Exercise and movement hasn't changed in hundreds of years. Why now are we trying to reinvent the whole industry? Are we bored all of a sudden? Is it a generational thing? Are we so accustomed to getting what we want that we now want to have our own say about everything we do? What happened to just training because it was good for you? What happened to doing barbell squats because it's good for your booty? Why are women still afraid of "bulking up"? Hasn't this been proven to be BS already?
Barbell squats are good for your legs and booty gains. Bench press, chin ups and push ups are great for upper body strength and creating shape to your arms and shoulders. Why are we now all mesmerized by a new "exercise" or training system that is simply the shiny new toy designed to distract you from what is actually happening? Squats, deadlifts, bench press and chin ups have been effective for decades, but have they suddenly become ineffective? Why is the industry trying to reinvent itself? It's not like there has been a dip in attendance. I'm confused for the industry, but more so for all the people who are the victims of marketing and hype.
If you're confused about the best type of training you should be doing, then you need to sit down and understand why you're doing it in the first place. If it's to drop down to 50 kilos and look like a bean pole, then sure, go ahead and smash yourself in any form of training, but if you want sustainable long term results, have a good hard think about what you're choosing to do. Want to get strong, lean and achieve a body of your dreams? Then it's time you train properly using proven methods with a new school twist. The new school twist being there are now better training tools to help you with the traditional favourites like using a trap bar for deadlifts, safety bar for squats, and a few other additions to the modern gym environment that help you perfect the staple movements in any training program.
What Does The Perfect Training Program Look Like?
When it comes to finding the perfect training program it must contain several different areas to ensure your body continues to adapt and transform into the body you want. The same style of training only works for a certain amount of time before your body plateaus and progress comes to a grinding halt, or worse, goes backwards.
- When you start off in a new training routine, it's important to make sure you 'perfect technique' on every exercise you do. Don't allow any bad habits hinder your performance and progress. The wrong technique from the start becomes very hard to change down the track so be sure to get it right at the start.
- Combination of different training styles. If you know this is what you plan on doing for a while and want to keep it interesting, then variety is a must. You should look at cycling 'strength based training' for a few weeks, then you can throw in more 'muscular endurance' weeks where your body will begin to adapt to a higher volume of reps. For example, strength weeks you may do 6-10 reps on the big lifts, then when you go through a higher volume phase, your reps will climb up to around 15-20 depending on the exercise. This keep your body guessing and always responding to what you're putting it through.
- A vital step in the process is to make sure you 'don't neglect body parts' and train them all equally to prevent muscle imbalances that will have an impact on a lot of your other lifts.
- 'Mobility and ROM (range of motion)'. This is an important step because a lot of people don't understand the importance of it. Everybody (should) want to achieve an athletic looking body. An athletic body looks different to a number of other body types out there. It has longer muscles, great posture and a high level of functionality. Stretching, mobility work and proper range of motion when training are a vital process in ensuring your end result is your desired one. Include foam rolling into your program as well as ensuring every rep you perform is to the full range of the muscles being trained. This will also prevent any shortened muscles causing pain and restricting movement.
All of these steps should be followed to ensure great results and quality in your training.
Going back to basics is what it will take to progress and change your body to what you want it to be. Training is all about repetition and the more you perform those reps, the better you get, therefore your training quality is higher and you achieve better results. If you get bored with training, it may be time to take up golf. Because if you need that much variety in your training sessions, you'll eventually hit burn out and give up. Learn to love it, challenge yourself and don't be afraid to push your body further and further to do the things you don't always feel like doing.
I hope you can take something away from this!
Stay healthy,
Liam Crivelli