Why Programs Don’t Work
Why You haven’t Made Gains Since 1986!
by Antanas Sleckus and Boris Batchman
Not giving them 100% effort
This is one of the main reasons why good programs don’t work. People are lazy and do things half assed. I’m maybe being too harsh but if you have no time to follow a set regime or to perform a full warm-up you have no place in the gym. People see a good routine or a bad one and just pick a point from it. “Hmmm, it talks about lifting heavy that means I need to curl heavier -exercise order, sets, and reps were chosen for a reason and shouldn’t be messed with.
An easy way to tell if you’re staying on track (or not) is to get a log and start noting down what you lift. If you’re lifting more weight than you did last week, great, but if not and you’re weaker than a baby’s fart that day, it will be painfully obvious. A log can provide additional information in a form of short notes such as feel for the lift, diet, stress, etc.
Irrational progression
Being half-assed in combination with irrational progression usually leads to failure or worse, injury. The ability to recover from workout to workout depends on the athlete’s conditioning and experience. A novice will generally recover quicker from a sub-maximal workout or set than an advanced athlete. This means, the volume and workload progression has to vary accordingly.
Sounds simple enough but people mess this up too. Adding too much weight at the start of a program/mesocycle can lead you to getting stuck at the early stages. Others don’t add enough weight to the bar so the stress adaptation cycle is diminished. So in simple terms you underachieve just like you did in school.
Our bodies are amazing machines capable of near any adaptation. It’s a survival mechanism that responds in different stages. It is called “General Adaptation Syndrome”, understanding this principle will help your understanding on weightraining programs.
This is the exact response we are trying to get from training with out over backing things. As a novice people can repeat the first two stages for some time without reaching the state of overtraining, this is called the “single factor theory”. But an advanced athlete couldn’t do this for long because the stress would be too great and too frequent. The amount of time allowed for the body to adapt would be too short- leading the athlete to overtraining.
Can’t keep this up forever, beginner gains will eventually start to slow down and eventually stall – and adding weight to the bar each session becomes increasingly difficult. The athlete will not be able to recover as quickly from high intensity – high volume training sessions and they will become more infrequent. Volume and intensity will have to be more patiently coaxed and measured in terms longer than a single training session or mesocycle.
Training produces two effects: fitness and fatigue. The harder you train the more your fatigue will mask the fitness gains you made. In other words we are manipulating training to become stronger.
More advanced athletes use periodization stages to their training as they cannot make progress each session so they have specific training periods. For example they will try to progress weekly or even monthly until they plateau then deload. They do this to allow recovery to take place after they have stalled because the cumulative fatigue is too great to show any strength gains. If they continue to push at this level they will start to go backwards in the gains they have made and possibly reach injury.
They will deload to allow recovery to take place so that they could break current PR’s. They should beat their PR if they trained correctly in the first place and if sufficient recovery took place, there are other factors but just ignore them for the moment. This is called “Dual factory” then rinse and repeat.
A member of the Mesomorphis forum tries to explain the whole process- trust me it’s a good, advanced read on the subject but word of caution it may get too sciency for some people.
Of course there are often monkey-wrenches thrown into training: injuries, troubles learning the correct form etc. The application of repeating a movement over and over again is to learn that motor pattern. This is form work, and will contribute positively in the long run. You’re training your body to be aware of the position until it becomes second nature. This will help prevent form-related injuries. Never sacrifice form for weight - more on this later. Good read on the "Stress" "Fitness" Principle.
Confusion
General confusion in the trainee can kill progress. A major source of confusion is contradicting sources. People can’t tell the difference between the good, the bad, and the just plain stupid. For example jumping from a pink Swiss balls and calling it “core training”- Absolutely not warming up and hitting the bench hard- Not Squatting and so on.
