The 9 Keys to Productive Training
by Jimmy Smith


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Are Your Workouts Productive? In
the context of weight training, the word "productive" means getting
results through improved speed, power, strength, and size with little
to no waste of time and energy. Sadly, that isnot what happens
in most gyms. There are plenty of reasons you may not be getting the
results you want. At the top of the list is nonproductive gym time. Think
about the worst gym you've ever been in. Now remember all those
roadblocks that created an unproductive training environment. Maybe it
was the 100-pound newbies wearing extra small T-shirts to make
themselves look bigger. Or maybe you had to walk by the swimming pool
where hordes of women "with thyroid problems" splashed around. Whatever
the case may be, the minute something distracts you from your end goal
of a balls-to-the-walls training session, you need to seriously
reconsider how productive you are in the gym. Want to see
real training productivity? Look at bodybuilders. Their entire day is
planned on being productive in the gym. They ensure that they get
enough sleep, their training is uninterrupted, and the rest of their
day is primed for muscle growth. I'm pretty sure their only
unproductive times are when they adjust their fanny packs and put on
the MC Hammer pants.
You can't touch this. And really, why would you want to? Think about this for a second. A recent Fortune 500
survey of CEOs making $100 million a year showed that the average
productive time they get in a day is thirty minutes. Thirty freakin'
minutes a day and they're making $100 million. How much money would
they have made if they got forty productive minutes a day? Now
think about your own physique goals. What would happen if you were able
to maximize forty-five minutes a day of training? Do you think you'd
have the body you want? Here are nine tips to help you cut the crap and get productive.

The 9 Keys to Productive Training
1) Realize that your time and results are related This
mindset begins from the minute you walk into the gym until the minute
you finish your post-workout drink. People are time vampires; they're
looking to suck the effort out of your session. Even if this isn't 100%
true, you should avoid everyone in the gym like you avoid a Richard
Simmons bend'-n-push aerobics class. Putting
a high priority on your time also prevents you from making the mistake
of "paralysis by analysis." You know, that's where you sit there and
start to question how you've been training or wondering how the guy
next to you got those arms by doing concentration curls. This
way each set matters; each rep is the difference between a beach body
and looking like a weenie. Knowing that you have "X" amount of minutes
to get things done gives you a laser-like focus to make the most out of
the time you have.
2) Have a game plan I
bet the most time efficient training sessions you've had were the ones
where you just walked in and knew ahead of time what you had to get
done. You went right in and accomplished what you had planned and got
out, no questions asked. This also prevents those awkward
times where you're just standing around trying to figure out if you
should do another set or if you should try that funky exercise you just
saw in a magazine. When most people are left alone in the gym, bad
things happen. How else can you explain people doing BOSU push-ups?
Must be how he got those huge arms, right? Don't
become a gym wanderer, a hopeless lost soul with no game plan. When in
doubt, following this list will put you on the right track. Wanted: Lower Body Size Upper Body Size #1 Option: Deadlift Weighted Chin-ups #2 Option: Front Squat Dumbbell Flat Chest Press #3 Option: Box Squat Flat Barbell Chest Press #4 Option: Hack Squat Weighted Neutral Grip Pull-ups

3) Have alternative exercises already planned out There's
nothing worse than heading to the power rack for some serious squats
and finding someone in there curling 65 pounds. Lucky for you, this
nonsense was anticipated and plan B takes little to no thought to put
into motion. Here are a few acceptable substitutions when
those unexpected nuisances show up. If your main choice isn't doable,
go to number two on the list, then number three if you have to, etc.
First Choice: Barbell Deadlift
Option #1: Dumbbell Deadlift
Option #2: Single Leg Dumbbell Deadlift
Option #3: Single Arm Dumbbell Suitcase Deadlift
First Choice: Weighted Chin-up
Option #1: Underhand Bent Over Barbell Row
Option #2: Underhand Dumbbell Row
Option #3: T-bar row
First Choice: Barbell Back Squat
Option #1: Dumbbell Squat
Option #2: Single Leg Dumbbell Squat
Option #3: Dumbbell Step-ups
First Choice: Dumbbell Flat Bench Press
Option #1: Barbell Flat Bench Press
Option #2: Dumbbell Floor Press
Option #3: Push-ups
4) Don't overdo the warm-ups I'm
all for foam rolling and the mobility stuff, but we've overreacted to
it for a while now. Scary, but I almost agree with the steadfast "five
minute treadmill" warm-up rule since it almost guarantees that we'll
focus on what we have to do, then get right to training. I
haven't seen it often, but when people foam roll and do dynamic
warm-ups, they almost enjoy doing it to the point that their warm-ups
last a good ten to fifteen minutes, seriously reducing their available
training time. I don't know about you, but I for one don't enjoy being
poked and stabbed with a thick, hard object for too long. We're
not professional athletes and we don't have an hour and fifteen minutes
to train every single day, so our warm-up has to be short and
effective. Plus, it really isn't the smartest thing to beat up tissue
like that then decide to go and train heavy. Restricting your
warm-up leaves time available for you to do something that you
currently can't fit in. You can have five minutes at the end of the
session to do extra direct arm or abs work. If you're feeling
particularly crazy you can do extra static stretching or rotator cuff
work.
5) Use short intra-set pauses and minimize your rest between sets This
is another new frontier in the strength industry that has yet to be
explored, but from a productivity standpoint it makes perfect sense.
Using short intra-set pauses of ten seconds accomplishes many things
and we'd be smart to begin to take advantage of them. Basically,
we train with a heavier weight than normal, but every one to three reps
we pause for 10 seconds then begin again. For example, person A and
person B both bench press 300 pounds for their 1RM. Person A loads the
bar up with 70% since that will allow him to successfully hit his 10RM
for 3 sets. Person B loads the bar with 80% with a 3-5 RM weight for 2
sets of 10. Person A hits all ten reps while person B hits 3-5 reps,
pauses for 10 seconds, then continues until he hits 10 reps. Person A PersonB 210 270 210 270 210 270 Total: 630 pounds Total: 810 pounds Big
difference, right? When using these mini-rests, we can train with an
overall heavier load. The ten-second pause allows us to refill our
creatine stores and increase fast twitch muscle fiber recruitment. It
also decreases our need for prolonged post-set rest. Overall result? A
more productive workout.
6) Do "rehab stuff" during rest periods toward the end of the workout We've
already established that you need to have a high value on your time
spent training, so we need to use every resource possible. I'm all for
respecting the rest intervals, but toward the end of the session, after
you're fatigued, you should strongly consider adding in the rehab work
you so desperately need. People tell me they don't do rehab
or stretching work because they either don't have time or are in a rush
to leave the gym and get home. Okay, I'll bite, but you're screwed with
this next thought. It makes no sense to sit on your arse and do nothing
at the end of your session when the majority of your work is done. Time
is better spent at the end focusing on specific areas that need it,
like ankle mobility, glute bridging, glute clams, low back stability,
and scapular stabilization. It's not going to fatigue you and it'll
make you healthier in the long run. Doing it at this time also saves
you from having to do it at home when you'd rather be sleeping. Plan
your activation work accordingly so that it improves your performance
instead of hindering it. This is an example of how to properly plan a
lower body day using active rest intervals:
Warm-up
Glute Bridging, 2 x 12
Toy Soldiers, 2 x 12
Pullbacks, 2 x 12
(For info on these movements, check out Magnificent Mobility.)
Adductor Foam Rolling
TFL Foam Rolling
A1) Barbell Front Squats, 5 x 3-5 reps
Rest: 1 minute
B1) Rack Pulls, 3 x 6-8 reps
B2) Dumbbell Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats, 3 x 6-8
Active Rest: Clams, 12 reps each side

