Keeping The Titanic Afloat – Plugging The Holes In Your Training Plans
By Coach Gregg
What you’re in for:
~3000 words
8-12 minutes reading time
I want you to close your mind’s eye and envision the famous scene from Titanic. Leo is holding up Kate Winslet at the front of the ship as they speed effortlessly across the ocean.
The Titanic in this instance is your training plan. It’s the vessel that will carry you towards your goals – a.k.a Gainsville.
But there’s a problem (two if you count the fact my eyes started “sweating” the first time I saw Jack die….but that’s another matter). As I am sure you are more than aware there is a bloody huge hole in the side of the ship, that eventually leads to this:
in much the same way the majority of the general population have large holes in their training plans.
Now, while your training plan won’t end up with you at the bottom of the Atlantic complete with the string quartet that went down with you, they can severely impede you.
Best case scenario, these holes will slow you down considerably as you crawl towards your destination.
Worst case scenario you end up at the bottom of shit creek haven given up due to lack of progress.
With the Titanic taking on water we have two options:
Fix the holes in the boat allowing you to get maximal speed for minimal effort.
Work harder and faster to try to remove more water from a sinking ship.
Fortunately, we are going to take the first option of fixing the holes in your training plan. We always want to work as smart as we can before the need to work unnecessarily harder.
Whilst much of this will certainly not be life changing or even new to you it is worth remembering that if we can maximise the marginal gains, it often results in a large overall improvement.
So let’s identify these holes and get them filled.
Improper Warm Up Set Protocols
I often see people on two ends of the spectrum. Firstly we have the minimalist. These are those guys that do aggressive arm circles before their first set and not much else. Secondly we have the guys that do 4-5 near maximal sets as they work up to their first “work set”. They grind out 6 reps at 90kg in preparation for their first set of 6 at 95, tiring themselves out in the process.
Remember we want to prepare the body, not fatigue it. Here is a theoretical example for you – warming up to 4 sets of 4 squats at 130 kg.
Foam rolling if desired, dynamic stretching, activation
Bar only – 1 set of 10
60 kg – 1 set of 5
80 kg – 1 set of 3
100 kg – 1 set of 2
110 kg – 1 set of 1
120 kg – 1 set of 1
130 kg – 4 sets of 4
Lack of Mobility / Movement Preparation
I’m not talking about “lengthening” tight muscles or spending half an hour to foam roll every inch of your body. I’m talking improving the quality of your movement.
If my shoulders are so tight that I can’t get my hands overhead there is a good chance I will need some form of compensation (extending the lower back) to press a weight overhead.
If you have really poor hip extension then your body will be fighting itself when you attempt to lock out a deadlift.
If we can improve the quality of available ROM not only does it allow us to execute movements in a safe and efficient manner, it also opens up the possibility of more advanced movements.
Movement preparation drills are perfect at the start of a workout as part of a general warm up to help transition you from your sedentary state (spent too long at a computer by any chance?) to one that is focused and ready to get some work done.
Alternatively mobility work can be added between sets – more on that below.
Lack of Skill Development
It amazes me how little skill your average gym goers believes you need when in the gym.
“Just move the weight from A to B bro”
“Yeah, that squat definitely hit depth man. Any deeper than that and you’ll ruin your knees”
I hate to break it to you but just because you picked a weight up off the floor does not make it a deadlift. Very, very rarely do people just walk into the gym and have the ability to execute movements in the desired way.
Firstly we need to appreciate that lifting weights, like any other skill, takes time and practice. How many other complex skills are you great at the first few times you do them? Do you try to develop these skills whilst fatigued or under load? I highly doubt it!
If you are a beginner take time in your session to learn new skills and expand your movement repertoire. If you’re more advanced then chase more advanced skills such as handstands, unilateral work or perfecting your deadlift.
Better never stops, so keep chasing it by ensuring you have some skill work within your workouts.
Poor Concentration
Next time you are in the gym have a look around and try to ascertain the level of concentration. More often than not you will see people texting between sets, talking as they perform exercise or generally doing anything to distract themselves from what they are doing. Hence why most commercial gyms now have TV’s and games every 3 feet in order to help keep you distracted from the task in hand.
This is the exact opposite of what we need. We need concentrated focus on each rep. A set of 10 should be made up of 10 x 1 perfect reps.
Before each set take time to visualise some perfect repetitions, reinforcing the 2-3 coaching points you will focus on during your set.
The goal is to be mindful, not mindless in each repetition. If you can do this then you will ensure you have a higher overall quality of work, giving you more bang for your book.
