Progressing and Scaling

There is a progression to a movement’s appropriate placement and usefulness in regards to conditioning. As an athlete improves their ability to perform movements they gain more potential for WOD design. More tools in the tool box. When an athlete is proficient in a movement, they will be able to perform it in a cyclical manner to receive the dose training effect in regards to conditioning.

Progression of Movement Acquisition   

Can not Perform- The athlete has never done the movement

Has Performed Once- It is the athlete’s PR 

Can Perform Occasionally- On good days they can perform

Can Perform Daily- Any day it is there for a single rep at a time

Can Train as Strength or Skill- Has the ability to perform a few reps with ample rest between 

Can Perform as Chore- Can perform while fatigued but slows them down significantly

Can Perform Limited- Slows them down slightly small chance of failed rep

Can Perform- little to no chance of failed reps

Can cycle- Can transition between reps unbroken, no chance of missed reps 

Scaling

Reps- Reduce the reps to keep athlete in desired time domain and intensity

Weight- Reduce weight to allow athlete to cycle movement appropriate to WOD intent

Movement- Change to a more trainable movement for the athlete

Movement Selection

There is no right or wrong answer to which exercises are the best to do in your training. The selection of movements is individually based and you should be in tune with your own training to know what is or is not working. The most important concept to understand with movement selection is consistency within training variables.  If you are getting progressively stronger within given rep ranges you know it is going to show in your physique and performance in a competition. 

From a physique standpoint, there is no one-set answer for which movements to do. Find the movements that work best for you and seek to get as strong in those movements as possible. If you hit a sticking point find out why and address it. For example, a barbell squat uses a lot of hip drive and glute, so some people may not feel as big of a stretch in their quads. They may choose to do a hack squat variation or stick to a leg press instead. Some people prefer to get stronger over a variety of movements while some people stick to very specific movements. At the end of the day whichever movements you chose you always want to look back and make sure you were consistent within these movements and assess if you made the desired progress.

From a performance based standpoint, you want to get more specific with exercise selection as it gets closer to your competition. Far out from a competition in a general phase you should be doing general strength training. As the competition gets closer focus on lifts that you will be doing in competition. For example, in a general phase you can train movements such as a leg press and leg extension and phase into movements more specific to competition lifts such as a front squat. As you get even closer to the competition, even more specific such as heavy back squats.

Assessment Protocol

We are always assessing to inform the direction of our program. We follow an order of steps to guide us through the different levels of an assessment.

The first level of assessment is: can the athlete do something, a simple yes or no. If yes move on to the next “can they or can’t they” question. If they can’t Level 2 is why? When figuring out why, we need to not make assumptions. Far fewer people have mobility restrictions than you think. Be objective. 

The order of questions I follow:

Does it matter? Will it affect their ability to reach their goal?

Are they unaware? If I cue them can they fix it?

Are they tired? Can they do it for a single rep?

Are they Strong/Stable enough? Is the movement possible under less load?

Are they mobile enough? Can they do it in a variation with less mobility needed?

Are they seriously injured? Is there something more going on?

Once we move through these questions and identify any issues, we use this information to guide our program design and exercise selection moving forward.

Assessments

We are constantly looking for something. We are finding out what will be appropriate and what would be inappropriate for each person. Our first question in an assessment is “Why?” Why are you here, and what is your goal? Once we have this information we can assess to see which method will be appropriate to reach their goal. We are always assessing to see the direction of the path we are on and where we must take them.  

In an initial assessment and each subsequent assessment, we look for areas to make priority and any imbalances. We will focus on areas that will give us the biggest return on investment and strengthen the weakest link. In order to find a weak link, we look for mechanical, strength, and performance based imbalances that can lead to injury. Injuries will prevent us from training effectively. We do this by assessing an athlete's strength, skills, weaknesses, and general knowledge to see if anything is lacking and compare to other athletes. We see what cues work during training and measure their progress towards the goal. We evaluate performance at periodic intervals and use that feedback to measure athlete's achievement towards the goal. 

Assessments are not worth anything if they do not inform our actions. It doesn’t matter how much an assessment tells us if we do not implement it to determine priorities and anything that needs to be fixed.

Metabolic Set Point

It is suggested that your body has a predetermined or preferred weight range where it likes to settle. We evolved this way to prevent us from becoming weak when food availability was low and too big to move in times of excess. This range is determined by a combination of genetics, diet/exercise habits and hormones. Genetics may predispose someone to a certain weight range. However someone’s lifestyle choices ultimately have the biggest impact on their weight set point. 

