The Exercise Menu
What do you really want?
Do you want long term results that stick, or do you want to feel better in the instant but pretty much get what you’ve always gotten?
This is the question. The crux. The dichotomy that most people suffer from when they travel along their fitness journey.
Can you delay your gratification? Can you take the long road, work hard, be diligent and be consistent? Or do you need your gratification instantly, at the cost of the long term, to make you feel validated in the here and now, no matter how fleeting?
Can you work away, knowing that in 80% of your workouts you could have done more? Or do you need to end every session as a limp sweating heap on the floor?
You know which path you should take. These are all loaded questions. But why do people take the short cut, the one that burns up any chance of long term success?
The reason is because the fitness-industrial complex (thanks to Chip Conrad for that term!) is a multi-billon pound machine. They want your money and they don’t care how they get it. The industry is huge and it’s not just targeting you directly itself, it’s minions are out there to get you too! The industry disgorges multitudes of its spawn every year. Young enthusiastic Trainers, whose parents are tricked into parting with their own hard earned cash to send their little angels on the latest training course. Probably something to do with how taking DNA mouth swabs will determine what colour of running shoes will make you run faster, or how much broccoli you should eat to make your stool the correct shade of brown.
These super enthusiastic trainers, who eventually grow into adult trainers, if they survive the average industry average lifespan of two years, need to keep clients hooked. They need to offer them constant variety to keep their clients entertained.
Constant variety kills progression. Progression occurs in line with the SAID principle, that being Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. Now we do have to ‘wave’ that demand, we need to increase it over a period of time, back it off to allow recovery (which is when the adaptation actually occurs), but we have to be fairly consistent over a period of time as to the means through which we imposed that demand.
What the heck does that mean?
We need to pick some exercises, stick with them and get better at them. Once we’ve been consistent with them for four to six weeks, then we can alter things a bit. No one is saying you have to do the same workout three times a week for the next 40 years (eventually you’d hit your limit and stop adapting).
“The only thing that separates the elite from all the rest is the fact that the elite are better at the basics than everyone else.” – MSgt Duane Stanton, USAF Pararescue
If we look at elite sports, with few exceptions, at the high level there are very few ‘moves’.
Football – Kicking the ball far (but not too far), dribbling, marking, throwing and tackling (the most complex of the skills).
Rugby – Catching, sprinting, throwing, scrum and tackling (hitting like a truck or being hit by a truck).
Boxing – Four punches on two heights, slip, cover and evasive footwork.
Judo – 60+ recognised throws, most champions become famous by only using two or three.
Shot putt – Throw the shot…
The difference between elite and normal is that the elite focused on mastering the basics, to the level that the basics became horrifically complicated and we started calling them the fundamentals to highlight that they aren’t really ‘basic’.
What can the non-elite learn from the elite?
To achieve your goal, if you truly desire it, then focus on a small number of things. For most people who aren’t elite (and that is pretty much all of us) that means five things:
- Move well
- Eat like a Grown-Up
- Get Strong
- Negotiable based on goal/sport
- Rest hard
Oh, and have some fun!
Each of these five categories has fundamental skills to work on.
Move well – Get yourself movement screened. I’m biased to the Functional Movement Screen, basically a body movement MOT.
Eat like a Grown-Up – Everyone intuitively knows what this means. Less junk food, eat things that are as close to natural as you can, eat colourful vegetables and drink plenty of water (and if you have to ask if X counts as water then the answer is no).
Get Strong – If you’ve read my blog before then I’ve flogged this one to death. If this is your first sojourn into the crazy world that goes on inside my head… welcome! Topics are listed to the right of this article, get reading!
Negotiable based on goal – Seriously, if it’s getting better at sport X, then go do sport X. If it’s a fat loss goal, use this time to prep meals or create a supportive network. This section is negotiable (it even says it in the title).
Rest Hard – This is when any adaptation takes place. Get plenty of sleep, don’t over train, chill out and don’t get ill. Trouble sleeping? Then do something about it! Alter your routine to improve your sleep, take less screen time, buy blackout blinds, wear ear plugs, etc.
In your workouts (and that’s why you’re really reading this) you apply the same principles.
In a training programme we can basically distil our exercise choices to a number of movements:
- Push
- Pull
- Squat
- Hinge
- Gait/Loaded Carries
- Core
- Primitive Patterns
And do them in a variety of modes:
- Power
- Strength
- Endurance
This looks like a lot, but what if I told you that you could actually obtain all of those with just a one armed hardstyle kettlebell swing and a Turkish get up? (This is covered in Pavel Tsatsouline’s brilliant book ‘Simple and Sinister’).
Speaking of Pavel, in another of his programmes the Kettlebell Right of Passage (RoP) he stipulates three mandatory workout days a week plus what he terms two optional ‘variety days’. Excluding the variety days RoP focuses on three exercises and if we include warm up and stretching we get a grand total of ten exercises. Pavel included the variety days (with some pretty strict rules) to allow those with workout ADD to get it out of their system.
[Note: After following the ROP for approximately 12 weeks I finally got my one arm push up and pistol squat for multiple reps, despite neither of these being remotely represented in the program. I was also able to run 10k easily in 52 minutes having done no running for two years, there can be carry over! Trust in Coach!]
So once we’ve cured you of what Master Kettlebell Instructor Brett Jones terms RDD (Routine Deficit Disorder) we can focus in on the small number of exercises which will help you to achieve your goal in the shorts possible space of time.
Focus on technique, avoid injury and remember the ‘health’ in ‘health and fitness’. There’s little point in being ripped if you can’t get your arm overhead or are in constant back pain.
“Don’t finish ugly, finish fast, finish clean and have the last one look like the first.” – Gray Cook, FMS co-Founder
Again, I’m not telling you to never change your programme. Only to stick to an intelligently designed programme long enough for it to elicit the results you turned to it for. To not smash your face into the wall every workout (one in eight is fine!) and to think long term.
Finally, intelligent programming does allow for fun to exist. Normally this is either in the addition of exercises clients really enjoy, but we limit how far on the dial they’re allowed to go on them (6 out of 10 is the usual cut off for a variety day exercise). Or sometimes we use skill based training such as handstands, crow stands, cartwheels, tumbling, etc. Things that are fun to do but don’t excessively fatigue you (and build you up for some more brutal displays of strength and endurance later on down the road).
So don’t be scared to do less. Be brave enough to stop before you fail and if you do need to go balls to the wall on occasion, choose a safe way in which to do it.
Be fit, be strong, be happy!