Creating a Long Term Workout Plan

Training
1

It is easy to follow an 8 week plan, 12 week plan, or whatever variation is available. I, however, would like to look forward and develop a workout plan for at least 6 months to a year. Is this even possible?

Estimated 1RMs (lbs)
Squat 315
Bench 225
Deadlift 335

Been exercising very consistently since May 2013.

Currently running GVT. Seeing very good results so far and I am adapting well to the program (just finished week three with squats and I am hardly sore compared to week 1).

My history:

I have experience using Stronglifts. It worked for about 4 months then I virtually stopped gaining anything. Went to WSFSB. I saw rapid strength gains, but being a disorganized individual I had a lot of trouble have consistent workout sessions. Also I felt working up to a new max was injury provoking. I really like the high intensity style of GVT.

Years ago when I was really inconsistent I did this program that increased load weakly from 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7 maintaining the same weight each workout. Holy shit did I get strong real fast on that program, but I injured myself getting too ambitious and I lost my gains. That is a pattern I repeat that I am trying to avoid from now on.

So, ideally I would like to establish a longer team set of workouts to avoid my prior set backs.

Goals include:
increase strength
increase size
decrease fat
avoid injury

I also have access to a sled I purchased, but I will not be using it until the weather warms up.

2

Predictable answer- 5/3/1.

There are loads of different templates and all you do is pick one, anyone and run it for a few cycles to whenever and then change to a different template but the principles stay the same ie 5/3/1.

This is what I have done over the last 1.5 years for example.

2 day a week template
4 day a week boring but big tempate
3 day a week full body template
3 day a week boring but big template (i think I will run this for a year and just change the BBB rep range)

Add in some conditioning 2 days a week and you are good to go!

As you can see the templates can be changed to your goals or time restraints in the gym.

I never get bored because I’m chasing a PR every workout and also change the minimal assistance work I do every few cycles.

3

[quote]Aero51 wrote:
It is easy to follow an 8 week plan, 12 week plan, or whatever variation is available. I, however, would like to look forward and develop a workout plan for at least 6 months to a year. Is this even possible?[/quote]
Yes and no.

You’re not really going to be able to design one 6-12 month plan that isn’t going to require tweaking, adjusting, and fine-tuning as you go along. You can come up with an outline and some guiding points, but there’s no way to tell today what a workout 49 weeks from now is going to look like.

[quote]So, ideally I would like to establish a longer team set of workouts to avoid my prior set backs.

Goals include:
increase strength
increase size
decrease fat
avoid injury[/quote]
Totally keep these as goals (but those aren’t really “goals”, they’re ideas. Definitely get more specific with each) and use them as some sort of long-term horizon, to check your week-to-week and month-to-month progress against. If you want to achieve X, Y, and Z in 12 months, then make sure you’re doing Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W that’s going to get you there.

Last month, I set personal goals for 3 months, 7 months, 10 months, 2 years, and 6 years. They all kinda build on one another with different focuses, but I’m still approaching workouts week-to-week and session-to-session. And the mesocycles (blocks of time training a certain way) that will get me to each goal will certainly be different. I really couldn’t tell you right now how I’ll be training in 20 months, because I don’t know yet and I don’t really need to know yet.

It is a pretty good kick in the ass, though, knowing that I’ve decided and stated what I want to achieve in six years. Anytime I feel motivation slacking, I’d be lying if I said I don’t remind myself of them and say, “Time’s ticking.”

4

So there arent any rules of thumb or statistical correlations regarding what types of workouts to do and how to vary them over longer timescales? Right now I just “try to do better than last time”, even if it’s just one more rep or 5 more pounds. It works very well, but I feel like this is a short sighted strategy.

I can address the Avoid Injury goal and have been. I have been paying attention to each lift and avoiding Max Effort type lifts. Realistically, I do not have the genetics to be a competitive lifter, even though I have solid build for my height, so its not a big loss.

To get stronger, I take the “try to do better than last time” approach. I dont have a goal like “Squat 315x10” any strength gain is a plus, though I would really love to be able to do Farmers Walks with 150+lbs in each hand for a 100 foot stride. Right now I can do about 110 for that distance.

To lose fat, well I am gaining weight but the problem is that I dont actually care. I know I should though. Maybe a girlfriend will change that. Who knows?

Increase size, well I am doing GVT and plan on continuing similar high intensity workouts.

5

[quote]Aero51 wrote:
So there arent any rules of thumb or statistical correlations regarding what types of workouts to do and how to vary them over longer timescales? Right now I just “try to do better than last time”, even if it’s just one more rep or 5 more pounds. It works very well, but I feel like this is a short sighted strategy. [/quote]

I wouldn’t call that short sighted to be honest. Lots of programs work on weekly PRs (5/3/1 as suggested previously).

As for rules on making training plans for the long term, put it this way, if your goal was to squat 50 kg more at the end of the year and half way through you’ve increased your squat by 35 kg but put on 30 kg of fat, would you stick to what you were doing or would you modify it as needed? With a few exceptions (e.g. SHW powerlifters) I’d expect most people to modify the plan.

Alternatively, you might get injured, and I don’t just mean in the gym. Say you get hit by a bus and end up with a shattered hip. Again, you’d have to modify your plan.

With that said, Chris’ advice is good as always. Set more specific long-term goals and work to each one individually for set periods of time, but keep all of them in mind in case things need changing. Also recognise that at some point you may have to temporarily ignore one goal, e.g. losing fat vs gaining size. Maybe you can do both, maybe you can’t.