Lack of patience and goals can also lead to confusion. Many people want to do everything in a single session this is because they don’t have a clear goal. How many times have you heard, “I want to gain muscle, get stronger and get a six-pack (at the same time)”
This is something that would need to be tackled in separate phases. If you want to lose some weight, go for it don’t try and multi-task. We’re clearly incapable of doing this, leave it to the professional, your mum. Once you reach the result you wanted move on to the next goal. Usually when people try to do too many things nothing happens. “Killing two birds with one stone is great, but if you aim for both you won’t kill anything at all!” – Boris Batchmann. Consider working on the following things if you’re not sure where to begin:
- Form Form problems can affect a program in various ways. For example programs based on squatting don’t perform any or much of assistance work. Why? Because it is a multi joint movement which when done correctly will beat the crap out of you and no single joint isolation movement will be superior in accumulating fatigue.
Squatting is a skill which all trainees were born, however in most modern lifestyles it has fallen out of favor – sitting and leaning have largely taken the place of squatting. A newborn child can easily get into a perfect squatting position - we knew how to squat but have forgotten how. The average 30 year old office worker will struggle to get in the bottom squat position. Makes you wonder how they get on the john without breaking it. Why? We spend most of our spare time, being inactive and on our butts.
Superheavy lifter Dong Feng
Credit: dehwang
Now what happens when you take this postural catastrophe to the weight room? He will have to work much harder to overcome flexibility issues and use the right musculature. This would take extra attention to correct and is easy to fall back in an incorrect lifting pattern. Lifting in a correct mannerr is like cementing “good posture” and lifting in a wrong manner will do the same but negatively. You can use this observation tool to diagnose an athlete’s likelihood for injury. The easier the full squat or the overhead squat the less prone to injury he or she will be.
Many programs don’t work for people because they have crap form. This and ego lifting and will kill progress in the long term. If you sacrifice form for weight, the exercise becomes dangerous. It can lead to immediate injuries like twisted knees (laugh at the expense of the author) or something that will surely pop up down the line: a bad shoulder, a bad back etc. I think lifting heavy with “poor form” is a “macho” thing same as walking around and pretending that your balls are so huge they actually prevent you from walking normally, don’t pretend like you haven’t done it.
Another perspective From Gray Cook’s, "Athletic Body in Balance" As recommended by Boris Batchmann:
The problem is that poor form may be easier, more familiar, and more comfortable, and it may even seem to take less energy than proper form. Proper form, however, will take far less energy in the long run. Poor form, even if it leads to some initial success, will eventually rob the athlete and cost far more time and effort than what is required to fix the weak links. Poor form can incorporate less overall muscle activity and therefore seem easier, but don't confuse this feeling with efficiency.
Muscles are accustomed to generating the desired movement and maintaining optimal body position. To be efficient, the athlete must fulfil both criteria and then demonstrate the ability to reproduce the activity without a decline in quality. The athlete who understands this will be more efficient and will develop the muscles that were designed to perform the activity. |
Also a good read by Boris Batchmann on the subject
- Why (looked good on paper)
Why are you doing what you’re doing? Are you a competitive powerlifter? Are you an athlete training for strength or speed? Do you just want to get fit for the summer?
All of these things have to be taken in consideration when choosing or creating a template. You must not loose focus what you are training for. If you’re a competitive powerlifter there are some things that will vary technique and training wise. If you’re a strength athlete, you need to focus on being physically prepared for the demands of your sport and not to compete as a powerlifter, not to be a bodybuilder, but working towards your specific sport.
Still, everything is based around strength; you need a strength base to build from like a “starting base”. Strength is a skill which is required in everyday tasks let alone sports. An athlete needs to be good at his sport and a general strength training program should increase his performance level.
The reason why many athletes cannot perform a certain task because they are flat out weak not because they don’t know the skill process involved. Don’t make me out to be one sided; remember there are always exceptions. A slam dunk, a back flip and a powerclean is a feat of skill in combination with strength. One without the other is like having a car with no wheels, not too good if you want to get somewhere.
Think about it, you have two combat athletes: one relies mostly on his strength and the other relies on his skill. You would think that the athlete with greater skill would win but what if the other athlete’s strength is so superior to his opponents fighting technique. Simple analogy MMA Fans!–need not send me angry emails. The stronger athlete would overpower the weaker opponent unless his skill level is really up there.
The athlete’s strength is greater to his opponent’s skill; unless he brings that skill up he will not match his opponent and will get creamed. Strength can be gained much easier than a specific skill required in a sport. Developing a specific MMA skill may take years so implementing a well designed strength program would be the smart thing to do.
