Designing Strength Training Programs: Basic Concepts

Most people want to be strong. Strength training is the easiest way to become strong. Following a well designed strength training program is the most effective way to do that without getting hurt.

Being effective as a personal trainer or strength coach is more than just making the client/athlete sweat. It is important to adhere to the science of strength training, not employing a cookbook approach to training. In this way we can help the client achieve great increases in strength and significant decreases in body fat, while minimizing the occurrence of injuries and over-training. While science is important we should not neglect the art of strength training, this means we must know our clients/athletes and know when to push or back off.

It is important too understand what happens to the muscle when we strength train. These concepts should be explained to your client or athlete. If you are reading this and are not a fitness professional this will hopefully shed some light on the process. The more you know and understand the more likely you will be able to make the right choices for yourself.

General Adaptations Adaptations to Strength Training

Increased neurological activation/adaptations(first 3-4 wks)-this results in greater strength as a learned response to strength training (go figure).

The quality of muscle protein changes; contractions become faster and stronger. The muscle contractions become more efficient.

Muscle hypertrophy (1-12 weeks)-muscle fibers grow in size, greater number of actin and myosin filaments are added to the myofibrils

Overload Principle

This refers to the adaptations to the physiological changes brought about by strength training; the load placed on the body must be increased over time so that gains in strength and/or endurance are made. If you don’t change the resistance or stimulus in some way you will not make any progress.

SAID Principle Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands

The body will adapt and accommodate itself to stresses placed on it. This is similar to the overload principle. Once the body adapts it is time to vary the stimulus.

This has applications to sport-specific conditioning.

Factors in Program Design

Exercise Selection

It is very important to first perform a needs analysis to determine the most appropriate exercises for client/athlete. It might be inappropriate to train a volleyball player exactly like a soccer player or an inexperienced, sedentary client like an experienced exerciser.

One must understand the biomechanical and energetic needs of the activity the client/athlete is training for, what muscles need to be worked and what, if any, muscle imbalances need to be addressed.

Generally during the preparatory phase (general preparation phase) exercises that are general in nature are selected. As the athlete/client progresses through the hypertrophy phase, and on to the strength and power phases, more sport-specific, multi-joint, and core exercises are added. This is especially true when following a "linear" model. I tend to be more "non-linear" and varied in my approach once the client/athlete has mastered the basics.

Exercises can be changed every 2-3 weeks to facilitate greater strength gains, in many cases changes can be made more frequently; certain core exercises can remain slightly more constant. As I just mentioned i like variety. I change exercises often. I may stick with a basic theme/goal but I like to change things up. I look at movement patterns and less at the specific muscle group when designing a program and choosing the exercises.

When choosing the appropriate exercise consider all options such as medicine balls, bands, dumbbells, stability balls, kettlebells, barbells, bodyweight exercises etc.

Exercise Order

Although several options exist, the order in which exercises are performed can have a significant effect on the effectiveness of the training session.

Generally speaking the more difficult exercises should be performed first eg., power cleans before squats, squats before leg curls. There are however times when this can be altered.

During the hypertrophy phase(basic linear model) there are several techniques possible, following are a few:

Super setting-alternating agonist and antagonist

Compound setting-two or three exercises for the same muscle group with little to no rest between exercises

Pre-exhaustion-performing a single joint movement before a multi-joint movement

During the strength and power phases more specific, multi-joint exercises are used that require more energy and concentration, for that reason these exercises (power cleans, push presses etc) should be performed first. The same is true during the competition phase.

Progressions

This is a basic functional progression format.

Example: Squat – split squat - lunge - reaching lunge - single leg reach

Frequency

This refers to the number of training sessions performed in a given time period. While this is often an individual preference, some general rules apply.

For the beginning exerciser, alternating days of work and rest may allow for better adaptation. It is accepted that three alternating days of exercise/week produce excellent results. Trust me, you can get great results in just two days also if you design the right program.

Athletes/clients using heavy loads and multi-joint exercises may need more recuperation time.

Athletes/clients with more training experience may be able to train more frequently with added benefits.

Upper body muscle groups may recover faster than lower body muscle groups and therefore may be exercised more frequently.

Obviously we have to consider the clients daily schedule/availability when planning an exercise program.

To be honest I have seen significant improvements in a client’s fitness level and body composition with only one training day per week. It really depends on how you design the program and how much responsibility the client takes on his own.

Rest Periods

When mapping out a successful training program consideration must be given to providing adequate rest periods for the client. The type of energy source used and the intensity at which one trains will determine the rest periods required. It takes approximately 2.5-3 minutes to replenish phosphagen energy supplies after very intense bouts of exercise.

People training for strength and performing near maximal efforts each time may require 2-5 minutes between sets. Olympic weight lifters and power lifters benefit from this type of protocol. If you are going heavy you will need to take time to recover, so take it.

Athletes training for hypertrophy using relatively lighter loads should rest 30-60 seconds between sets(1:1 work/rest ratio).

Circuit training produces moderate gains in strength and endurance - training these separately produces greater gains. Some research suggests training 15 sec at high intensity and followed by 15 sec of rest will produce the best gains in the shortest time. Rest periods should be reduced gradually to prevent nausea (acid-base imbalance caused by increases in lactic acid).

I generally base my circuits on a one-minute model. Meaning that if we train for 30 seconds we rest for 30 seconds (one minute total). As we increase the work load we will decrease the rest period. Training can get very intense.

Load

Load is a measurable amount of resistance.

Load is often assigned after testing

Less experienced exercisers can use 5 or 10 RM, or no organized testing.

Charts exist for estimating the 1RM.

The optimum loads required to achieve strength gains has not yet been determined with absolute certainty-this may depend on experience, age, sport and health.

a. Lower loads and higher reps (15-20) are more appropriate for muscle endurance (either power-endurance or strength-endurance).

b. Moderate loads and moderate reps (8-12) are useful in developing hypertrophy. There has been much talk whether of not the rep scheme really matters in developing hypertrophy.

There is research out there saying that it is the time under tension that matters most. Each set should take between 30-70 seconds to complete. This is pretty tough. The average set of 8-12 reps is usually performed in much less time.

Start by executing the concentric movement (lifting the weight) normally, one to two seconds, but decelerating the eccentric phase (lowering the weight). Try one set of 8-12 in about 30 seconds and see how you feel.

c. Heavy loads and lower reps (4-8) are useful in developing strength and power, and are utilized during the strength and power phases of training.

In order to achieve peak performance the load assignment can, and should, change depending on the training goal within a training cycle. Remember if you want to get really strong and stay healthy avoid training to true failure.

Volume – the load x the number of reps x the number of sets

Typically high volume training is performed with lower loads and low volume training is performed with heavy loads.

High volume training is beneficial in developing local and general muscle strength-endurance and or power-endurance, while low volume training is used to develop pure strength and power.

Individual differences such as athlete’s sport, age, health status and conditioning level, must be taken into consideration.

Matveyev’s Model

This is the classic formula for the relationship between load and volume:

As load increases, volume decreases

As volume increases, load decreases

This model is used to develop a training program that will help the athlete peak at critical times in the training year. It's pretty simple and only requires some common sense but many people still don't get it.

Hopefully this article sheds a bit more light onto the topic of designing strength training programs. Although the information is basic I assure you that it is powerful stuff. If you follow the guidelines, use some common sense then you will go a long way. Return to the strength training main page