#82 - How to Write An Effective Training Program (12 Key Principles) - Choose Hard with Cody McBroom

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:31):
The greatest things in life all start with a challenge.
You must accept that everything is hard before it gets easy.
Every every, every, every, everything you want in life
begins with a hard path begins with a hard path begins with.
Welcome to the choose Hard podcast.
I'm your host Cody Mcbroom. I am a father, husband and

(00:51):
entrepreneur and the founder andCEO tailored coaching method, a
world renowned online fitness and nutrition coaching company
that is helping people transformtheir bodies and their minds all
around the world. Today I'm going to give you my
12 training principles to prioritize when writing online
coaching programs. So this is specific to fitness
and training. We're not going to touch on
diet. We're not going to touch on any
of that. Dieting and nutrition like that

(01:13):
is the honestly the bigger role of what we do.
That is a part of what we do at Tailored Coaching Method because
we primarily serve people who want to lose fat.
That is our main niche. And because that's our main
niche, we have to prioritize newnutrition.
As you know, if you're listeningto this, you probably understand
that that is the biggest player.Because of that and two other
reasons, which I'll explain in aSEC, I felt really called to put

(01:33):
something like this together. Actually, there's five things
that really led to this podcast and this was an Instagram post
before. So if you haven't seen that
post, you can check it out on myInstagram.
I'll try to link it in the description.
It's a carousel post. You can swipe through these and
each swipe, even each like picture on the post has a lot of
information on it because this is a very complex topic.
But I still wanted to shoot a podcast on it because I wanted
to be able to touch on it for more than just what you see in

(01:55):
your newsfeed and can read in a few minutes.
I wanted to do this for 30 to 45, maybe even 60 minutes.
We'll see how long this is todaybecause this is a topic that
needs to be discussed. I think that there is a lot, I
mean, it's, it's bad. There's a lot of really bad
training plans out there and social media has only made it
worse. Influencers have only made it
worse. There was a few things that
happened that that kind of led this me to writing this post and
it was really, really well received and I've noticed that

(02:18):
with a lot of the type of content I do like this.
Because I have a. Lot coaches and trainers and
nutritionists that follow me andthat consume my content, which
is an honor because I know that one of my goals is to change the
industry. So one of the ways I'm going to
best serve the industry and helpinfluence in a positive way is
by putting out more content likethis.
So first of all, I have had the opportunity to create content.
I've had a lot of new followers following me on Instagram.

(02:40):
A lot of people, new people listen to the podcast.
All of which to say they're all coaches.
I mean, not all coaches, but a lot of them are coaches.
I mean, like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of coaches and trainersand dietitians and nutritionists
have been consuming my content lately and reaching out to me.
It's why I've actually started doing more mentoring.
So in fact, I wasn't planning ondropping this, but shameless
plug, I'll put this in the description as well.

(03:00):
We now offer two different typesof coaching.
Really, we've always offered twodifferent kinds, but I've been
quiet about, I've never talked about my mentorship.
I just let people reach out to me if they felt like there was a
shot or maybe we connected because basically there was a
bigger layer like a. Bigger gap there in that.
Forced only the really serious people to approach me and reach
out and and cross their fingers and hope I did something like

(03:20):
that, which usually worked out well because it meant they're
really serious and I wasn't really trying to attract people
to help mentor. But now I am I one of my biggest
missions in the is really to help influence industry as I
just said a minute ago. And so I've been taking on a
small group of people and I'm putting together this program
where I do work with these individuals one-on-one.
I help them transform their body, transform their business,

(03:41):
develop their content strategy, learn principles and strategies
and methods that we use in orderto really get the most amazing
transformations in the industry.And I say that very easily and
very confidently because our transformations are just insane.
And we've been in the industry for 15 years, learned for some
of the best in the world at training and nutrition, and we
have some really good methods now.
So all that to say, I'm. Going to put a link in the
description. If you are a coach, specifically

(04:02):
an online coach or looking to goonline with your fitness
business and you want help, you want to be mentored.
You want to be guided by somebody who has done it, who
knows it really well and who hasbecome successful at it through
just passion and really just great coaching.
Not ads, not funnels, none of that shit, just really good
business and coaching. Click the link in the
description, apply for the spot.There's a video on there where I
talk about it. We'll go from there.

(04:23):
So that was kind of one reason, like I've been approached by all
these people. The second reason is because
I've been getting asked to speakmore.
So I just got done speaking in North Carolina in front of a
bunch of coaches at Sam Miller'sevent, which was amazing.
Really, really phenomenal group of people and really, really
phenomenal setup for the seminar.
Honestly, it was one of my favorite seminars I've ever been
a part of. And I don't say this because I
like putting together presentations, but I didn't have

(04:44):
to put a prizo together, which was kind of nice.
He interviewed me on stage and it was like a podcast.
It was like a live podcast. It was pretty dope.
And then the second day was all Q&A panels.
And then like speed dating. I had this table and then these
groups would come up and get to pick my brain, ask questions.
So much fun. And then I'm speaking tomorrow
in an online summit in. Front of a couple 100 coaches
for Luca, host of ours. Group and it's just been really
cool and I have a couple more coming up in the near future too

(05:05):
that I can't say yet, but I'm getting the opportunity to
educate coaches more and it's been really, really exciting and
really fun and honestly really, really good.
Like it's been going really well.
They've been getting a lot. Out of it.
The third reason is because I created principles for my
business as I started delegatingthings.
So as my team has grown, I've had to put principles in place.
This is something that a lot of online coaching businesses, this

(05:26):
was something that a lot of businesses period don't really
consider, especially in the fitness space.
I don't know that many coaches who do this kind of stuff.
I don't know how many gym ownersto do this.
But if you don't have like an SOP, like standard operating
procedures for programming, for nutrition, for coaching, check
insurance for things that reallydevelop and make your service
what it is. I see a lot of people with SOP's

(05:46):
about like locking the doors at night and making sure you turn
off these lights and clean this part and make sure that you
respond to emails within this many hours.
It's like, OK, but what about the movement patterns
associated? What about handling aches and
pains? What about check in processes
and professionalism there and, and exceeding expectations and,
and following your core values. Like not a lot of people do
that. And one of the things that we

(06:07):
did is implement principles for our training.
Like these are the principles that we require.
Now there's more to the program design.
Can of worms let's say, cuz it'sa whole portal of things you can
really get into. But as I developed this
principles, it was because I needed somebody else on my team
to be able to do this with me atthe level I do it to help the
team do it efficiently and effectively, whether we stay the
same size or we. Grow or we're educating and

(06:28):
mentoring coaches. And so Nick on my staff who who
helps run the training department of my company.
I put these together and this ishow we developed the systems
that really kind of he built hisrole on.
We built his role on which has been really cool few reasons
there. The fourth reason is because
people. Suck at training programs.
Like it's just really bad. Like I'm shocked at how many gym

(06:49):
owners don't write their own programs and how many coaches
don't write their own programs. And I think this is one of the
things that, you know, online coaches like, look, I'm a
nutrition guy. I love nutrition.
It is what helps us with fat loss the most, however, or if
somebody's not training effectively, they're still not
going to get the same result andthey're not going to be as
bought in. They're not going to enjoy the
process as much. There is something about
training that really, really makes you different.