Energy balance in the body (calories in vs. calories out) will still determine if someone loses, maintains, or gains weight. Our body will prompt us to take actions to adjust calories out (usually our NEAT) to help keep our set point. For example, feeling tired resulting in relaxing on the couch when we under eat or having the energy to clean out the garage on the weekend after we overeat. 

Meal Timing

Meal timing is an important factor to consider especially in trained athletes who have already mastered sustainability in their diet with proper calorie and macronutrient targets. It refers to the time between meals relative to each other. Keeping in mind that adherence to your diet is most important, you should spread out your meals according to your schedule and preference. For example, if your diet has high calories it makes sense to spread out those calories into 4-6 meals as opposed to 1-2 very large meals to make the diet more sustainable. If your diet is very low calorie it might make sense to eat less frequent but more calories at each meal. Another aspect to consider is digestion rate since larger meals take longer to break down while different protein and carb sources differ in how long they take to digest. Fats will slow down digestion and the time it takes to shuttle nutrients into the muscles. Therefore, it requires some strategy to plan out your meals. 

Choose food sources and a meal schedule that work with your lifestyle. For athletes with performance or aesthetic goals, focus on carbohydrates in the pre, intra and post workout window while keeping fats to a minimum in the post-workout as they will delay carbohydrate digestion. Protein should be evenly divided up into each meal throughout the day. Adjustments will be made along the way based on adherence and there are many ways to manipulate your meals to get results. 

Metabolic Adaptation

Our body has what’s called a “self defense system” which is active during a dieting phase. Metabolic adaptation is your body’s attempt to reduce your total energy expenditure resulting in a decreased metabolic rate. At the start of a diet, it is pretty easy to lose weight because the metabolic rate is still normal. However, as the duration of the dieting phase increases your metabolism slows down to adapt to the decrease in calories. There are many changes in the body that work to slow down energy expenditure including a reduction in Basal Metabolic Rate (calories required for basic body functions), reduction in NEAT (any non exercise activity) throughout the day, and amount of energy expended during exercise. 

After a prolonged period of dieting, you may experience that you no longer lose weight while eating low calories. Because of the adaptations mentioned above, what you previously believed to be a calorie deficit may now be your maintenance calories. Calories will need to be adjusted accordingly depending on the goal. You can decide to keep dieting on lower calories or reverse diet (raising metabolic rate by slowly raising calories) to a more sustainable level. 

Hydration

Fluid intake is a priority for athletes and non-athletes. It is met through the food we eat and beverages we drink. Our bodies lose water through sweat, urinary/fecal output, and respiration. Intense exercise can lead to dehydration, cramping and dizziness which is why hydration before, during, and after exercise is very important to pay attention to. Adequate hydration strategies will focus on the athlete’s daily fluid intake as well as exercise specific fluid intake.

It is recommended to consume approximately 500mL (a plastic water bottle) about thirty minutes before training and an additional 250mL (half a water bottle) every fifteen minutes during training to replace any lost fluids and electrolytes. After exercising it is important to hydrate with at least another 500mL to assist in recovery.

What is Good Nutrition?

Coaches are often asked this question and there are many answers. Good nutrition properly controls energy balance, provides necessary nutrients, and is sustainable. A “good diet” may look different for each athlete and it is important to keep that in mind while writing custom nutrition programs. Coaches should  have an open mind and not limit clients to certain types of diets and clients should also be open minded to try different approaches. Ultimately, the best diet is the one that works for someone that they can follow during the 23 hours a day they are away from the gym.

Individual Differences and Program Design

The biggest impact individual differences between athletes will have on program design will be the athlete’s ability to recover from hard training. There are some key factors that play a role in the effect on the differences between athletes in their ability to recover from training.

Gender: Typically women have a higher ability to recover because they are generally smaller and less muscular.

Experience: A more experienced lifter will have a greater ability to perform work in each session throughout the week. This will cause more damage and require more recovery.

Age: As an athlete gets older their ability to recover from training will slowly decline.

Weight: The larger the athlete the more muscle mass they will have. With more muscle mass, there is more damaged muscle mass in need to recover.

Height: A taller the lifter the further the distance the barbell will travel. Each rep for the taller athlete will be more fatiguing than it would be for the shorter athlete.

Strength: The stronger the athlete, the heavier the sets they perform will be. With the higher stimulus the more fatigue is generated.

Diet: A caloric surplus with proper macro breakdown will allow the athlete to recover better. In a caloric deficit the body has a smaller budget to spend on rebuilding tissue structures, reducing the athlete’s ability to recover.  

Sleep: Without proper sleep the athlete’s ability to recover will be greatly reduced.

