Progression 2 what?

At some point in the training routines sticking points will arise and it is up to the trainer or coach to overcome these problems. Factors that can affect the progression are:

1\ Repetitions
2\ Sets
3\ Weight
4\ Food and fluid intake
5\ Training frequency
6\ Speed of executing movements
7\ Technical ability
8\ The time taken to do a set
9\ The period of the rest between sets
10\Rest and recovery between training sessions
11\The routine currently used
12\Health, both physical and mental
13\Not having access to the best of equipment
14\Not possessing the knowledge to go to the next level

There are as you can see literally numerous factors that can affect a persons routine and being able to pin point it down to something specific can be an uphill struggle sometimes. A good coach, if he or she is any good can judge the weight and the repetitions down to the rep. This can take a bit of time because you have to sit and watch a person for sometime in order to do this. Generally when a sticking point arises, the person may put it down to a bad session which can happen. Anyone can have a off day but if it persists then it has to be deal with in case injury may follow. Most people have had at some point when they have been bench pressing experienced a sticking point, this normal folks so don’t worry about it. If, for example you have a problem getting the bar passed the halfway point in bench pressing, then you may decide to use stop press, this may overcome the sticking point but you need at least 6 weeks for adaptation to occur in the muscles. I would suggest benching normal once a week and stop pressing on the other day, you may after a couple of weeks go back and bench normally on the 2 days to see if there is any difference. Remember things do not happen overnight, so have patience.

Let us have a look at the above list 1 through 14 and discuss the problems that can be associated with each one.

1\ Repetitions, the common mistake that people make while trying to progress is that they do too many reps in the warm up. I have seen people do 25 reps in their first warm up set and 20 reps in the second set and wonder how they can’t get a heavier weight up. The answer is quite simple, burnout of a muscle group which simply kills a routine dead in its tracks. When you cut down the warm up reps the weight at the top end suddenly goes up better. quicker and easier. A good warm up in my opinion should be a minimum of 14 reps, this is split up as 8 on the first set and 6 reps on the second. Enough reps to warm up and enough to acquire skill.

2\ Sets, again for some reason people would assume that more is better. I want to be bigger so I must do more, wrong. When you start you must train at the level you are at and not at a level you have read in a magazine. People like the idea of coping their idol who does 35 sets for bench pressing but what it doesn’t say that he or she has been on the gear for 19 years and training like a nutter for 15 of those. Progress at your rate and not someone else’s, that does not mean drag your butt and coast all the time. I do not do anymore than 15 sets in my routine for chest and only 10 of those are main sets.

3\ Weight, you have at some stage in your training attempted the big weight and it has died a death on you and someone lifted it off you and said well done you nearly got it, nonsense. Most people do not like the idea that someone maybe better than them so they keep hammering a big weight that is wreaking their joints and damaging their muscles to prove something to the other person. The only thing that it proves is that they are stupid. Do not under any circumstances showboat because one day you will get your butt kicked and get injured. If they want to knacker themselves then stand back and listen for the crack as they rip a muscle or tendon. Life is too short to spend it in the hospital hoping they can sew it back together properly again. If it is technically incorrect, then readjust the weight to suit, if you want to prove something, prove it by being there week in week out. You will pass them but take your time and when they say you are doing well, you will know it before they say it.

4\ Food and fluid intake, people sometimes turn up dehydrated and not having eaten and the entire routine falls apart. To them this appears to be a great mystery, when you ask when they ate they reply at lunch time, 6 hours ago. They also say they feel fine the only problem being they can’t lift nothing. This will be a bit of a handicap considering they are trying to lift weights. Please eat 2 hours or slightly longer before you train and make sure it contains complex carbohydrates for energy. Also drink fluid all day to keep hydrated, water is best for keeping topped up. Generally if they have experienced this once they will not do so again as it can be a bad experience. Bring a water bottle with you, full, you will be surprised at some people. Don’t eat during training under any circumstances, do you want to be sick?

5\ Training frequency, "use it or lose it", this is a common phrase you will have heard before. You must keep up the training in order not to lose anything in terms of strength for example. The general scenario is that a person was benching for example 100 kg and doesn’t train for 4 weeks and wonders why he is struggling with a weight at 80kg. The muscle group has shrunk back to more or less its original size perhaps and the strength gained has been lost due to atrophy of the muscles. Don’t take time off if you can help it, it can be a killer when you start back. There is nothing wrong with taking a light week if you feel that you are burning yourself out. Most people train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a day off in between and the weekend off. On the other days they may do some aerobic type work to work the heart and lungs, it depends what they are training for, if anything. If you train regular then you will get regular benefits, remember you get out of training what you put into it. Put nothing in, get nothing out just like the bank with no overdraft facility.

