physique

Create a body that performs as good as it looks.

Functional training has gotten a lot of press lately and for good reason: This is not a new concept though, people should be moving “functionally” all the time but not everyone workouts out the way they move in their daily lives. What’s the point of working out if you are “all show and no go?” In other words, what’s the point of working out if you cannot be stronger than your mother? That’s like putting 26’ rims on a car with an engine that’s underperforming because you never looked under the hood.

Your body is made for performance. A strong set of legs, back, and shoulders developed not only for mass but for your 7 Primal Movement Patterns: Squat, Lunge, Push, Pull, Twist, Bend and Gait. (Paul Check anyone?) When your body is strong and works together, synergistically, you develop a different type of strength that is not developed by traditional workout splits. When you crush a single muscle group every time you step in the gym, you literally cripple any chance of using that muscle group in your daily life for the next few days. Where is the capability in that? Where is the true strength?

Case Study: Does this sound like you? Let’s say you were to have a traditional “leg day” and you literally do the leg press machine and leg extension machine until your quads are about to pop off your knees. Let’s also say that you using every additional “intensity technique” in the book, drop sets, super sets, high reps, negatives, and assisted reps only to hobble out of the gym feel like your legs just got ran over by a truck for the next few days. Is growth really taking place? Or are you just going after the pump and the feeling of being sore? Are you just pretending to recover properly?

Also, does this make you avoid activities due to your need to “recover”  for several days? Are you chronically sore and always in a state of pain from the brutal workouts that are probably not producing the results that cool magazine or website or even trainer promised?

ENTER THE ATHLETIC PHYSIQUE

We are going to create a body that performs as good as it looks. Your functional physique is a practical and performance-based outlook on your fitness.

The purpose here is to merge the idea that you can have the looks and the performance of an athlete without sacrificing one for the other. Because if you are being honest with ourselves, who doesn’t want to look like a professional MMA fighter or NFL star and then have the muscle to be a functional human being?

Let us take a look on how you can work toward this goal in the gym while dominating outside the gym as well. It’s time you stop hanging your head out of “exhaustion” and looking beat down when you leave the gym. It’s time to make our efforts in the gym benefit us in the real-world.

MINDSET CHECK

First and possibly last, you need to stop thinking like a traditional “meathead” (time to start thinking like a “functional meathead”) and get away from killing a single body part until it turns to mush. It’s time to start thinking about the whole body as a functional piece of equipment – what happens when your body is being treated as a Formula-1 Race Car.

No matter what sport, baseball, football, basketball, tennis, etc…, the athlete needs to have a baseline of movement to maintain and express a functional body. The ability to twist (swing a baseball bat), sprint (off the line), press (shoot a basketball) requires a body to handle those movements – even to an elite level.

It’s time to start varying your training, using different movement planes, and different levels of intensity. It’s time to start using your body as a whole functioning machine.

SORRY YOU’RE PROBABLY WEAK

Now, since I am assuming (making an ass out of you and me) that you workout like a lugnut instead of a Racecar, we are going to address the most common weaknesses most people have during their training. Don’t worry, we are always trying to make even the most ELITE athletes stronger in these areas. This list is not the end all be all either. This is just the beginning of an experiment you will be conducting on yourself during your pursuit of strength and cconditioning.

• CORE STABILITY: When someone is confining their training to machines and seated/supported exercises, they are only weakening their core. The trunk of your body is made to stabilize you. This is what gives you control of total body strength. Developing a strong and stable core is the key to transferring energy and developing strength.

• POSTERIOR CHAIN: All the muscles you do not see in the mirror. The traps, posterior delts, the entire back structure, glutes, and hamstrings. These muscles combined are the motor of the body. Without these muscles developed you are only saying to yourself that you want to be weak forever. Stop being weak, train your posterior chain.

• RANGE OF MOTION: Let’s face it, your mobility probably sucks. I’m now suppose to tell you it’s not your fault…but it really is. You stopped moving like a human. You sit all day at work, you sit when you watch T.V., you sit when you eat, you don’t do full range of motion (don’t lie to yourself) when you lift, the list goes on and on. You must develop the entire range of movement through each muscle complex to strengthen its function.

• PRESSING: This can kind of tie in with range of motion because unless you have been coached on how to press, you probably are doing more harm than good. Having your shoulder go through a full range of motion when you press may not feel right when you do for the first time. Whether you are overhead pressing, bench pressing, or doing dips you must learn the way your shoulders move to strengthen the entire shoulder complex.

• IMBALANCES: Unilateral training will quickly get you stronger because most likely you favor one side more than the other. This is a recipe for injury down the line. I want you to actually try this, grab a 55 pound dumbbell and perform a 1 leg – 1 arm Deadlift (Hold the weight in your right hand and perform on your left leg). How many reps until you become tired and unbalanced? Now switch. Which side is easier? Case and point. (if that was too easy grab a heavier weight hoss)

• BODYWEIGHT: When you coddle yourself with light weights and machines all the time you tend not to use your total body in a movement. Achieving a mastery of bodyweight may take you a while but it is worth it when it comes to strength and muscle conditioning. How many pullups can you do? Compare that to how much you bench… If you have been training wrong…it won’t be good.