(07:10):
It's what makes you more disciplined, more gritty, have
more, a better work ethic. It is what really gives you
those endorphins. Like I always tell people, you
don't get this huge endorphin release after meal prep or
tracking your macros for the day.
You do that because it gets a result and the result gives you
dopamine. Then it's this feedback loop of
like, I will do the thing I don't like doing to get the
result that I really like having.
And it's important is that that is because there's a lot of

(07:31):
things in life like this. And I'll say it again because
this is actually I speed by thatand I think this is a really
important thing. This, this line alone helps so
much. If you want to continue getting
the results you want to have, you have to be willing to do the
things you don't always want to do.
And it's a feedback loop. You don't get this endorphin
release or dopamine kick when you meal prep or you punch all
your food into My Fitness Pal tofigure out your macros.

(07:52):
That stuff doesn't feel great afterwards, but it gives you a
result. The result makes you feel good
when you have it in that result,and when you have it and when
you see it and somebody gives you a.
Compliment about it. That releases endorphins, that
gives you a dopamine kick, and that is what allows you to get
addicted to the process. But there is a gap between
action and result. You take the action of tracking

(08:14):
the macros and you got to wait for the result to happen.
But as long as you do that in the beginning and you are OK
with waiting and and really justkind of sitting through the suck
and maybe some of the stuff you don't love doing.
Maybe you don't mind it, but maybe you hate it.
Whatever it is, you got to be able to do that until you get to
the result, right? And once you get the result, now
it's a positive feedback loop. I will continue doing the things
I don't want to do to get the result I really want to have.

(08:36):
Now, training is totally different.
You go to the gym, the moment you rack that bar, you feel
good. The moment you leave the gym,
you feel good. While you're in the gym, you
feel good. Sometimes you don't feel good
when you're going to the gym if you don't feel like training.
But once you start, you feel good.
If you don't feel like meal prep, you don't really feel good
during it still. And then maybe afterwards you
feel good that you did it. But it's more of like, I'm proud

(08:56):
of myself for doing it, Not like, oh, I got this like, you
know, this feedback, like I, I love that.
Like that's not how it works. So I think this necessary
component to training that coaches need to understand this
can give your clients more of a positive feedback loop and keep
them on board for longer, keep them in the game for longer.
It's really important. Now, one of the biggest things

(09:16):
though, and this is number 5 reason I wanted to do this.
And there's a reason why I'm telling you guys why I'm doing
this is because all of them kindof layer in how important this
stuff is. But the 5th and most important
reason that led me to wanting tocreate, I shouldn't even say
create because I've had these built out of my, my business
wanted me to share these principles is because there's a
huge gap between me and my online client compared to

(09:36):
somebody in the gym. When I'm in the gym with
somebody, I can put my hand on their back and show them by
touch and make them feel my hands and putting pressure on
their scapula as they do external rotation or scapula
retraction or depression. Like I can literally guide their
joint into place. That is a very valuable tool.
I can also watch somebody in person and then spit out cue
after cue after cue that gets them to squat better or do the

(09:58):
movement better. I can't do that, that over the
Internet. There's a huge gap.
My clients in Kansas or Florida or Colorado or wherever, I can't
do that. So what I can do is take all the
years and years and years of experience, which unfortunately
some online coaches don't have, but they should have.
Or if you're getting into the space, make sure you try to get
this. That in person experience is
just. It's so valuable, it's
priceless. It's such a big value add to

(10:20):
your career and your ability to be a great coach.
But if I take all that and I know what cues typically work
for the majority of people, I can write those out in their
plan. I can speak those into.
To them on a weekly basis and then they will click and this
works really well. However, there's been plenty of
people that are online that haveapplied to work with us and
wanted to work with us. And I'm like, hey, I can we can
do your nutrition. We can help you the goal.

(10:40):
But I think you should see an inperson trainer and that's hard
to do. But as a business owner, it's
more important for me to be verytransparent and authentic and
serve people to the best ability.
And I know for a fact there's been plenty of times where
somebody is so fresh and so new to training that they actually
do need those eyes and those hands on them in person.
And I am OK admitting that and I'm OK losing that client

(11:02):
financially speaking so that they can gain the results they
really want to gain. OK.
And I think it's really important.
But when we get to this place oflike the majority of people who
come to us because our marketingis good and our messages is very
transparent. People know what we do and who
we do it for. We get people that aren't
beginners. Typically we get people that
even if they're technically beginners, like newbies or

(11:22):
intermediates, they know what they're doing.
They've been lifting enough. That their techniques good.
And they're safe in the gym, So we can coach them online.
And that's what we do. That is 99.9% of our business is
online. The .01 is me going and speaking
at events. So that being said, there has to
be specific standards and principles and rules in place to
make sure that when you do coachthis person online, you are

(11:45):
doing it in the most effective, safe and progressive way
possible. And that's why these principles
are so important. And that's why instead of me
hiding these to myself, I want to share them for the online
coaches who are listening, people who are not coaches,
you'll still get a lot of value out of this podcast.
But I really wanted to do this for all the online coaches so
that they can understand. If you don't have these things
in place, you are going to run into issues be that injury,

(12:06):
nagging pain, imbalances and andand compensations of their
movement patterns, lack of results, slower progress made
because they're not gaining strength.
You have to look at these rules and be able to implement
something similar. Or if you want to steal them
from me, do it. I don't care.
My goal is to make the industry better.
So if I have hundreds and hundreds of coach listeners and

(12:26):
you use the exact same principles I do and it makes
their programming better, I won.My mission is partially complete
because I have to keep doing it to be fully complete, but it
that's part of what I want to do.
OK, so these are the 12 principles to prioritize when
writing online training programs1st and mind you, these are not
in any particular order. Got to keep drinking my energy

(12:48):
drink. I got AI got a lift after this.
I ran 6 1/2 miles this morning and I did not want to do it.
I posted on my story and it was like, I know I'm digressing, but
every single mile I was like, I should just throw in the towel.
Now I got a call at 8:30 AM, which means I got to get home in
time. I'm like making these excuses
knowing damn well I could finishit if I really wanted to.

(13:09):
And and then I would, you know, quarter mile later, I'd be like,
fuck that dude, you can do this.And I would run.
I'd be super proud of myself. And I'm like, I don't, I'm not
going to listen to that little bitch voice in my head.
And then I would get to the nextmile and I'd clock and my watch
would be like next mile complete, continue running.
And I'd be like, all right, dude, this is it.
You, you probably should head home.

(13:29):
Like I started doing it again. And then I was like, no, you're
the man. You can do this.
And I got proud. And then it was like this loop
constantly, literally every single mile until 6 1/2 miles.
It was ridiculous. I posted on my story, I had a
bunch of people already respond this morning and they're like, I
do this every single run. And I was like, yeah, me too.

(13:50):
You're not alone, trust me. Anyway, I don't know why I felt
like I needed to share that, butthere's probably some people who
can relate. So here's principle number one,
and this is in no particular order.
In fact, I'm going to actually give you a teaser of what they
all are. I'm going to go through them all
so that you can hear them and then you can get excited and
understand what you're about to listen to.
And again, these are in no particular order.

(14:11):
So here's the 12 principles, 4 to 6 week training blocks and
these are mesocycles. So we have four to six week
training blocks, push, pull, hinge, squat, which means we are
prioritizing 4 movement patterns.
We are going to use a double progression method.
We are going to prioritize exercise sequencing.
We are going to pull 1.5, not double, but 1.5 times more than

(14:35):
you. But then we push or press and
I'll explain why it's 1.5. We're going to include at least
one unilateral exercise every single workout, every single
session. We're going to implement 1 ZOA
exercise, which means zone of apposition, and I'll explain
what that is later in every single session we're going to
not. Repeat.
So do not repeat loading patterns.

