How to design a workout for 35-yr old beginner male w/ CCA

Ever walked a deconditioned client into a tough first circuit and watched the color drain from their face? We’ve been there. Today we break down a real program submission for a six foot one, 220-pound beginner who hasn’t trained since high school and show how to turn day one into a durable win, not a cautionary tale.

We start by reframing the goal of a first session: assessment in motion, not annihilation. Instead of opening with a heavy lower-body CCA, we pivot to a CA that tests capacity—think goblet squats paired with dead bugs or bird dogs—then build carefully. You’ll hear why landmine RDLs teach the hinge faster than kettlebell RDLs for novices, how band-assisted push-ups outshine unstable TRX pressing for comfort and buy-in, and when to delay rotation until trunk control is ready. We also cover step-ups in the sagittal plane as a smart “cardio by stealth” leg choice, plus client-led accessories that make the work feel personal: curls for arms, simple ab sets for a clean burn, and a split-stance shoulder press for stability and novelty.

Coaching craft lives in details: set clear expectations, read breathing and color changes, and be prepared to pivot without losing momentum. We share safety guardrails for dizziness and hypoglycemia, the “final destination” checklist every trainer should know, and the rule that every exercise you prescribe is one you’ve practiced at least ten times. Then we map simple, sticky progressions across the next sessions—same patterns, a touch more load, small tweaks in range or stability—so neural gains translate into confidence and renewals. You’ll leave with a blueprint for session flow, finisher options that don’t fry form, and rapport habits that turn one workout into a training relationship.

Ready to design smarter programs that clients love and stick to? Hit play, subscribe for more coaching breakdowns, and leave a review with your favorite day-one opener—we might feature it next week.

Want to become a SUCCESSFUL personal trainer? SUF-CPT is the FASTEST growing personal training certification in the world!

Want to ask us a question?  Email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!

Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Successful Personal Trainer Book Vol. 2 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/1aoRnqA
NASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com

