Mass information in the fitness industry is a beautiful thing; it enables coaches and the general population to learn at a high rate. However, mass information can also lead to mass confusion. Figuring out ... Continue Reading
It’s 2021 and I Still Handwrite My Training Programs. Here’s Why
Programming is an art form; there's no doubt about it. A person who demonstrates sharp instincts, flexibility, and creativity in a finely-tuned program is a talented coach/trainer. Many of us coaches get ... Continue Reading
Individualizing Training: Structural Balance, Intensity and Autoregulation
Writing programs is easy. You just need to do between 1-20 sets of 1-100 reps per muscle group at between 5-120% of your 1RM and rest for 1-300 minutes between sets. It’s science. This is obviously an ... Continue Reading
Advanced Programming Principles for Shoulder and Knee Health
First things first: I have to be honest. I have deliberately misled you with the title of this article to get you to read it. No one wants to believe they are a novice when it comes to lifting. These ... Continue Reading
Online Workouts: A Trainer’s Perspective
As a fitness professional, it is implied that I like working out. It’s true, I like seeing what my body is capable of; I am also a human being with a lot of self discipline, a type A personality, and a ... Continue Reading
When Too Much Choice Is Bad for Your Training
Photos courtesy of Bev Childress At Breaking Muscle, we have some great authors discussing many programming ideas and fundamentals of training. For the beginner to the seasoned athlete, all of these ... Continue Reading
4 Practical Templates to Simplify Workout Design
You want to grow muscle, become stronger, and look better. Obviously, hitting the weights is the plan, along with proper food intake. Great, but what should you do? You want to spend your training time ... Continue Reading
How to Sequence Your Strength and Conditioning Program
Program design is much more difficult than meets the eye. Strength and conditioning coaches must take into consideration many elements before building a program. From a needs analysis to proper evaluation ... Continue Reading
Do You Need Multiple Sets, or Just One?
I write this as a veteran of the resistance training profession going back over 40 years. I've seen it all, heard it all, thought about it all. And some things continue to disappoint me. Take, for ... Continue Reading
There Are No Tricks in Fitness
We all love to talk about programming. The term evokes a sense of tapping into our own genetic code and using some secret program (“One weird trick!”) to unlock our hidden genetic potential. We get caught ... Continue Reading
The 5 Pillars of Athletic Training
The world of strength and conditioning advice is full of impossible promises and complicated programs and methods. Every athlete presents a unique challenge and every coach will create their program with a ... Continue Reading
So You Want to Write Your Own Program
Many trainees do not understand how to set up a training program themselves, so they follow any plan that comes along, bouncing from one idea to the next. Or they train however their friend is training, ... Continue Reading
How to Train for Everything at Once
Modern-day trainees have more information, equipment, and assistance at their disposal than ever before. There’s been a renaissance of knowledge about the myriad training modes, methods, and styles. This ... Continue Reading
Waves of Strength: Soviet-Style Periodization
Last week I covered a simple endurance program that creates an anabolic environment to prime you for strength training. This week we’ll cover the most powerful strength program I have used. Russel Dunning ... Continue Reading
Programming for Snowflakes
If someone told you that everyone should follow exactly the same training program from now until doomsday, you’d probably dismiss them as a crank, and you’d be right to do so. "Everyone is different” is a ... Continue Reading
The Hub and Spoke Method for Attacking Weaknesses
Charles is here on a weekly basis to help you cut through the B.S. and get some real perspective regarding health and training. Please post feedback or questions to Charles directly in the comments below ... Continue Reading
Avoid Burnout With Gap Threshold Training
Everyone knows the fastest path to successful goal achievement is a straight line. Establishing a starting and ending point is easy, but usually we get lost in between because the straight line turns into ... Continue Reading
Microcycle Programming: Organize Your Training Week
Charles is here on a weekly basis to help you cut through the B.S. and get some real perspective regarding health and training. Please post feedback or questions to Charles directly in the comments below ... Continue Reading
Periodize Focus, Not Just Intensity
Minimalist training plans can be great. By virtue of intense focus, they allow you to improve a few things quickly. This is how elite athletes get so good at their sport – by minimizing the extra ... Continue Reading
Don’t Let Your Wants Obscure Your Needs
Charles is here on a weekly basis to help you cut through the B.S. and get some real perspective regarding health and training. Please post feedback or questions to Charles directly in the comments below ... Continue Reading
Use the Scientific Method to Take Control of Your Training
Proper strength programming is both an art and a science. An artistic science, if you will. We have access to an immense amount of time-tested methods backed by science. But we also have the realities of ... Continue Reading
5 Basic Training Principles You Need to Revisit
Basics are basics and you should work them until you have rinsed them for all they are worth. Then turn them inside-out, backwards, and upside-down. Then turn them up the right way, and start again (a bit ... Continue Reading
There Are No Secret Training Programs
At the recently concluded NSCA National Conference, I attended a presentation about program design. The presenter was my long-time cohort Bob Alejo, currently the Assistant Athletic Director of Strength ... Continue Reading
You’re Not Ronnie Coleman – Don’t Be Afraid to Tweak
Every athlete, and especially every coach, needs to critically evaluate their training in relation to their own goals and their own bodies. If a particular exercise is ineffective or, even worse, injurious ... Continue Reading
