NSCA Chapter 15: Resistance Training Program Design, Pg. 361By: Brian Huynh

Period 2

Vocabulary Defined Specificity

Refers to training a client in a specific way to produce a specific change or result.

Overload

A training stress or intensity greater than what a client is used to.

Progression

The gradual and consistent increase in the intensity of an exercise program.

Program design variables

An aspect of an exercise program that, when manipulated properly, creates a safe, effective, and goal-specific outcome.

Exercise Choice

The exercises selected for inclusion in a resistance training program.

Core exercises

Exercises that involve movement at two or more primary joints and recruit one or more large muscle groups or areas.

Multijoint exercise

An exercise that involves movement at two or more primary joints.

Vocabulary Defined Cont. Assistance exercises

Exercises that involve movement at only one primary joint and recruit a smaller muscle group or only one large muscle group or area.

Single-joint exercise

An exercise that involves movement at only one primary joint.

Frequency

The number of workouts performed in a given time period (typically one week).

Split Routine

An exercise routine in which different muscle groups are trained on different days or training sessions.

Exercise Order

The specific sequence of exercises within a resistance training workout.

Compound set

Two different exercises for the same primary muscle group that are completed in succession without an intervening rest period.

Superset

Two different exercises for opposing or antagonistic muscle groups that are competed in succession without an intervening rest period.

Trial Load

An estimated load that is based on a percent of the client’s body weight.

Vocabulary Defined Cont.

Goal Repetitions

The number of repetitions a client is assigned to perform for an exercise

Volume

The total amount of wright lifted in a training session or the total number of repetitions completed in a training session

Set

A group of repetitions that are performed consecutively

Rest Period

The time interval between two sets

Pyramid training

A type of training variation in which the load is progressively increased in sequential sets with a corresponding decrease in the number of goal repetitions

2-for-2 rule

A guideline that can be used to increase the load when two or more repetitions above the repletion goal are completed in the final set of an exercise for two consecutive training sessions.

Introduction Goal: Designing a safe and effective resistance training program involves

the consideration and manipulation of certain variables that make resistance training programs more complex than aerobic exercise programs.

Consultation and fitness assessment to determine a client’s resistance training status, exercise technique, and goals.

All exercise programs are based on specificity, overload, and progression. A program must have a specific change in mind, client trains over their current level, a plan for future higher levels of stress and intensity over the clients level.

Components of a Resistance Training Program

Initial consultation and fitness evaluation

Choice

Frequency

Order

Load

Volume: repetitions and sets

Rest periods

Variation

Progression

Initial consultation and fitness evaluation

Are you Currently following a resistance training program?

How long have you been following a regular resistance training program?

How many times per week do you resistance train?

How difficult or intense are your resistance training workouts

What types and how many of resistance training exercises can you perform with proper technique?

3/5 in one row of 5 columns, shows y yat, resistance training status

Fitness Evaluation

Assessing Muscular strength

Compare data with Normative data to assess a client‘s current level of fitness, set a baseline for future comparison as training status improves, and identify current strengths and weaknesses for goal setting.

Before making the goal a trainer must have the client’s primary training goal as the goal determines the type of program they’ll be using.

Fitness Evaluation

• Three Primary goals• Muscular Endurance

• “I want to have better endurance, the client is signaling in this area

• Gives enhanced ability of targeted muscles to perform at a submaximal level for repetitions or duration.

• Hypertrophy• “I want to be more sculpted.”• Increased muscular Hypertrophy

• Muscular Strength• “I want to get Stronger.”• Encourage improvements in athletic performance• Loads for this program are heavier therefore the client needs

to have prior resistance training, such as hypertrophy or muscular endurance training first.

Choice Picking exercise that a client will perform during a resistance training workout.

It is influenced by how much time the client has to exercise, what equipment is available, and the client‘s experience with correctly performing resistance exercises.

Types of Resistance training Exercises

Core Exercises

Typically helps clients reach their goal more effectively

Should follow two rules:

Should involve movement of two or more primary joints

Should have one or more large muscle groups or areas combined with smaller muscle groups.

Assistance Exercises

Maintains muscular balance across joints, to help prevent injury or rehabilitate a previous injury, or isolate a specific muscle group.

Should follow two rules:

Must involve movement at only one primary joint

Must have a smaller muscle group or only one large muscle group or area

Frequency Refers to the number of workouts a client performs in one week.

The personal trainer should base the training frequency on the client’s resistance training status.

