THE PERFECT ORDER

Again and again one can ask oneself what the perfect order is. Which exercises do I do first or on which day of the week should I train my strength, go for a run or when is the best time to do yoga? When I do strength training, do I do the heavy exercises first or the easy ones first? Where I'm good or where I'm bad, what do I do first? There are different opinions. Some say you should do the most important things first when you're still fresh. Others say you should attack your weak spots first so you're pre-fatigued there, and then don't over-heavy the compound lifts for the weakest links in the chain. Personally, I do it by simply tackling my weak points first and then moving on to the strengths in turn. This also means that I use more time for my weak points. In the past, I actually tended to do the things that I enjoyed the most. The weak points would always fall back, which would eventually lead to pain or injury spoiling all the fun for me. For example, when it comes to cardiovascular training, I'm not putting that on the back burner because some training scientist said you should train for strength first, then endurance. I do that at the very beginning because that is the most important thing to me. Then I target my weak areas like my triceps, hamstrings, and lower back. Finally, I do the exercises where I'm already strong, e.g. bench press or pull-ups. I'm strong enough anyway. I can then quickly power through them at the very end and that's it.

STRENGTHEN THE WEAKEST LINK

Sometimes, like once a year, I test my different exercises to see where my weaknesses are.

Then I know which exercises I need to train more in the future

in order to bring the ratio between different exercises to a reasonable level.

This helps with injury prevention. 

For the appropriate proportions between the various exercises,

I have created a table based on tests by Charles Poliquin.

Ideally, the exercises should all come out in one line.

For example, I'll take a 95 kg bench press.

Then all the other exercises should also be in the row where the bench press is 95 kg.

I can find out where my strongest exercise is based on my current training.

For example, if I now do 30 repetitions on the bench press with 40 kilos,

then I know exactly which row I have to look at

in order to do the other exercises with 30 repetitions as well.

For example, I find out that I'm much weaker at triceps overhead extension

and then I also know that I have to work on this weakness in the next time

until I'm there on the same row.

 

For example, with the bench press, I know that all I have to do is maintain the strength.

I work the other exercises more to get it all into that row.

 

The optimal ratio is of course wishful thinking, because we do not live in an ideal world.

However, it's always good when you get the exercises very close to each other.

 

The typical weak points are often triceps, hamstrings and lower back.

Then there is often a disproportion between the upper body and the legs.

You can always work on that.

 

 

WORK CAPACITY

How much physical work (including training) is your limit? How much work per day, week, month, or year can you handle without breaking down? Where is the point at which you get sick, injured, or "just" mentally overloaded? That limit is your WORK CAPACITY. Like any physical ability, this limit is highly individualised from person to person. Moreover, it varies from day to day.

YOUR WORK CAPACITY IS THE LIMITING FACTOR TO ALL OF YOUR EFFORTS!

How can you improve your WORK CAPACITY?

We could compare a training stimulus to a drug dose.

"Besides NOTHING" leads to nothing.

"A OVERDOSE" leads to side effects, illness, or in the worst case, death.

The OPTIMAL dose delivers exactly the desired result.

The MINIMAL effective dose delivers progress with the least effort.

The MAXIMUM Dose (your limit) usually requires 80% more effort without delivering better results than the optimal dose (usually worse).

Your daily, weekly and monthly dose of physical work including training should be in the range between minimal and optimal.

Start light and slowly work your way up to find your individual "dose".

STRUCTURAL BALANCE

Decades ago i read ACHIEVING STRUCTURAL BALANCE. Following this guideline can help athletes to find weak links. For "normal people" we should not forget that everybody is different.

MY EXPERIENCE:

The ratio between upper-body-pushing and upper-body-pulling is very important for everybody.

Imbalances often cause pain and injuries.

DO THIS:

Take the same weight for pushing horizontal and pulling vertical. 

Take the same weight for pushing vertical and pulling horizontal.

Double the total amount of pushing-repetitions for pulling.

Pushing is 30 reps.

Pulling is 60 reps.

(Details of the concept)

DOGMA (Part 2)

LPT: Recognize dogmatic strength- gurus and always take their advice critically.

One guru said, "More than 5 reps is cardio!"