Add in Fun/ Play Elements
Whilst working hard is important so is having fun. The goal is to build a long term habit of exercise and self betterment. It’s difficult to keep this up if you are constantly trying to kill yourself every time you enter the gym (I’m particularly talking to you guys and girls who feel you have not had a workout if you are not puking into a bin or pealing yourself off the floor).
Add in elements of play into your training week. This may come in the form of sports, new hobbies such as gymnastics or a game against your training partner at the end of a workout.
We can often get too serious within the fitness community. Take time to have some fun.
Appropriate Volume
The two most frequent applications of inappropriate training volume I encounter are:
Performing too much work in a single session (see my article on Jägermeister and training volume for more information). To briefly summarise we want to stimulate the muscle not annihilate it. After all us Brits go to the beach to tan not to burn, your goal when resistance training should be no different. A good starting place to start is 40-70 repetitions per muscle group 2-3 times per week,
Only having a single day for legs. If we were to flip this scenario we would have a day for quads, a day for glutes, a day for hamstrings, a day for calves and an upper body day. Your legs are 50% of your body thus should be close to 50% of your volume.
For most beginners or intermediates this can be achieved with full body workouts or upper/ lower splits. If you still have a calf and abs day in your routine it’s probably time to reconsider your training split.
Randomness vs Repetition (Appropriate Variety)
Again I often see people at two ends of the spectrum. Those that do the same reps, sets and weight week in and week out but expect different results (that’s pretty close to Einstein’s definition of insanity). At the opposing end we have those that make up their workouts on the spot, no two workouts ever looking the same.
Whilst this second option can be fun and good for psychological freshness it can often provide the illusion of improvement without any meaningful progress.
The sweet spot often lies between the two. We want to provide enough consistency to provide progressive overload whilst providing enough variability to avoid mental staleness. This in part it one of the reasons I find so many gym junkies have latched on to Daily Undulating Periodization.
DUP aside, how can the right level of consistency be achieved?
In actuality there are hundreds of ways to do this and will often depend on the athlete’s approach to training (some get bored easily whilst others are happy to keep it big and boring).
Personally I like to keep some key indicator lifts within the program that allow us to measure long term progress. From there we can provide some variety with changes to accessory lifts or even rep ranges. Variety is the spice of life; just don’t overdo the hot sauce when it comes to program variability.
Keep a Score
“It’s hard to score if you don’t have a goal”- Paul Arden
If you are not recording your workouts there is no real way to monitor if you are making progress long term. Unless you have a memory akin to Rain Man (before he bankrupted the casino) you are going to need to record exercises, sets, reps, weight and RPE (or reps in reserve as we like to think of it).
Record your workouts in a diary or phone app and set PR’s over the course of weeks, months and years.
Improve Training Density
This simply refers to getting more work done during your time in the gym. Again we want to work smarter not longer. So how can this be achieved?
A few tactics I employ to increase training density include:
Making use of rest periods. Incorporating movement preparation, skill, mobility and core drills into my rest periods. Just done a heavy set of deadlifts? Why not use the 3 minutes rest to get in some lower intensity work in. Work on hip mobility, maybe grove your hip hinge, challenge your core’s anti extension strength with some role outs or throw in some extra volume for a lagging body part. Whatever you choose to do keep it low level as not to impact the main lift.
Coupled non-competing exercises. This simply means alternating back and forth between two exercises that do not fatigue the same muscle groups. I wouldn’t necessarily use squats and deadlifts for this, or any very high skill lifts – but alternating lower skill lifts such as an overhead press with a glute bridge is a good choice.
These aren’t supersets – you’re not immediately moving on from one to the next. Instead, you’re resting 30-45 seconds between sets, in order that you can focus sufficiently on the next set.
Completing exercises in this fashion allows adequate recovery between sets of the individual exercises but will cut down on time spent resting between sets. Don’t worry I’m not talking CrossFit or circuit class. You should rest as long as you need to but as little as you have to. This provides three potential benefits:
Same work done in less time
Improved work capacity
More work can be completed in the same amount of work in the gym.
The more we can squeeze out of each session means the less time you actually have to spend at the gym and the more time you can be out there enjoying time with friends and family.
Apply Appropriate Intensity
In this instance I am referring to your level of effort, or proximity to muscular failure. Whilst we need to work hard, the use of triple drop death sets should be used sparingly. Not only can going to failure early in the workout ruin the subsequent sets it can also impair your ability to recover from workout to workout.