6\ Speed of executing movements, it is time to let the cat out of the bag. Compensatory acceleration Training or Cat for short is the way that you should execute your repetitions when you train. All through this book you will notice in exercise description, fast up and slow down as the speed at which to do exercises. The Cat principal is well suited to exercises with a large range of motion e.g. bench pressing, squatting etc but shorter ranges of motion it is not, e.g. curls because of control problems. This is very hard to do correct as a great deal of mental concentration is required not to do jerky movements. There are other types of speeds that exercises are done at they are super slow and rest pause, super slow is tricky because burnout and overload of the muscle may occur if the repetition speed is too long. If you watch two people doing a rep of an exercise and timed it there would be a difference in speed. It is that difference that can be the weight going up or staying on your chest for example. Time is a crucial factor in training, both in the exercise and in the rest period. It is essential that a good understanding of a persons ability is made so as not to run into the deck. Cat is a very basic concept in training but most people do not know its name except for the idea that the weight goes down slow and up fast in extension exercises and the opposite in pulling exercises.

7\ Technical Ability, most people who do weight training, do not pay any attention to the way they execute an exercise. The majority of people who train are technically poor, the reason for this is most people get trained by their pal or by someone who is not interested in their well-being. One of my friends at an educational establishment ask an instructor to watch her do an exercise and point out the mistakes. The instructor watched half interested and said she was doing it ok, she then bumped into me at my club and asked me to look at the exercise and it was riddled with mistakes. She didn’t go back and use her ever again because trust has been broken. Depending on who taught you will have set the standard of your technique for most of your training career. Some people are lucky and can afford a personal coach but many people cannot. It is important if you train with someone that they are constantly evaluating your technique at all times. Be hard on your partner if he/she breaks the discipline of being technically correct, never forget that technically correct is technically safe. You do your partner a disservice if you say nothing or well done when you know it is wrong. Have the strength of character to say the truth and if they don’t like it then perhaps they are not the type of person who is worth your time, energy and resources. Read as much as possible and watch other people as you can use them as a guide when they blow it. I have spent time just watching someone’s routine and counting the mistakes and thinking how I would fix the problems. People who are bad are a useful training tool for you even if they do not know it. Technique done properly is a joy to behold, it glides beautifully in motion and seems to have no start point and no finish, it is the highest level of training to be achieved and getting there is by way of constant practice. It is reckoned that a person has to do an exercise 200 times before skill can be acquired by the trainee, in some peoples case it would appear that they need a lot longer than that as people learn at different rates.

8\ The time taken to do a set, a set is a number of repetitions done in a controlled flowing manner. If you watch a person when he is doing the main sets in an exercise, you should notice that the time taken to do the set is exactly the same time in each one. If you have been taught properly this is normal as it is part of the rhythm of a routine that is set by the breathing pattern. If you allow the set time to overrun then the routine may crash due to burnout of the muscle group. Some people fidget about on the bench before they do bench pressing and this wastes valuable time as nothing is happening except the muscle group is experiencing fatigue due to holding a weight in a isometric tension position. Get on with the exercise and then get off as quickly and as safely as possible, don’t hang about and smell the roses. Remember the idea is to lift the weight yourself and not have someone else do it for you. Think about it, there is nothing worse than seeing someone being forced repped because he has allowed failure to occur.

9\ The period of rest between sets, This is an interesting one as the rest period can be shortened or extended for your benefit. Some people do not time their rests but prefer to go when they feel like it, this usually happens when they start talking to other people in the gym. They get back on and by that time the muscles get cold and tighten up and the set is ruined. The other extreme is they jump on too soon and blow the muscle group out. It is better to time your sets and rests as this can be part of your training log in the gym, the time between sets is up to you but remember if you are training hard, you may need more time for recovery. The average rest period that I use is generally one minute, if I go really heavy I may extend it up to two minutes, remember to keep warm during rest periods and stay on the move. Never try to show off by jumping in too soon as it is embarrassing watching it crash and you feel like a fool in front of your peers. The rest period is an essential part of the training do not abuse it, think of it as a pit stop.

10\Rest and recovery between training sessions, As we have looked at earlier the rest and recovery period is essential in a progressive routine. The idea that you can stay up all night and get in decent training sessions is a nonsense because repair and recovery can only take place during this time. The body has to be finely tuned to function at its best just like a racing car. You cannot expect to get your best out if you run the guts out of it. A good 8 hours sleep is what is needed to prepare for hard training so do not skip this part of the discipline. I have over the years had trainees who have been out the night before and got steaming drunk, they turn up with only 5 hours rest and can’t train. They would be better to stay in their bed and not wasted my time. If you get the chance to nap in the afternoon then take it with both hands. Remember that you pack your kit, take your training log, so why not get the desired amount of rest in for a cracking session.

