Ten Essential Components Of A Strength Program

Designing a well thought out and balanced training program can be a very difficult thing to do, especially if you only have a limited amount of time to spend in the gym each week. Some people are able to visit the gym up to five or even six times a week with regularity while some can only make time for two visits per week.  Either way, a proper program can be designed to address all of our muscles so that we maximize our time and do not neglect any part of our body.  It does not make sense to neglect training your legs completely one week because you can only make it to the gym twice that week and you have a three day split program designed (example: chest/back day one, shoulders/arms day two, legs day three). A more effective way to designing a program is to train the body based on movements rather than muscle groups.  By training the major movements every muscle in the body will get trained either directly or indirectly. It is important to understand that your muscles work together to perform a task and very rarely act independently or isolated from another muscle.  A basic example of this is to think of what muscles are working just to stand upright.  Our calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals, spinal erectors, and abdominals all work together just so that we don’t fall to the ground due to the forces of gravity.  So if you are one of those people with limited time to train each week, make sure to include atleast one exercise from each of the following 10 essential movements or components of a well balanced program as outlined by renowned strength coach Mike Boyle when designing your training program and all the major muscles will be trained.

If you do have a lot of time to spend in the gym, make sure that your current program includes exercises from each category in a balanced manner.  Performing twice as many exercises in the horizontal press category as you do in the horizontal pull category will lead to great muscular imbalances and ultimately make you more susceptible to injuries or nagging aches and pains in the future.    

Sean Holmes
Personal Trainer
Fitness 365