A Unified Theory of Fitness Programming

by Alwyn Cosgrove | 09/26/05

"Absorb what is useful; reject what is useless." Bruce Lee

The Unified Theory

Unfortunately, the search for the best "system" still continues in the fitness training industry. Years ago,
aerobic training was the dominant training modality. We've cycled through weight training, Nautilus training,
machine training, one-set-to-failure, multiple sets, functional training, yoga, Pilates, back to free weights,
kettlebells, strongman lifts, and the list goes on.
The reality? There's no correct answer or single best system in fitness training either! Instead of trying to find
the perfect single tool, the fitness professional or avid gym-goer would be better served by increasing the size
of his toolbox.
That said, I'm sure this message will fall on deaf ears. So until you can accept the premise that you need to
"liberate yourself from the classical mess" (another Bruce Lee line), I present my Unified Theory of Program
Design. We've recently seen a plethora of advanced program design concepts here on T-Nation, but this is a
"back to basics" program design article.
The interesting thing is that coaches and trainers with different philosophies analyze each other's programs
and focus (or more appropriately, argue) on the differences. Yet if you look at the top coaches and what
they're doing, you can see certain programming similarities across the board, regardless of the "type" of
training they prescribe.
It's been said that small minds talk about people; mediocre minds talk about events; and great minds discuss
concepts. In my opinion, small-minded trainers argue about whose program or style of training is the best, and
mediocre trainers debate the differences between programs. Great trainers, however, cast aside the
differences and see the common underlying similarities.
It's the same as punching in fighting sports. Regardless of the differences in approach, what it all comes down
to is using the knuckles of the fist as a weapon. Once you strip away the differences we get to the heart of
what works. That's the stuff I'm going to present to you.
It's these similarities the common underlying successful denominators that I've chosen to focus on. So
regardless of your personal training philosophy, the principles I'm about to present remain valid.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Program Design

Bodyweight Before External Resistance 1.
I've said this before in a bunch of articles. Other coaches and trainers have said this before in a bunch of their
articles. Yet this remains the step that most people will ignore. Regardless of your goals, one thing is for sure:
You have no freaking business using a load if you can't stabilize, control, and move efficiently using only your
bodyweight!
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Unless your bodyweight is way too much or way too little resistance, then there's very little room for external
loading. This is not to say that external loading isn't important. Of course it is, but it has definitely been
overemphasized.
Unless you can perform twenty pushups in good from, get your ass off the bench press. Too easy? The same
rule applies to the single leg squat. If you can't perform 8-10 good reps, then why are you using two legs to
squat with external load?

Train with Free Weights (Destabilized) 2.

Once bodyweight has been mastered, the superiority of three dimensional free weight training is unparalleled.
Single joint fixed axis machines like the leg extension and the preacher curl machine are quite honestly
outdated. Other than rotational movements, which can be trained effectively using a cable column, every
other movement can be performed better with bodyweight or a free weight rather than with a machine.
The newest trend from the machine companies is to create thousand dollar machines that replicate free
weights! Save your money. Despite the advances in technology and in drug use, I think the average trainee's
strength and size is less than in the past.

Train Functionally 3.
"Functional" means training for performance, not for the "pump" or standing on a ball or some other activity.
Multiple joint lifts and combination lifts such as the squat and press are all real world functional activities.
Life and sport take place primarily on our feet. It's how we were designed to work. Our training programs need
to reflect that. It seems to me that I've said this a thousand times, but it doesn't make it any less true: a
muscle group allocation is pointless. Why would the muscles of the chest need their own "day" for training? If
you split up the body into parts, how do you decide what parts to include?
Typically we see splits of chest, shoulders and triceps, back and biceps, and legs. Why don't we see splits like
rhomboids and hip flexors, quadriceps and rotator cuff, sternocleidomastoid and pec minor? Because that
wouldn't make bodybuilding "sense." But in my opinion, any split routine based on a random allocation of
muscle groups to certain days of the week defies all logic.
Consider the following example: Hold a dumbbell in your right hand and raise your arm out to the side until it's
parallel with the floor (a position known as a lateral raise in the fitness world!) Which muscles are working?
The classic answer is the medial deltoid and the trapezius.
True. But maintain this position and just touch your obliques on the left side with your free hand. They're
contracting maximally in order to stabilize your torso and spine, thus preventing you from tipping over. So the
oblique has to contract so hard in order to stabilize your entire upper body (plus your arm and the dumbbell)
that it becomes clear that this exercise forces more work from the oblique muscles, the tensor fascia lata, and
the quadratus lumborum than it can from the medial deltoid!
So is it still a shoulder exercise? Or is it a total core andshoulder exercise? What body part day is this
movement supposed to be trained on? Hopefully this helps you realize that the body will always work as a
unit.
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And I don't mean to "bag" on bodybuilding. One can't help but be impressed by top athletes in any sport. But
the fact that it is a sport is also an important thing to remember. Bodybuilding is a unique sport unto itself. For
the general fitness enthusiast (i.e. not a competitive bodybuilder) to develop and implement a fitness program
using bodybuilding theory and bodybuilding type exercises makes as much sense as using soccer training or
racquetball to design that same program. And while most people recognize that this is idiotic at best, we still
continue to talk about splitting up "body parts" and following a bodybuilding-based program.
Now, that's not to say we don't use exercises or ideas from all sports and systems (remember, absorb what is
useful...) To do so would be closed-minded. But to adopt any one single philosophy is just as closed-minded.
If you rank an athlete's qualities for their sport from 1-10 on a scale and find that they have a very poor
flexibility score but a very good maximal strength score, then a strength based program may not be the best
choice. Similarly, if my client is a golfer, a powerlifting specific program isn't warranted.
Again, we need to train according to the demands of life and sport. Athletes such as Serena Williams, Brandi
Chastain, Linford Christie, Pyrros Dimas and Roy Jones have better physiques than most, but they've never
trained for aesthetics; they've trained for function.

