I saw on a recent post that discussed training movements as opposed to muscles. Now, I know that as an athlete that it would be rediculus to train specifically for chest size, quad size ect. and I need to just focus on getting stronger. As far as training movements though, I don’t know how you would take this idea into putting together a program.
The “movements” I can think of would be: horizontal press, vertical press, horizontal row, vertical row, lower pull, lower push. But where do things like tricep extensions, good mornings fit in to this. Am I missing any other movements. So, how do you put a program together using movements.
I think the idea is to think of the exercise as a complete movement rather than training a muscle. Thus a bench press is not a “pec exercise” but a horizontal plane push.
It’s just a way to think about what you’re doing so you don’t end up with some sort of injury.
There are a zillion movements out there. I am also an athlete and I like to use a few tried and true lifts. I use power cleans, power snatches, squats, front squats, bench press, pull ups, dips and then I do medicine ball work for my core.
I try to mix it up between these exercises and try to have an even amount of pushing and pulling reps. I am not a big fan of lifts that isolate muscles, not that I don’t think they work, it’s just that I don’t want to be spending 2 hours in the gym when I can spend 45 mins.
Sounds like a powerlifter’s mindset to me. So you’d do bench, squats, and deads for your main exercises. Your workouts would center around those lifts, and assistance exercises for those lifts. So instead of “chest and triceps day” you’d have “bench press day,” etc. Think of Westside, which has ME and DE bench days, and ME and DE squat days, versus something like Big Boy Basics which has heavy and light upper and lower body days (8x3 for heavy and 3x8 for light).
If I want to work my power cleans, I’d do power cleans, and then maybe clean pulls or upright rows, and maybe one arm DB cleans or snatches. Etc.
[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
…But where do things like tricep extensions…fit in to this.[/quote]
They don’t, and that’s the point. You could probably make a case for Good Mornings as a vertical pushing movement, since the glutes and hams get some work in as well. Try to think: if I could only, only, ONLY use compound exercises, what would I do.
About how to put it together as a program, there’s a few options. You could have:
Day 1 - Horizontal Push (flat bench), Horizontal Pull (barbell row)
Day 2 - Vertical Push (military press), Vertical Pull (pull-up)
Or something like:
Day 1 - Horizontal Push (flat DB press), Vertical Push (military press)