Athlete For Life Part I: Training

How to look, feel, and perform like an athlete—now, and for the rest of your days

‍‍By Luka Hocevar, with Sean Hyson

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Everybody wants to be more muscular, but unless you aspire to be a bodybuilder or an Abercrombie & Fitch model, you probably don’t want to be jacked or ripped and nothing else. You want to look like you lift weights, but you also enjoy doing stuff other than lifting weights, and your training should help prepare you to do it. Stuff like out-driving your buddies off the tee when you hit the links… Being able to dunk on people half your age when you play pick-up basketball… Running out for a pass in a game of touch football—without pulling a hamstring—or wrestling with your kids without gasping for air or tweaking your low back.In short, you want muscle with hustle. A body that’s built for show but can still go. You want to be as good an athlete as you were when you were younger—or maybe even fulfill the potential you always felt you had but never realized—in spite of the demands of your schedule, injuries, carrying a few extra pounds, and all the years gone by.

Sound ridiculous? Don’t worry, I’m not trying to sell you on some new supplement or anti-aging treatment. Instead, I’m going to give you a workout, nutrition, and lifestyle template—for FREE—that shows you exactly how I’ve helped thousands of men and women transform their bodies and improve athleticism for the last 15+ years. I call it Athlete For Life, and if you adopt its principles, there’s no reason you can’t look, feel, and perform like an athlete regardless of what age or condition you’re in now.In this first installment of a two-part series, I’ll cover all the exercise and activity you need to do. In the next one, I’ll get into the eating and supplementation.

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Step 1: Set Your Training Schedule‍

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First, let’s determine how often you can work out. I’d like you to do some kind of training six days a week, but the length of time and intensity for each session will vary. You have to commit to at least two hard strength training workouts per week (this means lifting weights). Three would be great, and I think four is ideal if you have the time, but I’ve had many busy clients stick with two days and see fantastic progress. Be realistic about how consistent you can be. It’s better to start with two days a week and then take it up to three than to start at four, burn yourself out, and have to scale back to two.Your training frequency will also be determined by your goals. If you aspire to play a sport again at a competitive level (i.e., as part of a formal league with a set schedule, not pick-up games in your backyard), you may need to train more often. Likewise, if your goal is to gain a lot of muscle or strength. If you want to double the amount of weight you’re squatting or benching, it should go without saying that you’re going to have to strength train more than twice a week to get there.‍

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Training Splits

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The number of times you strength train over the course of the week and the way you divide up the areas of the body that get trained on those days is called your training split. Notice I say “strength train.” This refers to the workout sessions you’ll do where you lift weights, and will usually require an hour or more of your time each workout, but this is not the only training you’ll need to do throughout the week. You’ll do other, typically shorter workouts with different purposes (cardio, active recovery) elsewhere in the week, and I’ll explain what those entail in other sections further down.If you decide to strength train two days a week, you should follow a full-body routine in both sessions. That means you’ll do some pushing (pressing exercises, pushup variations, and other chest/shoulder/triceps builders), pulling (rowing and pullup exercises for the back, some biceps and forearm work), and lower-body movements each workout. Two training days is fine, but with such little frequency, you’ll have to be extra efficient to see that you give every muscle group enough stimulus to make gains. This is usually more effective than doing just one upper-body day and lower-body day per week.I often start people out on an A/B split when they do full-body two times a week. That means two different workouts that you’ll alternate. For example, you’ll do the A workout on Monday with one list of exercises, and the B workout Thursday with another group of exercises, and repeat the two every week. The more you repeat a workout, the better you’ll get at performing the exercises in the workout, and that means fast strength gains.If you decide to train three days per week, you have a few more training split options to choose from. You can do three full-body sessions (in which case you could do A on Monday, B on Wednesday, and A again on Friday, and the next week do B, A, B on the same schedule), or you can do a lower-body day followed by an upper-body day, and then a full-body session (A, B, and C). Another possibility is to do a push day, pull day, and leg day.

As I said above, training four days a week is usually an ideal schedule, because it gives you ample time to pack in all the different kinds of training that let you develop all the different qualities that make a great athlete (I’ll cover these below shortly). In a four-day split, you’ll usually alternate lower- and upper-body days (two each per week), or you can do push/pull/legs and then spend the fourth day on a weak point or area you want to give special attention to (arms or calves, for example).Or how about lower, upper, full, and then a weak-point day? The fourth day/weak-point day is usually a shorter session compared to the other three (maybe 45 minutes), and is done with lighter weights and exercises that aren’t particularly stressful to the joints or nervous system, thereby facilitating recovery while you give some extra work to muscles that need it. After the three hard workouts that precede it, most people think of Day 4 as an easy, fun session, which makes it even more effective at bringing up weak points (if you enjoy what you’re doing, you do it better).Training splits really come down to a matter of preference as well as time available. If you enjoy working on one area of the body at a time and getting a big pump, do upper and lower-body days. If you’re a beginner to strength training, coming back from a layoff, or want to focus more on strength, full-body days make sense because you can stick to a few basic lifts and repeat them frequently. No need to get fancy. Less experienced people will do fine with two workouts that alternate (A and B), while more experienced, intermediate lifters might want to do three or four different routines.