Train Unilaterally and Multi-Planar 4.

The majority of training programs take place in the sagittal plane (an imaginary "line" which divides the body
into left and right halves all pushing and pulling movements occur in this plane) with bilateral movements
such as barbell bench presses and barbell curls that work in that plane. However, life and sport takes place in
all three planes simultaneously with primarily unilateral or single-arm loaded movements
It isn't uncommon to see a fitness trainer spend an inordinate amount of time teaching a beginner to squat
with a perfectly parallel stance and perfectly even loading. Yet watch that same client load his gym bag over
one shoulder and walk to his car, where he gets in using an offset loaded, single leg rotational squat! Or move
boxes in his garage with an offset stance and a rotational reach. We all have the story of the jacked guy who
blew out his back helping you move a couch. Just be aware of real life function.
Below is a table of the entire "core musculature" (from Dr. Evan Osar's Form and Function). As you can see,
the majority of the core muscle fibers run in the transverse plane. Sagittal divides the body into left and right
halves; frontal divides the body into front and back halves (side to side movements); and transverse divides
the body into top and bottom (for rotational movement).
Core Musculature

Sagittal

Rectus Abdominus

Frontal

Transverse

External Obliques

Internal Obliques

Transverse Abdominus

Psoas

Iliacus

Rectus Femoris

X
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Sartorius
Tensor Fascia Latae

X
X

Iliocostalis

Longissimus

Spinalis

Multifidii /Rotatores

Quadratus Lumborum

Gluteus Maximus

Gluteus Medius

External hip rotators

Hamstrings

Adductors

Train with Balance 5.

Train with balance balance between motor qualities and balance between movement patterns (e.g.
horizontal push-pull). A training program in general should be balanced in terms of sets, reps, total time under
tension, and volume throughout the entire body, but particularly in opposing movement patterns.
If, for example, you're doing 2 sets of 10 reps in the bench press, and 2 sets of 10 reps in the seated row, this
isn't necessarily balanced. You could be pressing with 200 pounds that's a total volume of 4000 pounds
and rowing with only 150, a total volume of 3000 pounds. This is actually a major imbalance and would need
to be addressed. An imbalance in volume like this, left unaddressed, will end up causing a major shoulder
girdle problem.
In an ideal situation we'd be using the same sets, reps, and loads in all antagonistic movement patterns, unless
of course we were purposefully using volume to create an imbalance in order to correct an existing one. It's
also important, although beyond the scope of this article, to understand that other motor qualities, including
flexibility and cardio respiratory endurance, also need to be considered in the total scheme of programming.

Use a Method of Periodization 6.

Periodization just means planning. However, most trainees seem to ignore that simple concept and jump
mindlessly from program to program without a clear picture of the long-term plan.
I'm not concerned with which method of periodization you use, but you do need to use some form of long
term plan. Good coaches write programs for long-term success; poor coaches write workouts for short-term
success but inevitable failure. The fact that most people will probably just jump from one program to another

without planning their "big picture" makes success even more unlikely. So, for those of you who have primarily
aesthetic goals, an alternating periodization model will be the most appropriate.
Let me explain. When using linear models (e.g. 6 weeks at 12-15 reps, 6 weeks at 8-12 reps, 6 weeks at 6-8
reps etc.) we tend to lose the qualities we initially sought to improve. For example, if we were to undertake 6
weeks of endurance (12-15 reps), 6 weeks of hypertrophy (8-12 reps) and 6 weeks of strength emphasis (4-6
reps), then at the end of the sixth week of strength emphasis it will have been 12 weeks since we were
exposed to any endurance methods (twice as long as we spent developing it).
So we'll have lost portions of that quality! This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if we felt that the quality was
important enough to train, then it's certainly important enough to maintain.
A better system would be to alternate the phases. So we'd perform a 12-15 rep phase, followed by a 4-6 rep
phase, then an 8-12 rep phase. Using this method of alternating the accumulation and intensification phases,
we never spend more than four weeks going in one rep "direction." Therefore, we avoid most of the problems
of linear periodization.
For a more complete look at periodization, and specifically the limitations of the linear method, checkout Dave
Tate's excellent Periodization Bible series.

Use a Time-Outcome Based Approach 7.

You have to know how long a workout takes. The big equalizer in training is time. We all have a limited
amount of time to train. Yet most training programs tend to ignore this and begin with an exercise menu
approach. (Warning: The following portion contains math!)
Let's say we have one hour total to train. We begin with 60 minutes. Subtract warm-up time (10 minutes) and
rehab concerns/stretches (10 minutes). We now have 40 minutes of lifting time left.
Average length of a set in this phase is 60 seconds, rest period is 120 seconds. That's three minutes per set
total (work set plus rest period). If we want to do two sets of each exercise, we're looking at six minutes per
exercise. That allows us to perform only six exercises in this workout.
I've lost track of the number of trainers I've heard mindlessly say "you must get your workout done in under
an hour" who then go on to design workouts that quite simply can't be performed in that timeframe! When
you've finished designing your program, take the time to do the math and see if your workouts are even
possible.

Conclusion: The Good Stuff

So that's basic program design in a nutshell. If you start to look at most successful long term programs,
regardless of the differences, you'll start to see the similarities. More importantly, when you try it you'll start
to see the effectiveness. And that's the Bruce Lee philosophy cutting through the junk and filtering to get the
good stuff!