Less-trained Clients who take more rests during training will have less frequency, vice versa.

A beginner client’s have two or three sessions per week that are evenly spaced out.

An intermediate clients can have more than 3 sessions per week, although the client has to train multiple days in a row to increase frequency.

Follows the split routine in which schedules four or more workouts evenly spread out in a week but each workout only works on specific parts of the body. Which results with increased training frequency with enough rest time in between.

Order Exercise order refers to placing the exercises in a

specific sequence within a resistance training workout. It is directed by the type and characteristics of the selected exercises.

Exercises can be arranged in order of descending priority or application to the client’s goal.

To give the best performance of the client, a personal trainer should arrange specific exercises that fatigue caused by an exercise has the least impact on the quality or effort of the next exercise. Which is to arrange them by type and muscle areas.

• Methods of Arrangement• Power, Other Core, Then Assistance

exercises• Arrange all power exercises at the

beginning , then core, and assistance exercises.

• Power requires more effort.• Alternate “Push” and “Pull” exercises

• Guarantees the same muscle group won’t be used twice, which gives away fatigue.

• Good for untrained and injured client’s.

•Alternate Upper and Lower Body Exercises

Load and Repetitions 2 Step Process:

The personal trainer must perform a test to gather information about the client

Then the trainer may assign the actual training loads.

Directed by the client’s resistance training goal Endurance or Strength?

Percent of 1RM-Repetition Relationship The heavier the load, the repetitions decrease,

When load is too heavy for client, one repetition called, 1RM

Limitations in the %1RM-Repetition Tables show a direct association between the loads lifted and # of repetitions performed

Well-trained Clients can perform more repetitions at a given %1RM

# of repetitions applies only to one set, not multiple sets

A client cannot perform as many repetitions for an assistance exercise any %1RM for a core exercise

Cont. Guidelines

Directly testing or estimating the 1RM

Using a % of a client’s body weight for testing

Performing RM testing

1-Repetition Maximum Determination

To use table 15.3 trainer must find client’s 1RM

Directly Testing 1RM

Not for un-trained Clients, only intermediate or advanced clients

Only Core exercises are safe

Stress on smaller muscle groups therefore trainer must examine each exercise

Estimating 1RM

Perform 10RM testing

Good for almost all exercises

Easily tired not for un-trained

After finding 10RM use table 15.4 to find 1RM

Another way to Test 1RM\

Testing using a certain % of a client’s body weight. Good for core and assistance exercises

Not for Well-trained Clients

Cont. Repetition Maximum Testing

Third Method

Number of Goal Repetitions

Good for all core exercises

Higher RMs can cause a client to be fatigued (more sets)

Assistance Exercises but only at 8 RMs or higher

Guidelines Training Goal

After finding the 1RM, the trainer must decide the goal repetitions for each exercise in table 15.6

Table 15.3

Table 15.4

Table 15.6

Volume: Repetitions and Sets Two Definitions:

The total amount of weight lifted in a training session.

The total number of repetitions completed in a training session.

Directed by altering the number of assigned sets to match the training status of the client.

Guidelines to follow:

A client’s training volume is determined when the load and repetitions are based on the %1RM-repetition relationship

Resistance Training Status

A single set is enough for an untrained client until they can perform additional sets.

Resistance Training Goal

Goal at hand when setting up Volume of a client’s workout.

Rest Periods Resting time between exercises.

Influential Factors:

Direct Relationship between an assigned load and the needed rest between sets with that load. Such as the heavier a load for the client, more rest is needed.

Guidelines:

Resistance Training Status

Untrained Clients require twice as much rest as trained individuals

As the client becomes better trained, they’ll be able to perform multiple sets and longer exercises with less rest time.

Resistance Training Goal

Trainer must follow sufficient rest between sets and exercises so that a client can lift the assigned training load for the targeted number of repetitions.

Variation To help a client experience ongoing improvements, lower the risk of

overtraining, relieve boredom, and maintain training intensity, the personal trainer needs to add variation.

Variation is the purposeful change of the program design variable assignments to expose a client to new or different training stressors.

The trainer can alter the clients frequency, load, volume, or rest period.

Pyramid Training

The load is progressively increased while the number of repetitions in sequential sets of an exercise is progressively decreased.

Within-the-Week Variation

A trainer may also vary a client’s program across the sessions of a training week.

Progression Considered as a program design variable.

Can be applied to a client’s training frequency, number or difficulty of exercises, number of sets, or any combination of these or other changes. But is the most frequently used method is to regularly and appropriately increase the weight lifted for each exercise.