Transcript

Welcome And SUF Certification Update

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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 showupfitness.com. 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. Ho ho ho, y'all! 30 days of podcasting with your favorite trainer with a bell buckle. Today is day number 23, and we're gonna break down a program for a 35-year-old hunk, part of the SUF CPT submission. You have to submit a program for a male and a female, three workouts to showcase your ability to progress and implement for a beginner, and then you have to watch all the videos within the platform, on-demand mastering, anatomy, programming, specificity, overload, and so forth. And then you have to submit videos of you showcasing movement competency. Now for 2026, a few additions within the Swift. We will have a written test. So you'll need to be able to answer these 100 questions and get an 80% or more, as well as one SUF strength and conditioning submission. You don't have to hit it, but you have to show us that you are trying. We all should be focusing on how we can better ourselves mentally, physically. If you're a trainer, you want to level up your finances, those are all things we help you with. But the submission for the SUF Strength and Conditioning is just going to level our certification up because what is everyone else doing? They literally take a multiple choice test. That is it. We want to be known as the best because we are the best. And that means you're going to need to be able to talk the park, do the written test, but also showcase you are competent with the movements. So this is a submission from Carissa, and she has a six foot one, 220-pound high school athlete. He's never worked out, so this is you know 15, 17 years post-high school. He's cleared to exercise, no injuries. She went over his park, everything was good. 10 checkpoints of human movement were part of her warm-up. As we know, that's the ankle, knee, hip, lumbar, thoracic, cervical, shoulder, elbow, and wrist, and then some breathing exercises to make sure that we're getting that 360 and not just chest breathing. So the first circuit that we have here is going to be a goblet squat into a TRX neutral grip row into a rainbow ball slam. So the first CCA, that's what we have. From looking at this program, I'm assuming that we want to focus more on lower body because the first core pattern for the three that she has are all specific to legs. So if that is the case, that's okay. My challenge with this though, if you have someone who's, you know, six foot one, 220-pound boy, that's that's a big person. I'm six foot one, two ten, and I'm conditioned. So if you're taking someone who doesn't have that much muscle and they're really deconditioned, starting out with a leg into another multi-jointed one, into an accessory that's kind of uh aerobic there with the ball slams, it may be too much too fast. Remember, we don't want to annihilate our clients. We're trying to be Goldilocks here. Not too hot so they never come back, not too easy so they never come back, but just right in the middle. So if he specifically said, I want to focus on my lower body, that's fine. You may want to entertain a CA for the first one to get a feel for how he handles it. So do the goblet squat into a bird dog or something. Rest for a minute or two and then repeat. And when you go into the second circuit, you see how he's doing. Is he huffing and puffing? Is his face going white? And I think one of the harder things for a trainer who's conditioned and exercises regularly is to truly understand what deconditioned is. So when you have a six foot one, 220-pound dude who hasn't worked out in 15 plus years, there's a lot that goes into that. And I wouldn't want to start out with something that's too challenging because it could discourage him. So overall, it's not bad. I'm just giving you some pointers to start out. Let's go a little easier, then let's dial it up. I would much rather dial it up and at the end smoke them versus too hard in the beginning and you can't make it through that 60-minute workout. We got to give him some glucose tablets because he's getting lightheaded and his face is going white. We wouldn't want that because then that experience, especially if if you have a male ego's bigger than shit, and he's not gonna tell you he's tired. So you do the goblet squat, you do the rows, and you do the ball slams. And how are you doing? I'm gonna keep going. He feels like he has to keep pushing because the ego's in the way. So if I set clear expectations, the beginning's gonna be easy and we're gonna progress circuit to circuit. So start out with a CA. Again, if he specifically said legs, do the leg. But if he wants to lose weight, I'm gonna focus on muscles that he wants to improve. Ask him if a genie were to pop out of a lamp and give you one magical body part, keep it PC, that's always my joke. What would you want? Do you want those chesticles? Do you want the back? Do you want the arms? If you want if he says arms, start with that pushing or pulling that's gonna incorporate the arms. I'd ask him, you want more buys or tries? He says both. Then I would do the C being a push and then do an accessory. The second circuit I would do a CCA. How does he do with a push, pull, and then an accessory, and then put the legs at the end? And what that's gonna do is it's gonna allow for you to get a feel for how he handles it. And if he's not huffing and puffing, you can dial it up a little bit. That's where that METCOM can come in as the last five minutes. Do you got five minutes left in the tank? I'll have to really dial it up and do some cardio, some ski erg and do some push-ups, into some seal walks, whatever you feel is appropriate, but you can dial it up at the end versus oh crap, he's about to pass out 15 minutes into the workout. And this is coming from experience overseeing numerous trainers. We want the first program to be so challenging that they sign up. And that's not a knock to you, but you have to remember this client's gonna be with you for a long term. This workout is not the most important one. The next one is. You did the hardest part, which is showing up. The best workout you can do is the next one. So let's get through today. Let's have some fun, do some things that you're good at, throw some load on there to really make you feel empowered. So when I look at this through, I go through your CCA, the whole thing, the second circuit would be kettlebell, RDL, into TRX push-up into dead bug, the third one being a side lunge box step up into around the worlds into mountain climbers. I would just assume that that intensity is going to be a little too much. Dial it back, set really clear