(14:58):
Throughout a single session include one to two stretch based
movements or exercises. We're going to prioritize one to
two aerobic conditioning sessions per week that lasts 30
to 45 minutes each. We're going to set our set
volume between 10 and 20 sets per muscle per week in that
range and there's some differences as to why and where
you will land on that. We're going to use the RIR scale

(15:20):
across all exercises, not. RPE for very specific reasons.
OK, so those are the 12 and again, these are principles,
these are rules, these are standards, these are like
practices that we follow 'cause we believe that they are very
important and they have a very specific reason as to why they
help our training maintain effectiveness at a very high
degree. OK 123456789101112 Cal.

(15:45):
I was like, is that 12? That went by quick?
All right, so #140 week trainingblocks, this is going to serve
multiple purchases. The reason we stick with four to
six week training blocks and thereason I recommend them is
there's multiple, there's multiple benefits to this.
The first one is pretty obvious for anybody who's an online
coach. And this is because you're
typically going to bill somebodyevery four weeks, right?

(16:08):
If you're on like a monthly subscription for billing, which
is not if you're charging peopleevery month, this is a mistake I
made for a long time as a business owner in, in a
subscription based business, it actually is 1.
You're, you're missing out on multiple weeks of revenue at the
end of the year. But it's not just that you're
missing out on weeks. And because I don't care about

(16:29):
that and I felt dumb for thinking about this earlier on
because when I first thought of that or heard that, I was like,
I don't care about, it's not about the money.
So who cares? Like it's easier for people to
just go monthly. But then I realized it's not
that we're missing out on extra weeks as if it's like a sneaky
thing. It's actually we're not getting
paid for. Multiple weeks of our coaching.
So most months actually have 5 weeks.

(16:49):
So if you're charging monthly, there's usually going to be a
month that has a week that is goes unnoticed, that basically
gets unpaid. And that means you and your
coaches are working with people for numerous weeks throughout
the year, not getting paid for your services and what you do.
And that's not OK 'cause you're,we're putting a lot of effort
into it. So #1 this is just kind of goes
along with billing cycles. So knowing that it's like every

(17:10):
four weeks you're billing a client and that means that you
should probably have a mesocycleevery week.
This is way you're not jumping ahead and doing work that has
not been paid for. And it's a very easy like
cadence to line up with reoccurring billing.
Now, the second reason when we get into the science and stuff
is that this actually allows a good accumulation of progression

(17:31):
for any given client. Week one, they typically learn
the new exercise. So if we implement a new
program, week one, they actuallystart to get used to the
exercise and they're trying to learn it.
So if somebody's never done a Bulgarian split squat and I put
this in their program, or maybe it's a front foot elevated dual
kettlebell, front rack, reverse lunge, a little bit more
complex, a little bit more functional.
There's a little bit more going on.

(17:51):
We're front racks. So we have to maintain a very
solid posture, pulled down rib cage, braced in stiff core and
trunk. We're trying to keep our grip
tight and our shoulders packed so that the the kettle bells
stay racked in the right position while maintaining that
posture. We have to do a reverse lunge.
Oh, and we're on a, a plate. It's in a it's in a deficit.
So that we way we have a bigger range of motion, which leads to

(18:12):
a bigger stretch, more fatigue. So this is new.
We're going to go light. We're going to practice things
properly and just slow down, right?
Week 2, they come back in, It's like, OK, I, I know the exercise
a little bit better, but I'm going to stick with the same
weight. However, we're doing, as you'll
hear in a SEC, double progression method, which means
that we have a Rep range. We're hitting eight to 10 reps.
Let's say last week I did three sets of eight with this weight.

(18:33):
I'm going to try to do three sets of 10 because I feel more
comfortable with it, but I stilldon't want to go up a whole
nother weight in my kettlebell. So I'm going to practice this.
I'm going to do a couple extra reps on every set.
I'm going to make sure I'm doinga full range of motion.
I'm going to get that big deep stretch I'm supposed to.
And then from there, week three hits and now you feel good.
You hit 10 reps last week. We're going to go back to that 8

(18:54):
to 10 range, probably floating closer to the 8 Rep range and
I'm going to load it up. I'm going to go heavier.
I'm going to create tension. I'm going to just push myself as
hard as I can. Now week 4 comes and we do one
of two things. We either deload before the next
week because in some cases there's a rationale to say, hey,
we're going to deload here because next week's new
exercises and that novelty is probably going to stimulate some
muscle damage and soreness. However, for most people, it's

(19:17):
not that they've never done a squat or a split squat squat,
they've just never done that specific type of split squat or
lunge. And in that case, we might not
need it. On top of that, this person
might be training three or four days a week because they're an
average person. We don't need to deload.
You maybe deload every few months at most.
So week 4 actually goes into let's push hard.
Now that we push hard, week one of the next program will act as

(19:39):
our deload because we're going lighter to learn the movements
and it's a really good skill, right?
A really good cycle of progression.
Week one, we learn a new movement.
Week 2 we get comfortable and confident with that movement.
Week 3 we begin to play with some progressions through
increasing load. And week 4 we go hard, we try to
push ourselves, get close to failure.
That is a very, very simple but smart and productive progression

(20:03):
scheme and that falls into a four week plan.
This is a really, really good way to do it.
The other thing here is that I mentioned four to six weeks.
So what does that mean? Well, let's say week 3 comes and
although this person's feeling good and excited, they actually
are training out of hotels all week.
So we have to modify. We're doing some different
things. OK, well, let's add a fifth week
because at the end of the day, they didn't really get the full

(20:24):
thing out of the program. Or let's say this person didn't
have to go travel and train out of hotel.
But we get to a point where theyare essentially while they're
progressing, they're progressingreally well.
And if we stop and change the program at week 5 like so
basically this is a four week block and we don't go further
than that. They're missing out on potential
gains because they've increased load two weeks in a row.

(20:46):
They feel confident about doing it again.
Why would I change it? So there's two options here.
Either I change most things and keep the things that they're
maintaining progress with because we can keep that
dumbbell or that kettlebell racked deficit reverse lunge for
12 weeks. If you keep progressing, there's
no reason to change it, right? Or we just don't change anything
and we push to six weeks. Either way, it's acceptable.

(21:09):
But the point is, is that most often a mesocycle, which is
going to be a a single like block of training, it's probably
going to be around 4:00 to six weeks.
This tends to be the best route to take.
After six weeks, some people cankeep progressing movements, but
in my experience, they're probably going to progress
better if they actually stop theexercise to switch it for sorry,

(21:30):
not stop it, but switch it to a different variation and then
come back to that variation. So let's say the first, let's
say we do push it for six weeks and they're still progressing.
We're going to remove that lungeand we're going to go with a
bull game split squat next. And then we're going to do
another four to six week block. And that might be a dumbbell
walking lunge for that split squat variation.
And then we're going to go into another four to six week block
and we're going to bring back that dual kettlebell front rack

(21:51):
deficit reverse lunge. It's been a while, but they've
gained strength, they've gotten leaner, they're healthier, their
movements better. They're going to crush that
movement again so we can skip a beat and come back to it and
still progress a lot. We don't have to keep hammering
it and run the risk of overuse injuries.
So four to six weeks is almost always going to be your best bet
for us. That is just what we do and I
think it's really important for any type of business owner or

(22:16):
coach, running a coaching staff and team, I think it's very
important that you set the standards and the principles in
place. You don't, we all go through
this at one point, but if you have too much fluidity inside of
your training principles and standards, you're just asking
for coaches on staff to kind of fall outside the lines.
And you're also asking yourself to get lazy because this is even

(22:39):
happened to me. It's like, ah, well, you can do
this, you can do this. You're less efficient you
because you don't have principles that guide your
decisions and make decisions quicker.
You don't have a template that you can use.
And this does not mean giving a client a template.
It means that you have templatesand blueprints and skeletons of
programming that you can plug and play on the back end.
That makes your job more effective and more efficient,

(22:59):
and this blurs the lines. And so you don't have any rules
or standards to prevent very specific things from happening
this way. I know clients aren't going to
get too bored. I know they're going to be able
to progress. I know they're not ever going to
get overuse injuries. Is everybody, Is everybody going
to get overuse injuries at six weeks?
No, that's stupid. But will some yes.
OK, how do we avoid it? Don't go past six weeks, right?

