Program Thread

[WantItBad]

There has been many threads about routines, my question is how to design a program over 8 weeks not just a workout? How do you decide on intensity? RI's? Good goals to set? I think writing workouts are easy to figure out on your own. Some input on how to write a program would be greatly appricated?(SP) Thanks all

[Yanick]

Writing a program depends on what your goals are and what you have been doing in the gym previously. A program is simply a block of training that you use to work toward a particular goal. So if you want to increase your strength-endurance you would start out with RI's of maybe a minute or two working within an intensity/rep range that you want and over the course of the training block you would progress the RI's/intensity or what not until you reach the end of the cycle. You also have to remember that you want to maintain certain other abilities, such as strength, power or whatever you have been working on previously so it is important to know that you must give a little bit of work towards those abilities so that they do not diminish while you are working on improving yourself in other areas.

[Gazhole]

1 - Decide on your goals.

2 - Choose a time frame.

3 - Choose a split.

4 - Choose a form of periodization.

5 - Choose your exercises.

6 - Fill in the gaps according to the above information and personal experience (RIs, Rep Ranges, Sets, weight your going to lift, warmups, warmdowns, and supplemental cardio if required).

***

You now have the basis for a program that you can tweak and mess with untill you have it right.

[WantItBad]

1 - Decide on your goals. Slim down some and maintain strength

2 - Choose a time frame. 8 weeks

3 - Choose a split. Push/ Legs/Pull

4 - Choose a form of periodization. This is where i get lost

5 - Choose your exercises. 2 or 3 compounds with some accessory

6 - Fill in the gaps according to the above information and personal experience (RIs, Rep Ranges, Sets, weight your going to lift, warmups, warmdowns, and supplemental cardio if required).

Would like to keep the RI's under a minute so i do not have to do as much cardio. But i would like to lift "heavy" to maintain strength in somewhat of a cut

[Gazhole]

Theres a few different kinds of periodization, and theyll go some way to deciding what you sets/reps will be like.

My favourite is undulating. I pick 3 rep ranges:

5x4
4x8
3x14

Or something. Then, since you're doing 3 compounds, assign a different rep range to each exercise:

PUSH
Oh press - 5x4
Bench - 4x8
Dips - 3x14

Then the next time you do your PUSH workout, cycle them:

PUSH
Bench - 5x4
Dips - 4x8
Oh press - 3x14

And so on for the next week, and do the same sort of thing with your other workouts. Obviously the rep ranges will be up to you and what you want to accomplish, and accessory work just keep at a static high rep range, since im guessing itll be mostly isolation or core work?

[WantItBad]

ya mostly iso work and some core

[WantItBad]

Could i go week 1 push 5x5, legs 3x12, pull 4x6
week 2 push 3x12, legs 4x6 pull 5x5
week 3 push 4x6, legs 5x5, pull 3x12

Than repeat for 3 cycles?

[Gazhole]

Could i go week 1 push 5x5, legs 3x12, pull 4x6
week 2 push 3x12, legs 4x6 pull 5x5
week 3 push 4x6, legs 5x5, pull 3x12

Than repeat for 3 cycles?

Yeah, thats another type of periodization called "Alternating" periodization.

You can either alternate the rep ranges per week or day or training phase etc.

Another way to do that is to set each day as a certain rep range and cycle the different workouts between them:

Mon - 5x5
Wed - 4x6
Fri - 3x12

Week 1 - push, legs, pull
Week 2 - legs, pull, push
Week 3 - pull, push, legs

Whatever you prefer, really. I find that way of periodizing works best with fullbody programs though. For your split id go with the one you came up with.

The rep ranges are up to you though, just make sure the volume you have each day is actually do-able with the intensities you chose.

The reason i like the undulating one i put in my other post, is because you get the same volume each day, wheras on the alternating one you came up with, the volume will be different each day.

Just might be a little more complicated to balance out.

[P-funk]

I don't see how your example up there is undulating. Undulating would be were the intensity undulates over phases (as opposed to going in a linear fashion, so 3x10 for 3 weeks, 4x4 for 3 weeks, 3x8 for 3 weeks. Daily undulating would be to change intensities between days. So day1- 3x10, day2- 4x4, day3- 3x3.

Either way, don't worry about getting all into the semantics of it. Just know that you want to have specific phases withing that 12 week block of training.

It might be four 3 week phases or three 4 week phases. With each phase building upon the last and different adaptations and goals in each.

[WantItBad]

so is what i set up just horseshit?

[P-funk]

It isn't shit. it is just a skeleton. now you have to lay it out and fill in all the cool shit.

[WantItBad]

define cool?

[P-funk]

define cool?

specific phases, sets, reps, rest inetval, goals of the phases, etc....

the variables.

[WantItBad]

could i keep the first 4 weeks as same as this week
Push-5x5
Legs-3x12
Pull-4x6
that would be for the compounds accessories would be 2x10
RIs- 45 seconds for all lifts

Now in the next 4 weeks could i rotate the set-reps , keep the RIs the same, and adjust the poundage accordingly and accessories to 2x15



And if what i said is idiotic tell me please

[P-funk]

what is the difference between 5x5 and 6x4? it is virtually the same volume and volume load.

I don't understand that loading pattern at all really.

[WantItBad]

i was thinking and i was wondering if i could have these goals in training phase

Weeks1-4- Strength (5x5, 10x3, 5x5, 10x3)
Week 5-8- Conditioning (2x15, 3x20, 2x15, 3x20)
Week-9-12 Strength Again? (Same as first)
than the next 12 weeks flip 'em around C,S,C


Looking for help

[WantItBad]

?

[WantItBad]

is that ok? or no?

[P-funk]

I don't get it. What is with the 5x5, 10x5 alternating each week and the 2x15, 3x20 alternating each week?

None of it makes sense to me.

What adaptations do you look to seek? Start with that question. Build the program from there.

[WantItBad]

i want to maintain strength and have a higher level of endurance