Understanding Training Variables to Improve Program Design, Selection and Execution

Do you want to learn…

• How to write your own training program?

• How to choose a program that is right for your goals?

• How to adjust a program to reflect your goals? 

Then keep reading, because this post is going to cover a few common training variables you’ll use/see in your training programs (frequency/splits, exercise selection, exercise order, reps and rest times). Having a better understanding of these variables will help you to write, assess, adjust and execute your training programs more effectively and get you one step closer to building the strong, sexy, badass body of your dreams 💪🏻🍑

But before I dive into the first variable, I want to emphasize that these are complex topics for which I am providing a very simplified breakdown. I have paid 1000’s of dollars and taken multiple courses to expand my knowledge in these areas in the past several years and there is no way in which I could summarize all of that in a single blog post. 

So, while the information provided WILL be helpful, please know that it is a general overview and not all encompassing. If you have any follow up questions please feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me directly via Instagram (Alogue_fitness) or email (Amber@strongherproject.com). 

Now that we’ve got that cleared up, let’s dive into the good stuff!

Training Frequency 

Before you begin to build out or choose a program to follow, it’s important to determine how frequently you plan to train. As you are thinking about this, I encourage you to remember that more frequent training does not always equate to more/better progress, and to choose a frequency not based on how often you think you should train, but how often you can actually train consistently. 

If you know that you can consistently commit to training 3x per week then build/choose a training program that reflects that, not a program built out for 5x per week as the training split will look different for each. 

So, before you go any further, have an honest conversation with yourself about how frequently you can/are willing to commit to training each week as this will be the foundation upon which your program is designed.

Training Split 

A training split refers to how you divide your training between muscle groups. Some common training splits include: 

• Anterior, Posterior, Full Body 

• Upper, Lower, Full Body

• Upper, Lower, Push, Pull

• Upper, Lower, Upper, Lower, Upper

• Lower, Upper, Lower, Upper, Lower 

Honestly, the options are quite endless and will vary person to person based on frequency and goals. 

Someone who can only train 3x per week may opt to use an anterior, posterior, full body split as it would allow them to train both upper and lower body with the same frequency. 

Whereas someone else training 3x per week may want to bias the lower body more and find a lower, upper, lower split to be more appropriate for their goals. 

Just as a 2x per week upper and 3x per week lower split would be more productive for someone training 5x per week with a desire to bias lower body more, the opposite would be true of someone training 5x per week wanting to bias the upper body more. 

So, the split you choose should be both a reflection on the frequency with which you plan to train and the goal you are trying to accomplish.

For example a 5x per week split for someone who wants to build their glutes, back and shoulders could look like: 

• Mon - Glutes, Hams and Quads (lower)

• Tues - Back, Delts, and Biceps (upper) 

• Wed - Glutes and Adductors (lower) 

• Thurs - Chest, Delts, Triceps (upper) 

• Fri - Glutes, Hams, Core (lower) 

And a 3x per week split for a different person with the same goal could look like:  

• Mon - Glutes, Hams and Delts 

• Wed - Back, Arms and Core

• Fri - Glutes, Quads and Delts 

Both are designed for similar goals, but specific to the frequency with which the person is able to train. Which takes me back to the importance of being realistic about your frequency of training BEFORE choosing your split. If you write or choose a program for 5x per week and only ever complete the first half of the program you could very easily miss out training entire muscle groups in the upper and lower body that have been pushed towards the later half of the week. Whereas building a program that reflects training 3x per week would help to ensure all of the desired muscle groups are trained within that time frame. 

Exercise Selection 

Now that you know both your training frequency and split you can start building out your program - starting with the exercises themselves. 

Since there are 1000’s of exercises available I’m not going to give specific examples here, rather general guidelines for what to choose and/or look for in a program that is designed for hypertrophy (ie. building muscle). 

First, you want to look for 5-7 exercises (TOTAL) that are going to train the desired muscle groups. For example, if you’re programming for a Glute, Delt and Core focused day, the exercises selected should be biased towards those muscles. 

When training for hypertrophy you are going to want to ensure that the exercises selected are mostly biased to training in the lengthened position with a few biased to the shortened position. 

For example the RDL and Glute Bias Leg Press are biased to lengthened glute training and the Glute Bridge is biased to shortened glute training. Just as the Wrist Height Cable Lateral Raise has a lengthened delt bias and the DB Lateral Raise has a shortened delt bias.

And with that we now have 5 exercises (with at least one additional for core) to build out our session with. 

Which takes us to…

Exercise Order

When choosing the order of your exercises you generally want to place your compound (multi-joint) exercises for which you want to have the most energy for at the beginning and your accessory exercises towards the end. 

Using the exercises we already came up with, an appropriate order could look like: 

• RDL 

• Glute Bias Leg Press 

• Glute Bridge 

• Wrist Height Lateral Raise 

• DB Lateral Raise 

• Core Movement of Choice 

Again, there are some additional nuances that can be taken into consideration, but for the sake of keeping things simple, we’ll leave it at that. 

Reps Schemes

Now that you know the order in which you are going to perform your exercises you can start assigning sets and reps. 

Generally, when training for hypertrophy you will want to stick to 3-4 sets with 8-12 reps, with reps on the lower end reserved for your compound movements and those on the higher end for your accessories. 

So, using the above program design I would recommend 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps each for the RDL’s, Leg Press, and Glute Bridge. Then 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps reserved for the Lateral Raise and Core exercises. 

Rest Times 

Setting appropriate rest times, and actually using those times to REST between sets, is imperative to being able to train with enough intensity to actually achieve growth. If you aren’t resting long enough between sets you will not be recovered enough to continue pushing yourself set to set (which may be appropriate for some goals, but not hypertrophy). 

A general rule of thumb you can use here is 90 sec - 2 min rest for compound exercises and 45 - 60 secs rest between accessories. 

So, using the above program design I would recommend 90 sec - 2 min rest between sets of the RDL’s, Leg Press, and Glute Bridge. Then 45 - 60 secs rest between the Lateral Raise and Core exercises. 

Again, there is some more nuance that can be applied here, and the amount of rest needed to recover may be greater for those who are more muscled/well trained vs. beginner athletes; however, these general guidelines can be applied in most cases. 

Putting it All Together 

You will repeat this process for each of the training days in your split until you have fully designed your training phase, which I recommend using for 4-6 weeks at a time. 

And if you aren’t designing your own program, you can use the above guidelines to help determine if the program you are looking at is appropriate for your goals. 

Ask yourself questions like: 

• Is the frequency/split appropriate for you? 

• What kind of exercises have been selected? 

• Do they make sense for the goal you are trying to achieve? 

• What do the set, rep, and rest schemes look like? 

• Do they reflect a hypertrophy style of training or are they more along the lines of strength (lower reps) or metabolic (higher reps) styles of training? 

Asking yourself and knowing the answers to these questions can help you write, choose, and even adjust programs so that they are more appropriate for your goals. 

The more appropriate a program is for your goals, the better the results will be.