The Show Up Fitness Podcast

Programming for beginning clients | Become a personal trainer SUF-CPT

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 2 • Episode 203

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Speaker 1:

Did you know? Post-workout you have a 60 to 90 minute window when you are more susceptible to getting sick. That's due to general adaptation syndrome? Professor at University of Connecticut and we were discussing the Soviets and their reign of terror when they six consecutive Olympian periods like 24 years. They were crushing everyone. They would leave their workouts with masks on. The reason being is after your workout your cortisol levels are really high, your blood sugar levels are low, so your immune system is compromised. It takes about 60 to 90 minutes for it to recover. So if you really want to be healthy, when it's flu season and people are sick, try to avoid exposure to other people. Wash your hands, be aware of it, and that's what we're going to talk about today with Katie when we get into programming for any general population the basics of overload. Hope you enjoy. Make sure to read the book.

Speaker 1:

Volume two is out. Throw a five star review in there for a chance to win. We have weekly entries to win some certifications, seminars and swag. Keep showing up. Welcome to the Show Up Fitness podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry. One qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book, how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up.

Speaker 1:

Howdy everybody. Welcome back to the Show Fitness Podcast. Today we have Tennessee State Record holder, miss Katie Barrett. How are we doing, katie Good, how are you? Lovely, lovely. She is the queen of programming. She's helped us start our programming and perfect it, and when I used to teach this, we didn't have all these awesome slides. And that's what we're going to show you and talk to you a little bit about today about just the struggles that new trainers have with programming, getting into progressive overload. But first wanted to start with how are we feeling about our big meet coming up? What's going on?

Speaker 2:

Well, just trying to get in that mental headspace of get out there and do your best. Even if it's not your best day, You're still obligated to have fun and be a good competitor in a good sport.

Speaker 1:

So PC, I love it. Let's talk numbers, katie what are? What are we doing? What are we benching squatting? What's our bsd?

Speaker 2:

um, svd. Squat currently is 264. Uh, bench is 182 and deadlift is 341, so not really uh planning on what I'm going to get for squats. I'm really going after deadlift. Um, because squat and deadlift is really where you're going to add a bunch of numbers to your total and add pounds to your total, because obviously, as we know, bench is the hardest lift to build. You're working on that right now. Your road to 315 is probably going well, I can see, but yeah, so bench is really what I'm going for. I'm sorry, deadlift is really what I'm going for this meet. Yeah, so bench is really what I'm going for. I'm sorry, deadlift is really what I'm going for this meet. So we're itching towards 350, 360-ish.

Speaker 1:

And when you look at the complexities behind that type of programming, that's not something you're going to learn overnight and that's not what we're going to be talking about today.

Speaker 1:

We're going to really reel it back in and just start with the fundamentals. Really reel it back in and just start with the fundamentals. The number one problem slash complaint, fear that we see a lot with new trainers is I don't know how to program. I just got an email right before this today. Someone has been certified for 18 months and they said they haven't trained anyone because they don't know where to start. And that's unfortunate, because there's just so many certifications out there that they give you a giant textbook and you don't really know what to pick and choose from it and you don't know where to go out there and help your clients. And so we're going to start with this nice little pyramid right here looking at the fundamentals of programming. So can you help break this down to the new listeners that are really trying to better understand programming, and then we'll talk about how you can implement it within a program in CCA for your clients.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely so. At the bottom we see basically the foundation of the pyramid, which is our movement competency. Learning the different technical aspects of whatever lift whether it's squat, bench, deadlift, whether it's hip thrust, overhead, press, pushups, pull-ups, pull-ups like learning the basics of those are going to allow you to express your strength and obviously make gains eventually in that specific lift. So that is going to be the most important to teach your clients and yourself. I see a lot of trainers themselves that struggle with these. So strengthening ligaments and tendons so they can eventually handle that load that you're, you know, building up to. So you have to have strong ligaments and tendons in order to avoid injury and be able to lift heavier loads over time. And that comes with progressive overload. We're going to go over the nine different ways to implement progressive overload.