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Step 2: Know Your Training Methods‍

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Now that you know when you’ll be training and what you’ll be training on each day, let’s talk about how you’re going to train.To be a great athlete, you have to develop muscle, strength, and power, and while there’s overlap between the three, it’s best to organize your workouts so that you prioritize one or two of these qualities at a time. For strength, we do what are called max-effort days—workouts that we’ll build around one specific exercise that we’ll go really heavy on. Think low-rep sets of bench press, squat, and deadlift variations. For speed and power, we do dynamic-effort days. The main exercise on this day will be done explosively (move as fast as you can), and may feature sprints, plyometrics like medicine-ball throws or various jumps, or weighted exercises that are done with piston-like speed (jumps squats, dynamic-effort bench press, or Olympic lifts like hang cleans). For muscle, we do repetition-effort days, which comprise the kind of training you’re probably used to—basic gym lifts done for moderate reps that leave you looking swole. Dumbbell curls, leg extensions, lateral raises, and other bodybuilding-type isolation lifts are mostly done on rep-effort days.You may have read about this kind of training system before. It’s called the conjugate method, and it’s been adapted to train every type of athlete you can think of. No matter how you slice it, the major benefit of a conjugate system is being able to train all the big components of athleticism at the same time (i.e., in the same week, or close to it, depending on how many training days you allow for in your split). Generally speaking, this system is more effective than the way athletes used to train, which was focusing on one quality at a time.Years ago, coaches used to take athletes through muscle-building phases followed by weeks of strength work and then power, but this presents a few problems. By the time the athlete got to the power phase, it had been so long since he/she worked on muscle that the gains started to be lost, and when they worked on muscle and strength again in the next rotation, they were losing power. In a conjugate system, you keep all skills and qualities sharp by never getting away from any one for too long.The big caveat with conjugate training is recovery. Max-effort and dynamic-effort workouts are stressful to the muscles, joints, and nervous system, so you can’t pile them too close together. It’s best not to do max-effort days back to back, or at least not more than two in a row. You shouldn’t do more than two max-effort exercises in one session either (if you’re doing a full-body day, you can do one max lift for upper and one for lower). Max-effort days will often feature heavy squatting or deadlifting, so you don’t want to do sprints in a dynamic-effort workout the next day—your legs won’t be recovered.An optimal conjugate split would be four days per week where you do max-effort lower body on Monday, max-effort upper body Wednesday, dynamic-effort/repetition-effort lower body on Thursday, and a dynamic/repetition upper workout on Saturday. (Yes, you can combine dynamic and repetition-effort workouts.) Or, depending on your needs and goals, do more dynamic work and less repetition work or vice versa, swapping different workouts in and out over the course of the weeks, but never getting away from any one kind of workout for more than two weeks at a time.If you’re training three days a week, I would do max-effort upper Monday, max-effort lower Wednesday, and a dynamic-effort full-body session Friday.If you can only train two days a week, you might go for max-effort lower body Monday and dynamic-effort/repetition upper body Friday, and then the next week do dynamic/repetition lower and max upper.I don’t want to confuse you… There are many, many ways you can organize a split to fit all this work in, so experiment over time. The point is just to get a little of each kind of training so that your body gets exposed to all the different methods frequently enough to make progress in all three. You can set your split according to preference and goals. For instance, many of my clients want to build more power in their lower body for the sake of sports performance, but want bigger muscles in the upper body to look good on the beach. No problem. In that case I usually give them a week that has one max-effort lower-body day, one rep-effort upper day, and then a dynamic full-body day. That way, they get strength and speed work for the legs, and pump work for the chest, shoulders, back, and arms.I should also note that EVERY workout should contain some kind of explosive training, even if it isn’t a so-called dynamic-effort day. Being fast and powerful is crucial for athletes of every stripe, so make sure to include at least one exercise every single session that covers it.It’s best to stagger your heavy and explosive (i.e., high-intensity) days with lighter, slower, easier workouts. You’re going to be working on joint mobility and cardio too, and the days before and after your max-effort workouts are perfect times to schedule these things. For example, if Monday is max-effort, Tuesday can be an aerobic workout where you walk on the treadmill at a steep incline for 45 minutes. Wednesday could be an off day, and then Thursday would be your next max-effort workout. On Friday, you can do some other light conditioning, and then Saturday do a rep-effort workout.Do NO MORE than two max-effort sessions inside of any one week. The same goes for dynamic sessions and repetition sessions. And even if you have time to train five days a week or more, don’t lift weights more than four days.