11\ The routine currently used, This is an interesting topic, most people start on a routine and quite like it so they keep doing it all the time until they run across someone with an idea or read something in a magazine. If you keep doing the same routine week in week out then at some point in the proceedings, you will run into a brick wall so to speak. Some people get caught up in the weight, that means they cannot drop down because they feel it is a defeat. The defeat has already taken place because they have allowed tunnel vision to take place. Some people will watch what others do and try to beat or equal their achievements, be competitive but not stupid. The big picture is simply this, you train for life not just in your youth or because you want to prove something. Changing the routine brings new ideas and developments to be explored, new ways to test you and your partners. If you stick to the same old thing be prepared to see people pass you who are currently below your level. Read up and start thinking how to set short term goals and also the long term ones as well.

12\ Health, physical and mental, we all value health greatly so treat it like a gift that you would not want to lose. When you are young life is full and you feel the power of youth in the body, strong, fast, skillful and bursting with energy. The only thing that is lacking is knowledge and to some extend wisdom. You will see in any gym people who turn up with a virus to train because they don’t want to miss a session. The only problem with this is every other bleeder gets the same nonsense you are infected with, cheers. If you are ill then don’t train, viruses attack muscles in the body weakening them, so you will feel terrible all the way through the session. The best piece of advice a doctor gave me was not to train when ill, I now give it to you, don’t. There is a condition called post virual flu syndrome which you can get after have the flu, it leaves people wreaked so be warned, take that little bit extra time and be a 100% when you come back. The other side of health is mental, this is about peoples emotions and to some extend external factors play a part in this. You will find some people in training who have lost the edge, the feel of being focused into the training with a great passion. This can be temporary and wear off or if you are unlucky last awhile, if you coach someone who is off the pace and cannot give you a good reason then you may have problems as most people don’t like burdening other people with their troubles. If you have emotional baggage then leave it outside the gym door, make training a positive experience at all times, let it be your island in the storm of life, the eye of the hurricane. Having been at university for a number of years I have meet many people but one sticks out. This was a American studying to be a doctor of medicine at Glasgow, he would take about an hour off each day to train down at the gym to get the stress of studying out of his system. It worked for him, it will work for you because it was a positive time in the day where he could see progress taken place. His technical ability on the other hand was suspect but that’s another story. People train for different reasons, find the person who trains for the same goals as you. Remember training partners are not born they are made, so watch who you pick for yours.

13\ Not having the best equipment, I have trained at quite a few gyms in my time in the Glasgow area, some have had the best of equipment and some have not. In order that the routine is always going forward you need the best. The best gym I have ever trained at is Esporta, finneston in Glasgow, for what I want to do it is superb, I don’t give praise lightly as my students know. Any gym that does not have an incline leg press, cable row, cable crossover, lying leg curl is in my professional opinion not a real gym at all. These are essential, basic and a must buy for any gym that wants to be considered as top of the line training facility. If the gym you train at doesn’t have these things then the section at the back on good gyms to train at maybe of interest to you. If you are happy at your current gym that does not have these things then fair enough not everyone can afford to train at a commercial gym. If you have the opportunity then take it with both hands. When I teach people who wish to be the best whether they be student or not, I use Esporta for my purposes.

14\ Not possessing the knowledge to go to the next level, As I have experienced a few gyms, I notice that people watch when I and my training partners are hard at it. Most people do not have access to a coach because the cost is high unless you are rich, then the only way to pick up first hand knowledge is by watching and listening to other people. It is essential that you keep up your reading even if you are qualified as a coach to improve all the time. I have seen some pretty bad teachers in my time spent in gyms and it is of great concern that when you ask for advice that you get the correct type and the back up required to put it into practice. One of the gyms I go to does not have instructors on duty overseeing the gym at all times, this means that the knowledge that should be available is not being passed on to the entire gym community. There is no legal requirement that a gym instructor is present in the gym at all times, however there must be a person qualified in first aid in the building to deal with medical emergencies. That must be a great comfort if you do something wrong or have an accident that a member of staff will deliver medical attention to you. It must be like bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Personally speaking I would rather not be injured in the first place, I am rather old fashioned in that respect as are my trainees.

Anyway something to think about, you should when training know exactly what you are doing at all times.

George Laird
University of Glasgow