YOUR NEW TRAINING VARIABLES

Listed are some of the training variables you will use for your new functional athletic physique. Pay attention to each week of training as they may emphasize one more that the other. By the end of the program it will even out.

• STRENGTH: You will learn how you can develop brutally raw strength. This is achieved by concentrating your main lift (which will be a big compound movement) to lower amount of reps and higher weight.

• MAX POWER: This is the product of force and velocity.  There are also many different variations and conditions affecting the way in which power can be displayed. It can be displayed during either maximal or submaximal joint actions (varying on the joints involved). It can also displayed against an external resistance or against a variable external resistance. Also, power can be exerted and measured while the involved muscles are lengthening or shortening. (This is also known as the concentric or eccentric muscle actions)

• ENDURANCE: This can often be overlooked and skipped during an athlete’s training but this is a very important aspect of performance, your muscle endurance will not only serve as a functional benefits but this is also why athletes are very lean. Endurance is the reason why you will be able to endure the intensity of your training.

• CARDIO: This is different from  muscle endurance.  Very rarely do athletes partake in low-intensity steady-state cardio. You will adopt a more high intensity interval training, this will allow you to be more efficient with your time and energy.

• SPEED:  This is your distance divided by your time. Sprinting and running, not jogging, will train your body’s ability to accelerate.  Through this kind of workouts will aid in your loss as well. Training for speed is another reason athletes tend to be leaner than most people.

• INJURY PROOFING: This is what we like to call PREHAB. It’s not REHAB because you will be training your body against common injuries before they may occur. Maybe you are already injured or are recovering from an injury, through PREHAB you will be making sure that injury doesn’t happen again.

YOUR ATHLETIC PHYSIQUE

This program that is laid out for you will address these variables and much, much more. Your training slate is now clean you are now on a new path to rebuilding not only you but also your training program.  At first,  this may not seem like an easy task to follow.  You will be challenged daily.  You will be tested weekly.  If you do decide to partake in this journey, this will take discipline and consistency importantly a complete and true belief in yourself.

Here are a few pointers when beginning the Athletic Physique Training Program:

• Give the program some time.  Is require you to be consistent for the minimum of 4 weeks, preferably 8. When starting any new program it may take some time to fall in line and progress to be made. There’s no such thing as an overnight success, you will build muscle and strength in a few days, this requires discipline and dedication. Take control of your physique today.

• Each workout will be in with some prehab and a proper warmup. This is crucial to your strength and power. If you decide to skip this part you will see you gains slow and your risk of injury dramatically increase.

• This is a fast-paced type of training. You must pay attention to your rest periods. If you rest too long, you might as well go home.

• Challenging yourself a daily is key.  Just because you do some supersets doesn’t mean you go light and make it easy on yourself. Assuming you are executing with proper form, get after it, go heavy and attack the challenge.

• Form is crucial. It is the reason you can lift without hurting yourself. Check your ego instantly at the door and realize you need to execute the workouts with as close to perfect form as possible.

• If you find yourself not able to finish the workouts, it’s ok. Drop the number of sets down and finish strong. Don’t just sacrifice intensity because your ego said keep going.

• If you are still up for a challenge read on.

Each Week and Day will be divided into “themes” or Phases.

• Weeks 1&2: Hypertrophy and Muscular Endurance
• Weeks 3&4: Strength
• Weeks 5&6: Power

• Day 1: Lower Body
• Day 2: Upper Body
• Day 3: Total Body

THE ATHLETIC PHYSIQUE TRAINING PROGRAM

Foam Roll: Make sure you spend 5-10 minutes foam rolling. Roll out your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, back, shoulders, and lats.

Dynamic Warm-Up: Before you train – you need to warm up.

10 Yards Apart

• Knee Hugs
• Quad Pull
• Straight Leg March
• Toe Touches
• High knees
• Butt Kicks
• Lunge
• Side Lunge
• 10-20x Squats

In Place

• Trunk Rotations
• Arm Swings Across
• Arm Swings Up and Down
• Triceps Stretch Overhead
• 10-20x Pushups
• 10-20x Pullups or rows

On a knee

• Hip Flexor Lunge (w/band)
• Hip Flexor Lunge w/ a quad pull

On your Back

• Hamstring Pumps
• Leg Across Body – Open Up Chest (T-spine stretch)

Post Workout Cool Down: Make sure you stretch out after you are done with the workout with a comprehensive stretching routine.

HYPERTROPHY AND MUSCLE ENDURANCE PHASE

STRENGTH PHASE

POWER PHASE