Good morning; i have a question about your templates.
Are the templates more geared toward strength athletes?
I’ve done quite a few of them, and the programming seems well done, but my workouts usually last about 2 hours(Including rest times and changing plates), and most of the template are 5-6 days if you include GPP.
It just feels like a lot for someone just interested in general health…
I already get a bunch of cardio from drumming as well.
also, I train before work, so I’d definitely be ok with 45 mins.
Thanks for the post. We do have a number of strength-focused templates, e.g. the powerbuilding and powerlifting template lines. Even if the program isn’t strength-focused, I would predict that strength should increase when using any type of training program that’s appropriately formulated and dosed for an individual. I think there’s significant overlap between fitness adaptations (like strength improvement) and health-related adaptations. In other words, if the program isn’t making you stronger, more conditioned, etc., it’s probably not making you that much healthier. I also think that people should be active on most days, if not all of them.
Through this lens, I do not think drumming is sufficient for conditioning in a way that increases cardiorespiratory fitness and I don’t think that 45-minutes of training 2- 3x/wk is likely to work well for trained individuals. I think it would be tough to fit in enough training in that time frame unless someone is relatively untrained. I do think that your workouts should not be lasting 2 hours, however. More on the order of 60-75 min. If they’re lasting longer than that, I would be looking at rest periods, talking, and some logistics regarding equipment setup. For reference, I have ~ 6 exercises per session usually and am done within 70 minutes on average.
-Jordan
Edited to add:
Most people do not exercise regularly and any increase would be beneficial for both health and performance. As people become more trained, they’ll need more exercise to provide ample training stress in an effort to improve their fitness further. I do think that periods of reduced activity can be made to work for trained individuals, but that’s not a great long-term strategy if someone was looking to maximize fitness.
Hey, Jordan I’m currently running Strength I and my last workout was 16 sets, and 34 minutes of rest per the template rest time recommendations(3 minutes For first 2 exercises, and 2 minutes for the last exercise). I don’t see how it would be possible to stick to the rest times, and do all the exercises in 60-75 min(including warm up sets for each exercise).
What is the shortest amount of time you suggest I rest for?
I’m usually doing 5 warm-up sets for each exercise as well.
Do you have any time saving strategies you suggest(besides supersets)?
thanks for your time.
we’ll have to disagree on the drumming, as that is very vigorous with style of music I play lol.
If we assume each set takes a minute and 34 minutes of rest, that’s 50 minutes. Warm up for the first exercise should take the longest, let’s give you 15 minutes for that, then 10 and 5 minutes for the second and third, respectively. That puts you in at 75 minutes. Regarding rest periods, 2 minutes is about the minimum I’d rest for when discussing a set > RPE 6 or so. For warm ups, I’ll give you a play-by-play of my last workout:
Deadlifts - 3 sets of 3-5 reps
135 x 5
225 x 3
315, 405, 495 x 1 (no rest outside of loading through 405. 2 min rest from 405 to 495. then pulled my first set ~3 minutes later)
600 x 5 x 3 (3-4 min rest)
Belt Squats
1 warm up set at 275, then 2 min rest
365 x 10 x 3 (2 min rest)
Lying Hamstring Curls
4 sets of 10-12 reps (2 min rest)
Leg extensions
4 sets of 10-12 reps (2 min rest)
Superset calf raises and back extensions (2 min rest between super sets)
I think the warm up sets are a bit too many for some exercises, though I do think these can be useful during periods of uncertainty about loading, e.g. new exercises, new rep ranges, new technique, and/or the rehab setting.
Regarding the drumming, yes, we will have to disagree. Having experience both playing the drums and knowledge of the physiological stressors needed for cardiorespiratory fitness adaptations, I do not think this provides ample stimulus to drive improvements in adaptations contributing to cardiorespiratory fitness. A lot of things can make individuals breathe hard, but do not increase cardiorespiratory fitness markedly.
Thanks for that information, Jordan. I’ll have to take your word on the drumming; I wasn’t aware you had experience in that realm. I was just trying to say my heart rate seems really high after playing.
here’s a link to check out if you have time:
I’ll cut my rest time to 2 min and cut down on warm up time.
Regarding GPP, can this all be done in 1 day?
I’d like to get all my training done in 4 days if possible, but still getting 3 days of drumming per week…
Yep, I use Drumeo a lot and have seen that article. Unfortunately, there are major problems with METs and associated energy expenditure relating to cardiorespiratory fitness/training effect. We discuss this extensively in our podcast series on conditioning. The gist is that all METs are based off a single value derived from a single 40 year old, 70-kg, male sitting in a chair.
Unsurprisingly, this value does not accurately predict energy expenditure at rest or during activity for other individuals- typically overestimating energy expenditure. Some researchers have suggested that using different correction factors for specific demographics be used for estimating the energy cost of activity, though this remains an area of active research and limits the utility for METs to estimate energy expenditure during activity. There’s also not a tight correlation between exercise intensity and METs, as a recent study from Ianetta et al. measured experimentally, subsequently coming to the conclusion
“Findings show that the common practice of assigning fixed values of METs to relative categories of intensity risks misclassifications of the physiological stress imposed by exercise and physical activity. These misclassifications can lead to erroneous interpretations of the dose-response relationship of exercise and physical activity.”
Another example of a high MET activity that burns a lot of Calories, has a high HR, but does not really increase cardiorespiratory fitness is most forms of automobile racing. The thermal stress, environmental stress and cues, and so on all make it “hard”, but don’t cause an increase in cardiorespiratory fitness really. We see the same thing in with resistance training as well, e.g. no real improvement in conditioning unless very undertrained.
Regarding GPP, I would not do all conditioning in one day for maximum effect and minimal interference, but it could be done. If I got to pick, I would have people doing some sort of lifting or conditioning on most days of the week. I know this is not feasible however, so I’ll take what I can get.
For the microplates, I think this is mostly personal preference. I think getting within .5 on an RPE is close enough for our purposes. I don’t think that requires microplates for most, but I think they can be helpful, especially when a 5lb jump represents > 1% of the weight being lifted.
Hey Jordan, those numbers seem a bit off to me. The weight being lifted would be around 500lb if a 5lb jump is 1% of it. Microloading during training is probably not worth the squeeze at that level. Perhaps you meant 10%, or am I missing something here?
I think we agree, as I said micro loading can be useful if 5lbs represents more than 1% of the load. So, under this level, which is admittedly made up and conservative. This would also include if 5lbs were 10% of the load (e.g. 50lbs). I don’t think it’s necessary either way, but at lighter weights it’s probably more helpful. If someone wanted to argue that it should only be used at < 300lb weights, I wouldn’t fight that.