I always have a plan, try to follow it but make proper adjustments when necessary.
A friend of mine NEVER has a plan, he just does what he feels like doing. It’s crazy, he is bigger and more conditioned than me.
I definately like the idea of “winging it”, but i also believe in a program that tracks results. Lately ive been doing EDT. Right now its 3x a week sessions. Each session has a Core lower or Core upper, followed by 2 PRs that are the opposite. For example.
session A
core - squat 15 min@6RM
pr1 - upper(inc bench/kettlebell rows)15 min@10RM
pr2 - upper (dips/chins)15min @10RM
session B
core - Mil Press - 15 min@6RM
pr1 - lower (KB clean)15 min@10RM
pr2 - lower (front squat)15min @10RM
i just rotate these every other day, week 1 is 2 seesion A, 1 session b, week 2, 1 session A, 2 session B. So on…
when i feel stale ill change up the Cores. mabye do deadlifts and flat bench.
So there is enough routine… and some winging it. Set and reps are dependent on myself that day. All that matters is the 15 min zone.
Structured Chaos.
Anyone interested in the above should browse for Staley articles here on Tnation. The dude is awesome… Get as creative as you want with the program.
I always have a plan. I have probably done 20 of the programs on this site in the last 5 years and I have a journal that shows every rep and poundage that I have ever done.
If you don’t write stuff down, it’s hard to know for sure if you’re breaking PRs…and chances are if you’re not writing something down you don’t care if you break any PRs.
If you don’t care about breaking PRs you might be one of those people who just goes by feel, trains for the pump, and tells people that the amount of weight you use doesn’t matter as long as you feel like you’re making the muscle grow.
If you’re that kind of person you MIGHT be a huge douchebag who hasn’t accomplished anything and is afraid of knowledge and hard work.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
If you don’t write stuff down, it’s hard to know for sure if you’re breaking PRs…and chances are if you’re not writing something down you don’t care if you break any PRs.
If you don’t care about breaking PRs you might be one of those people who just goes by feel, trains for the pump, and tells people that the amount of weight you use doesn’t matter as long as you feel like you’re making the muscle grow.
If you’re that kind of person you MIGHT be a huge douchebag who hasn’t accomplished anything and is afraid of knowledge and hard work. [/quote]
I’ve put on an additional 190lbs on my deadlift in 4 months doing the “dont write stuff down” method.
I went from 10 pullups to 25 pullups in 4 months doing the same method.
35lbs dumbbell presses to 70lbs dumbbell presses.
gained 10lbs bodyweight
thats just me though, and i have yet to go to the gym with a set parameter. and rather training for the pump, i go for fatigue.
[quote]KraigY wrote:
I always have a plan. I have probably done 20 of the programs on this site in the last 5 years and I have a journal that shows every rep and poundage that I have ever done.[/quote]
what has your progress been like.
Whether or not the “instinctive” route is a good choice probably depends a lot on your personality and experience.
If you’re a “by the book” type, then you’ll probably hate it and feel like you’re just taking “shots in the dark” as someone mentioned earlier.
If you’re a “by the seat of your pants” type, then you’ll probably love it and wind up making progress on it.
Really, it’s not the program per se that is the most important component in whether you get results or not. It’s consistency, hard work, overload (can be achieved in many different ways), time, and of course rest and nutrition.
all the people with the strict plan if your feeling awesome some day you still do the same weight even if its easy? I mean I generally go yeah I’ll do this weight, but if it feels easy I’ll go up. Its almost impossible to follow strict plan everyday also, since some days you just might not hit the current weight for whatever reason.