How to Read a Training Program

My staff and I have received a lot of questions lately about training programs
on my membership website or about in my ebook Arm Size and Strength: the
Ultimate Guide. This is obviously a concern, as methodology is critical to the
effectiveness of a program. Otherwise, you can just pile up exercise and call it a
workout. But as I teach in my Mastery of Program Design proper use of all the
loading parameters is what leads to the best results in the weight room. Having
coached World and Olympic medalists in 23 different disciplines, I can vouch
that this is what made a difference between standing on a podium and not
making the team for many an athlete, and yet, a lot of coaches still don’t know
how to properly use all the trainings variables to ensure the best results.
I’ve put together a short guide to let you have a glimpse of how I use them, and
the most common questions we get that might hinder your workouts.

Loading Parameters 101

An example of the world-famous German Volume Training

The basic variables most people know are: sets, reps, rest, volume, intensity
and tempo. The first 4 are fairly well understood, but the last two are just not
that well-known. Not matter what the variables though, from the interaction
we have with readers of this site, the problem lies not in what those variables
are, but most often in how they are put together in a program, so I’ll cover that
to some extent as well.

Sets
This is an aggregation of repetitions done with little rest in-between. What
freaks most people out is that typically sets and reps have an inverse
relationship; in other words, the more sets you have, the less reps per set and
vice-versa: the more reps you do, the less sets you have.

This means you can do 3 sets of 10 or 10 sets of 3, but 20 sets of 20 is just

plain idiotic. Yes, there are exceptions. This is why I used my most
printed/copied/plagiarized training program, German Volume Training, to
illustrate this. 10 sets of 10 does seem to violate that rules, but the intensity is
modified accordingly to allow the high volume of this workout. All parameters
must be in balance.

Reps
While this is the basic unit of the workout, people are often stuck at the same
weight or are afraid of doing more than the prescribed rep when it is an exact
number. This is why I use the double progression system when writing most of
my programs. So instead of having 3 sets of 8 reps, I’ll write down 3 sets of 6-8
reps, or 10-12, and so on. Why? Because the intensity interval between the
chosen rep range is not that great, but it allows one to give a maximum effort
on all sets, especially if all the sets are not done at the maximal reps.

So a given set for someone who’s starting on the program and has chosen the
adequate intensity for the exercise might do 8 reps on the first set, then 7 reps
on the second and only 6 reps on the last one. This means that the next
workout, he will not increase the weight but focus on doing more reps, so it
might look like 8 reps on the first set, 8 reps on the second and 7 on the third.
Only when he can complete all the sets with the full reps should he increase
the weight. This provides a trainee with a challenge for each exercise, and is an
indicator of progress that motivates him to achieve more in a progressive and
realistic way.

A word on unilateral work. Some great exercises are done on one side at the
time, such as 1-arm rows, splits squats, lunges, etc. You need to start with the
weakest side first, then move on the other side and match the SAME number
of reps. This will help take care of the bi-lateral deficit, which is the strength
discrepancy between left and right. If a unilateral exercise is part of an
alternated set system (see below), then you need to do both sides of the
exercise before moving on to the other exercise in the pairing. Makes sense?
What about percentage based training?
There are several reasons why I prefer to use the RM system rather than the
percentage system. One of them is that each muscle group has a different fiber
type, hence they can’t be trained at the same percentage for the same number
of repetitions.

Another frequent caveat of the percentage system is that it locks the athletes
into using specific weights, regardless of what they are capable of lifting on a
given day. On a very good day, the load might be too light for the number of
repetitions given, whereas on a bad day, the load will be too heavy. I’ve known
of several athletes who felt frustration at having to follow a precise percentage
and thus increased their risk of injury doing so.

It should also be mentioned that neurological efficiency changes with training

age, so as athletes get stronger, they need to shift toward using weights that
are closer to their one-rep maxes.

More simply, the chosen number of reps for a given tempo dictate the load, not
the reverse

Tempo
This is the rhythm of the rep. It stands to reason that if you take 2 seconds to
do a repetition, versus 5 seconds with the same weight, the results you will get
from that rep will be vastly different. If you multiply tempo by the number of
reps you have in a given set, you get time under tension (TUT), which dictates
the kind of results you will get from a given set.

A quick explanation can be found on this video:

Putting it together:

So in this example, so you would lift the weight in 2 seconds, then taking no
break (0 seconds) lower it in 4 seconds and lift back up immediately (0
seconds).

Rest
While incredibly simple, having different duration of rest with exercise in the
same sequence seem to confuse people. More on this later.

Volume
This is simply the number of repetitions multiplied by the number of sets and
the number of exercise. It needs to be said that while 10 sets of 10 reps for a
given muscle group has the same total volume as 5 sets of 20 reps, the effect
will not be the same as intensity and time under tension change dramatically.