C1) Swiss Ball Hamstring Curls, 3 x 8
C2) Reverse Crunches, 3 x 8
Active Rest: Ankle Self-Mobilization, 12 reps each side

7) Supplement smarter during training It's
amazing how much intra-workout supplementation is ignored by most
people whose homes look like the local supplement shop. If you're not
using during-workout supplementation then you're severely hampering
your physique dreams. Sipping on a cocktail between sets has numerous
benefits:
Delayed fatigue
Reduced cortisol
Increased energy
Increased fat burning
Decreased muscle breakdown The drink I typically recommend to my clients is a simple mix of Biotest's German creatine, Beta-7, and BCAAs.
If you haven't been living under a rock, then you know the numerous
benefits of creatine, such as increased muscle size and strength. If
you look deeper into the research, you'll see that it has some great
intra-workout advantages as well.
Creatine
recycles ATP (our force producing energy) to allow us to sustain high
intensity contractions. Secondly, it reduces lactic acid's negative
effects on muscular contraction. Lastly, creatine will increase
inter-cellular hydration, which is important because increased cell
water "turns on" our anabolic signals. Beta-alanine may quite
possibly be the biggest supplement to hit the market since creatine. If
we're to grow we have to continually train our fast-twitch muscle
fibers. Beta-alanine is primarily found in fast-twitch muscle fibers
and has been shown in research studies to significantly delay fatigue.
Check out the T-Nation interview with Dr. Jeff Stout for more info.
The
last during-workout supplement I use is BCAA tablets. The advantage of
using BCAA tablets over a powder is that the pills force you to
continually ingest them as you train, rather than trying to finish them
all at the end. I recommend 1.5 grams of BCAA per 25 pounds
of lean body mass. That means I have my typical clients take eight
Biotest BCAA tabs during the course of their workouts.

Limit access to you Our
time is limited, and if we don't use it right we'll be puny forever.
People will interrupt us every second of the day to complain about
something or to say, "Yo dude, my pecs are swollen. I did 225, like,
eight times." It's a pain in the ass and you shouldn't have to hear it.
You almost have to be ruthless with your personality. Put the
i-Pod on, skip the Donny Osmond, and listen to break-stuff music while
focusing on training. Put up the figurative "Beware Of Dog" sign.
Others will notice it and stay far, far away.
9) When in doubt, do less When
is a workout productive? When you get a certain number of sets in or
when you've accomplished a predetermined goal? I lean more toward the
second option, but for a great majority of people, the line is blurred.
Most trainers have a hard time differentiating between
actually doing enough and feeling like they've done the right amount of
work. This is the meaning of the term "cybernetic programming" —
instinctive training that's programmed into a long-term plan. More or
less, trust your instincts. If you feel like you've done all you should
do, then get out. It's also the difference between recovery
and overtraining — the right amount of strain and too much stress.
Basically, it's the reason why "finisher" movements like the pec deck
even exist. There's an inherent need to do more to "feel" like you've
done enough. Yeah, like doing a few more sets will give you
anything that the first few didn't. It's a crap idea and will just
further fatigue you to the point of incomplete recovery. If you really
have to question if another set will help, then chances are it won't. Put these nine keys to work and ramp up your gym productivity!

About The Author
Jimmy
Smith, CSCS, is a fitness coach who trains athletes and injured
individuals as well as fitness competitors and enthusiasts in Stamford,
Connecticut. Visit Jimmy's website www.jimmysmithtraining.com to sign up for his free newsletter.



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