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Sample Max-Effort, Upper-Body Training

DayDynamic Warm Ups:

• ‍Ear to Shoulder Neck Mobilization x 8/side
• ‍Shoulder CARs x 4/side
• ‍Scapular CARs x 8/side
• ‍Thoracic Windmill x 8/side
• ‍World’s Greatest Stretch x 6/side
• ‍Band Pull Apart w/ External Rotation x 12
• ‍High Knees x 15 seconds (2 rounds)
• ‍Skips x 30 yards
• ‍Carioca x 30 yards
• ‍Lateral Low Hurdle Hops 3 x 10/side
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1A). Cable Chest Fly 3 x 12
1B). Face Pulls  3 x 12

2A). BB Incline Bench Press 4 x 4
2B). Rotational Med Ball Shot Put Throws 4 x 5/side

3A). Alternating DB Bench Press 3 x 8/side
3B). DB Chest Supported ISO Row Countdown 3 x 5-1/side

4A). Posterior Flye’s 3 x 15
4B). DB Curls 3 x 12
4C). Tricep Band Snapdowns 3 x 40

Optional - Conditioning
5). Battling Ropes 5 x 20 seconds on/40 seconds off

Here’s a vlog where I walk you through a sample max-effort, upper-body training session:

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Sample Max-Effort, Lower-Body Training Day

Dynamic Warm Ups

• ‍Couch Stretch x 6 breaths per side
• ‍Elevated Pigeon PAILs & RAILs x 2-3/side
• ‍Quadruped Hip Circles x 6/side
• ‍World’s Greatest Stretch x 6/side
• ‍Thai Sit w/ Reach x 5/side
• ‍Squat to Stand x 8
• ‍High Knees x 15 seconds (2 rounds
• ‍Skips x 30 yardsCarioca x 30 yards
• ‍10-Yard Accelerations x 6

Different stances: 2-point, Push up position, half kneeling (each 2x)

1A). Bulgarian Split Squats 4 x 6/side
1B). Single Leg Box Jump 4 x 4/side2A) Trap Bar Deadlift 3 x 5
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2B). Band Assisted Pogo Jumps 3 x 8-10
3A). BB Hip Thrust w/ 2 sec Pause 3 x 12
3B). Ab Rollout 3 x 10

4). Single Leg Squat to Box 2 x 12/side

Optional - Conditioning

5). KB Swings EMOM (Every Minute On The Minute) 8 mins x 14 swings (add a round a week)
OR
‍Weighted Sled Push (Explosive Repeat*) 8 rounds x 10 seconds on/50 seconds rest (add 1-2 rounds per week)
*Pick a lighter weight and focus on pushing it fast

Sample Full-Body, Dynamic-Effort Training Day

Dynamic Warm Ups
‍Scapular CARs x 8/side
‍The Bretzel Stretch x 6 breaths/side
‍Band Pull Apart w/ External Rotation x 12
‍World’s Greatest Stretch x 6/side
‍Thai Sit w/ Reach x 5/side
‍Squat to Stand x 8
‍High Knees x 15 seconds (2 rounds)
‍Skips x 30 yards
‍Carioca x 30 yards
‍“Twitchy” Lateral Jumps 4 x 6/side

1A). KB Sprinter Lunge to Step 3 x 6/side
1B). Jumping Lunges 3 x 5/side

2A). BB Front Squat 4 x 6 (add heel elevation if necessary)
2B). 1 Arm Half Kneeling Thorax Cable Row 3 x 12/side

3A). DB RDL w/ 3 sec Pause 3 x 10
3B). Push Away Push Up 3 x max
4). Density Block - 8 mins
‍Suspension Trainer/BB Pike Pull Ups x 8
‍DB Shoulder Raises x 10
‍DB Curl Variaiton  x 8

Optional - Conditioning
5). HICT (High Intensity Continuous Training) - Explosive Step Ups 2 x 8 mins

Sample Weak-Link Training Day
** This is an example from one of my client’s programs, designed according to their weaknesses as well as things they want to work on and bring up. In this case, the focus is calves and arms.

Dynamic Warm Ups**
Use any of the above dynamic warm ups—whatever you feel like you have to work on most.
1A). Floating Lunge Calf Raises 3 x 12/side
1B). KB/DB Core Rows 3 x 8/side

2A). Smith Machine/Safety Squat Bar Calf Raises 3 x 8
2B). Copenhagen Plank 3 x 20-30 seconds/side
2C). Curl Variation (your choice) 3 x 8

3A). Glute Ham Raise or Hamstring Curls (seated) 3 x 12
3B). Heel Elevated Tempo Goblet Squats (3 second eccentric, 3 second concentric, no pause) 3 x 10
3C). Tricep Variation (your choice) 3 x 12

4). Reverse Sled Drag 1 x 6 (add 2 mins every week)

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Step 3: Select Your Exercises

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The most important thing I want to get across here is that there are NO MANDATORY EXERCISES. The lifts you choose to fill out your training days should be customized to your needs and capabilities. In the case of many ex athletes who are over 35 and have injuries, that means that the classic back squat, bench press, and conventional deadlift are a no go, and you absolutely don’t need these exercises to build a great physique or an athletic body. What’s important is the movement patterns. Those are universal. Everybody needs to do some kind of squat, hip hinge, press, pull, and single-leg exercise, but the exact exercises you choose are entirely up to you.For example, your max-effort lower-body days will require you to squat, but that can mean a goblet squat, heel-elevated back squat, safety-bar back squat, front squat, belt squat, pendulum squat, Smith machine squat… shall I keep going?Do some research and find the exercises that work for you. They should be moves that you can do with great form and that don’t hurt! If something bothers your knees, shoulders, or lower back, find another exercise to replace it with. In many cases, a machine may be the right alternative. Don’t be scared off by strength coaches who have posted online about how machines aren’t “functional.” Yes, as an athlete, you’ll need to be able to stabilize your body in space, and a machine may not challenge you to do that as well as a free-weight or bodyweight exercise does, but that doesn’t mean every exercise has to mimic what you do on the field, court, or mat.Actually, the science surrounding this argument is evolving fast, and emerging research suggests that machine training may not be much different from free weights at all in terms of delivering “functional” results. A June 2023 study looking at 14 different performance outcomes found only slight differences in the results subjects got from free weight vs. machine training.Below are some samples of max-effort, dynamic-effort, and rep-effort exercises in lower and upper body categories.

