Designing a Training Program from Scratch
(Part 1)
Overview
This article will describe the steps we go through here at Proper Performance when designing a training program. We will just focus on planning a week and save longer term planning for another day.
There are many variables involved when building a program, arranging them in a logical manner that fits the goals and constraints of the individual is what it’s all about, so our headers will be the variables in question with an explanation of how to arrange them.
Hopefully by the end of the article you will have a good idea for how to write a Proper week of training.
Goal
Let’s keep it simple here and group a goal by asking if it is health or performance related? If it’s health we will be blending Lifting with Endurance, maybe biasing one if there is a preference but both will definitely be in the plan. Upon a Goal setting Hierarchy, the top of the tree should be aligned to your values and identity, what you do to achieve it and when you do it is then part of the planning process, this means the goal should be meaningful and empowering to visualize.
If the goal is performance then, is it a Strength, Physique or Endurance goal? From OUR perspective, all of these goals will warrant some lifting and some endurance. For Strength and Physique it will be more lifting and for endurance… yep you guessed it!
Of course you also may be wanting more than one slice of the pie, in that case my question would be which do you wish to prioritize for the next 6-12 months? You’ll still do both, but the priority will be what we structure the week around.
2. The Individual
This ties in nicely with the goal, but essentially here we want to know what sort of status the person holds in terms of stress and recovery. How much physical stress can they endure right now whilst then recovering for the next session.
We want to get an idea of
Lifestyle Stress (work, family, mental health)
Training Experience (short term and long)
Sleep duration, quality and understanding
Nutritional quantity, quality and understanding
Injuries & illnesses
This will help to determine our expectation for recovery needs, for example if somebody is in a calorie deficit, sleeping poorly and very stressed and then the program involves high volumes or intensities multiple times through the week, it’s very likely to overcook the person. A very modest achievable program may be a better place to start to build confidence and allow for availability to address these aspects.
On the other hand if somebody lies at the opposite end of the spectrum, they may be able to handle 2 or 3 hard sessions a week and recover well for the next.
3. Frequency
How many training sessions can you include within a week? Some can do as many as they can recover from whereas others may only have only a few opportunities.
This is such an important question and one you have to answer honestly. It’s hard as a coach when sessions get missed over and over, but it’s even harder as an athlete feeling like they are letting more than just themselves down.
4. Duration
I almost included this in the above as they share a close relationship. In short, start by determining how many hours you train a week. This could be based on life commitments or just what you can successfully tolerate without overcooking.
If you say… ‘5 hours’ and you have 3 days a week to train, then ok we have a little over an hour and a half per training day. That’s a really useful bit of information to determine what the sessions could look like. In many cases though it’ll change on different days, for example ‘1 hour Tuesday, 1 hour Thursday, 2 hours Saturday’… ok the plan starts to unravel and the week starts to take shape.
In other cases, just like the frequency example, you may have more time available, for this it’s best to start conservative. It feels a lot better to be able to build up, rather than having to drop down.
Round Up
Let’s have a little round up from Part 1 and introduce some specific examples to help shape part 2.
We have the goals, information on the individual, the days per week and the duration of each session so now there is a framework in place, I’m going to create an example to help explain the next variables.
Example Person…
Goal: Be strong & disciplined to inspire my kids to be physically active
Do a Pull up
Do 20 Push ups
Squat and Deadlift my bodyweight in external resistance
Rest and nourish my body to recover and feel great
Specifics
Frequency: Has 6 days a week to train
Duration: 1 hour per day
Has been struggling to do this consistently in last few months
Status: Currently feels low in energy, sleeps less than 6 hours a night, often misses meals, work can be stressful during periods of the year, no current injuries or illnesses but tore meniscus 5 years ago.
So we have information on the first three variables, with this we would be looking to set a realistic program that is well within their ability and time constraints. Such as 5x per week for 45 minutes, or 4x for 1 hour. Then look to build from here after a good 8-12 weeks of consistent work.
