by Mike Whitman

I use the term appropriate programming quite often, almost to the point where it may come off as some cheesy phrase or buzzword; you know the ones where you are sitting in a meeting and Billy from sales has a powerpoint filled with slides about synergistic integration, actionable analytics, and monetization strategies. But, appropriate programming is really important because without that you are just doing physical activity, which isn’t bad, but it isn’t great. So how do we start building a program?

First you have to be really honest with yourself and figure out what your goals are, how hard you are willing to work for them, how much time you can devote to them, and write that down because the entire plan starts there. This is where most people get off track. You know how many people in a consultation said being in shape was a 10 out of 10 important to them yet they were at least 50 pounds overweight and weren’t physically active? If something is 10 out of 10 important to you, literally nothing else in your life can rival that. Nothing. So be honest and figure out how hard you are willing to work for this goal.

Then you need to figure out what you want from a program. This would be that whole goal setting area. Ideally goals are specific, they have timelines attached to them, and they are realistically attainable. “I want to be in better shape” is vague as all hell and is a trash goal. “I want to have less than 15% body fat, weigh 190 pounds, be able to do 10 pull-ups and power clean my bodyweight” is a MUCH better place to start. All of these are measurable, we can figure out our starting point, we know our initial end goal, we can create checkpoints within our timeline, and hold ourselves accountable to a plan. Not bad.

“What if I don’t know what my goal is?” We hear this a lot more than you think, and for a lot of people they legitimately don’t have a goal other than feeling better, or being healthier. Or at least they think they don’t have a goal. This is where you have to ask the questions that get uncomfortable: when were you happiest with the way you looked? How much did you weigh then? What size were you? Who did you always want to look like when you grew up? Is there someone you want to be stronger than? What kind of role model do you want to be for your kids? Is there a neighbor named Karen, that come hell or high water, you will look better than when the pool first opens up this year because Karen is a bitch and that will give you satisfaction that even though she complained about your shrubs to the HOA so you had to remove them, you know you look good and she looks like her legs are made of cottage cheese? You have to find something and then build from there.

Hypothetically if the person above really did answer those questions we may get that they felt their best when they weighed 130 pounds which was 20 pounds ago, they wish their butt wasn’t so flat, they like the look of someone when you can actually see their hamstring muscles, they wish their low back didn’t hurt but they know their low back is weak, they want to be a fit mom so their kids are more likely to be healthy, and they really fuckin’ hate Karen.

Now the fun begins. We have goals, we have a picture of what we are working on, and assuming this was a healthy 35 year old female with some lifting experience we build the program. Probably going to be something built around the Nautilus Glute Drive, deadlifts, squats, RDLs, push-ups, shoulder press, rows, Versa Pulley, Versa Climber, working on her movement patterns, and keeping that hate for Karen. As we continue the program we adjust as we go based on how her body responds to certain lifts, exercise load, natural predisposition to strength and certain movement patterns, and tweak it until we are right where we need to be. This process never really ends but that is the fun part. Much like a group of hobbits, “We’re going on an adventure!”

The American population, on average, is fat, sedentary, over medicated, in pain, and moves with the coordination of a newly born giraffe walking on ice. A really easy way to fix most of these issues really lies with the sedentary aspect of the statement above. We need to move! We need to do more physical activity, and in general physical activity is great. That being said, I am going to now trounce all over the idea of just “physical activity” in the gym. All training programs fall under physical activity, but not all physical activity counts as a training program.

Physical activity by itself is not a training program. Training programs have starting points, goals, a plan of attack to get from point A to point B, they are trackable, often have limited variables, and can be adjusted over time to improve their rate of success in regard to accomplishing the goal of the program. So what counts as physical activity that isn’t part of a training program then? Gardening, hiking, recreational kayaking, chasing butterflies while you’re blindfolded etc. They all require movement, maybe you’ll break a sweat, and they can certainly have a positive impact on your health, especially if you are a very sedentary person. None of those would qualify as part of a training program.

Don’t get me wrong, just because you do something in a gym doesn’t make it part of a training program either. If you just arbitrarily decide to walk on a treadmill for 10 or 15 minutes one time in your life, you didn’t do a conditioning program. Stumbling around the gym not knowing what to do so you grabbed some 10lb weights and did some curls in front of the mirror, is also not part of a training program. So how do we get ourselves into a training program? Well I just wrote a whole blog on that called how to build a program so I recommend reading that. Now back to bashing physical activity!

Have you ever seen one of those boot camp class workouts where some lazy ass trainer busts out a deck of cards where each suit is a different exercise, and the number on the card is how many reps you have to do? Uh-oh its a Jack of Hearts, gotta do 10 burpees now! Yeah, that is the shit I hate, that is the shit that drives me nuts. Is it physical activity, are you gonna sweat, and probably do a lot of shitty reps because you just want to get the damn workout over? Yep, it will be all of those things. You know what would probably help you succeed more? Getting on a program completely individualized to you, your injury history, your goals, with some actually decent coaching! Can you tell I sorta hate the idea of boot camps? WODs are no different, and someone trying to argue that the random programming of workouts is programming is full of shit too. That’s like the person who claims to have missed the free throw on purpose because they didn’t want to win by too many points (unless you have some money on the game where you need to hit the under while still covering the spread, but that is neither here nor there).

You want to know another reason to actually get on a training program? People who are on a training program are more likely to have success than someone just doing random shit with the idea of being active. I would also argue, anecdotally, that people on a program enjoy working out more because they know the effort they are putting into the program is getting them closer to the exact goal they want to accomplish. This is simple, “effort leads to reward” stuff, no need for a deep dive into a psychology textbook for that one, we are all just basically golden retriever puppies.

So, if you have struggled accomplishing your goals, take a look back and see if you have been on a training program or if you have been doing unguided physical activity like a blind sheep wandering the desert. It was probably the latter, so my recommendation would be to sit down with a professional and actually create a program that works for you. Working out can be a lot more rewarding when there is a reason you are doing it, and you are actually making progress. Be a good puppy, work hard, sit, stay, shake, rollover, and get that treat!