UPPER BODY, MAX-EFFORT EXERCISES—--------------

• Thick bar or regular bar Bench Press
• Floor Press
• Kadilac bar or Duffalo bar press
• Incline BB Bench Press (different grips)
• Smith Machine Bench Press
• Rack Lockouts
• Board Press or Foam Roll Press
• Chain or Band Bench Press Variations
• DB Bench Press (Flat, Slight and Incline)
• Landmine Viking Attachment Press
• Reverse Band Bench Press
• Weighted Neutral Chin Ups (and other variations)
• T-Bar Row
• Weighted Rope Sled Pulls

* * Every variation can be done with different bars (thick bar, football bar, Kadilac bar, Duffalo bar, etc). If you have access to upper-body pushing or pulling machines, I would also fit them here for max-effort work.LOWER-BODY, MAX EFFORT EXERCISES—---------------

• BB Box Squat
• BB Safety-Bar Box Squat
• BB Front Squat
• Belt Squat
• Pendulum Squat
• Hatfield Squat
• BB Deadlift (Regular, Sumo, Elevated)
• Rack Pull
• BB RDL
• Trap Bar Deadlift
• Belt Squat Deadlift
• BB/DB Bulgarian Split Squats
• Hatfield Bulgarian Split Squats
• Safety Squat Bar Reverse Lunges
• DB Lunge Variations
• Loaded Pistol Squat to Box
• Heavy Sled Push, Drag or Pull
• Overcoming Isometrics (Squat, Split Squat, RDL,...)

** There are plenty more options between the variations of the above as well as including the use of specialty bars, chains, machines, etc.

When it comes to max-effort lifts and building an athlete for life using the conjugate system, we don’t have to focus on just the power lifts, but rather the movement patterns we want to get stronger in and that let us apply high forces safely. This will be different for different people, which is why it’s important to build a toolbox of exercises that fit you.UPPER-BODY, DYNAMIC-EFFORT EXERCISES—--------------

• Speed Bench Press (variation of specialty bars)
• BB Banded Bench Press
• BB Bench w/ Chains
• Push Jerk
• Landmine Viking Push Press
• Landmine Split Jerk
• Prowler Throws
• Plyo Push Ups
• Drop Push Ups
• Medicine-Ball Throws and Slams
• Banded Jammer Rows
• Reverse Med-Ball Throws
• Banded Speed Pull Ups
• Plyo Chin Ups
• 1 Arm Band-Resisted Rows
• Explosive Sled Rows
• Trap-Bar Deadlift Dead-Stop Explosive Rows

LOWER-BODY, DYNAMIC-EFFORT EXERCISES—---------------

• Box Jumps
• Vertical Jump
• Broad Jump
• Hurdle Hops
• Depth Jump onto Box
• Box Squat into Box Jump
• Weighted Reactive Box Jumps
• Speed Trap-Bar Deadlifts
• Trap-Bar Deadlift Jumps
• Banded Deadlift Variations
• Trap-Bar Dedlift w/ Chains
• BB Squat Jumps
• Banded Box Squats
• Banded Safety Squat Bar Bulgarian Split Squats
• Hang Cleans
• Single Arm DB Snatch
• Med-Ball Scoop Toss
• Med-Ball Max Reverse Throws
• Sprints
• Sled Sprints

These are just some of the exercises that you’ll find frequently in the Athlete For Life Programs but the options here are plenty. I created a video with 85 plyometric and jump variations that can also give you some extra ideas.

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As well as some more advanced variations.
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UPPER-BODY, REP-EFFORT EXERCISES—---------------Just about any traditional strength exercise can go here but below are some of the ones we use.

• Flat DB Bench Press
• Incline DB Bench Press
• DB Floor Press
• Bridge DB Press
• Push Up Variations
• Chin Ups
• DB Chest Supported Rows
• BB Bench Press (55-60% of 1RM)
• Machine Rows
• T-Bar Rows

This gives some options and ideas but it’s also important to have a deep toolbox and pick the “right tool for the job.”Here are some quick tips for selecting good exercises:

• Front-loaded squats are often easier on your lower back than back-loaded squats. That means that front squats, goblet squats, or any other variation where you hold the weight in front of your body is fair game. Loading the squat like this will usually allow you to squat deeper and with better form than a back squat, and that’s a win-win.
• Use special barbells whenever possible. If your gym has a safety-squat bar, football or Swiss bar (something with handles that allows you to use a palms-facing grip), or trap/hex bar, take advantage of them. For many people, they’ll provide much more joint-friendly alternatives to the classic conventional barbell lifts.
• Choose max-effort exercises that let you go heavy, and dynamic-effort exercises that let you go fast. A safety-bar squat may not let you train as heavy as a back squat, but you can still progress to where you’re squatting hundreds of pounds. This is a better max-effort exercise choice than a leg extension because it works multiple joints at a time. By the same token, a Bulgarian split squat (back foot resting on a bench) can be a good max-effort exercise too, and a great way to prioritize single-leg training (which is super athletic but most people neglect).
• Barbell bench press variations are good on max-effort upper days, but if your shoulders ache, dumbbell presses are fine. Chest flyes are not, as they can’t be loaded as heavy or progressed as readily. (They also don’t translate as well to athletic performance, unless you enter some kind of hugging competition.)
• For dynamic-effort exercises, focus on using light weights but moving them fast. Jumps, throws, sprints, and light-weight exercises are all fine, provided you do them fast as intended. If you’re trying to do a jump squat with kettlebells but your feet don’t leave the floor, the weight is too heavy and you’re not training speed like you’re supposed to.
• If you’re coming back from an injury, a machine exercise may be the perfect choice. Say your shoulders are still a little unstable from a recent rotator cuff surgery. You’re better off doing a machine press as your max-effort lift than a barbell overhead press. The machine will help to stabilize your shoulders so all you have to do is focus on pushing the weight. That will do more for muscle mass and strength while keeping you safe than trying to balance a heavy barbell.

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Step 4: Determine Your Sets, Reps, and Rest Periods

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Max-effort exercises are done heavy, and that means reps in the 3–6 range. Going any heavier than that is, in my opinion, unnecessarily dangerous and not applicable to athletic goals (unless you’re training to compete in weightlifting or powerlifting). Note that this doesn’t mean going so heavy that your last rep is a brutal grind that causes your form to break down and leaves you injured. For the most part, you should have one or two reps left in you at the end of every work set (that is, the sets that count; not warmup sets). You want the weight to be challenging and feel heavy, but not to such an extreme that you don’t feel in control of it.

You have to work up to your max-effort lifts slowly. Start with a light weight (the empty bar, or maybe 50% of what you plan to lift that day) and do 5–10 reps with it. Rest 30 seconds or so—enough time to load your next weight and get set—and go again, performing 3–5 reps. Keep ramping up gradually, keeping your reps low, until you reach your goal weight for the day. It should take you at least three and maybe as many as five or even seven ramp-up sets to get there. This depends on how strong you are and how many sets you need to feel warmed up and ready; just don’t rush it.

Let’s say you plan to squat 225 for 5. You should start with the empty bar for five reps, just to get some blood flowing and help your nervous system start to groove the motor pattern. Then you could load 95 pounds (a 25 on each side of a standard barbell) and do four reps. Then 135 pounds for 3 reps, 185 for 2, and 205 for 1. Rest two to three minutes, and then go with 225 for 5 for your first work set. Don’t skip these ramp-up sets! They may feel light but they’re important, prepping your nervous system, muscles, and joints for the work ahead.

‍After you’ve done your main work set, assess your performance and determine what to do next. If it felt too light, rest three minutes or so and add five to 10 pounds and go again. If it was too heavy for you to get all your goal reps with good form, back the weight off and go again. You may do 1–4 hard max-effort sets. The exact number really comes down to your experience level, performance, and how you feel that day, but the goal is to get some practice lifting heavy weights safely.

If you can, have a spotter or two handy for safety’s sake.Dynamic-effort exercises are done light but explosively, so low reps are the answer here too. Performing higher reps will only cause you to slow down and possibly break form, defeating the purpose, so don’t think that 3 reps isn’t enough work here, even though the resistance is light. If you feel yourself losing speed, end the set. Since the goal is power, you’ll need to let yourself fully recharge between sets, or you’ll see a massive drop-off in performance with each set. Again, two minutes or more rest is appropriate.

‍Three to 6 total sets of 3–6 reps is a good guideline for sprints, jumps, and throws. If you choose to use light weights on squat, bench press, and deadlift variations (as powerlifters do on their dynamic-effort days), go with 8 sets of 2, 9 sets of 3, and 8 sets of 2, respectively, starting with around 60% of your max (the most you can lift for one good rep) for each.Repetition-effort exercises cover pretty much everything that’s left, and they should be done for as few as 6–8 reps or as many 12 or more (depending on your preference and the exercise). Do 2–3 sets for each. These exercises are typically done to failure—the point at which you can’t perform another rep with good technique—or within a rep or two of that mark, and should leave you burning and pumped up. Rest 90 seconds or more between them.Much of the latest research on muscle and strength-building training shows that three-minute rest periods are optimal, but most people train on a tight schedule and can’t afford to rest that long. One way to speed up workouts while still allowing for recovery is to alternate sets of different exercises that don’t compete with one another (this is sometimes called supersetting). For example, you can do a set of dumbbell bench presses followed by cable rows with little or no rest in between them. Then rest 90 seconds or so and repeat. Your back muscles work while your chest recovers so that by the time you get back to the presses again you’ll feel ready, and vice versa.If you have plenty of time to train, however, go ahead and do one exercise at a time and rest a full three minutes between all your sets.