Lame programs
Another reason why programs don’t work is that they are plain garbage. There are many people on the net giving out bad information. Many people think they’re more advanced than they think.
People especially beginners/intermediates need to stick to basics: squats, deadlifts, and presses. Bring these up and your strength will go up. People who can squat and deadlift heavy are pretty muscular and there is a lesson to be learnt there.
In general, avoid fancy programs with a large number of exercises and obscure exercise variations.Things like depthjumps and other complex training methods were created for top athletes, people who squat 2-4x their own bodyweight. A simple rule to go by is if it looks too complicated go back to the basics. Most good programs revolve around them and tackle individual weakness. Most of the top coaches think along those lines.
Some good reading by Madcow2 on the subject General training ethos- If you haven’t heard of him, you really need to read up on his work.
There are many solid programs in print and on the internet, get yourself “Starting Strength” by Mark Rippetoe 1rst or 2nd edition. It can really open your eyes as an athlete and/or coach.
Poor nutritional habits
This little daisy can really mess with things. Strength and size are closely related and food directly affects both. Want to be weaker and smaller? Eat less. Want to be stronger and bigger? You need to eat more and better. This is the whole of nutrition in a nutshell. When wanting to gain strength you need to eat enough calories to march you through a killer squatting session. If Johnny doesn’t eat, Johnny cant lift heavy, and Johnny can’t get bigger.
So again if you want to lose weight, you need to eat less – if want to add size, you need to eat more. See there is a huge debate in “Clean vs Dirty” eating. This is pretty simple, but different body types respond differently to different foods and macronutrient amounts.
Eat wholesome foods, eat enough protein, drink enough water, eat healthy fats, eat plenty of fruit and veg and avoid highly processed foods if you want to stay lean. Caloric access still needs to be present to grow and get stronger. As long as you are with in a “reasonable” diet and enough calories are present, you should still grow. Madcows view on the issue
Depending on how much stress is created via exercise for the body to adapt, the extra calories may be stored as fat or muscle. Eat a hell of a lot more and sit around all day long and you will get fat. Eat a hell of a lot and squat frequently and you will be a monster. Simply put if you spend a lot of calories you need to take in a lot just to sustain the current level.
On the other extreme of a perspective, going back to caloric access, super heavy-weight-powerlifters need a shit load of calories to maintain strength and size levels. Just getting enough calories is a task in itself. So I doubt they will be picky in what they eat, as long as there’s enough protein and enough calories.
Gerard "Rhino" Benderoth
Credit: Highstrungloner
I think this is a major problem with today’s society. Not exercising, eating like crap and when they do, they usually binge out on processed, sugary foods. Not only that but they usually skip breakfast and don’t eat regularly, meaning their metabolism is already slower than a fat kid on an electric scooter. After the prolonged fasting period the body is turned on to “survival” mode, so it’s going to store anything that it gets to prepare for the next so called “food drought”.
Sometimes the whole calorie counting gets out of control to the point of obsessive and freaky. This mindset sometimes gets amplified in the bodybuilding community. Have some self control and celebrate some times, everyone needs time off. Good Forum post on the Topic
Hope this little list made you reconsider some things. If the basics work why mess with them? Some things to remember:
- How’s your intensity? Are you giving 100% effort?
- Are you progressing? How’s your periodization?
- Confusion
- Your form can always be better so work on it.
- Why are you doing what you’re doing?
- Are you following a lame program sure to get you injured?
- Poor nutritional habits
Also I would like to thank Boris Batchmanfor all of the help, the man is a valuable source to the strength training community and is a generally nice guy.
Visit Boris's Video homepage!
Sources:
- Gray Cook’s, "Athletic Body in Balance"
- Practical programming by Mark Rippetoe and Lyon Kilgore
- Starting Strength 2nd edition by Mark Rippetoe and Lyon Kilgore
- Conditioning for Strength and Human Performance By T. Jeff Chandler, Lee E Brown
- http://www.elitefts.com/documents/stress_and_fitness.htm
- http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/index.htm
-http://forum.mesomorphosis.com/training-forum/best-meso-training-theory-8500.html
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