Speaker 2:

Then comes strength and hypertrophy actually building muscle and getting stronger and then power. We know that moving heavy objects quickly equals power. So those are, I like to say the power is kind of a little bit more advanced. Strength and hypertrophy is really what most people are after looking good naked. Some people have that goal of being stronger and some people have the goal of like athletic abilities and power. So that's at the top, like not going to say it's the least important, but it's where you're getting more and more specific.

Speaker 1:

I know that the NSCA has their rep scheme and that's one of the first things that you learn when you're going through the national strength and conditioning association. So 12 plus reps is called local muscular endurance, six to 12 is hypertrophy and then one to five is strength, with one to 10 reps being power, with lighter loads, looking at force and velocity. And it can be confusing for a newer trainer when you have a client who comes in and whether if they're deconditioned or they've been training for a while and they say I want to get stronger. So you look at that rep scheme and you're thinking, oh, I need to go heavy to help them get stronger. But could you help us better understand what exactly that means? Because your clients say it all the time I want to get stronger. And help them better understand this chart and that being strong are two different things.

Speaker 2:

So you can build huge, gigantic muscles that aren't necessarily as strong as somebody who looks pretty unassuming like me would probably never expect that I'm lifting, you know, 340 pounds for deadlift. But you know the strength is a neurological thing. You have to train your motor units to all fire at the same time be able to lift a heavy weight. It doesn't move quickly in strength sports but that's where that power comes in. So yeah, I usually like to say strength is neurological and then hypertrophy is more like the bro workouts, bro splits and things like that.

Speaker 1:

And it's absolutely right right there and I think it's important.

Speaker 1:

There was a great post the other day by someone I forget who it was, but he was talking about as a a trainer.

Speaker 1:

Now I would suggest my newer trainers to start their clients out on machines and I thought that was an interesting idea to have a conversation around, because you hear all this stuff around functional and people assume body machines and I thought that was an interesting idea to have a conversation around, because you hear all this stuff around functional and people assume body weight and TRX and BOSU balls and so forth, but the movement is something that's really challenging to own.

Speaker 1:

That's why we you know it's movement competency. So when you have a machine, a leg press for example yeah, you get really good in that sagittal plane, but at least you're giving yourself the foundation and there's definitely a lot less likely to hurt yourself. I would definitely, when I would train my clients three times, I would do full body and then they'll want programming on the back end and I would just give them machines because I didn't want them going and doing dumbbells and other things where there's a greater likelihood to hurt themselves. And it's not to create fear by saying machines are safer or machines are not functional, because everything can be functional within reason. It's just about finding the things that your clients can get good at and then building on that progressively.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I see, starting powerlifting coaching that it takes a very long time. You're always going to be adjusting something. So even three and a half years in powerlifting, I'm still making adjustments and still seeing. Oh well, I lifted my chin a little bit too much on that deadlift so it threw my whole position out of whack and it's just a very with these heavy lifts it is a very technical thing that will allow you to express that strength. So, yeah, like what you said about machines, you know I always like to ask people the question why, before I, you know, judge them or, you know, wonder, why are they? You know?

Speaker 2:

why, are they doing that? What is the reason? Well, this person had a stroke, or they have balance issues. In that case, great, let's use machines because it's better than doing nothing. Or you know, maybe they already completed the workout that was specific to that, and then you're just kind of getting some stuff on the back end. So I agree with you that everything can be functional, just depending on how it's applied.

Speaker 1:

So there's a great chart that we don't have in front of us right here, but I remember it when I was going through some classes with Dr Kramer at University of Connecticut and a big missing component that newer trainers are not taught are what happens with that first four to six weeks of training. And when Katie was talking about nervous system, that neural component, you're going to have clients that can't do a pushup on day one, but day 30 to 45, they can, but they're not going to put a lot of size on the first one to two months, depending on how many times they train and nutrition and sleep and recovery. You're not going to see a lot of hypertrophy gains in the first couple of months. So just set those clear expectations with your clients. They could come in and be like, oh my God, gains in the first couple of months.

