Better Programming for the Win
You need to get real about your strengths & weaknesses
Be honest: You go to the gym, hit the weights hard and put a lot of time into your physique because … you have someone in mind. Now, you may never have met this person or even really know much about them, but their body is the body you want.
This is normal, and it can be motivating and inspiring. But you also have to accept that you can only play the cards you were dealt. You have to work with what you have, and that means getting real about your strengths and weaknesses.
Most people never do this. They don’t stop and take the time to properly assess their bodies, separating areas of concern from areas that are their natural strong points. Instead, they spend way too much time training into their strengths and avoiding areas where they are lagging.
This is where proper programming comes in.
I will tell you from experience: If you don’t implement a program that prioritizes your training, you will always be behind it in certain areas and never achieve that next level you seek. Put simply, you need to train the lagging body parts first. Organize your training so there is more volume and load directed at those areas. That’s good programming.
Here’s a recent example: While assessing a new client’s physique, I noticed that his hamstrings were way behind his quads. As a result, when I created his custom leg-day routine, I put the hamstring movements first. I start him out with a leg curl and then a stiff-legged deadlift. It was only after this that I introduced quad-focused movements like the leg press and leg extensions.
I also utilize “add-ons” to other days where this makes sense. Usually, that’s about 72 hours away from the last time the muscle group in question was trained. For this particular client, that looked like an additional set of leg curls or stiff-legged deadlifts at the end of his back-and-biceps workout.
As you can imagine, there are many ways to approach this and nothing is cookie cutter because everyone has different “problem” areas. Adapt your program to your needs and watch your body flourish.
Work hard, train smarter!
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