If you are more of a novice then you shouldn’t be going to failure just yet. We want to ingrain as close to perfect mechanics as possible whilst still adding weight to the bar. This should be achievable performing sets with 2-3 reps in reserve (RIR).
For the guys that are slightly longer in weight lifting tooth the majority of sets should leave at least 1 RIR.
That said failure is a useful tool when applied appropriately.
I would recommend undulating between periods of training to failure and periods were we leave 1-2 reps in the tank. Additionally going to failure on a biceps curl will be far less taxing than going to failure on squats so may be used more frequently for smaller muscle groups and less intense exercises.
Ultimately training to failure is a tool in your tool box, and remember – just because you own a hammer doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for every DIY job around the house.
Ultimately training to failure is a tool - just because you own a hammer doesn't mean it;'s appropriate for every DIY job around the house.
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Inappropriate Rest
Having talked about improving training density this may sound somewhat paradoxical. However with the growing popularity of disciplines such as CrossFit and the propensity of women to want to smash themselves into the ground each training session l often see resistance training sessions become a hybrid HIIT session.
Whilst I believe there is a time and place for these HIIT style circuits they should be used synergistically with heavy resistance training, not as an alternative.
If we want to maximise the weight we lift we need to ensure adequate rest. If you are prone to jumping the gun as it were then I would recommend setting a rest timer for heavier lifts. Fill that time with lower intensity work (as mentioned in point 10) but do not start your next set until that time runs out!
One Dimensional Rep Ranges
From women typically lifting 15-20 repetitions to “tone”, bodybuilders religiously training in the 8 – 12 rep range or strength athletes considering anything over 5 reps as cardio, most people will have a bias to which repetition range they prefer to lift in.
The truth is the vast majority of people, who are generalists not specialists, will benefit from lifting in a wide variety of rep ranges. Not only will this help develop strength, it will also ensure we stimulate hypertrophy in all muscle fibres as our training now achieves all three proposed mechanism of muscular hypertrophy (mechanical tension, muscular damage and metabolic stress).
Repetition ranges can be varied throughout the session (heavy to light) or you may choose to go heavier earlier in the week when you are fresh and higher reps layer in the week when you are a little more banged up. The choice is yours.
Lack of Progressive Overload
Last (but by no means least) is the lack of progressive overload (PO). How many people do you know that go to the gym week after week without ever looking any different? Whilst there are a multitude of reasons for a lack of progress I believe a lack of PO is one of the primary ones.
Instead of actually getting stronger people like to create the illusion of getting stronger by constantly changing programs or adding in an array of intensification techniques.
Spend time focusing on adding more weight to the bar over time. Again this doesn’t need to be complicated. In my opinion the two best methods for the general population to progressively overload are:
Linear Progression – Initially this is as simple as adding weight to the bar each week. However this does not work indefinitely and after a while we may need to look at making improvements over months not week’s e.g.
W1- 100 x 8,8,8
W2 -105 x 7,7,7
W3- 110 x 6,6,6
W4 -100 – 6,6 (de-load)
W5 –105 x 8,8,8
This works well for the compound lifts. Whilst it’s not sexy it will certainly pave the way for progress. For isolation work or females that are relatively new to lifting I prefer the double progression method.
The Double Progression Method allows you to increase repetitions and weight simultaneously. Whilst you may not be able to go up in weight on your lift you should be able to grind out a few more reps than your last workout.
For example if your plan dictates 3 x 8 – 12 repetitions :
W1 – 100 x 8,8,8
W2 – 100 x 8,9,9,
W3 100 , 9,10,10
This would continue until all three sets can be completed for 12 repetitions. At this point you add weight and will once again find yourself at the bottom of the repetition range.
Plain Sailing From Here On Out
I hope that has provided you with some food for thought on how to get the most out of your current training plan. Whilst far from exhaustive it’s a good place to start. If you want a more exhaustive review of how to set up a training plan for maximal hypertrophy, I’d urge you to consider subscribing to Shreducation and downloading the back issues. Click here to grab your free issue.
As I stated previously it is often the little changes that can create a big difference, not just the latest and greatest set and rep scheme or cutting edge research. Get the basics right and you will be well on your way to making steady and repeatable progress in the gym.
I would love to know what you have found to be the biggest improvement in your training so please drop us a message below or over on our Facebook page.
Coach Gregg
P.S I have never forgiven Kate Winslet for not letting him onto that floating piece of wood; he could have gotten on with you damn it! All this time, yet still so raw.
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