expectations, do a CA. And again, I said this three times already, but my brain is going, I'm a bro, I want to focus more on upper body. So I'd like to see there, if he wants upper body, an incline press into a bicep curl. So then he's moving some load for 12, 10, 10 reps or 12, 10, 8. It's not the end of the world if you get down to eight. We want to strengthen ligaments and tendons and focus on that neuromuscular communication, but moving some load is gonna empower him. The second circuit we have the RDL into TRX push-ups into dead bugs. I would probably recommend starting with an RDL on the landmine because the mechanics are a lot easier to teach. If he hasn't weight trained, an RDL hinge pattern is just difficult to teach. Clients gonna be arched over, they're squatting, and so you're gonna find it's a lot more teaching versus getting some work done into each their own, whatever coach you are. I like to start with the lower hanging fruit, get him to master that basic movement and then progress into stuff weeks two, three, and four, especially when you need to renew the client. So if he signs up for 12 sessions, if we do more hip thrusting and bridging and RDLs on the landmine, weeks three and four, when he's about to renew, that's when we can start bringing in the kettlebell RDL, showing him a new exercise variant and help him get stronger with that so he sees the transition into that next period and why he should work with you. The TRX push-up, fine exercise. I prefer the rows because when you do the TRX press, it's just a lot more unstable. And it's just kind of weird because the handles are rubbing up on your forearm. It's not the most comfortable. I prefer to see a bar push-up or just push-ups. If he's 6'1, 220. I'm gonna ask him, can you do any push-ups? Yeah, you know, I could probably do like five or six. Let's see. Hop on the ground, let's see what we can do. If he can do four or five, great. Let's do some push-ups. Put a band under him, help him up so he gets a few extra ones. That's how you can empower yourself and get involved as the trainer. My rule of thumb: when you train someone, say their name at least three times. His name is Jameson. I'm gonna talk about it. Oh, yeah, Jameson, great set there, nicely done. Hi five, Jameson. Let's get some Jamison after this workout. I'm just joking, am I? I don't know. You know, make him feel empowered. And when you use people's names, it makes them feel good. Show them a new exercise. That's where the accessory comes in. So that could be your dead bugs he's never done before. For that first circuit, I need to go back to because when we're taking out the med ball slams. On here, we have 35 by 3. That's a rotational exercise. So if you were to do it as you had it, goblet squat into the TRX row, into those ball slams, the goblet squat, because you're more upright, really taxing the erectors. And then we go into a TRX unstable row, really taxing the core as well. So, because of the tissue capacity, if we haven't been training, he's a big boy at 220. I'm assuming that core isn't that strong. So I prefer to move the dead bugs up there, take the ball slams out, start with something more stable where the spine isn't moving. And especially because if we start rotating, that's a transverse plane of motion, and he has a fatigued back. The last thing we want to do is have him blow out his back doing some rotational ball slams because he's so fatigued. So I would take those out and not incorporate those for now. Maybe when you incorporate the RDLs with the kettlebell weeks three and four, if you feel like that's more appropriate there, that's when I would add them in. So again, coming back to that second circuit, now we're gonna do the landmine RDL into a push up, into a plank or a side plank, or if he wants to do curls, do something that he wants to improve aesthetically. And now that last circuit is when I would incorporate a leg. So here we have a side lunge box step up. I would just do a step up in the sagittal plane, keep it simple. If he hasn't been working out, he hasn't done a step up. See how he does for six to eight reps. That's essentially cardio. His heart rate's gonna go up there. We did a chest, we did a back, let's throw in a shoulder. If you want to do around the world, I'm thinking you take a weight and you move it above your head. Probably not the most optimal exercise if we haven't done a lot of resistance training. Why not do a split stance press, single arm, get involved as the trainer, press the arm, say their name three times, show them a new exercise, get involved in each circuit. That could be spotting, taking the weights, helping them up off the ground, getting them a towel, provide that service. And the last thing I always say, learn something new about them. You know, Jameson, it's his first time, so it's easy. Is he married? Where'd he go to high school? What sports did he play in? What's his current job? I'm gonna ask questions. It blows my mind when trainers take someone through an assessment and they don't even know what their client does. That's why you have that on the park you form. Learn about their profession, ask questions, because in the future that could segue into corporate wellness opportunities. If he's a lawyer, you could go to his firm and you could teach a 30-minute little core exercise or routine or mobility stuff to get people out of pain. So many people call in sick because they hurt their back or they're fatigued mentally. You can provide a huge outlet in a positive sense with corporate wellness. So you got to learn what your client does. So let's do that step up in the sagittal plane, complement it with a split stance press, and then again, whatever he wants to train. If he wants to do abs, do some crunches, get that burn. Maybe you get your your clock out 15 seconds of crunches, and you flip over and you do a plank, flip back over 15 seconds of crunches, flip on over and do a plank with trainer engagement, lifting up a leg. So try to make that accessory fun. Yes, you can do some cardio. You have the mountain climbers in here, so I'm not against that, but the step-ups are very cardio-based. I think you're gonna be surprised if you were to do a step-up into a shoulder exercise into mountain climbers. It might be too much. So I'd start with the step ups into the shoulder exercise, into another ab, and then at the end, how are we feeling, Jameson? Do we got a little left in the tank? And what you're gonna be really surprised, he's gonna be, oh, I'm I'm done. And you look at the clock and it's like 50 minutes in. So stretch. Maybe you walk around the block or get on the treadmill with him and you let him calm down and you let him know my purpose isn't to annihilate you. You