Speaker 1:

So just set those clear expectations with your clients. They could come in and be like, oh my God, I want to have a big old peach for the summer months that are coming up and you're in May. That's just not very likely. It's not going to happen. And so the first couple of months to set those clear expectations. You're going to get a lot stronger. We're going to own these movements, but six months from now you're going to start seeing significant aesthetic goals and then, as you progress, with clients like Katie- she would love to have the results that beginning clients do with strength, but a year from now she could be at 189 and that's a hell of a year.

Speaker 1:

They say about anywhere from a quarter to maybe even a full percent strength increase in a year is awesome when you're at that elite level because she is an actual, an elite lifter, where I think that terminology can also be misleading, because you'll have people in the gym for 10 years and they say they're an elite lifter, but they've just been kind of going through the motions and they really haven't had true programming. They don't understand the biomechanics and the neural aspects and so if you've really been working with someone, as Katie has, who is an expert with this, you're going to see 0.25 to 1% strength gains in a year. That's what they call the window of opportunity for beginners significantly higher.

Speaker 1:

I remember a kid the first day he came in doing the bench press in the bar. It's like his left arm's going faster, his right one's behind and it's just a cluster. It looks terrible, but we didn't try to strengthen one limb or do any correctives, we just did it more. Just like if you have a kid, a female or male, who wants to get better at soccer or basketball. You practice that over, and over and over again. It will catch itself up and then, within like six weeks, I had him doing 135 for six reps. It's like a 90 pound increase in six weeks yeah, you're not.

Speaker 2:

I kill for those beginner gains. I'm over here working my ass off to put three pounds on my bench press in a year, so so, but even with that being said, you remember that video of me benching my garage 165 in over three and a half years. I'm at what? 182. Now I've only put what is that? 19 pounds or something on my bench press in three and a half years. I mean, you're right, the gains. Enjoy those gains, beginners, because, yeah, the stronger you get, the less you know increase that you're going to make, like that. Um, but I also have. I want to mention something. I have a video of Luke, my middle kid, bench pressing on Instagram and same thing. You know he's all over the place with the bar, but we dialed in a couple of things. You know, let us get apps down and back, and he immediately looked. You know, 20% better than on that.

Speaker 1:

Did you start them out on stability ball presses?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. You know, we were over there on the Bosu ball. I'm like, if you can't bench on a Bosu ball, you're not benching on a bench. So, yeah, we started with the 25 pound bar. You know, you start with PVC pipe first and then 25 pound bar and then 45 pound bar. Yeah, yeah, and so that's how you implement that's how you implement this chart.

Speaker 1:

When you look at movement competency, what are we trying to, you know, focus on to be able to press, and that's one of our horizontal pressing patterns. We have a horizontal pull, vertical push and pull, squat, hinge, unilateral, transitional, whatever patterns that you want to focus on, and then you start with the basics and then you progress and that brings us into the progressive overload. And if you are a brown nose and you have volume two of my book, you will see that I have a famous photo of Milo, of Croton and my belt buckle on there. Make sure to leave that five-star review because we are giving away swag and certifications and year memberships until the end of April and that is a congratulations to Trenton. And we met Trenton in a few different times, in LA as well as Nashville, and he won our first one and he's kicking ass right now. It's really cool to see him go through the program, got certified, did the soft tissue. Now he's a manager at a gym and so he's on the number side where he's going over helping his clients build, helping his trainers build their books of business and the whole other monster of sales.