Stress: Stress, regardless of source, will be interpreted the same by the body. Stress from outside of the gym will take away the amount of physical stress the athlete will be able to handle 

PED: Performance enhancing drugs will allow an athlete to recover easier. The athlete will be able to lift heavier and train harder, so the overall net effect on training volume is minor but still present.

History: Some people naturally have a better ability to handle training volume than others. We will need to look at their past ability to handle volume in determining their current training. 

High Carb vs. Low Carb Diets

The most important factors in someone’s diet plan are adherence and sustainability. A “perfect” diet does not exist and the plan should be based on individual preference. Carbohydrates are the most flexible macronutrient when it comes to intake requirements which is why a high or low carb diet can be done without health or performance detriments. Ultimately it comes down to individual preference. If someone enjoys eating carbohydrates they will likely not be able to sustain a low carb diet. Conversely, if someone feels better eating higher fat and prefers it they will likely be more successful on a low carb diet. 

Although carbs are typically considered the preferred source of energy for athletes, there are no “black or white” answers to which diet is best. There are many factors to consider such as the sport the athlete competes in, their individual performance goals and aesthetic goals. Ultimately, if an athlete wants to perform at their best their nutrition should be designed with adherence and sustainability in mind.

Reverse Diet

It can be very challenging to maintain a low calorie diet long-term. In order to minimize weight gain after a long period of dieting, calories can be gradually raised back to a more sustainable level. When someone has spent a long period of time on a low calorie diet, their metabolic rate will have declined. Slow, controlled calorie increase can be used to both minimize fat gain and increase energy output. 

If someone has reached their weight loss goal, recently competed in a physique contest, or has spent months/years “yo-yo” dieting, a reverse diet can be very beneficial to be able to maintain weight loss while consuming an increasingly greater amount of food. Reverse dieting requires patience and self-discipline in the short-term in order to maximize long term results.

Bodybuilding for Strength Athletes

Our main focus will be compound powerlifting and weightlifting movements but it is important not to neglect the accessory work that targets certain areas and addresses injuries or imbalances. 

Accessory movements are a useful tool to increase size and strength of certain muscle groups. We will be more durable, able to handle a greater training load, as well as fix structural imbalances that may cause injuries later on or flare up past injuries.

All athletes can benefit from a general bodybuilding style of training. Powerlifters can use exercises such as hack squats, reverse hyperextensions, and cable tricep extensions to specifically target and develop muscle groups that will translate into powerlifting lifts. Weightlifters can use single joint movements to target areas of injury/imbalance such as shoulders and back. The general population can greatly benefit from isolation movements to address imbalances, build work capacity, and become more durable to handle compound movements.

Training Split

There is no “right” or “wrong” training split for each person. How often someone trains should dictate what split they follow to get maximum results. For example, if someone trains six days per week they should break up their training sessions so each muscle group is being targeted once or twice per week. A “bro split (training each muscle group separately once or twice a week)” or a push-pull-leg split would work well in this case to recover properly. If someone trains three days or less a week they would benefit from a full-body split so each muscle group is being worked every time they train. An upper/lower split works well for someone who trains four days a week.

Individual differences play a role to determine training frequency. For example, an elite Strongman athlete will need more time to recover compared to a 115-pound female with less muscle and who lifts much less. The amount of fatigue created from their training session will dictate the training frequency. 

Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating is the opposite of a traditional diet that has guidelines and rules to follow about what to eat, how much, at what time. The concept is that you should eat when you’re hungry and stop eating when you’re full. Some people are better at this then others which is why I believe someone can be successful with this only after they have tracked their food intake consistently for a long period of time.

After someone tracks their calories, macronutrients and portion sizes year after year they will have a much better sense of what to eat, how much, and when to reach their goal. It is unlikely that a beginner will know these measurements from the start if they never tracked. Tracking can be tedious at first but it becomes a habit over time.

Intuitive eating may take some of the “pressure” away from a traditional diet, however if an athlete has strength or body composition goals they must be aware of their intake and make adjustments to reach those goals. Someone who eats intuitively may not know what adjustments need to be made.

Weight Loss Plateau

The concept of a plateau in weight loss does not really exist. What happens is as we progress towards our goals it becomes more difficult to lose weight. It does not mean that the program is not working but the athlete is becoming more advanced. If your weight does not change for a day/week/month it does not mean you aren’t progressing. Maintenance at a lower body weight is progress and part of the process. If you think you need to make a change in training or nutrition every time you “stall” that is unlikely the case. However; it may be appropriate to adjust your calories or exercise after a prolonged period.

If you find you have reached a “plateau” in your weight loss journey, relax and keep doing what you are doing assuming you are following your plan and are in a calorie deficit. Your body needs time to adjust at a lower weight. The only reason you will not reach the goal is if you give up.

