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It's important to always remember that each of us are unique individuals and therefor we should have an individualised training and health program. Generic training programs that are given to lots of people or group training circuits etc are definitely are not what we are talking about here.
The reality is if you are serious about getting a program that is based on exactly what your body needs that you would need to see someone like myself who has the knowledge and experience in doing this. Someone who can deeply assess your body, your lifestyle, your goals and then make you an individualised program, tailored to what you need. Programs also need to be changed / updated every 4-8 weeks to allow for consistent progression and to continually progress you to the next levels in the areas you are wanting to improve.
In this blog I will talk to you in a way that empowers you to have the steps and the thought process to be able to create something for yourself that you can get your desired results from. You can use this same process to create new programs for yourself as you progress and are ready for to step things up.
First of all you need to know what is the goal or goals that you are wanting to achieve from this program… You want to get stronger? You want to increase flexibility / mobility? Rehab an injury? Increase aerobic capacity? Get better at climbing mountains…. What do you want to achieve from the program? This is the first thing you need to know as this will determine what you do in your program. Remember that the more things you focus on achieving in a program the slower the results will be for each thing. Having a clear focus with each program will make your program the most effective.
Once you know what the goal is of your program then its time to get clear on what your starting point is… When you do this its important to be real with yourself and actually meet yourself where you really are at. You don't want to over do it and injure yourself or end up so sore that you don't want to train ever again. If you can’t do a full depth body weight squat then your program isn’t going to have them in it. Perhaps you could opt for a sit to stand from your dining room chair with a couple of cushions on the chair to reduce the range of motion to begin with.
In terms of understanding where you are staring from there are 3 areas we will focus on:
Mobility
Strength / control
Aerobic fitness.
Mobility is important because with great mobility you have the ability to move your joints through their full range of motion and if you create and maintain strength / control through this range then you can have healthy, pain-free, optimally functioning joints through your life.
Strength is important because you could have all the mobility in the world but if you don't have the strength / control to use it in ways that add value to your life then it's not much use to you.
Aerobic fitness is important because it's the foundation of your bodies ability to create energy within all our body systems. Improved aerobic fitness generally will result in more energy, better overall health, better body weight management, better recovery / sleep etc, the list goes on.
So in terms of mobility - here is a basic movement assessment you could do:
It's important to have mobility / range of motion in these movements as these are the basics that are required for good general function. If you can’t achieve the above positions then improving mobility in these areas will be important for you.
Next you can look your strength and function in the basic human movements and see where you are currently at with them. You can then identify what needs to be improved and find exercises that will improve these movements and your strength levels within them.
The basic strength movements are:
Squat
Hip hinge
Lunge
Press (vertical and horizontal)
Pull (vertical and horizontal)
Core strength (anti-flexion, extension, lateral flexion & rotation)
* note that these are the basics for basic human function, within each of these there are numerous components that can be and should be analysed individually. However I believe these are the ones that will give you the most “bang for your buck” and also if I was to go into depth it would make this blog post far too long. We can go into that another time.
With these movements you really have to meet yourself where you are at. Find ways to test each movement that you can achieve with pain-free movement and good technique, yes you also find a bit of a challenge. You do not have to do a specific exercise for each, you just need to find exercises that meet you where you are at, challenge you and allow for progression in the movement you are wanting to progress.
The basics we can look at for Aerobic fitness are:
GAIT (walking, running)
General movement (a great one is looking at your step count)
Aerobic fitness could be measured in many ways but for simplicity sake you can just look at your general activity levels - if you spend 8 hrs sitting a day and don't do a daily walk then your aerobic fitness needs to improve. If you're on your feet all day and get 10000 steps plus a day then you're probably ok.
* note this is general advice hoping to empower you, this is not specific to your situation or circumstances.
Once you identify what movements / focusses you are going to have in your program then you want to decide how often you are going to train. The most important thing here is knowing what you will be able to do consistently as consistency is so important. There is no point saying you will train 5 days per week if you know you won’t - maybe 3 days is a better option.
When deciding the frequency, intensity and volume of your training exercises / sessions you really need to know what you are looking to achieve, you need to take into account your lifestyle, your work, the amount of time you have, stress levels etc (basically understand how ready your body is to take on more stress with training).
A good thing to understand here is that different exercises put different amounts of stress on your body - to keep it simple lets say if stress is high maybe your best to start with aerobic exercise and a bodyweight movement program until you can build some resilience. If your quite active and stress is low you may be best to get into some kore strength focussed work.
From here it basically goes as follows…Progress, reassess, adapt, progress, reassess, adapt. Over and over again.
Progress - you do your program consistently, exactly how you planned to do it, each week you progress. Progress may be more range of motion if your focussing on increasing mobility, progress may be heavier weight if you are focussing on strength, progress may be more reps if you are focussing on volume / building muscle. Progress is progress, don't rush… The person who trains the longest gets the strongest, focus on the long-term game.
Reassess - once you have done your program for a while 4-8 weeks typically you will get to some kind of plateau in the things you are wanting to improve (Maybe you will just get bored of it). This is where you reassess where you are at. Hopefully there is some notable improvement in what you were focusing on.
Adapt - Based on you reassessment you may change the goal / focus a little depending on what you found and then you are going to make a new plan that will allow you to begin to progress again.
I hope this has been of value and can give you an understanding of the process to take in creating your program. This is obviously just a guide and if I was to do this for you my process goes into more depth with everything.
If you would like help in creating a plan that takes all of this into consideration plus much more then reach out and we can chat about what would be best for you! Have a fantastic day!
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