free
• Jon Goodman (PTDC) is offering his online training challenge and resources free right now
• Jason Grossman is offering a free virtual PT kit
• Trainerize is offering free services and supports

I would like to add that a great idea if you have the budget for it, is to buy some small training bulk items from Amazon and package your virtual services with some equipment. I have done this in the past and it worked well and know of a local gym here who is doing this currently.

I have personally had success during this time in helping clients move as much as possible while not losing revenue by keeping my hourly prices the same but breaking it into two 30-minute sessions 4 times per week instead of 2 one-hour sessions per week.

This helps keep clients maintain exercise habits that we know they are probably not motivated enough to do on their own right now, and have also had some success by including some of my client’s kids into their one-hour sessions as an option.

Things That Have Low ROI

During this time what I am about to write may produce different results, but much of what is being perpetuated as fitness business saviors, is more of a drain on your time, money, efforts, and credibility after this is over.

I know this from close friends or through my own experiences. Free anything right now is probably not the best solution. As was mentioned in the follow-up article to the MindBody COVID-19 response, there is enough free stuff out there and your knowledge and time are worth more than that. Research has supported that tactic costs you more than it makes you.

Using T&A won’t help you in your prospecting for non-pornographic related clients. Hey, if that is where you want to take things that is up to you but just be careful and really think it through.

Tactics of using too many novelty exercises won’t work. I think we all know that the majority of people we are especially trying to reach right now can barely even lunge or do an elevated push up properly.

Don’t spend too much time on creating all of these new social accounts, use the ones you have and re-hash, have perfect geo-tagging, SEO, and the like. Social media management or being an influencer is a full-time job and can make you even more stressed or angry when you have to scope through it all and learn what is out there and what works.

I also know that very often this route only appears to be lucrative to the people putting in all of that work.

We Are All In This Together

MindBody’s actions were understandable as they too need to protect their business but I must say that I don’t agree with a third-party service having control over anyone’s revenue and business practices.

Hopefully, my ramblings during this time have given you some encouragement or maybe insight that you need to always be sure you have the majority control over your life and business, and that I have provided some useable knowledge and resources to help you get through this.

Know that there is another side to this and many people and businesses, big or small, will have to face the music of their actions during this time. We have one of the best jobs that we all clearly are genuinely passionate about, and while many of us are fighting for a lot of the same things right now, we don’t have to be each other’s nemesis – there are still billions of people left in this world that need our help and we can’t reach them and help them alone.

Feel free to reach out to me through Twitter or Instagram if this proved helpful. The links are next to my byline at the beginning of this article.

The post Hanging On: An Independent Trainer’s COVID-19 Response appeared first on Breaking Muscle.