Whether you are training for strength, muscle mass, fat loss, or sports performance, I’m sure you are serious about accomplish your goals. The information I am placing in this article is my thought process on how I plan training program for my clients. Although this is not the only way, however, I have been able to produce results and hoping that the information would help the reader to plan each training sessions with purpose.
Training cannot be random. It cannot be following popular methods because someone was doing it online. Foundation of training is understanding of what you are wanting to accomplish by knowing your current strength and weakness. It’s never just about reps, volume, load, calorie expenditure and so on.
Mindset During Training Sessions
Before training, it is critical for me to what is the motivation factor for the client to be training. To me this is little deeper than just a goal setting. Giving workout is the easiest part. The fun part of training client is to help accomplishing what they want and little bit more than what they have expected. So, I ask questions while going through initial phase of training so I can gather all the information at once and seeing things that the clients are not seeing.
During the initial phase of training, I will check their joint and muscle mechanics, balance, core usage and endurance before they can even touch the weight. Building strength over poor biomechanical foundation is like building a house with poor foundation. However, when the foundation is properly set and build strength on top of it, then there will be less chance of injury and can appreciate the accomplishment.
Each session consists of warm up, strength building and conditioning. Warm up is planned based on what strength and conditioning plan I have for that day. Which means warm up for each session can be different and in my mind it should be. I am consistently monitoring their performance including exercise form, breathing and time to recover. If they do have heartrate monitor or using tracking device such as Morpheus, I will be monitoring those as well. This will help me manage the intensity level of the session. It is important for me to gather as much information as possible.
Every exercise that I prescribe has purpose. Take plank for example. It is simple core exercise but very important exercise that teaches the body to support the spine by stiffening the muscles. Therefore, while holding the plank the body should be under a tension and being able to breathe at the same time. So, if my client is working on a deadlift and having a challenge of keeping the spine in neutral position, I may add plank to their routine to give the body input on how to stiffen to support the spine with the load.
Mindset During Nutrition Coaching
Common conversation I have for nutrition is on fat loss. To lose body fat it is not as simple as cut calories, follow low-carb or low-fat diet, or do intermittent fasting. It is important to understand what is going on with the body of that person that is causing the fat to accumulate first. There are number of things to consider.
First possibility is insulin resistance. Insulin is the hormone that binds with nutrients and send it to the cells. So, when you consume food, insulin level goes up and send it to the cells. When you are insulin resistant, the cells are not allowing the insulin to drop off the nutrients. Because the nutrients are not being transported properly, body will send it to storage or fat.
Second possibility is sympathetic nervous system being dominant or also known as stress. In our life we all have some degree of stress. This stress can be physical or psychological. Sympathetic nervous system, also known as “fight or flight” hormone, help the body deal with stressful situation by increasing heartrate, pupil size increases, muscle can contraction harder, and so on. If you ever experienced not able to fall asleep at night, this may be the reason. When this happens, stress hormone called cortisol will increase which will also raise the insulin level.
Third possibility is body may not be efficient in metabolize fat as energy source. This can even be with active individual. This can happen due to consistently training at the higher intensity or someone who is sedentary but having a high stress. When body is put through high stress, the body prefers carbohydrate as energy source rather than fat simply because it is a faster fuel source.
Forth possibility is poor digestive systems. This can be happening because of eating too much processed food, having food sensitivities over certain food, or simply been eating too much. This can also happen due to too much alcohol or lattes. They may irritate the digestive system and cause a bloat, constipation, diarrhea, weight gain and so on.
I won’t go in detail on how to handle each situation, however, it is not as simple as “eat less and move more”. Exercise and intensity level will need to be selected properly as well. If second and third situation from above is the issue for the client, then I cannot put my client through heavy lifting or high intensity interval training just because they are popular or effective training method for their stress level will be higher and not helping their body to learn how to use fat as energy source.
Have Purpose
When creating your own exercise and nutrition plan, always have purpose. If you are choosing certain diet, know the purpose. For me I use both low-fat and low-carb diet because low-carb can help me control my insulin level and low-fat can help increase my dietary fiber easier. If I'm focusing on my sports performance, I will not be following either diet because both fat and carbs are important.
When creating training plan, I will place what I want to improve. I'm currently working on sprint and agility for soccer. To do so my feet, hip, core need to be strong while they are mobile. Whether it is squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press, I do make sure that they are complimenting my sprint technique. I cannot be too heavy so I will have conditioning work using Morpheus to track my intensity level.
Bottom line is what is your goal, where are you now, and how are you going to get there. If what you have been doing for more than 3 - 6 month is not getting you anywhere, then have the courage to make the change.
Getting health, strong, fit is a journey, which means you will learn through your mistakes and success. Even when something has been working for you for a while, it may not work for you anymore because your body has changed. If what you are doing is working, keep going!
Kota Shimada
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