Speaker 1:

But anywho, on the cover of my book. You got this photo right here and what it is symbolizing is the story of Milo. He was a fourth century, second century wrestler and this guy was like a god, a semi-god, a demigod, where he would pick up this little calf, walk up the top of the hill, get water, bring it back, and as time progressed, the cow turned into a bull and he puts on size. And that's kind of where we start looking at the progressive overload model, and a lot of times for beginners they think it's just adding weight. Katie, take us through the different ways that we can progressively overload an external load.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so obviously the first one, like you said, is most people think that it's just about adding weight, so that is one way of doing it. Intensity, just for clarification. Some people think workout intensity is like high heart rate. You know we're doing a million burpees, we're sweating da, da, da da. But when we're talking about show up fitness type of programming we're talking about intensity, meaning percentage of your one rep max. And of course, if you don't know percentage of your one rep max, you can do a three rep max or five rep max and kind of estimate where your one run rep max would be and then program off of that. So, like we talked about with the bench press, the efficiency of the load how is it moving? You know, know if you're wobbling all over the place or if it's really really slow, or know that we're very close to that high intensity there. Volume so how many sets per week? Anything can be effective for, like you were talking about, the hypertrophy ranges 20, 40, 50 sets per week for body part, whatever. There's a huge range that you can play with, just depending on what someone has been doing and a lot of other lifestyle factors.

Speaker 2:

How often are we training? So two days a week, five days a week, seven days a week. That is a way to increase the progressive overload Intensity, once again in a different kind of way. So what is the effort like during our workouts, during our training time under tension, which we know is really really important for building muscle? Um, kind of the same thing as tempo, like if we're doing a four second eccentric you were doing some slow eccentrics the other day um, drop set. So if we're just shedding weight and continue to do the set or continue to do reps until we're close to failure, super setting workouts, their range of motion If you listen to Dr Mike, he's the team full range of motion guy and all that.

Speaker 2:

But you know, are we adjusting the range of motion? Are we going deeper in a squat? And then density how much work in what amount of time? So one workout on day one may have taken you 60 minutes, whereas day 30, now it only takes you 45 minutes, so you're getting more work done in less amount of time. Intensity of speed so we talked about power force times. Velocity, so moving things quickly, moving heavy things quickly, so increasing power. And then intensity of body weight. So someone who's 95 pounds and could do a pull-up versus someone who's 300 pounds, that could do a pull-up. That shows that that person is relatively strong to be able to pull up their 300 pound body weight. And of course the other works as well the 95 pound person being able to do three chin-ups and whatnot.

Speaker 1:

I know it would be good to revisit these and add actual numbers that you would see. So the easy one with the intensity of the load is you have a client who can do the bar 10 times, while the next time they come in they're able to do it 12 times, and so they're progressing through that, and then you have the efficiency of load. You could have them do 10 reps again, but this time it's just going to be a lot more fluid. So that's what is surprising to some people. You do not have to program linearly. So if you have a client who comes in on week one and you do three sets of 10, say, on the barbell, and the weight is not you know, it's just like we're saying like with Luke, it's all over the place Doing that same load the next week. If it's more fluid, that is still overload. Yeah, the nervous system is recognizing that and you're getting better at it. So we don't always have to just push more and push more and push more. The king or queen of hypertrophy, as we say, is VFI, volume, frequency, intensity. And I feel like because of social media, we overcomplicate things.

Speaker 1:

When a bro I was talking to a guy at Equinox the other day and he was going over. He was giving me some props and so anytime you give a guy props, a compliment, you get excited. He's like whoa man, you're, you're ripping out that two 45 and he was doing two plates and he was struggling. But he was asking about you know how can I put some size on my chest? And I just asked him how many times a week you train I do chest. Once I said do it twice. I'm not going to get into all these crazy numbers and percentage of base training. You will put size on from going from one day to two day you can.

Speaker 1:

You can look at how many total sets you do. A lot of times guys don't even know that, and girls as well. It's like I'm trying to grow my glutes. How many sets did you do last week? Uh, I did body pump, I did yoga. No, that's not what we're talking about. It'd be like asking a competitive mile runner like what's your time? Uh, I'm fast. What do you mean? You're fast. How fast Are you? World record fast like 434 or, sorry, 343? Or are we, you know, 10 minute, 15 minute, or you're 24, because you used to run 30. So that's so, so vague. So tell me how many sets are you currently doing and increase by 10 to 20% per week. And again, this isn't just a straight linear progression where month one, you're doing 10, month 30, you're doing 500. This is where we talk about more complex topics like undulating periodization, linear periodization and finding that, whether if it's strength for like what Katie's doing, or if it's size, you're unique with the clients you train because you have general population but you also have special population.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I was going to say I was going to mention that I texted you the other day about you know, hey, I'm having a little bit of trouble with this, like if you're a trainer out there struggling like I've been training for over four years and I still have questions and it just, it just happens. So, but, yeah, you, you always have to look at the little things and just adjust those and then also ask what the client's doing outside. You only see them what? Three hours a week, five hours a week if you're lucky are you?

