Programming
Writing your own programme
At some point following someone else’s template stops fitting your schedule, your weak points and your recovery. Writing your own is more straightforward than it looks.
Topic
programming
Every Entire Strength article tagged programming — 13 pieces across 2 sections.
Recovery
How long a muscle actually needs between sessions
The forty-eight-hour rule is a rule of thumb that has hardened into dogma. The real answer depends on what you did, not on the clock.
Programming
Autoregulation: training by effort rather than by percentage
Percentage-based programming assumes your maximum is stable and your readiness is constant. Neither is true, and autoregulation is the fix.
Programming
Lifting and cardio: the interference effect, in proportion
The fear that cardiovascular training destroys strength gains is overstated, and the conditions under which it genuinely interferes are specific and avoidable.
Programming
Choosing accessory exercises without collecting them
Accessory work should have a reason. Most programmes accumulate exercises for no articulable purpose and then wonder why sessions take two hours.
Recovery
Rest between sets: longer than you think
Short rest periods feel productive and are, for most goals, counterproductive. The research here is clearer than the gym convention suggests.
Programming
Structuring a session: order, warm-ups and what to cut when time is short
The exercise order within a session has a real effect on outcomes, and the warm-up has less to do with stretching than most people think.
Programming
Strength and size: related, not identical, and the training differs
Bigger muscles have more potential force. But the strongest people are not always the biggest, and the training that maximises one is not quite the training that maximises the other.
Programming
Periodisation: linear, block and undulating, without the jargon
Periodisation means organising training over time so that fatigue and fitness end up in the right relationship on the days that matter. Everything else is terminology.
Programming
Frequency: how often to train a muscle, and why the answer changed
The once-a-week body part split dominated gym culture for decades. The evidence supports something more frequent, though for a subtler reason than most people give.
Programming
Training to failure: when it helps and when it just costs you
Failure is treated as a virtue in gym culture and as a mistake in most coaching. The evidence supports something in between, and it depends heavily on the exercise.
Programming
Volume: how many hard sets a muscle actually needs
The research on training volume is messier than the confident infographics suggest, but it does support a workable range and a clear principle about how to move within it.
Programming
Progressive overload is not adding weight every session
The principle everyone quotes is usually applied in the narrowest possible way, which is why so many lifters stall in their second year and conclude they need a new programme.