What Makes an Effective Program?

 Make the right choice with these tips.

When starting a workout plan, it's important that you know exactly what your doing, so you don’t waste any time or get yourself injured. With that said, here are 3 criteria every effective workout program should contain:

1. The program meets you where you are. No two people are exactly alike, so in order for a fitness program to be effective, it must be compatible with who YOU are; where you’re at in your fitness journey and what your specific goals are. Making it completely customizable as if the program was made for you alone.

This customization has 2 variables: Workouts and nutrition.

Workouts:

• The workouts should not only hit every body part, but must be primarily focused on low rep strength training, with high rep hypertrophy training as a secondary target. This is due to the fact that the most effective way to put on lean dense muscle mass is through strength training. When you consistently put your muscles under heavier loads, it has no choice but to grow. 

• If you’re only able to hit the gym 3 days a week, then your workouts should be strength based (day 1: Legs, day 2: pulling emphasis, and day 3: pushing emphasis with core). If you have extra days during the week to workout, then you can add more hypertrophy days. 

As a final note, it is beneficial for the program to contain alternative exercises for anything you don’t feel comfortable doing, that way you never miss out on completing the full workout.

Nutrition:

• The second variable is nutrition. An effective program must give access to a custom meal plan tailored to whether you want to gain, lose or maintain weight. In addition to learning how many calories you need to meet your goals, you should also know the specific macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats) those calories are coming from. 

Nutrition plays a significant role in recovery and achieving all your fitness goals; you can go to the gym all you want, but if you don’t have a solid meal plan you won’t experience any gains.

2. The program affords you flexibility. If you’re like most people, going to the gym everyday is an impossible task. This is why effective workout programs don’t require you to do so. 3-5 days a week for 45-60 minutes each day will suffice. This is a more sustainable long-term approach, as you won’t beat yourself up or quit just for missing a single day. Not to mention that you likely lead a busy life, and having multiple days off allows you time to take care of other things. Lastly, don’t forget that your body needs time to recover after workouts; muscle recovery doesn’t happen during the workout, but rather during the time after the workout. Now you won’t feel guilty for taking days off ever again!

3. The program builds your mind. Often overlooked, an effective program should not only build your body, but also your mind. There are 2 ways your mind should be developed: Intellectually, through acquired knowledge and 2. fortitudinally, through the rigor of the workouts. 

• It’s imperative that the program teaches you not only what exercises to do, but also how to perform said exercises to maximize their benefits, as well as why one should do the exercise in the first place. 

• An effective fitness program will also put you to the test every workout, thus building your mental strength; strength that will then carry over to other parts of your life, making you dominant in and outside of the gym.

As a final note, there are many workout products and gimmicks out there that promise you quick results, but these are never long lasting. The reason is that they neglect to build the foundation of the customer. Thinking long-term isn’t the sexiest idea when going to the gym, but it is the most effective. The more you focus on the fundamentals and building the key lifts, the better your body will be later on down the road, both in terms of strength and muscle mass. 

Think of it like a skyscraper. Would you rather rush through on laying the foundation, so you could build the structure faster, or spend more time laying a strong foundation knowing that your building will rise higher and last longer because of it. Buildings with a weak foundation will crumble eventually and they do so when you least expect it. Don’t fall into that trap. Instead, double down on building your body holistically, focusing on the 3 criteria mentioned in this article.

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