A very common mistake I see with total volume is that it often gets confused
with the quantity of mechanical stress a muscle is submitted to. Not so. Many
techniques can increase this stress irrespective of total volume. Just
mentioning a few like agonist supersets, drop sets and cluster training; those
can make you sore despite the total volume being the same as another workout
you did just before this one. So keep that in mind when assessing volume.

Intensity
No matter what the Mentzer fans, HIT preachers, and even CrossFit
aficionados say, intensity is not how hard an exercise feels. Yes, it takes
dedication and mental toughness to go through some workouts, but that is not
intensity as defined by exercise science. Exercise physiologists throughout the
world define intensity as how close a load is to that person’s 1RM for a given
exercise. So for someone who benches 200 kg, lifting 180 kg is a very high
intensity load, since it represents 90% of his 1RM. But for someone who
benches 300 kg, the same 180 kg load is NOT as intense, since it represents
only 60% of his 1RM.

So when you do a training program, definitely choose your intensity according

to the other loading parameters.

A word on exercise order

This is often a disregarded parameter and one that causes a lot of confusion. I
used the alphabetical notation with a number to be more precise. Hence, you
have to all of A1 and A2’s sets before moving on to B exercises and so on.

Let’s put it all together with an example. Let’s take two agonist supersets for a
chest and back day. It would look something like this:

A1 – Incline Barbell Bench Press – 4 x 6-8, 40X0 rest 10 seconds

A2 – Dumbbell Incline Flyes – 4 x 10-12, 3010 Rest 120 sec
B1 – Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 x 6-8, 3010 rest 10 seconds
B2 – Straight Arm Lat Pulldown – 4 x 12-15, 2011 Rest 120 sec

Pretty classic bodybuilding workout. No questions on this one. But it would be

a lot more efficient if done this way:

A1 – Incline Barbell Bench Press – 4 x 6-8, 40X0 rest 10 seconds

A2 – Dumbbell Incline Flyes – 4 x 10-12, 3010 Rest 90 sec
A3 – Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 x 6-8, 3010 rest 10 seconds
A4 – Straight Arm Lat Pulldown – 4 x 12-15, 2011 Rest 90 sec

So you do one superset, rest 90 seconds, than do the other superset and rest
90 seconds. This is one set of the A exercises. So while your chest is resting,
you are working out your back, and vice-versa. This is more efficient from a
neurological standpoint, but only from a time perspective.

I hope this short guide helps you take full advantage of the workouts on my
website. And to the internet advanced crowd of arm-chair experts: if you
learned anything in this article, you are NOT advanced.
In strength,
Coach Charles R. Poliquin
Strength Sensei
How to Read a Training Program

My staff and I have received a lot of questions lately about training programs on my membership website
or about in my ebook Arm Size and Strength: the Ultimate Guide. This is obviously a concern, as
methodology is critical to the effectiveness of a program. Otherwise, you can just pile up exercise and
call it a workout. But as I teach in my Mastery of Program Design proper use of all the loading
parameters is what leads to the best results in the weight room. Having coached World and Olympic
medalists in 23 different disciplines, I can vouch that this is what made a difference between standing on
a podium and not making the team for many an athlete, and yet, a lot of coaches still don’t know how to
properly use all the trainings variables to ensure the best results.

I’ve put together a short guide to let you have a glimpse of how I use them, and the most common
questions we get that might hinder your workouts.

Loading Parameters 101

An example of the world-famous German Volume Training

The basic variables most people know are: sets, reps, rest, volume, intensity and tempo. The first 4 are
fairly well understood, but the last two are just not that well-known. Not matter what the variables
though, from the interaction we have with readers of this site, the problem lies not in what those
variables are, but most often in how they are put together in a program, so I’ll cover that to some extent
as well.

Sets

This is an aggregation of repetitions done with little rest in-between. What freaks most people out is that
typically sets and reps have an inverse relationship; in other words, the more sets you have, the less reps
per set and vice-versa: the more reps you do, the less sets you have.
This means you can do 3 sets of 10 or 10 sets of 3, but 20 sets of 20 is just plain idiotic. Yes, there are
exceptions. This is why I used my most printed/copied/plagiarized training program, German Volume
Training, to illustrate this. 10 sets of 10 does seem to violate that rules, but the intensity is modified
accordingly to allow the high volume of this workout. All parameters must be in balance.

Reps

While this is the basic unit of the workout, people are often stuck at the same weight or are afraid of
doing more than the prescribed rep when it is an exact number. This is why I use the double progression
system when writing most of my programs. So instead of having 3 sets of 8 reps, I’ll write down 3 sets of
6-8 reps, or 10-12, and so on. Why? Because the intensity interval between the chosen rep range is not
that great, but it allows one to give a maximum effort on all sets, especially if all the sets are not done at
the maximal reps.