(23:19):
Like it's very, very simple. But this is just to explain
since this is the first principle, I want to make sure I
really hammer that home. They are very important to have.
You got to have these in place. And the same thing with
nutrition. Next we have movements.
Push, pull, hinge, squat. So push, pull, hip hinge, squat
pattern. These are the four primary
functional movement patterns forstrength training and your body,

(23:44):
everybody's body should be able to do these in some capacity and
they should be able to perform with them.
Now, if somebody can't do a squat, then we have to work on
the mechanics and their limitations.
There's been plenty of people, especially when I was an in
person trainer, who would say like, I can't squat, like I
don't squat well, my body just can't get down there, can't get
in that position. I would put them on the floor,
put their feet up on the wall, put them in a squat position,

(24:06):
but lying on their back and theywould they have the mobility.
And this is a test. It doesn't mean everybody can do
it. But if you can do that, I go,
hey, based on what I see, you'rein a, like, if I took a picture
of you and then I removed the background and just rotate it
upwards, you would be doing a perfect squat.
So mobility isn't the issue. Stability is, stiffness in your
trunk is, core strength is, and now we know what to address.

(24:27):
But regardless, we got a squat. It's not like I can't squat.
So let's remove squats. It's I can't squat well, so
let's fix what we need to fix inorder to squat well, right?
Same thing with push, pull, hands.
Your body should go through these movements.
So these four movement patterns are key for us and it's a non
negotiable that we prioritize them throughout the week and
ensure that by the end of every training week they've all been

(24:49):
performed. So for example, if somebody's
doing an upper lower split, I don't expect that client to go
through a squat and hip hinge onan upper body day.
That doesn't make sense. It's an upper body day even if
it's a full body program. This is also a good example.
I don't expect them to do a squat, but they should be doing
a squat pattern. Maybe it's a split squat, a
reverse lunge, or maybe it is a squat, A gobble squat, a

(25:11):
landmine squat, a back squat. Like we need to be doing those
movements. So in a full body program we
should do a squat, hinge, and pull if it is squat, hinge,
push, pull. If it is a full body program
that is more dominantly upper body.
I might not do a squat and a hinge, but I'm at least do one
of them and by the end of the week I'm ensuring that I've done

(25:32):
at least one, if not multiple squats.
Hinges, horizontal push. If their shoulder health is
good, vertical push, horizontal pull, and if their shoulder
health is good, vertical pull. And I say that because getting
overhead is more difficult. So it's not mandatory like
vertical pulling like a lat pulldown her chin up is not
mandatory. If they can do it, we should.

(25:52):
It should be mandatory. If they can do a pain free, we
should do it. Same thing with overhead
pressing. It's not mandatory at first.
I think that if after a while, this is part of being a
functional and strong individual, you should be able
to go overhead with weight. You should be able to pull
weight from overhead. And so we want to be able to do
them all. But all this really means is
that when we look at a program across the week, are we

(26:12):
accomplishing a push, pull, hip hinge, squat, really, really
simple. This is like going back to the
basics of movement patterns. We need to be able to do that
next principle progression. So we have the double
progression method. What a double progression method
is is the easiest way to explainthis is if we have there's two

(26:40):
types of progressions that are pretty common and then both of
them work. There is a linear progression
model. This is great for brand new
individuals and I think it can work for anyone.
I think that double progression methods are better, obviously.
I also think in the online setting it ensures better
success because we have to put tools in place to allow somebody

(27:02):
to auto regulate better. So let me define some of these
terms. Linear progression is when we
have a load that is increasing, so our intensity is going up and
our reps are going down, so our volume is decreasing.
So week by week intensity or load is going up and volume or
reps is going down. And So what this looks like is

(27:22):
let's say I have 100 lbs and I'mdoing it for 10 reps on any
exercise. Week 2 I'm going to go 8 reps
with 100 and 510 lbs. So I added load.
So my intensity went up and my load went up because I added
weight to the bar, but my reps went from 7:50.
So my volume, my Rep count went down.
This guarantees that I can do more weight.

(27:45):
Then on week 6 we have, or I'm sorry, on week 3 we have 6 reps
and I'm going 100 and 15120 lbs.Again, my load or intensity, my
weight on the bar went up and myreps or my volume went down.
And so this is what is a linear progression.
A double progression method is away of auto regulating that.
So let's say I'm going 1086A double progression method would

(28:08):
mean I go from 6 to 10 reps A lot of times I keep it in A2 Rep
range. So I might go 6 to 8, eight to
1010 to 1212 to 15, 15 to 20. So as I go up in reps and I'm
doing more of a hypertrophy zonelike high muscular endurance,
high metabolite accumulation, these high reps like 15 plus, I
do make it a bigger gap, right? So that's why it was, you know,

(28:29):
let's say 3:00 to 5:00, then it's 6:00 to 8:00, then it's 8
to 10, then it's 11:50, then it's and sometimes I'll do like
8 to 12, but most often to 8 to 1010 to 1212 to 1515 to 2020 to
30, right? And the reason for that is
because as you get into those higher Rep ranges, you're
accumulating more metabolites, which is basically it's a
metabolic byproduct. It's a metabolic waste like

(28:51):
lactate or lactic acid, as most people think it's called
accumulating in the muscle. And when that happens, you get
this tight fatigued burning feeling.
It's, it's the pump, it's the blood flow, It's, it's this
metabolic waste. I love it.
Most of us do. It's a great feeling.
But what that causes is our bodyto have difficulty continuing to
perform those reps right? It's very difficult to continue

(29:12):
pushing the reps when and we getinto those Rep ranges and we're
getting that feeling. So because of that, as the reps
get higher, I make the gap bigger because everybody handles
that metabolic waste differently.
So that's a double progression method.
We're just staying in that Rep range.
And what we want to do is let's say it's, you know, 8 to 10 reps
I'm going to choose a weight that is heavy for eight in my

(29:33):
goal by the end of the mesocycleor the the training block, that
four to six week period, my goalis do the same amount of weight
for 10 reps. So if I did three sets of 10
with 100, or sorry, three sets of eight with 100 lbs, my goal
would be able to do three sets of 10 with £100 by the end of
that training block. And if I do three sets of like
if I put £100 on the bar and I do 10, my first set on the first

(29:55):
week of this exercise, then I know I need to add weight
because we basically want to stay in between those reps.
This also allows us to auto regulate because what happens if
you're a little tight, you had bad sleep, you just came off of
a travel in a trip and you got on a plane and you go into the
bar and it says I have to lift. This is the progression this
week it's 6 reps and we got to go heavier.
Now I can't auto regulate. I have to do it's on the paper.