Speaker 2:

getting enough protein, sleeping, quit smoking, quit drinking, you know things like that, so not always you the trainer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think these are great ways to kind of flirt with your client in a way, because it's as a new trainer, you want to just unload everything oh let me just tell you about all this stuff and let me tell you muscles.

Speaker 1:

But it's like they are there to learn from you and you put the time and energy so you need to. You know, draw that line and be like like you wouldn't meet a doctor at a uh, a party, like hey, like hey, doc, can you check out this lump on my ball in front of everyone. It's like, well, that's not what we do here, but you need to schedule an appointment and we're going to go through the system and so if someone is looking for you know, how do I get a bigger chest? Like, how many times a week you, you bench him. What's your PR? Cool, you know, do a bit more. I'm not going to get in all the weeds right here. It's like let's schedule a time where you come in and I'll analyze your bench, I'll take a look at it, you can film it. And that's the value of working with me is because what is your PR right now? Well, 225,. How are you going to feel when you're hitting 275? Because that's what's going to happen when you're working with me. So then you plant those.

Speaker 2:

For sure.

Speaker 1:

What would you say are some big questions that you hear consistently amongst newer students when it comes to programming.

Speaker 2:

Well, I just had a call with someone last week and this person had been training for six years and didn't know, of course, about the CCA, and I was like, oh, I'm about to change your life right now. Let me tell you a little CCA. I typed it out for them, you know, so that they could see my screen, and it was like life changing. I was like, all right, I want you to learn these eight core patterns of movement first. Here's what they are. Did you know that these existed? No, not really. I said okay, well, here's where we start. What are the client's goals? Off on a tangent right here? I forgot the question already.

Speaker 1:

Um, but yeah, programming, teaching them the basic programming goals.

Speaker 2:

You know what are the client's goals. Start there. You know, of course we don't want to ignore the rest of the body, so you want to include those other patterns, but you're prioritizing their goal, whether it is something, and this is another thing I want to say. So at times I know that trainers are like well, I can't do burpees or whatever, I can't do a BOSU ball. You know what, if your client is paying you and they like the BOSU ball, guess what we're going to be doing at the last thing in our session for the last three minutes, or whatever it is. So it's all about finding that perfect recipe that's going to get them results and allow you, as the trainer, to meet their personal needs too. Like, oh, I just love to run. Okay, well, we're going to run the last 10 minutes of our session, or whatever. So don't be afraid to put those types of things in your program. It's just strategically placing them where they're not going to compromise the real work that's being done, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And so for those that are listening, driving to work, or you're doing your little walk on the treadmill and you're trying to visualize what this programming looks like, we're not going to get too much into the warmup or the cool down, so let's just pretend like you have 45 minutes to get a workout in. So if you were to draw or visualize one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine on a board, and then under the three, above the four, you draw a squiggly line, and then under the six and above the seven, you draw a squiggly line, so you have three segments. The first segment would be called CCA1. The second one, cca2. And the third one would be CCA3. These are small circuits and what you would do is, as she said, based on your client's goal. So let's say we're working with a dude and he wants to focus more on upper body. Well, you take that first C, which is the core movement of what their goal is, which would be a horizontal push. You're going to do an exercise that you feel is safe and appropriate, but something they like. That's where, if they want to get better at bench press, you put the bench press there and then you're going to complement it either with an antagonistic move upper body or lower body, depending on their shape. So if we did a horizontal post, let's do a horizontal pull. You could do a vertical pull as well, and then you're going to do an accessory. An accessory is just something they want to do that isn't going to compromise the force of the main movement.