So a given set for someone who’s starting on the program and has chosen the adequate intensity for the
exercise might do 8 reps on the first set, then 7 reps on the second and only 6 reps on the last one. This
means that the next workout, he will not increase the weight but focus on doing more reps, so it might
look like 8 reps on the first set, 8 reps on the second and 7 on the third. Only when he can complete all
the sets with the full reps should he increase the weight. This provides a trainee with a challenge for
each exercise, and is an indicator of progress that motivates him to achieve more in a progressive and
realistic way.

A word on unilateral work. Some great exercises are done on one side at the time, such as 1-arm rows,
splits squats, lunges, etc. You need to start with the weakest side first, then move on the other side and
match the SAME number of reps. This will help take care of the bi-lateral deficit, which is the strength
discrepancy between left and right. If a unilateral exercise is part of an alternated set system (see below),
then you need to do both sides of the exercise before moving on to the other exercise in the pairing.
Makes sense?

What about percentage based training?

There are several reasons why I prefer to use the RM system rather than the percentage system. One of
them is that each muscle group has a different fiber type, hence they can’t be trained at the same
percentage for the same number of repetitions.
Another frequent caveat of the percentage system is that it locks the athletes into using specific weights,
regardless of what they are capable of lifting on a given day. On a very good day, the load might be too
light for the number of repetitions given, whereas on a bad day, the load will be too heavy. I’ve known of
several athletes who felt frustration at having to follow a precise percentage and thus increased their risk
of injury doing so.

It should also be mentioned that neurological efficiency changes with training age, so as athletes get
stronger, they need to shift toward using weights that are closer to their one-rep maxes.

More simply, the chosen number of reps for a given tempo dictate the load, not the reverse

Tempo

This is the rhythm of the rep. It stands to reason that if you take 2 seconds to do a repetition, versus 5
seconds with the same weight, the results you will get from that rep will be vastly different. If you
multiply tempo by the number of reps you have in a given set, you get time under tension (TUT), which
dictates the kind of results you will get from a given set.

A quick explanation can be found on this video:

Putting it together:

So in this example, so you would lift the weight in 2 seconds, then taking no break (0 seconds) lower it in
4 seconds and lift back up immediately (0 seconds).

Rest
While incredibly simple, having different duration of rest with exercise in the same sequence seem to
confuse people. More on this later.

Volume

This is simply the number of repetitions multiplied by the number of sets and the number of exercise. It
needs to be said that while 10 sets of 10 reps for a given muscle group has the same total volume as 5
sets of 20 reps, the effect will not be the same as intensity and time under tension change dramatically.

A very common mistake I see with total volume is that it often gets confused with the quantity of
mechanical stress a muscle is submitted to. Not so. Many techniques can increase this stress irrespective
of total volume. Just mentioning a few like agonist supersets, drop sets and cluster training; those can
make you sore despite the total volume being the same as another workout you did just before this one.
So keep that in mind when assessing volume.

Intensity

No matter what the Mentzer fans, HIT preachers, and even CrossFit aficionados say, intensity is not how
hard an exercise feels. Yes, it takes dedication and mental toughness to go through some workouts, but
that is not intensity as defined by exercise science. Exercise physiologists throughout the world define
intensity as how close a load is to that person’s 1RM for a given exercise. So for someone who benches
200 kg, lifting 180 kg is a very high intensity load, since it represents 90% of his 1RM. But for someone
who benches 300 kg, the same 180 kg load is NOT as intense, since it represents only 60% of his 1RM.

So when you do a training program, definitely choose your intensity according to the other loading
parameters.

A word on exercise order

This is often a disregarded parameter and one that causes a lot of confusion. I used the alphabetical
notation with a number to be more precise. Hence, you have to all of A1 and A2’s sets before moving on
to B exercises and so on.

Let’s put it all together with an example. Let’s take two agonist supersets for a chest and back day. It
would look something like this:
A1 – Incline Barbell Bench Press – 4 x 6-8, 40X0 rest 10 seconds

A2 – Dumbbell Incline Flyes – 4 x 10-12, 3010 Rest 120 sec

B1 – Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 x 6-8, 3010 rest 10 seconds

B2 – Straight Arm Lat Pulldown – 4 x 12-15, 2011 Rest 120 sec

Pretty classic bodybuilding workout. No questions on this one. But it would be a lot more efficient if
done this way:

A1 – Incline Barbell Bench Press – 4 x 6-8, 40X0 rest 10 seconds

A2 – Dumbbell Incline Flyes – 4 x 10-12, 3010 Rest 90 sec

A3 – Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown – 4 x 6-8, 3010 rest 10 seconds

A4 – Straight Arm Lat Pulldown – 4 x 12-15, 2011 Rest 90 sec

So you do one superset, rest 90 seconds, than do the other superset and rest 90 seconds. This is one set
of the A exercises. So while your chest is resting, you are working out your back, and vice-versa. This is
more efficient from a neurological standpoint, but only from a time perspective.

I hope this short guide helps you take full advantage of the workouts on my website. And to the internet
advanced crowd of arm-chair experts: if you learned anything in this article, you are NOT advanced.

In strength,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

Strength Sensei