(30:17):
Now some people understand you don't have to, but a lot of
people don't and a lot of peopleget influenced by that, me
included, because we want to stick to the program and that
can easily lead to injury. So double progression method
gives people permission to auto regulate.
It also allows people to follow RIR, which we'll get to in a
minute. But essentially what this allows
is like, hey, if you hit 8 reps and you have a couple more in

(30:37):
the tank, go for it. Add load next set so that you
can bring it back down to 8. But if you have more, go for
more. And that's what this range gives
us. OK, so and after the last 15
years, I've just found that people can progress far better
for easier. They can then auto regulate
better and it allows them to addload every single week more

(30:59):
easily. And if they can't add load, it
gives them permission to add reps.
But it it gives us multiple options.
We can always increase our volume and our total progression
because we're not stuck to progressing one single metric,
which would be load. And then they can learn to
really auto regulate this. So double progression method is
the the method we use and we do it for everything.
So if it's an explosive movement, maybe it's like 2 to 4

(31:21):
reps or three to five reps. If it is a strength based
movement, it's most likely goingto be at least 4.
So maybe 4:00 to 6:00 or 6:00 to8:00.
If it's an accessory exercise, it might be anywhere between
6:00 to 8:00 or 8:00 to 10:00. If it's an isolation exercise,
it's going to be either 10 to 1212 to 15, maybe 10 to 15,
maybe 15 to 20. But we have this range and it
allows people to auto regulate much better.

(31:41):
So we use double progression method for everything and I
highly recommend most people do.OK Next, exercise sequencing.
This is one that I am very passionate about.
I think that there's a lot of people that really just under
appreciate how valuable exercisesequencing is.
Exercise sequencing is where program design isn't more of an

(32:04):
art than it is science, because science has actually shown that
exercise sequencing isn't that effective.
But the problem is, is that I think they didn't really, it's a
very difficult thing to use in astudy essentially, because you
can actually individualize exercise selection depending on
what the person is going through, what their primary
focus is, and what your goal is.So, but, but I think it's really

(32:24):
important to understand that this is where if you ask any
strength coach, they're going totell you that this is a very,
very underrated tool and it's it's extremely important.
So exercise sequencing, what this does is it's going to help
us increase performance, it's going to reduce injury risk,
it's going to help maintain mental focus and clarity
throughout the session and it's going to better manage your

(32:45):
fatigue. So the way we sequence in our
training plant plan in like our principle around exercise
sequencing has a system around it and that is activate prime
compound accessory metabolic. So these are the type of
exercises we do an activation exercise, which is typically
going to be body weight or usinga band.
We do this because it's low fatigue, it's low load.

(33:07):
So the the overall fatigue is low, the joint compression and
fatigue is low. There's a constant resistance
curve, which increases blood flow.
Typically it's not the best way to build muscle, but it is going
to increase blood flow, which ishelpful earlier in the session.
And we're prioritizing muscle groups that are going to
efficiently help our joints be more efficient in the movement
we're about to do. So if I'm doing a bench press,
I'm going to do band face poles and pull downs and over and

(33:29):
backs. So I'm doing a little bit of
like dynamic movement pump, external rotation, mobility on
my shoulders. Then I'm going to go into a
primer, which is going to be an explosive exercise.
The goal here is to fire up my nervous system.
That's going to happen with explosive exercises.
But what we don't want to do is go super heavy because then that
increases load fatigue, joint compression, and now we go into

(33:50):
a heavy compound lift and hurt ourselves rather.
If I'm doing a bench press, I'm going to do explosive push up.
I'm going to do a chest throw. I'm going to do a chest slam, a
wall throw, something explosive with my upper body ideally
mimicking that horizontal push pattern that I'm about to do
under load under the bar for a bench press.
Then I go into the compound lift, which is literally the

(34:11):
bench press. So if it was a squat, I would
have done a jump and a hamstringcurl and some side planks or
something. But I do the compound lift.
Then I'm going to move into accessory exercises, which is
going to be the most physically and mentally demanding low tier
exercise of the day. So it's less fatiguing and
demanding than the compound lift, but it's more fatiguing
and demanding of the than the activation or the primer.

(34:35):
It's also more so than the the isolation or the metabolic work
at the end. But this is where your lunges
and your rows and your presses and your hip hinges and your hip
thrusts and your Rd. LS, lateral stuff, anything that
is going to work on your weak points.
That's what an accessory exercise is.
It's essentially like a supplemental exercise or an
assistant exercise, both of which what they used to be

(34:55):
called. So before it was called an
accessory exercise or synonymously it would be called
a supplemental exercise or an assistant exercise because I'm
assisting the movement. So a lunge can assist my squat
pattern, ARDL or hip throws can assist my ability to deadlift
better. So we have that there.
And then we finished with metabolic.
Now metabolic is going to be either a, it can be sled work,

(35:18):
farmer's carries like some kind of like strongman circuit.
If the goal is more like strength conditioning, it can be
bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, lateral raises, like high Rep
bodybuilding stuff. If the goal is hypertrophy and
muscle growth, because metabolicwaste is metabolites and that's
going to happen from high reps, high volume, that's going to
help produce muscle. There's some good research to

(35:39):
show this builds muscle outside of just the volume of doing the
exercises and getting that mechanical tension, but the
actual metabolic waste of the metabolite byproduct can
actually have a muscle growth effect hormonally.
And then lastly, if the lowest fat loss, it might be the
assault bike, it might be running a mile, might be
sprints, it might be sled poles for 20 minutes straight, like
something to burn calories, but we go in this order.

(36:01):
Activate prime compound accessory metabolic.
Every single session has to haveexercise sequencing because it's
very intentional. This.
Is why we try to avoid. Plans that are moving around.
So if somebody says, hey, can I swap exercise exercises around
if it's busy, the answer is no because it can cause injury.
And I know that sounds like I'm being a stickler, but my
response is like either, hey, ifthere are, if it's going to be

(36:24):
30 minute wait, of course, remove that exercise.
Let's swap it with a different one.
I'll teach you different sub exercises to use that you don't
hurt yourself when going out of this exercise sequencing.
But if it's only going to be, you know, 5 minutes or so, just
wait. Just be patient, stretch, do
something, wait for your turn and then get after it because
there is a very specific reason for the exercises to be in the
order that they're in. So exercise sequencing is that

(36:46):
one pull 1.5 times more than youpush.
So there's a lot of people that just say pull twice as much as
you push. And that is a good way to go to
our specific principle is pull 1.5 times more than you push and
you're going to prioritize horizontal versus vertical.
So this is kind of just like ourprinciple of pulling, let's say

(37:07):
Now, if you're doing. 3. Sets of pulls, you're going to
do 4 to 5 sets, or I'm sorry, three sets of push presses.
Like you're doing three sets of bench press, you're going to do
4 to 5 sets of some kind of pull.
If you are doing 4 sets of presses, you're going to do 6
sets of pulling in that that session.
The nice thing about this is if you throw some of the pulling

(37:29):
exercises in a in the activationphase, you're going like even if
it's a band pull up hard or a face pull, you might not
realize, but that is volume thatadds to this and helps you keep
that ratio good. Now does every single person in
the gym need to do this? No, probably not.
But that's not the point of a principle inside of a program
design framework. The point is to have a

(37:50):
structured system and framework that actually gets results,
prevents injuries, can be easilyrepeated client to client, and
covers your bases like an insurance policy no matter what.
And this principle, which is primarily specific to those who
have bad posture, shoulder issues, lacking mobility, which
we're being honest is about 75% of people anyway, because most

(38:10):
people sit all the time and theydrive to work and then they sit
at work and then they drive homeand then they go to Soul Cycle
and they round their back and then they do crunches at the gym
because they want to get ABS. It's like every, everything is
rounding their spine and protracting and you know, their
shoulders and getting into bad posture.
But let's say you're the 25% that doesn't have shoulder
issues necessarily. Well, this still isn't going to