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Step 5: Sequence Your Workout Properly

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There’s a lot more to a good strength workout than just lifting weights. If you put all the right components in, and do them in a smart order, you’ll do everything possible to prevent and/or work around injuries while promoting the greatest performance. I like using the R7 system, developed by strength coach Mike Robertson, as a template for each session. There are seven tasks that start with “R” that, when executed in order, will optimize your workouts.If you want some more insight and detail on how I use R7 in programming, you can check it out in the video below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntLO2-r80d0&t=604sYou can also check out the in depth Vigor Life Podcast episode I did on the R7 HERE. R1 – ReleaseI’m sure you’re familiar with foam rolling and the general idea of self-myofascial release. Basically, you use a roller, lacrosse ball, or some other rollable implement to massage tight muscles to get them to relax a little bit. This helps reduce tension you feel in your body and move more freely. The exact mechanisms behind what myofascial release does and why still aren’t clear, but anyone who’s done it consistently knows that it helps you feel and perform better, and ultimately, that’s all I care about.Start every workout by rolling the major muscles you’re going to train that day, and giving extra attention to any particularly tight areas. If you’re training lower body, work the ball into your hips and glutes. If you’re pressing, do your shoulders and upper back. Roll gently and slowly until you feel a tender spot and then stay on that area until you feel it relax a bit. You don’t have to roll out every nook and cranny—just concentrate on your trouble areas—and don’t spend more than five minutes on this total. You should feel more warmed up and awake afterward.R2 – ResetWhen you walk into the gym, you carry all the stress of the day and your life outside it in with you. By spending a little time breathing and stretching after you’ve released, you can unwind from all of that and refocus your mind on the task at hand. I recommend doing a couch stretch: get into a lunge position on the floor and prop your back foot up against a wall or bench (you can do this at home on your couch, too) so that you feel a stretch in the front of the hip on your back leg. Take a long, deep breath in and then out, and repeat for about 8 reps, or 30 seconds. Pigeon pose (as done in yoga classes) is another good option. Don’t push your limits on these stretches—you’re not warmed up yet. Focus more on your breathing and trying to relax into the stretch. Pick a few stretches, and spend 3–5 minutes here.R3 – ReadinessNow we get into the warmup. There’s an infinite number of joint mobility exercises to pick from here, so just choose one or two for every major area of the body you’ll be training (the shoulders, T-spine, hips, and ankles, usually). Look at the table below for some ideas.Here are some mobility exercises we use often:Couch Stretch x 6 breaths per sideScapular CARs x 8/sideThoracic Windmill x 8/sideThe Bretzel Stretch x 6 breaths/sideElevated Pigeon PAILs & RAILs x 2-3/sideWorld’s Greatest Stretch x 6/sideThai Sit w/ Reach x 5/sideSquat to Stand x 8I’ve also got a couple of resources I created that will make sure you never run out of mobility exercises:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgkL4kyD9vA&t=37shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjwaAdncNb4&t=22sThese should really be tailored to the lifts you plan to do that day and any injuries that have been bugging you. If you’re going to do a deadlift variation and you have some persistent lower-back pain, a seated 90/90 stretch can help to open the hips and relieve the aching. If you’re going to squat, some ankle mobility may be a good idea to help give your knees room to travel over your toes. Do three or four of these drills for around 8 reps, or 30 seconds, each. They should get you sweating and feeling warmed up.Finish up this section by doing some faster-speed drills. High knees, carioca steps, backward runs, skips, and hops are all appropriate and should help ready you for the fast, powerful lifts ahead (no matter what training day it is).All of this should take no more than five minutes, but it will go a long way toward making you feel ready to move and lift safely.

