DON'T FORCE A SQUARE PEG: CUSTOMIZE YOUR PROGRAMS FOR SUCCESS

DON'T FORCE A SQUARE PEG: CUSTOMIZE YOUR PROGRAMS FOR SUCCESS

By Shane Robert

1. When Life Gets in the Way

In any long-term training career, you will inevitably face difficulties. I don’t mean that the training will be hard; it will. It’s supposed to be. Rather, I mean that life tends to have a way of interfering with our best-laid plans (thank you, Robert Burns). That is no excuse to quit. It simply forces you to get a little creative, think through the issue at hand, and change the program in a way that suits your current situation.

2. The Fear of Changing What’s Written Down

People seem to have a hard time with the idea that they are “allowed” to change programs. I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps it’s because someone wrote it down, and that makes it tantamount to scripture in many trainees' minds. This leads to an inability, or maybe fear, of making changes to a program that suits their needs. Instead, they abandon the program completely or never even attempt it because it doesn’t quite fit their situation.

3. Training Programs Are Scaffolds, Not Statues

Unless someone is working directly with a coach who has created a program specifically for their needs, very few cookie-cutter programs are going to be perfectly suited for anyone, much less everyone. All programs should be viewed as a scaffold on which your individual training is built. As long as you get to the same end, it doesn’t matter if changes are needed.

I see it far too often, and the statements all sound very similar. Something like: “Such-and-such program looks interesting and seems like fun, but I can’t do [fill-in-the-blank reason], so I don’t think I can do the program.” Sad face. Statements like these frustrate me to no end. Unless the fill-in-the-blank is something absolutely essential to the program—like wanting to do the 20-rep squat program Super Squats but being unable to squat—most issues can be worked around.

4. Adapting Training Frequency to Fit Your Life

If you are struggling with recovery, for instance, be it because of age, general life stress, the overall structure of the program, etc., there is no reason that you can’t take a program and spread it out over fewer days per week and more weeks. If you want to run a program that is 5 days per week, but you know that the best you can hope for at the moment is 3 days per week, guess what? No rule says your training week (microcycle) needs to be over 7 calendar days. Maybe your microcycle is 10 calendar days. Yes, the program length will be longer than originally written, but who cares? Even if it takes you two months longer, what difference does that make in the grand scheme of a lifetime of training?

5. The Best Exercise Is the One You Can Do

Exercise selection seems to be an issue for people as well, particularly assistance and supplemental movements. There are almost no exercises that are required in a program, Super Squats being a notable exception, along with any specialization protocol. Outside of those instances, general training is very malleable. Can’t low bar squat? Great, do high bar. Or front squats. Or safety bar squats. Heck, even replacing it with a hack squat machine or belt squat will be just as effective for building muscle.

If there is some assistance movement listed that you don’t have the required equipment for, simply replace the movement with a different exercise that works the same muscle. Don’t lose sight of the goal of the exercise, which is to build and strengthen that muscle, you can do that many different ways. Take seated leg curls, for example. If you don’t have a seated leg curl machine, you can replace it with something else that works the hamstrings and, if you want to get ultra specific, replace it with something that works the hamstrings in flexion, rather than extension (though I’d argue it’s a trivial difference), something like a glute ham raise, nordic curl, hamstring curls using a suspension trainer, swiss ball or slider pads.

6. Make the Program Work for You

Programs aren’t infallible commandments from on high. There is nothing that says you can’t make changes to suit your needs as long as you don’t lose the spirit of the program. Customizing, rather than trying to force yourself to fit the program, will lead to a greater likelihood of actually finishing the program and fully reaping the rewards at the end.