By Charles Mallory
Here it is! The perfect program! Just kidding. But it caught your attention, didn’t it? The fact is, too many people spend their time searching for “the perfect program.” You might hear about it from a beefy guy at the gym. You might see it on an infomercial. Perhaps you will get it from a product label or nutrition store.
Your best beet in finding the “perfect” exercise program is to understand the nature of the word. “It is a process rather than something that falls out of the sky,” says Chip Harrison, C.S.C.S., head strength and conditioning coach at Penn State University, University Park, PA.
Even the university’s top athletes come to Harrison asking for the perfect program. “I run into that all the time where an athlete has heard gym hearsay, some guy saying, ‘Here’s how I got that way.’ A lot of times the biggest or strongest guy at the gym has gotten there because of genetic predisposition. But because of their looks, they are sort of automatically given credibility. Someone else might not be able to do the same routine – or if they do, they likely will not look the same. The way someone looks does not necessarily mean they know what they are talking about.”
Does this mean to stop looking for the right workout methods? By no means. As Harrison says, “There are common elements of well-designed programs that are consistent, regardless of the age, ability and training status of an individual. These elements are:
1. The Repetition. “The best repetition includes a raising and lowering of a resistance,” says Harrison. Long –term training, he says, should include both. You can focus on one or the other for specific reasons from time to time, though. Isometric training, which is tension development without joint movement, can give you strength improvements, but “is not the time-efficient training choice in most circumstances,” he says.
2. The Resistance. Which is better – dumbbells or barbells? Do any infomercial products have validity? Should I ditch my partner training and simply stick with pumping iron? All such concerns are too much to worry about, says Harrison: “Any resistance of sufficient magnitude can represent a training stimulus. The key is to use a resistance that demands tension with a muscle, or group of muscles, that is greater than typical demands.” In other words, you need a bit of overload to get where you are going. You can learn which path is best for you, and it is not rocket science. If you have a better workout when you use machines, use them. If you need weight lifting that demands you pay close attention to form, use dumbbells. These preferences might change from time to time, thus none are ‘perfect.’ If you tire of using machines, go back to free weights. You get the idea.
3. Total-Body Training. All the major muscle groups should be trained, says Harrison, of course taking into account any orthopedic or medical concerns. If you have decided to get a big chest, flatten those abs, or work on beefing up your thighs, remember that you cannot forget the other bodyparts.
4. Balance. Pay attention to achieving balance between your upper and lower body, and also your right and left sides. “Most people are dominant on one side of their body,” says Harrison. “This generally means that a greater number of physical tasks are performed with one arm or leg.” But this can lead to postural problems, and favoring one element over the other can lead to irregular body appearance as you build muscle. Paying attention to his helps prevent injury, too. “Each joint generally has least two muscles or muscle groups that help movement around that joint,” says Harrison. “These muscles, along with the connective tissue surrounding the joint, maintain the stability of the joint.” Properly warming up, stretching, and paying attention to form at all times can help you be a success at balance.
“Even in this day and age of increased awareness, participation and research, many people—including fitness professionals—continue to hang on to preconceived notions of what is appropriate and necessary,” says Harrison
“The bottom line is that any program that combines appropriate loading and dynamic training can potentially deliver the desired effect. The real art is combining the other elements in a way that can help you reach your goals and deliver results as rapidly as possible.”
Harrison recommends five checkpoints that will ensure your workout is as ‘perfect’ as it can be. You do not have to memorize a particular pattern, figure a complicated rep numbering-system or follow a hard-and-fast routine. Just incorporate these checkpoints into your program:
a. Use a full range of motion. “For the competitive athlete, improving strength throughout a muscle’s range of motion is a wise choice in terms of injury prevention and performance enhancement,” says Harrison. “The same hold true for the fitness enthusiast who is interested in improving overall strength for daily activity.”
b. Eliminate fast, jerky movements while raising the weight. Some weightlifters think they if they pack on the iron, the weight itself will automatically prevent fast or jerky movements—and build muscle faster. But the opposite can be true. “Too much momentum will actually cause the weight to be ‘thrown’ instead of lifted,” says Harrison. “This virtually ensures that muscular tension will not be maximized.”
c. Emphasize the lowering of the weight. “The same muscles used to lift the weight are also used to lower the weight,” says Harrison. “Many who train with weights are specifically concerned with the raising part of the exercise. Often, they give little consideration to the lowering phase of the exercise.” We can lower more weight than we can raise, he points out, and thus miss a crucial part of the exercise when all we are focused on is raising the weight.
d. Reach momentary muscular failure in the prescribed number of repetitions. “This simply represents an objective concluding point of an exercise with a given resistance,” says Harrison. “It does not mean that the entire muscle has been completely fatigued and is no longer able to contract.” TO make progress, he adds, the principle of progressive overload must be followed. SO no specific numbers can be recommended for a person. “The only way to know for sure how many repetitions can be done with a given weight is to do as many as possible,” Harrison says.
e. Train under supervision or with a partner. ‘Supervision’ does not mean you have to hire a personal trainer. Harrison is a big believer in keeping track of your workouts with details. It is not just for hard-core bodybuilders or show-offs. “The best way to for anyone to make an informed choice as to whether something is working for them, when it is time to progress to a new weight, or other decisions, the only way to do that is to have accurate records,” Harrison asserts. “You can remember what you did from Monday to Friday, but what happened two weeks ago? Or a year ago this time? Keeping a notebook will tell you what works for you.” In other words, real men workout. Real intelligent men work out and write it down.
A key reason that more weight lifters do not keep written records is that they have, according to Harrison, “a feeling that they are using the same machines, doing the same exercise or lifting the same amount of weight.
They are kind of going through the motions. The way to progress through that is not to be satisfied with going through the motions. Variety helps a lot, too—try to do something different each time you workout.”
Hopefully, it is a relief to know that there is not really a perfect program out there—just what is best for you. “Take advantage of the available resources,” advises Harrison. “Train hard, keep good records, and listen to your body.”
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