When a personal trainer is having difficulty in deciding whether the client is ready for an increase in training load the trainer may use the 2-for-2 rule. It is based on the number of goal repetitions assigned for an exercise. If a client can complete two more repetitions than the repletion goal in the final set of an exercise for two consecutive training sessions, then the personal trainer should increase the load in all of the sets of that exercise for the next training session.

Study Question #1

1. When a client progresses to follow a split routine, all of the following describe the changes in the program EXCEPT:

A. Increased weekly training frequency

B. Decreased overall training volume

C. Decreased training frequency of each muscle group’s workout

D. Increased number of rest days between each muscle group’s workout

Explanation

B, Decreased overall training volume

The next progression in training frequency for an advanced client is a three days on, one day off split routine that yields five to 6 workouts per week….the client completes one workout on three consecutive days and rests on the fourth day. (Involves the same exercises).

Study Question #2

2. Which describes the arrangement of exercises performed in this order: bench press, bent-over row, lying triceps extension, biceps curl, shoulder press?

A. Multi-joint exercises first and then single-joint exercises

B. Exercises that train large muscle groups first and then exercises that train small muscle groups

C. Core exercises then assistance exercises

D. Alternate “Push” and “Pull” exercises

Explanation

D, Alternate “Push” and “Pull” exercises

Method that provides necessary rest between exercises to maintain effort and technique is to alternate pushing exercises (vertical chest press and triceps pushdown) with pulling exercises (seated row and dumbbell biceps curls).

Study Question #3

3. A personal trainer wants to include the lateral shoulder raise exercise in a client’s program. Which of the following is an appropriate testing method that will produce a test result that allows the most accurate assigned training load for a repetition goal of 10 per set?

A. Directly testing the 1RM

B. Estimating the 1RM from a 15RM

C. Percent of body-weight testing

D. 10RM testing

Explanation

D, 10RM testing

10 RM is the heaviest load that can be lifted 10 times with proper technique.

This method is acceptable for nearly all exercises and for most clients, as long as they know how to properly perform the exercise.

Table 15.3

Study Question #4

4. What is the load for the bench press exercise on a “light” day of a strength training program if the client’s 1RM is 200 pounds (91 kilograms) and the number of goal repetitions is 6 per set?

A. 170 Pounds (77 kg)

B. 160 Pounds (73 kg)

C. 135 Pounds (61 kg)

D. 130 Pounds (59 kg)

Explanation

C, 135 Pounds (61 kg)

The heavier the load, less repetitions there will be. The light the load, more repetitions will occur.

Applied Knowledge Question

Based on the following initial consultation and fitness testing information, fill in the empty spaces to determine the client’s training loads for selected exercises.

Initial resistance training status and exercise technique experience:

intermediate

Fitness evaluation: 10 RM testing to estimate a 1RM

Primary resistance training goal: Hypertrophy

Assessing load Capabilities

10 RM loads and their estimated 1RMs for these selected exercises:

Applied Knowledge Cont.Exercise (all are cam

machines)10 RM (pounds) Estimated 1RM (pounds)

Vertical chest press 60 80

Seated Row 50 65

Shoulder press 45 60

Biceps curl 35 45

Triceps extension 30 40

Leg (Knee) extensionLeg (knee) curl

7060

9580

Applied Knowledge Cont.

Assigning loads

Repetition range to match training goal: 6 to 12 per set

Goal Repetitions: 8

Loading (%1RM) range to match the training goal: 67 % to 85 %1RM

%1RM associated with 8 goal repetitions: 80 %1RM

Applied Knowledge Cont.

Calculate training loads from the estimated 1RMExercise (all are

cam machines)

Estimated 1RM

(pounds)x

%1RM associated with 8 goal repetitions (in decimal

form)

=Calculated trial load

Assigned training

load (rounded down, if needed)

Vertical Chest press

80 X .8 = 64 60

Seated row 65 X .8 = 52 50

Shoulder press

60 X .8 = 48 45

Biceps curl 45 X .8 = 36 35

Applied Knowledge Cont.

Exercise (all are

cam machines)

Estimated 1RM

(pounds)x

%1RM associated with 8 goal repetitions (in decimal

form)

=Calculated trial load

Assigned training

load (rounded down, if needed)

Triceps extension

40 X .8 = 32 30

Leg (knee) extension

100 X .8 = 80 80

Leg (knee) extension

80 X .8 = 64 60