(38:31):
hurt. It's going to make your
shoulders healthier. It's going to your bench press
better. It's going to make all your
other pulling exercise better. You're going to better posture.
Your shirts are going to look better on your back and your
traps. It just makes sense, okay.
It's a very your back is super helpful for shoulder health,
shoulder mobility, low back health, overall physique
productiveness and everything inbetween.
Like it is a very, very good thing for anybody to do.
So for us, we're like, hey, thisis a, a rule of thumb that

(38:55):
allows us to ensure that anybodywith bad posture is going to fix
it slowly over time. And I know that really like
simplifies and dumps it down. But I've worked with so many
people and I would venture to say this isn't a stat, but this
is my opinion. 75% of people whohave shoulder pain or issues can
reduce or remove it completely, but like reduce it significantly
or completely remove it by just doing more safe and smart

(39:16):
pulling exercises than they're doing right now.
Less pushing, more pulling. You will fix your shoulders 9
times out of 10. It's pretty crazy.
It's very simple and I don't mean to like simplify or dump
something down for all the like rehab people and PTS cuz there's
a place where this won't solve the issue, you know, at the end
of the day. But it really does help most
people, especially the average person that we're working with

(39:37):
as online fitness coaches. So #1 it's going to ensure that
nobody makes those worse. And those people have the bad,
they fix it #2 it's going to make sure that anybody who
doesn't have it, but we don't want them to have it, prevents
it. So now they're not getting it.
And #3 it actually is the best way to supplement all other
lifts anyway. Your back squat improves, your

(39:58):
front squat improves, your deadlift improves.
No matter what variation you're doing, your bench press will
improve, Your overhead press will improve.
So all your main compound lifts get better when you have a
stronger back. So for us again, it just.
It it never fails. Pull more than you press,
specifically horizontal pulling more than vertical.
But in general we stick to the rule of thumb that it's 1.51 and

(40:19):
1/2 times more volume on your pulling exercise than you're
pushing exercises. The next principle is including
at least one unilateral exercisein every single session.
Unilateral is often more functional.
I don't think there's any doubt about that because if I trip, I
don't trip and perfectly land ina bilateral position with both
feet on the ground. If I need to run out of the

(40:41):
street 'cause there's a car there, I don't hop.
I don't do broad jumps on both feet like a frog.
That's not how it works. If I get pushed over, I don't
like double hop backwards. I put 1 foot back into a
staggered position, took like brace myself, 'cause something
runs into me on the front. If something runs into me back
and I'm not ready for it, I put 1 foot forward to a staggered
stance. No matter what, you're always

(41:02):
going in a staggered position. You're going downstairs
staggered position, you're goingon a run.
Unilateral position, you roll your ankle on that run
unilateral position. I mean it just, it never fails.
So it's more functional by a landslide.
It helps isolate a single limb which can eliminate weak side.
So most people have compensations and most people do

(41:22):
have a weak side no matter what.And most people end up having
slightly different size too, because if you just think about
your, your lungs and, and different organs, your, your
organs aren't all double and bilateral and perfectly evenly
spread on each side. Even for the organs that have
two on each side, there's a lot of people who have different
sized organs, one on each side. My daughter's one of them, she

(41:42):
has one kidney bigger than the other, led to a whole host of
problems. And it's a genetic problem.
So I probably have the same thing.
But the point is, is that's going to, there's a lot of
reasons why we compensate. We can compensate and move our
body because it gives us more room to breathe because
internally we have these imbalances from side to side.
So it's impossible to completelyremove imbalances, which is why

(42:03):
unilateral training helps. But for those who have injury
history like myself, knee injury, that's going to lead to
even more exacerbated and exaggerated imbalances and
compensations, which means that doing something like this,
having a unilateral exercise in every workout is going to make
sure that I'm doubling down on removing and improving those
imbalances. And it can also help identify

(42:25):
and improve them. So if you don't know where your
imbalances are, do a bunch of single leg work or single arm
work. You'll find your imbalances
because you'll see what sides better and it reduces the load
on the spine. So if we're always doing
bilateral movements there, that's more total load on our
spine, on our hips. If we do it in a single leg
stance, a single arm stance, we are splitting that load in half.

(42:46):
We're keeping the load on the muscle the same, but we are
splitting the total load on the joint itself in half.
And it doesn't work out perfectly like that with math,
but it does help a lot. So in my experience and with our
clients, just doing at least onein every session has been a
really, really helpful way to ensure that we're getting in
enough unilateral training and we're removing some of these
imbalances and preventing further ones.

(43:08):
So including at least one unilateral in every single
session. Next one, implement ZOA
exercises every session, just one at least.
And this means zone of apposition.
So basically what this means is this is choosing, it's choosing
an exercise that is going to prioritize maintaining a what's

(43:29):
called a stacked position of your rib cage and your pelvis.
So if we think of basically whatthis is, is like we're, we're
reducing the likelihood that somebody's going to go into
spinal extension too often or spinal flexion under load.
So if we have a bar on her back and we round our spine a ton,
it's probably not the best thing.
We have a bar on her back and wego into super or like picking up

(43:49):
off the floor 'cause if it's on your back, it'll probably fall
off, but you go into like a super big spinal extension
hyperics in your back. That's not going to be an issue.
So the best way to do it is to have a braced core, stiff trunk,
and that's going to look like a stacked rib cage and pelvis.
And so adding exercises in that helpless is really huge for
online coaching specifically when I'm in the gym, somebody

(44:11):
gets into a bad position, guess what I can do?
Hey, you rib cage down. Exhale on the top of that.
Hey, take a take a second. Hey, let's cut 2 reps short.
I can cue them, I can watch them.
I can ensure that they're changing their exercises.
They're stopping a couple reps short so we can drop the load.
We're giving them a break. We are queuing them.
We're saying, hey, pause at the top for a second.
Take a deep breath, exhale, pullthe rib cage down.

(44:32):
All right, let's get back to it.Those are cues that help people
stay in good positions. I can't do that online.
So what do I do to ensure that people don't go into these bad
positions too often? Implementing ZOA exercises.
So a zone of that position exercise again, stacked pelvis
and rib cage is going to help because if for example,

(44:52):
somebody's getting fatigued while doing exercise, they are
far more likely to go into extension or flexion or into a
bad position. Mind you, I want them to get
fatigued. Getting fatigued is how we
stress the system to create adaptations that we are after.
That's what they hired us for. So it's really important for us
to make sure that we are choosing exercises that help
them stay in good positions because if they don't, it'll be

(45:15):
self regulating, right? It's essentially an exercises
that they will fail. They will drop the bells, the
kettle bells or the dumbbells are or something if they don't
do it properly. And So what this looks like
would be, for example, a, a dumbbell or a double kettlebell.
We'll, we'll stick with the sameexercise I did earlier, a double
kettlebell front rack reverse lunge.
I have both the kettle bells up here.

(45:36):
If I extend too much, I'm going to be in pain.
My, my shoulders are going to gointo impingement.
I'm going to be in an awkward position.
If I round forward, I'm going todrop the bells, the weights
going to pull them forward. You're you're basically stuck.
If I do a half kneeling press, this is going to be like,
especially with like 1/2 kneeling landmine press.
I'm in a position where I reallycan't hyperextend because then I

(45:57):
won't be able to reach the bar in front of me.
I can't round forward because then my face is going to hit the
bar. And it encourages because of the
split stance with one knee down,one knee up.
It encourages your hip Fletcher to stretch and your rib cage to
pull down because I have one up,one down.
So now I can easily cue them on paper and say half kneeling
position, fire your glutes, pullyour rib cage down, lean into

(46:18):
the bar. When they're doing this
happening in position, it's hardnot to do those things.
I'm encouraging them to do it more, but it avoids them falling
into a bad position. And there are a lot of different
ZOA exercises, a lot of different movement selections
and exercise variations that putyou in a zone of that position.
But we do this in every session and we don't do it too much,
right? We don't want to be the like
overly like, quote UN quote functional bodybuilding program

(46:40):
that has like 18 variations of these weird exercises to look
more functional. We want to have a program that
gets the job done, but we sprinkle in these movements.
So we just choose one every session.
You know, it doesn't mean you can't do more than one, but
throw in 1/2 kneeling or a tall kneeling or a racked position,
something that forces this at least once in each session to
avoid them getting into the positions that can be

(47:02):
problematic if they're done too much.
All right, I think we're we're getting close.
How many we got? We are on number.
I don't know, but we have 112345left.
OK, so this next one is do not, and this is a good one to follow
up the last one, don't repeat loading patterns.

