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Programming Improv Am I the only one who does not use programs?

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Bill Lets

Bill Lets

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Friends,

With all the strong people who visit Strongfirst and there are lots. Just read the squat challenge thread and about the pressing of massive kettlebells. Am I alone In training without a program? If you think I am doing a disservice to myself you may say so. I don’t think so but I open to it, it’s just I am never satisfied with just a few sets.

I also write this with kindness towards instructors and I understand that programs are used to obtain goals and the goals are often reached. As for me “and I am not a special snow flake“ I just never feel like sticking with one. I have always from my early days of doing bodybuilding in the mid 80’s when I went from 172 lbs to 212 lbs (soaking wet) in four years and even grew a few hairs on my back. I just did as much as I could while still being able to recover (sometimes).

INSTINCT'IVELY, adverb By force of instinct; without reasoning, instruction or experience; by natural impulse. THIS IS WHAT I LIKE and it seems to be working

I did a search first but couldn’t find a thread yet I’m sure it’s been made mention of. Wrong forum I know.

Thanks,
 
I write my own programming, typically for 1 year in advance, taking into account my competitive seasons in rowing and weightlifting.

It breaks down into mesocycles of 8-12 weeks in length, with specific goals for each meso.

I'd have a hard time peaking for competition otherwise.

It's also necessary for me as some of the modalities can interfere with each other without smart programming.
 
@Brett Jones I think, has opined about trainees who train intuitively, vs trainees who train within a structured framework.

whatever I am in training, is not intuitive.

I think the closest I ever came to training without a program has been when I was following grease-the-groove style training. but I couldn't help myself and formalized it within weeks by writing out what I was doing. probably in part to make some sense of something that seemed chaotic.
 
Bill Lets said:
Am I the only one who does not use programs?

Wrong forum I know.
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It's a fine question and this is a fine place to ask it.

I train both ways.

If I'm preparing for a competition, my training is pretty well organized although I always build some schedule flexibility into my own programming. I'll give you an example: I'm focused on the deadlift for an upcoming PL meet, so I planned out 12 weeks of my heavy DL, working backwards from meet day. But I allowed the rest of my training to be relatively unstructured knowing, e.g., that I would do more DL's on other days of the week early in the cycle but likely give those up as the meet drew closer.

But I've also spent months and years just going to my basement gym and doing whatever I felt like with only a broad outline, e.g., I'll work on swings and pullups, or I'll work on kettlebell presses and barbell deadlifts and pullups.

Find your own rhythm by regularly evaluating what you did and what results you achieved. E.g., if maintenance was the goal, did you achieve that? If adding 10 kg to your deadlift was the goal, did you achieve that? If learning some new lifts was the goal, did you do that? If watching your weight, whether that means you want it to go up or want it to go down, did your diet and exercise program work and how miserable or not did it make you?

Not only does one size not fit all, one size doesn't necessarily even fit one all the time.

-S-
 
I love this question. I try to live a minimalist lifestyle. I get turned off by all the program talk. I have no idea what most of the threads in this forum are talking about. I make a program myself but its just a guideline. And it changes constantly. Right now I have 3 different workouts: Swing & Get Up, Clean & Press, Pushup & Goblet Squat. But based on how I feel, how intense I work, that can all change from day to day. And I definitely don't use anyone else's program.
 
Thank you for the replies.

One year out, I understand training in blocks hats off to ya a whole year wow. A formalized by writing it out good keep it up don’t stop make those gains. Intuitively and instinctively have almost the same meaning I looked it up but I like the natural impulse part ;-). I understand especially a 12 week out plan of coarse that’s vital and you get to some not so playful playing the other weeks, nice.

Yesterday I went to planet fatness because of their adjustable dip bars, did reps of 1,2,3,5 with little rest probably 40 or 50 reps including some slow negatives until feeling some fatigue. Went home ate and napped then went to the stadium and did swings and presses. Slept ok but not great.

On a side note my wife passed away in February and I retired in September so I am a little lost in life. Lifting fills my time and helps a little with the mind but not so much. Please don’t forget to tell your wives that you love them even if you are young so many say I’ll see you later but that doesn’t happen. I go now.
 
I followed S&S to a tee for 15 months and hit the simple goal.

Then I moved into barbells and have pretty much freestyled it. Progress has been very slow.

So there is probably some merit to following a proven program in my mind.
 
I've never had much success meeting goals without programming. I know lots of people manage it and I've read many of their logs, but it still doesn't click for me on how to make it work. Admittedly I'm a little gunshy since I spent a month or two working on an intuitive system that was a precursor to Iron Cardio (not from Brett but written by another SFG based on Brett's ideas) and didn't get anywhere fast.

I posted this in the "request for article ideas" thread, but I would love an article on utilizing "Tactical Periodization" that Pavel wrote about way back in the 2000s.
 
I like alternating of structured and intuitive training during the year. When I do structured training, I focus on specific goal. When I do intuitive training, I experiment, explore and enjoy, while building not only strength.
Plus I feel that my brain needs to change the training as much as my muscles.
 
@Bill Lets So sorry for your loss. When my dad passed away almost two years ago, I kept training but ditched my structured program entirely. During times like these, I do what I need to do in order to feel just a little bit better.

I think there is a time and a place for both structured and unstructured training. If training for a specific goal, there's no better way to get there than following a program (and having a lot of discipline). You might get there without that structure, but it requires a depth of understanding and experience that few have. If you're not training for a specific goal - you train because you love it, or you want to learn new skills, etc. - then you can still maintain and even make real progress without that structure.

I move back and forth between structured and unstructured. Coming off of 8 weeks of Reload (barbell) after several months of KBSF, I'm now walking up to my kettlebells and asking, "what would feel good right now for 30-40 minutes?". I naturally fall into a bit of a pattern of increasing volume slowly over time, waving the load, etc.

(Today I ended up doing 30 minutes on-the-minute of 4 hand-to-hand swings + 1 goblet squat with 36kg and I loved it)
 
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I don’t train with other people’s programs, but I do always have a plan and a structure to my sessions. Lately have really kicked over to auotregulating, so progression is not a defining factor, but there is ALWAYS a plan.
 
Most of the time I need a concrete goal or overriding purpose - if I don't I just kind of putz around and that's fine at least I'm doing some exercise, but then progress by any metric is probably minimal.

That said, over the decades, I've trained without any set program more often than with. Right now I have a general plan tailored towards my goals (squatting 315 for as many reps as possible is primary, grip specific and general fitness goals are secondary), but it is flexible.
 
I enjoyed terrific progress using Wendler's 5/3/1 for deadlifting almost 4 years ago. It works as advertised! I was going to couple that with @watchnerd 's and @Steve Freides' programming for competition to point out programming's obvious necessity for competitive athletes.

Then, Bill Lets reminded us that training isn't only about competition and those times can be vastly more important than competing. My heart goes out to you, Bill, I pray that you find peace and that your World finds a good orbit.
 
Sometimes I just go to the gym and work my way up to a weight that feels heavy. Is that a program? Other times I go to the gym with a structure in mind but on reflection about what I want to achieve I change my mind and use another structure. Is that a program? In an unfamiliar or crowded gym I may not have the equipment available to mimic what I did last week so I do something similar. Have I departed from my program? It’s all tied up in what you think you are trying to achieve and how you feel and what’s available to you. I doubt any serious lifter (or even semi-serious, like me) could claim to exercise without any program at all. It’s more about the degree of regulation and the blurriness of the goal, at any particular point in time.
 
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