Yes, there is a little more to 5 reps than the original statement by one of the early proponents of the "5x5" set and rep- scheme.

Bill Starr said, "It sounded good."

It works well, too, but only up to a point and with a lot of time and effort.

Strength newbies "hit the wall" after a few months and often start "program hopping" because nothing really fits as well as advertised.

Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 could be the next serious program that can work for folks with a lot of time and a big fridge. 

One of world-record-holder Matt Wenning's programs could also deliver results if you like his extended warm-ups and maximum efforts.

Oh, and RTS by Mike Tuchscherer is obviously a good one...

But, wait a minute, ...

#

Matt Wenning had great success with HUNDREDS of reps per training-session!

Multiple Sets of 25 reps!

I could ask:

"He did more than 5 reps!

A world record with cardio?!"

Meathead's answer:

"No, No, it's the max effort! (...)"

But Matt insists that his high-rep program was the key factor that made him (and thousands of TACTICAL personal he trained) STRONG AF!

#

Dr. Michael Yessis has written about 1x20 reps and a lot of different exercises...

#

"Super Squats" by Randall Strossen is one of the best programs ever! 1 set! 20 reps!

4, 5, 25 or 20... THESE ARE JUST NUMBERS!

EVERYTHING WORKS if you CONSTANTLY CHANGE THE STIMULUS, OVERLOAD PROGRESSIVELY and FIND YOUR WAY between "too easy" and "too hard"! 

5x5 reps are not always the best choice, especially when you are able to lift the same weight for 3x10 reps. It's clearly not the smartest choice for folks with limited time.

Key questions:

What are my GOALS?

Are my planned actions leading me to my goals?

Are there conflicting actions?

Will my plan be SUSTAINABLE FOR ME?

The last question cannot be answered without TRIAL AND ERROR!

Start as easy as reasonable:

1 set (fewer sets are impossible)

A very light weight.

Enough repetitions to stimulate a response from your body.

In the next training session, increase the weight and adjust the sets and repetitions.

Take notes and observe how your body responds.

Figure out which stimulus works best for your goals.

That's all you really need to do!

My method to change the stimulus is explained Here.

DOGMA (Part 1)

LPT: Recognize dogmatic teachers, influencers or "gurus" and always take their advice critically.

A few years ago, someone said something like

"Don't be stupid! Skip all those useless hours of "roadwork"! HIIT delivers the same results in a few minutes!"

No one wants to be stupid and waste time, but after decades of roadwork for solid endurance myself as a fighter and knowing that fighters in Thailand jog 20-60 km per week AND knowing how the top endurance athletes train ... I was sure there was something WRONG about this "HIIT-HYPE".

Fortunately I read "ultimate MMA conditioning" by Joel Jamieson, which deals with this subject in detail.

HIIT has its place in some top sport specific programs, but it's not the ultimate solution for every day.

RECOVERY

I always read recommended strength-training routines like

"train every other day"

"train every day"

"train every lift separated by 72 hours"

...and the list goes on.

Every recommend routine CAN work and there are people who proved it. 

The Point where most trainees mess the routines up is when they ADD OTHER ACTIVITIES.

Running, manual labour, martial arts and every other sports ADDED to "proven" routines can lead to stagnation, frustration, throwbacks or even injuries.

So, what's A GOOD ROUTINE FOR YOU to progress at all your activities?

Simplyfied:

Train > recover until ready again > train again...

This process is very individual.

You need to monitor the main body functions involved:

1. Has your heart muscle recovered sufficiently?

2. Has your nervous system recovered sufficiently?

3. Have the muscles, tendons and joints you want to train recovered sufficiently?

Check these three points every morning and decide on a daily base.

Ignoring any of these points can lead to suboptimal results or problems.

Depending on your daily effort, you can exercise every day or once a week.

Maximum effort tyres the nervous system.

Long and hard efforts fatigue your heart.

Very high volume training will cause your muscles, tendons and joints to take longer to recover.

Much better:

ADJUST YOUR EXERCISE EFFORTS AND EXERCISE MORE OFTEN!

A training-session of less than 35 minutes at low to moderate intensity and volume is a good starting point.

ADJUST TIME, INTENSITY AND VOLUME by careful trial and error until YOUR ROUTINE WORKS FOR YOU!