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WARNING: You’ll be tempted to skip this part. I know you will. Mobility exercises/dynamic warmup drills can make you look goofy and sometimes feel like you’re wasting energy that could otherwise go into lifting big weights, but believe me, they’re some of the biggest difference-makers for long-term athletic performance.Very rarely does a new client come to me demonstrating good movement skills. They’re always tight in one or more areas and unstable in others, and drills like the above are the main way to correct things. If one joint doesn’t work well, it will affect other joints, and then loading them heavy is a recipe for disaster. Furthermore, it’s a lot harder to push yourself and get the most out of your training if you’re dealing with nagging injuries and major movement restrictions.If you’re young, mobility will help prevent problems before they start, and if you’re older and already banged up, it’s the route to get back on track. I believe in it so strongly that I don’t want you to limit these drills to your workouts alone. Do them every day, at least once a day and preferably up to three times, for up to 10 minutes each time. After a month, I promise you’ll feel less pinching in your hip or shoulder, more range of motion on your exercises, and better recruitment of your target muscles.I shot this Ground Prep Series with Mike Robertson, and I’m sure it will help you move, feel, and perform better if you do it daily as part of your “Movement Hygiene” practice, as I do it myself.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqB-6iLIits&t=13sR4 – ReactiveHere’s where the workout really begins and the part where you’ll start to feel like an athlete. This is the time to do your explosive exercises—plyometrics like jumps and throws, sprints, etc. Most of the time, you’ll do low reps (1–6), moderate sets (3–6), and longer rest periods (2+ minutes), but to save time, you can alternate sets of these movements with sets of your heavy lift (sometimes your max-effort lift) for the day. This strategy can also lead to even greater power development.If you combine explosive exercises with heavy ones, do the heavy lift first, as it will charge up your nervous system to make you even more powerful when you do the explosive exercise. In this case, you don’t need to rest long. An example would be doing a set of trap-bar deadlifts for around 5 reps, resting only 20 seconds, and then doing a set of box jumps. Or bench presses followed by medicine-ball throws.This is called contrast training, and it’s often used by elite athletes for a few weeks at a time to peak their power for a particular event. If you’re really into training, you may have read about this approach and come across all kinds of warnings about how stressful it is to the nervous system and, therefore, must be used in small doses, but I’ve found that regular people (i.e., not elite athletes) can do fine with contrast training pretty much year-round. Most of us don’t run as fast, jump as high, or otherwise produce nearly as much power as the kind of athletes this training was designed for, so it doesn’t take anywhere near as much out of us to perform. We’re also not dealing with the rigors of a full-time athletic schedule (travel, multiple contests, practices, etc.), so our recovery demands aren’t as high. For these reasons, I like this simplified approach to contrast training for people who want to train athletically and still get out of the gym in an hour.R5 – ResistanceHere’s where the heavy lifting comes in. If it’s a max-effort day, you’ll do your max-effort lift at this time. If it’s a dynamic- or repetition-effort day, you’ll do whatever other strength training you need to support progress on your max-effort lifts, as well as improve muscle balance to prevent injury and, yes, tackle your aesthetic goals (having a sculpted ass, big arms, a barrel chest, and so on).After the main lift of the day (the max-effort or dynamic-effort lift, or, if it’s a rep day, your toughest, most challenging exercise on the list) you’ll do…One Supplemental exercise. This is a lift that in some way complements the main movement you did today, or other max-effort lifts in your program. For example, if you just did a max-effort, trap-bar deadlift, you could perform a Bulgarian (i.e., rear-foot elevated) split squat. The body mechanics between the two are similar, but the latter works the legs one at a time, just as they’re used in sports activity. Do anywhere from 6–12 reps and 2–3 sets.Accessory exercise 1. This exercise works a related muscle group. So if you just worked quads, glutes, and hamstrings hard with a deadlift, and glutes and quads with the split squat, you could do another quad, glute, or hamstring-focused exercise here, applying the repetition-effort parameters. This should be an easier exercise than the previous two—usually something that doesn’t present much of a coordination challenge, better isolates the target muscle group, and puts you at very low risk for injury. Example: a lying leg curl for the hamstrings.Accessory exercise 2. Same idea as the above, but for a different area of the body. Examples: a back extension for the lower back, or core exercise.Weak-link exercise. Finish the lifting component of the workout with an exercise that really hones in on a weak area. For many people this could be calf raises (or arm/forearm work, if it’s an upper-body day), or a core exercise.

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xceptions To The RulesIf you’re in your mid-thirties or older, have a bunch of injuries, or you’re slowly getting back into training after a layoff, you may do better performing the exercises I just listed in a different order—and in some cases, in complete reverse order. This is shown in some of the sample workout days I put under Step 2: Know Your Training Methods.Big lifts like the trap-bar deadlift and bench press will arguably do the most to promote strength and performance, but they’re hard on the body. They also demand great form. If you rush your warmup, you’re dealing with a nagging injury, or you just don’t feel “on” that day, doing a heavy barbell exercise early in the session could get you hurt. But doing it second or third in the workout, after you’ve done some easier, more isolated lifts, could make you feel and perform even better. I call this doing a reverse workout. So instead of starting with your biggest exercise and moving to smaller lifts, you do the little stuff first and build up to the main exercise.In other words, you could do the Bulgarian split squat for 3 sets of 6 and then go to trap-bar deadlifts, working up to a heavy set of 3. Or you might do leg curls for hamstrings, then hip thrusts for glutes, and then the trap-bar deads. The more beat up you are from sports, training, and life, the more you should reverse your workout. You’re probably thinking that doing your hardest exercise later in the session will force you to have to use less weight, since you’ll be somewhat fatigued by that point. This is true, but you’ll still be able to progress on the lift. And with more blood in your muscles and lubrication in your joints, heavy presses, squats, deadlifts, etc., will feel much more natural and fluid. You’ll be back to your old numbers within a few workouts, and then surpass them.Another option for making the big lifts feel better is to do what I call primers just before them—one exercise that prepares you to do the lift safely, or targets a weak point that could cause your form to break down on the big lift. A few sets of leg curls before a deadlift or squat will help your knees and hips feel more prepared. The same goes for dumbbell flyes or pushups before sets of pressing. If you have poor ankle mobility, calf raises before squats can open your ankles, allowing your knees to move more freely when you have a bar on your back.I have a client in his late 50s who does upper-body push max-effort days as follows: chest flye, dumbbell bench press, Kabuki-bar bench press (max effort), pushups, and triceps extensions.Another client who trains with full-body sessions does this: chest flye, hamstring curls on a roller, incline bench press (max effort), and belt squat (max effort). He often walks in with slight shoulder and knee pain, but the flyes and leg curls (done light) warm up his shoulders and knees, so by the time he gets to the main lifts, he’s pumped up, warmed up, and pain-free. He can actually train harder on those max-effort lifts because he’s not hampered by nagging aches.Here’s a video of breaking down the “Reverse Workout” principles with some examples:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hzrt3kLcE4R6 – ResilienceAfter lifting, we can squeeze in some cardio, but I don’t mean 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill. Your cardio should match the intensity of the lifting you just did, so sprints, lateral shuffles, high-rep kettlebell swings, or rounds of jump rope are some of the best choices. Think short burst and moderate recovery. This can be sprints that last 10–12 seconds, followed by 50 seconds’ rest, or circuits of bodyweight exercises that keep you going for 60–90 seconds.You can and should do longer duration, low-intensity cardio on other days of the week, but the goal is to keep all the high-intensity training you do on the days that call for high intensity, so you have more time to recover before those days come around again. The alternative—say, squatting heavy on Monday and running sprints Tuesday—doesn’t leave enough recovery time between sessions, and will eventually result in overtraining or injury.On days in between lifting sessions, you can do aerobic capacity work: 30–40 minutes of walking on an inclined treadmill, cycling, swimming, jogging, or circuits of mobility work (this is a great way to get more mobility in to make your joints feel better, and, done continuously, will absolutely raise your heart rate to levels that improve endurance). These workouts should get your heart up to approximately 120 to 150 beats per minute.Most sports are anaerobic, meaning that they involve short bursts of intense activity followed by light activity or total rest. For that reason, many athletes ignore old-fashioned aerobic conditioning in favor of high-intensity interval training and activities that more closely resemble their play on the field, but that’s a mistake. Aerobic exercise builds the engine that lets you perform power activities with the greatest explosiveness. So, while jogging, cycling, and rowing don’t look like they’d do much for football, basketball, or boxing, they’re critical for having the gas to do them well.