did so awesome, my man. I'm proud of you. You got through today's workout. That's awesome. Check mark one. Now we got to rinse and repeat. The best workout program that we can do is 52 times four. Working out four times a week for 52 consecutive weeks. We are day one, week one. I'm proud of you. High five. When do you want to come in again? But if you did, like you see him, he's just kind of like, um, well, that was way too easy, which I'm gonna bet because I'm a gambling man. I think the mega tonight is a hundred million, and then on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, we're at like 1.7 billion on the Powerball. I'll be your private trainer if you win. Just give me a little bit. I'm just joking, not really. Just give me a bottle of uh Pappy Van Winkle and I will be happy. But I think that you're gonna be surprised that that workout in itself with a CA, CCA upper body, and then incorporate legs at the end for a CCA, hitting the chest, back, shoulders, accessory work with the abs, arms, isolation there if you want to do lateral raises. I don't emphasize a lot with the accessories because a lot of times I will just program CC in my head, and then I'm going to implement the accessory based on what my client wants. If I'm at an equinox for lifetime, are there any cool exercises or any cool things you've seen in the gym that you want to do? Maybe they want to do leg curls or abductions on the machine. Whatever it is, I'm going to incorporate there as the accessory. So again, hypothetically, he's not that crushed. So you have a little window at the end. You get a jump rope out, you jump rope a little bit, then you have them run to the wall and you have them sit down, do some wall sits, have them come back and do a squat press and some thrusters, go back to the wall. You do that for three or five minutes, that's going to get his heart rate enough, get him sweating. That would be more than appropriate. And the value of having our program and our community is you get feedback. I'm not saying that this program is wrong. What I'm doing is I'm getting you to think critically. What if this were to happen? What if the intensity from that first CCA, the squat into the row, into the ball sams, is too much? How are you going to adjust? If in if you spend an hour writing this program out and your client's about to die in that first circuit, you're going to be a deer in the headlights. What do I do? You're going to train the program and not train the individual in front of you. So, what I'm doing here is I'm giving you some pivots. If something were to happen, you are a competent coach. You can do whatever the heck you want to. You are a certified, qualified personal trainer. I'm just giving you, let's try this. Think about this. What if this were to happen? If he does get a little woozy in that first circuit and you have to give him three or four glucose tablets and he has to sit down for the remainder of 40 minutes on the ground with his head between his legs because he's so woozy and he wants to get up and go to the bathroom by himself, don't let him do that. Because if he passes out and he's in a bathroom where no one's around, he could die. We don't want our clients to die. I call that the final destination scenario. And as a gym owner, and I oversee numerous trainers, I'm getting him to think that way because we have another human body who we are helping. This is not as easy as read a textbook, go out there and throw some random exercises at someone and give them the hardest workout because that's what we do. No, we're competent, qualified coaches. There needs to be critical thought and good conversations on why you're choosing that exercise. Have you done this program? How do you feel? What is your heart rate at? And if it's like a seven for you, it's gonna be a 50 for your client. If it's at a one or two for you, then maybe you need to dial it up a little bit. Do your client's program so you feel and understand. And at any point you program an exercise you've never done before, that is irresponsible. Every exercise that you program, you have to have done at least 10 times, non-consecutively. Meaning, if I saw a trainer do a kettlebell RDL today, I'm not gonna do it for a couple sets and then have my client do it. That's what you call a YouTube trainer. That's not you. You've done these movements, you've submitted your videos showcasing your competency. Now you help your clients own exercises with the movement pattern behind it, and then you progressively overload. The next time you train him, how are you feeling? How's your soreness level? How'd you sleep? I'm doing pretty much the same workout. Maybe you want to do a CA with a different C at the top, so do step ups first because you can go a little heavier, then do another plank variation for a CA, and then we're gonna do incline presses again, go a little heavier, and then we're gonna do some type of row variation, and then now we can do a different accessory. That prior workout, I'm doing a lot of those same exercises, but because of the competency that they've learned, that neural adaptation takes place very quickly. Those are cute phases of learning. So he's already going to be progressively stronger than that last workout. So if we did a 25 on the incline presses into a 30 into a 35, you could probably start with the 30s, go up to the 35 and the 40. So he's getting more work from this session, but it's the same exercise as the previous day. And then the next time, it's the same thing. The workouts aren't always the same. That's why I will vary the accessory. Maybe a set I will do just unilateral pressing. So on that third workout, I'm gonna do a 30-pound right arm press for 10, 30 arm left arm press for 10. And that's different to your client. You may see it as, oh, we've we've done incline press for three days, he's gonna get bored. No, your client wants to feel better, look better, and perform better on his activities of daily living. And that's what a great coach can do. Hopefully, you found this helpful. If you would like some critique on your programming, submit it to info at showupfitness.com. This is what you have to submit within the CPT, which is a live call. We're gonna test you on the 17 muscles of the shoulder, 20 of the lower body, the agonist and synergist for the eight core movement patterns, and then design a program like this all within 15 minutes. And you have to be able to defend. So if you were to be able to defend your thought process behind the ball, Sam's, you're not gonna get a negative score. You're gonna pass. That confidence showcases your competence. You need to know the why behind everything you do for your client. Remember, Rudolph's better than comment and keep showing up.