(47:25):
And what this specifically meansis looking at how you're loading
the weight on the next exercise and making sure you're rotating
these in and out. So for example, you can rack a
barbell, you can do kettlebell racked front, you can do kettle
bells at your side, you can do dumbbells at your side, you can
do dumbbells in different positions.
You can do it in a suitcase, youcan do it contralateral,

(47:46):
ipsilateral. So these are basically like
offset or on the same side as the leg you're using.
So if you're doing a contralateral lunge or an
ipsilateral lunge, that is the difference between like an
offset where I'm kettle bells inmy left hand and I'm stepping
back with the left leg. So that it's the load is on the
side of the movement that's going back, not on the stable

(48:07):
foot. And then the opposite for
epsilateral, right? So point being is you can do all
these. And for us, what we've noticed
is that this avoids one potential injury risk.
So for example, if you did a barbell back squat and then your
next exercise was like a barbellraft reverse lunge or a good
morning or something, it's just not a smart decision.
You're probably loading your spine too much but also you can

(48:30):
get overuse injuries. This is partially why the old
school like conjugate method West side barbell.
What they did a lot of is they changed their compound lift
every single week. So they would go like sumo
deadlift, then trap bar deadlift, then straight bar
deadlift, then conventional deadlift, then like rack pulls,
then deficits. Like they would change it
because they they lifted so heavy, they had to change it

(48:51):
more often to avoid overuse injuries.
But similarly, we're avoiding the same injury issue, overuse
injuries. We don't want to load the same
way over and over and over again, especially in a single
session and cause injuries. Now, if you do, you can do a
back squat with a barbell multiple times in a single week.
You can load dumbbells at your sides every single day of the
week. It's not a don't repeat every

(49:12):
day. It's don't repeat loading
patterns in the same single session.
Now, there's obviously certain ones that are safer to do if you
were to do a front rack or like a suitcase rack on sides, that's
probably going to be more acceptable to repeat in a single
session. But we don't want to load the
spine like loading on your back multiple times.
We don't want to do offset or contralateral ipsilateral kind

(49:33):
of stuff where we're having not only the movement pattern being
load, but we're also having thisanti rotation, anti lateral
flexion movement because we're loaded on one side while doing
an exercise, not the other side,right?
So it's not a bilateral loading pattern even if it's a bilateral
movement. So saying all this, it's
basically just really simple. Do not load it the same way.

(49:54):
If we're looking at a leg day, maybe the comp, we've done the
the primer and the activation drill.
Now we're doing the compound. The compound is a barbell back
squat. Maybe the first accessory is
going to be a, a hip hinge. OK, well, I can do a hip thrust.
I could do a barbell RDL, which it's still a barbell.

(50:15):
It's not on my spine so it's a little bit safer, but I would
probably even go with a kettlebell or dumbbell staggered
RDL for a lot of people which allows me to go loaded on the
sides a little bit, pull my shoulders back, sit into a
better position, protect my low back and I'm staggering my
stance to reduce the load but still isolate the muscle.
Then we might go into a, like a,again, a dual kettlebell racked

(50:37):
lunge. Right now I'm front racked and
I'm doing a quaddown movement. And then maybe my finisher is
like a sled and a, and a carry variation.
Maybe for the carry variation, Ido an offset exercise, like one
racked up here, one down here for a kettlebell farmer's walk
or just one racked up top on oneside.
Now we have that contralateral loading.
So what we're trying to do is, is really just avoid repeating

(50:58):
the loading schemes and patternsthroughout a single session and
trying to switch those up. It's going to be more
functional, You're going to avoid more injuries, you're
going to avoid repeated loading patterns causing bad posture or
overuse aches and pains. And again, you're more
functional, you're more athletic, you're more dynamic,
you're being more capable of doing different types of
loading. And we found that very

(51:18):
effective. This one's simple and easy, and
I've talked so much about hypertrophy on the podcast and
I've done whole episodes on thiskind of stuff.
So I'm going to keep this one pretty brief, but including one
to two stretch based movements. Study after study after study
has now shown that an overloadedstretch, So a loaded stretch is
going to be the best and most effective way or best and most
effective portion or range of motion during an exercise to

(51:41):
build muscle. This is why in in if you're
doing partial reps and it's at the top, the concentric.
So for example, a leg press, if you're doing partial reps at the
very top of the leg press, it's going to be way less effective
than full range of motion. However, if we took the same
load and we did partial range ofmotion at the bottom when the
quads in the stretch position and the glutes are in the
stretch position, you would actually build more muscle doing

(52:02):
partials than you would full range of motion.
Because you're loading the and doing those partials, you're
loading the stretched part of the movement.
You're loading a stretched muscle, right, and a lengthened
muscle at the bottom. And because they're partials,
you're probably actually gonna get more reps in, which is
really common because a lot of that metabolite or lactic acid

(52:24):
feeling is gonna be at the concentric.
That's gonna be when you contract the muscle harder.
And so you can actually do more reps with the same load if you
do just partials at the bottom, right.
And I'm not saying always do partials, but there's certain
exercises we can preferentially put in there like a RDL that
stretch the hamstrings or a chest fly that stretch the
chest, or a deficit push up stretch the push up.
Or a dumbbell incline bench hammer curl.

(52:48):
Cuz the neutral grip and the shoulders extended in that
incline bench position is actually going to stretch the
bicep as much as possible, a latpull down or a lat pull over.
So we're just trying to encourage the stretch because it
is, it's good for the flexibility of your muscle
tissue, but it's also going to be more promotive of hypertrophy
and muscle growth. So especially when the client's
goal is body composition or muscle growth, we definitely

(53:10):
want to do this. But regardless, what we try to
do is just for everybody. Let's put one in every single
session. And if somebody's really focused
on hypertrophy, we might bump that up to two, right?
It's like a physique based client.
Next principle is about conditioning.
One to two aerobic conditioning sessions per week, 30 to 45
minutes each. I would say our standard is 1.
Like everybody should have a an aerobic day.

(53:32):
Even my like bodybuilding style clients who are just
prioritizing muscle growth and offseason will still do a day of
cardio even if it's boring. Stairstep or cardio, I don't
care. You need cardio for good health.
Aerobic condition just helps us on so many levels.
Ideally we can get a couple in, but at least one is going to be
really helpful. And this is something that
helped me a lot. And this is a beyond just 7 to

(53:52):
10K steps. For a long time I was like, you
know what, just lift, walk a lot, you're good.
But I really do find that clients have better body
compositions. They have better digestion,
better health, better blood sugar, better cardiovascular,
they sleep better. Their energy systems are better.
A lot of people don't realize that their blood flow and their
circulation is going to be better.
We think of that because our cardiovascular system, but we
forget that when our circulatorysystem improves, that means your

(54:15):
pumps in the gym improve. That means your recovery between
sessions improves. It improves your aerobic system
and your oxidative system in turn from the aerobic system
improving. What does that mean?
It means that you deliver more oxygen to the blood cells in
between reps, in between sets and in between sessions
day-to-day, which means that youcan literally lift heavier,
harder, longer than most people because is you recover faster.

