Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

12. How to Design Your
Own Training Programs
12.1 A general framework of training that delivers results for everyone does exist,
but each trainee must individualize it in order to maximize gains. Here are
six of the most critical lessons you can learn concerning program design:
Exceptions
a. Focus on no more than a handful of big basic exercises each workout.
b. Do not neglect important accessory movements.
c. Train hard but within the context of intensity cycling.
d. Get more rest days than weight-training days.
e. If in doubt always do less training rather than more.
f. Stress progressive poundages in good form.
12.2 All six of these key lessons are broken by some successful trainees. ese
exceptions are, however, not the typical trainees I am aiming my writing at.
Of course teenagers and those in their early twenties who have low-stress
and well-rested lives (relative to those of us who are over thirty years old
with demanding careers and families) can train differently, at least to a
degree, or train on similar routines but with greater volume and frequency.
And genetically gifted or drug-assisted people can break all the “rules” and
still gain very well.
12.3 e instruction in this book is geared primarily for people who neither have
near-ideal training conditions nor near-ideal recuperation capabilities. But
should you be fortunate to have circumstances more suited to quicker gains,
make the most of it while it lasts. Follow the training methods promoted
in this book and you will gain in abundance—far more than you would on
conventional programs.
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