Best Way to Program Your Training

One of the most oft asked questions I get from people, from both the online and offline worlds, is about their weekly workout schedule:

“How should I program my workouts?”

“How many days per week should I train?”

“Is it wrong or bad to train 2 days in a row?”

“How much rest should I have between workouts?”

“Is there one best way to program my training?”

While there certainly is no ONE best way to program training, there definitely are some models that are more effective than others.

Periodization

There are many different ways to program workouts, in fact there’s an entire branch of sports science dedicated to it called Periodization.  Periodization is basically a fancy term for organizing and scheduling training in terms of structural units. These units are divided up into, training session, microcycle, mesocycle, macrocycle, and multiyear cycle. Periodization is a highly effective way to organize training for athletics, but what about for martial arts?

One of the challenges in programming training for the martial artist is that there is no such thing as an off-season for a warrior. We don’t need to train with the intention of “peaking” for a particular event as we do not know when our skills will be called upon, if ever.  Additionally, our training requirements are a little bit different than the average athlete, even a combat athlete. We must consistently train for multifaceted development of all-around fitness and conditioning rather than training specific strength qualities individually on a cycle-by-cycle basis. As a warrior, we need to be in a constant state of preparedness, ready for whatever real life may throw at us.

So How Should We Program?

For general fitness, I usually recommend doing a full body workout 3 times a week. This way it allows for plenty of recovery time.  This is because all of your progress and gains happen when you are resting – not training.  The harder you train, the harder you must recover.  In fact, I would go as far as saying that if you do not have a solid recovery strategy in place you will never maximize your results.

On the “rest” days make sure you are staying active.  Do mobility work, yoga, walking/running/hiking/swimming, budo training, etc…

Another way to program your training is to alter the intensity from one day to the next so that there are no “off” days, but since you are cycling intensity, rest is built in. For example:

Day 1 – Moderate (strength)

Day 2 – High (met con)

Day 3 – No (mobility)

Day 4 – Low (yoga/budo/etc)

Here are a few basic sample templates for you:

Full Body

Upper Lower Full Split

The Upper Lower Split

Changing Intensity*

* Repeat days 1 – 4

As I mentioned above, there are many different ways to program your weekly workouts.  The example templates are not meant to be all inclusive, by any means.  They are just some of the ways I have found work best for me and my students.

PS – Sick of being average?  Ready for extraordinary?  Let me know how I can help you…
If you are ready to start living a Warrior Life, click HERE <<===

Jon

Jon Haas, "The Warrior Coach" has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shihan. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, a certified Personal Trainer as well as founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!

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