Pros and Cons of Meal Plans

Meal plans can be an excellent tool for coaches to use with inexperienced competitors. If an athlete is unsure about how many calories they consume, what their maintenance/surplus/deficit calories are or are generally inconsistent, a meal plan can help streamline their diet and be able to figure out these numbers moving forward. Once the athlete becomes more aware of how many calories they should consume and what they should eat for their goals, the coach can teach them how to track their macronutrients and move towards a more flexible approach.

Meal plans are simple to follow since you are eating the same foods everyday. Some athletes prefer this and excel with consistency. During a contest prep meal plans are commonly used as athletes are required to diet down to low body fat levels.

The downside of meal plans are that they may get “boring” over time and are very strict without room for substitutions. A rigid plan may create excess stress and a negative relationship with food. Coaches should determine on a case-by-case basis if an athlete should or should not be on a meal plan based on their goals and history.

Bodybuilding Divisions

The divisions in the sport of Bodybuilding each have a distinct look and posing style. New divisions have emerged over the years as the sport grew in popularity in both men and women. Each division has their own criteria for judging and the athletes that best fit the criteria will win. 

When someone thinks of Bodybuilding they typically picture athletes such as Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Ronnie Coleman, or Phil Health. Those athletes make up the Men’s Bodybuilding Division. The other divisions for men are Classic Physique and Men’s Physique. Each division has a different look and suit on stage. For Men’s Classic Physique and Men’s Physique, judges look for contestants who display proper shape and symmetry combined with muscularity and overall condition. 

Women’s divisions have evolved over time as well. They now include Women’s Bodybuilding, Women’s Physique, Figure, Fitness, Bikini Wellness, and Bikini. Women’s bodybuilders are the largest and most muscular scaled down to Bikini who are the smallest and least muscular.

Each division is scored based on the “NPC Total Package” which is a balance of size, shape, and symmetry. Women’s Physique athletes should be more muscular and denser than seen in Figure. They should display muscle separation, a small amount of striation with full muscle bellies and balanced muscle between upper and lower body. Figure athletes should display an overall balance of muscular development, a “V” taper, and a balanced physique between lower and upper body. Wellness athletes should display proper shape and symmetry combined with muscularity and overall condition. Bikini athletes should display a foundation of muscle with round glutes and shoulders with a conditioned core.

SRA Curve

The Stimulus Recovery Adaptation curve shows the cycle the athlete goes through during the recovery process after training that leads to the beneficial adaptations. These adaptations are known as supercompensation.

When the natural timing of the SRA curve is interrupted we lose out on potentially beneficial adaptation. This can happen when we introduce a training stimulus to soon or by speeding up recovery through one of our recovery strategies. It may be advantageous to sacrifice potential adaptation at times. These include increased training frequency for technique focus over physical adaptations, and recovery intervention for when performance is prioritized over adaptation.

Before we can understand recovery strategies, we must first understand what fatigue is. Fatigue is the stress induced through training that causes a diminished ability to perform. There are different types of fatigue

Acute Fatigue is the fatigue that accumulates during the course of a workout. Example: Being able to perform 5 Pull Ups in a set at the start of a workout but only 2 at the end of a workout

Chronic Fatigue is the fatigue that accumulates over the course of a training block. Example:

Being able to perform 5 Pull Ups in a set on the first week of a program but only 4 in the third week

Local Fatigue is the fatigue of a specific area of the body.

Systemic Fatigue is the overall fatigue of the athlete

Non training fatigue will contribute to the systemic fatigue of the athlete. Examples of non

training fatigue can include: Sleep deprivation, Poor nutrition, psychological and emotional stress, Illness, and drug and alcohol use. Strategies for dealing with most non training fatigue will fall under lifestyle coaching.

How to Calculate Macronutrients

Macronutrients are the proteins, carbs, and fats that make up our food. Macros can influence our body composition, exercise recovery, and energy levels. Macros can be calculated in grams and easily measured in our meals.

We can determine how many calories in our meal by “counting” the macronutrients. The first step is figuring out how many calories to consume. This can be estimated by taking one’s body-weight and multiplying it by level of activity on a scale of 11-18 (11 is non-active, 18 is extremely active). That calculation is considered “maintenance calories.” Based on the athlete’s goals, calories can be manipulated to achieve desired results.

How much protein should be consumed is between .5-2.5g/lb of body-weight. Subtract the calories from protein from the overall calories and the remaining number will consist of carbs and fats. Fats should consist of approximately .6g per body-weight and vary based on preferences and energy needs. The remaining calories will come from carbohydrates.