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Forget what you may have heard about endurance training detracting from strength and muscle gains. Those myths are based on outdated research, and recent studies show that aerobic exercise won’t hinder your lifting. In fact, it will promote your recovery from it and may even help you build more muscle!Although it’s not quite intense enough to qualify as aerobic exercise, casual walking is very helpful for recovery and overall health as well. It releases hormones that calm you down and clear your mind. You’ve surely heard of recommendations to aim for 10,000 steps daily, but this is largely an arbitrary number. Just make an effort to walk more than you have been—6,000–8,000 steps daily is fine, or  take a walk lasting 20–30 minutes in addition to whatever steps you get in your workouts and other daily activities. I think it’s best if you do your walking outside, which enhances the relaxing effects, but indoor walking on a treadmill is OK when the weather sucks.Try to get at least one (more ideally two) high-intensity cardio sessions and two low-intensity ones in each week. Again, the high-intensity conditioning can be done after your lifting and the aerobic work, ideally, should be done on days in between, or at least several hours removed from a lifting session. Days you play your sport, of course, can count as high-intensity cardio too. So budget your recovery time accordingly.I share 19 different cardio methods within the 3 different energy systems (different kinds of anaerobic and aerobic endurance training) in this video if you want to dive deeper into the methods and how to use them:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a6V8FjX5Ok&t=2621sHere are two examples of conditioning sessions—one that is high intensity and can be done after lifting, and one that is low intensity and can be added to the following day for aerobic capacity work.Conditioning Session #1 Complete 2-3 rounds of each (15 seconds of work, 60 seconds active recovery)

1. 10-yard Shuttle Sprints
2. Rotational Med Ball Wall Throws
3. Lateral Slides
4. KB Deadlift Jumps
5. Dynaball Rotational Slams
6. Skater Jumps

You can see a video of me doing this workout HERE.Conditioning Session #2This is an example of pure aerobic training, the cardiac output method, where you will go for 40–60 minutes  and keep your heart rate between 130 and 150 beats per minute the whole time. To prevent you from getting bored, you’ll switch up the exercises throughout the session:

1. Jacobs Ladder x 10 mins
2. Multi-directional Sled Pulls x 20 mins
3. Low Intensity Movement & Running Drills x 10 mins
4. Ski Erg or Bike x 10 mins

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You can choose an almost infinite number of cardio activities as long as you’re keeping your HR between 130 and 150 BPM.You can see me doing a 60-second breakdown on cardio HERE.R7 – RecoveryAfter all this training, you’ll want to immediately go to your car (maybe crawl there) and drive home, but it’s better to bring your heart rate down slowly and kickstart the recovery process. Do some light pedaling on an Airdyne bike, light sled pushes, or walking on a treadmill, getting your heart rate to about 100 beats per minute for 2–3 minutes. After that, do  some box breathing. Lie on the floor and take a deep breath, inhaling for 4 whole seconds. Hold the breath 4 seconds, and then take 4 seconds to let it out. Hold the exhale 4 more seconds, and then repeat the process for 2–3 minutes. (Visualize the four different durations as the four sides of a square, hence the name box breathing.)Finish the workout with a little more foam rolling and stretching. Don’t aggressively try to smoosh out the knots in your muscles; it should be a soothing process that encourages more blood flow to the areas you trained.I give you my exact cool down protocol that you can watch HERE.That’s it! Or is it?...To look, feel, and perform like an athlete, your nutrition has to be just as regimented as your training. In my next post, I’ll go over how to eat like an athlete for life, covering how to gain or lose weight, eat healthy on a tight schedule, and correct the nutrient deficiencies that may be holding you back.