Speaker 1:

So I wouldn't want to be doing triceps there. I wouldn't want to be doing upright rows because you're taxing the deltoids. You want to do something that is, you know, some some bicep curls would be fine or some ab work. But you wouldn't want to be doing cardio burpees because, again, imagine looking at this progressive overload continuum you can do 135 for 10 reps and then you do 10 chin-ups and then you jump rope for a minute. What's going to happen to that main core optimization of tension when you come back for the second set? You're not going to be able to do the 135 for 10. You only can do it for six.

Speaker 1:

So the question would be why and that's what Katie clarified with the intensity of the load, yes, the work being done is more challenging because of your circulatory system, but the muscles are not able to do as much and you want them to be able to produce maximum. So think of a sprinter. We got the same boat on the line and he's about to set a PR. He's going to run a hundred meters as fast as he can. Why in the holy hell would you have him run a mile right before that lift or that sprint? You want that maximal exertion, so you'll do three rounds of that. You'll do the C, the C, the A, you rest and the rest.

Speaker 1:

I feel like trainers today. They get their clock out. They make it very specific, which you can in some circumstances. Obviously it always depends on the person If they're talking too much and so forth, but you should just go off what your client is feeling, how they are communicating with you. If they can't breathe, wait a little longer. We're not trying to reverse diabetes in one session. We're not going to lose 30 pounds in one session. Our goal is to be able to rest until you can do more work.

Speaker 1:

We do that for three rounds and so if we did a push, we did a pull, the next circuit, which would be CCA2, you'd add in a leg exercise variation. We haven't hit the shoulders, so let's do a vertical push. I wouldn't do a vertical push with a horizontal push because your triceps are engaged. So if we're doing a push, let's do a pull, or a leg you choose. And I'll do a lot of upper body for guys because typically that's what you're going to see, just like with ladies, I'll do a lot of lower body.

Speaker 1:

It depends on the individual, but the goal is to hit the main patterns within the client's goal. So, lower body we want to hit a hinge, a unilateral and a squat or transitional. For upper body, we want to hit a push, a pull and a press variation so you hit your back, your shoulder and your chest, and so this is just a really nice template so you can move through it nice and fluid, where, when you recognize the movement patterns that we teach you in the program, you're not going to be freaked out when you're at the gym and the bench press is taken, you can either go down to the CCA two or you can do an incline dumbbell press because you understand the movement patterns. Is there anything that you want to add in there with you know programming for the CCA or anything overall about progressive overload?

Speaker 2:

No, but you know, more times than not. Since I've learned the CCA more times than not, I don't have to write workouts anymore because chances are something's going to change. You write this nice, beautiful workout. You spent, you know, 15 minutes or whatever, writing. Your client shows up and I was playing golf this weekend and I tweaked my back. Okay, well, now we have to change things anyway, but that's where the CCA is just invaluable. Like if nothing else, like if nothing else, learn the CCA and the eight core patterns of movement. It is a lifesaver. And your client doesn't know that. You know you didn't develop the perfect workout. It's going to be okay. You see, ca is plug in place. So learning that is going to change your entire life.

Speaker 1:

How can they find you?

Speaker 2:

I am on Instagram above the bar Fitness, I think and then YouTube. I have a lot of those videos on YouTube are made for my online clients, but I do have some informational stuff on there that goes over programming and we talked about motor unit recruitment and dress and all kinds of videos on YouTube above the bar fitness. And yeah, you can shoot me a message, you can email me, katie, at show fitness dot com with any questions that you have. I love when people reach out. I had someone reach out to me the other day that I thought was cool. We saw this person a seminar years ago. I was like just so glad they reached out. But yeah, so that's what we're here for.

Speaker 1:

If you're looking to improve your totals and you want to hit some state records, reach out to Katie. She does do coaching and she's a great mentor, and you'll watch her in a couple of weeks set some new state records. So good luck, good skills, and that day comes up. No-transcript.