(54:37):
They even did a study where they, this is, these are the
coolest kind of studies. They trained one leg and then
the other leg separately on the same person.
So you can't say that it's two different people in a study,
which means that one could have had genetic, you know, a better
genetic kind of system where their genetics LED them to
building more muscles. So it's like this is really dope
because what this allowed us to do is go, OK, we have one

(54:59):
person, 2 legs, one leg is doingthe cycle.
They did like a single leg cycling.
So they were basically doing cardio for one leg.
And this, this negates all the like major health benefits for
like cardiovascularism because you're not getting your heart
rate up enough. You're not, it's not a total
body exercise, but you're still moving, you're still getting
your heart rate up. But the blood flow and the
what's called mitochondrial adaptations were very specific

(55:22):
to that single limb. And that limb built more muscle
because it was paired with leg training.
So they did like leg extensions and leg press and then they did
one leg did this. So 2 bilateral movements like
extension leg press and then theone leg did the bike, that leg
built more muscle. And it's because of this
mitochondrial adaptation that happens with cardio.
So it's really, really smart. It's really good.

(55:44):
I think it's just it's kind of ano brainer.
It's going to help with health and muscle and strength and
everything. It's a kind of like, why
wouldn't you? So I think it's really
important. Last two we have set volume with
10 to 20 sets per muscle group per week.
The the range of 10 to 20 sets is pretty like generic.
It's it's mostly talked about init's talked about a lot in
different research studies in hypertrophy circles with

(56:07):
researchers and coaches. It was made popular by
Renaissance periodization and Mike Isitel of having this like
volume landmarks kind of thing. I don't think it's good.
And you know, for the average person, they're going to be far
better off sticking towards 10 and then the more advanced
person goes up to 20, but it's abell curve.
And so it actually kind of comesback down to 10 because what
happens is when we have a brand new person, we want to get 10

(56:29):
sets per muscle group to make sure that we are building
muscle, especially with the muscle groups that they really
want to build. What are the muscle groups that
really highlight their specific goals?
Let's make sure that those muscles are getting 10 sets.
Maybe some of the other muscles get 5 or or like less than 10 in
general, and then we can have 10for the ones that matter most
and then we slowly increase those overtime.

(56:49):
But what happens is as we increase those towards 20, they
build muscles. So they're basically progressing
their total sets per week per muscle group with their level of
experience and advancement in the gym.
But at a certain point, they also start advancing their
strength, their nervous system, their motor control.
And what that means is that theyget better at exercising, they
control the movements better, they're able to have a better
mind muscle connection, they recruit more motor units and

(57:11):
muscle fibers in every single Rep.
All these things build more muscle and create more
mechanical tension. Not to mention they help you
should get stronger, which leadsto heavier loads.
All these things happen and fatigue goes up, your nervous
system is taxed more, your joints are under more load and
stress. So what does that mean?
Well, that means that you're advancing beyond the 20 sets per
week, but not in the way that most people think.
It means that we actually have to reduce volume.

(57:33):
So it is a bell curve. Usually it starts at 10, goes
towards 20, and then it actuallycomes back to that like 15 sets
per muscle group per week mark to maximize hypertrophy in a
functional way. But this just allows us to kind
of like safely say that we're doing enough to build muscle,
but we're not doing so much thatpeople are in the gym for hours
and hours and hours most of the time.
And then the last principle for this podcast and this, the set

(57:56):
of training principles is to usethe RIR scale straight up.
I think that the RIR scale worksway better than the RPE scale.
So this is reps in reserve versus rate of perceived
exertion for people training in the gym.
RPE was initially created for endurance.
So it went way beyond an RPE of 10, like a scale of 1 to 10.
And it was used for people to rate their perceived exertion at

(58:18):
what point they're in the run. So they're an hour into their
long marathon endurance and they're rating their perceived
exertion to figure out how much more fuel they need to take in
and how what pace they should stay at during the run.
And it was adapted for powerlifting and then we adopted
it for strength training for everyday people.
But RAR is very, it's so much easier to understand because at
the end of the day today it's reps in reserve.

(58:39):
How many reps do you have left in the tank?
If you're doing a set of 10 and your RIR is 9, you pick a load
that you can do 9 reps with and you do 10 with it.
Like it's very, very simple, youknow, or I'm sorry, you pick a,
if you're doing an RPE 9 you would do or RIR 1, you are going
to pick a weight that you can do11 with and you do 10 because

(59:01):
you get to 10. You have one Rep left in the
tank. That's the whole point.
It's just, it's just way easier to gauge 'cause you can match it
up and lined up with your reps. It's also a tool that allows you
to us to test our clients and how intense they're actually
training, which is really hard enough because, and that's not a
shot at my clients or anybody inthat are members of our company.
The end of the day, nobody trains hard enough until there's

(59:21):
a camera watching or somebody's calling them out or you're
lifting with somebody who's trained harder than you.
And then you realize I don't train hard enough.
I do the same thing when the camera's on.
I train way harder and I every time I'm like, damn, OK.
And it's, it's natural our mind slows us down more than our body
does. So it's important to use this
because we can gauge it and we can use certain tactics and
tools by fluctuating the RAR, setting up like failure set,

(59:44):
setting up like ranges of reps and just sticking the RAR like,
hey, you're going to, I want youthis week.
You're going to hit anything between 5 and 15 reps with the
same way you did last week on that exercise.
But we're going to do an RAR of 0.
So now they take the same load and maybe they do three or four
more reps than they normally do.And it makes them realize they
could have gone harder, they could have lifted heavier and
they're stronger than they realized.

(01:00:05):
So it's a really good tool for gauging intensity, prescribing
the right intensities to your client, teaching clients how to
go hard enough and, and really understand how how strong they
actually are and empowering clients to realize they're
stronger than they they thought they were.
So those are the principles thatwas.

(01:00:26):
We got a full hour in there. So 12 training principles to
prioritize when writing online training programs.
Four to six week training blocks.
Push, pull, hinge, squat. Stick with those four movement
patterns. Double progression method over
any other progression exercise. Sequencing has to be included in
every session. Pull 1 1/2 times more than you
push preferentially Horizontal pulling, then vertical pulling.

(01:00:47):
Include at least one unilateral exercise.
So single armor, single leg every single exercise, every
single session. Implement 1 ZOA zone of
apposition exercise every session.
Don't repeat your loading patterns and include one to two
stretch based exercises. There's a few more I had to
Scroll down. One to do aerobic conditioning
sessions per week, set volume between 10 to 20 sets and then

(01:01:08):
RIR used on everything over RPE.That is the training principles.
If you don't have principles in place for your programs, I think
you're missing a big key to success in your programming, in
your coaching and in your business.
So make sure you do that. If you want to steal mine or a
down mine, that is totally fine be my guess.
That's why I put it out there. I want to lead the industry with
good smart evidence based training.

(01:01:29):
And this is part of me doing my part in that.
So if you like the podcast, please do me a huge favor, leave
a five star rating and review. Subscribe to this podcast
everywhere There's podcast, Apple, Spotify and YouTube
please, if you have not already.That's what helps us grow.
Share this with a friend that needs it.
And I would say save this podcast.
If you're a coach, come back to it again because you're probably
going to need a pad and a paper next time if you didn't have one

(01:01:50):
this time. Thank you so much for listening.
I appreciate you being here.

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#82 - How to Write An Effective Training Program (12 Key Principles)

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