Training for the Aesthetically Inclined Athlete

THE BEGINNING

Now that you understand that lifting weights, or training for that matter, is about what you want and not what others want for you, strides toward progress can be taken.  And if you think I’m starting to sound like a motivational psychologist, you need to read Addressing Psychological Needs for Continued Success.

It’s east to get confused out there, in the wild, with routines running amok.  Every breed of barbell athlete has their own programs and training methods that seem to define them–Powerlifting, Olympic Weightlifting, and Bodybuilding.  Looking a little further, you can even see programs out there for Washed Up Meatheads and Average Joe’s.

Hell, I’m only adding to problem by writing this.

But in my defense, the industry is failing to churn out those that are both athletically and aesthetically inclined.  Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of qualified coaches that train professional athletes, but that’s more of a hindrance.  They’re getting paid a lot of money to focus on their athletes, not those sitting behind the effervescent glow of the computer.  Don’t get too discouraged though, there’s something important you need to remember.

We’re not athletes.

And while we may want to look and move like one, our performance doesn’t determine our paycheck.  We have it easy.

LAST WORD OF CAUTION

Forgo your admiration for others.  Training like your idol won’t give you the same results they had.  You won’t become Usain Bolt after a few days trudging through some 100m’s.  Success doesn’t come to those that follow in footsteps.  It comes from finding what works best in a specific situation, and exploiting it.  So find what works best for you, and get to work.

“We’re all working with what we have, and what we have is good enough.  Screw trying to look like anyone else.  So take whatever you’re working with right now and make it better.  Let’s get you leaner, more muscular, faster, stronger, more flexible, and impervious to injury.  Let’s make your body something you’re proud of.  Most important, let’s make something that serves you, and not the other way around.”

Nate Green in The Hero Handbook.

BASE

I wasn’t knocking heavy compound lifts in Addressing Psychological Needs for Continued Success, but it might have seemed like I was.  Without the heavy stuff, you don’t have much of anything going for you.  If someone tells you to bring ice cream to a party, you better get some damn good ice cream.  If you spend all of your money and time on the whipped cream, walnuts, sprinkles, crushed Oreos, and cherries, only to show up with cheap store brand ice cream, you’re going to look bad.  Details are secondary to a firm base.

The big lifts, compared to isolation lifts, create a bigger stress response providing greater potential for adaptation (strength or size).  Holding 315lbs above your throat during a bench press is a threat.  Without care, your skull becomes a new stencil on the bench.

Most isolation exercises don’t have the threatening nature of compounds.  They’re kind of like flies buzzing around your face.  Sure, it doesn’t go unnoticed, but you know they’ll be gone soon.

INDICATOR LIFTS

The key to creating an effective program is to pick compound lifts that suit our psychological wants.  Competitive Powerlifters choose the bench press, deadlift, and squat because they are the only lifts that count toward their total.  But if you’re not a barbell sport competitor, you have more leeway.

It’s easy to get carried away when choosing exercises, but limit your selection to four.  More than four muddles your focus.  These chosen exercises are, what I like to call, indicator lifts.  Because, well, they indicate how your training has been going.  If you’re progressing on these four and working hard in the other area’s you’ll see progress.  As long as your goals are the same, theywill never be excluded from your program.

“ I prefer to use bench presses, squats, deadlifts and weighted chins for my checkpoint-lifts. If your strength has increased in these four key movements, it’s very likely that you’ve gained strength in assistance movements as well. That’s why I don’t care to record my best set of curls, triceps extensions or close-grip chins. Keep your mind set on a few key movements and the rest will follow.”

-Martin Berkhan

Of the four, make at least one for the upper body, and one for the lower body.  Most people like to pick a squat, a deadlift, a press, and a pull since it covers the entire body without much neglect.  But I can see how someone may want three upper indicators and only one lower body indicator.  Quality substitutions are also viable–a hip thrust instead of a deadlift–for example.  These are preferences, and really, semantics in the entire production. But sticking with the squat-deadlift-press-pull pattern is best for all around development.

ACCESSORY AGENDA

Those with mild experience don’t have a problem picking up on indicator lifts.  But when it comes to fine tuning it all, mass chaos ensues.  A kid in a candy shop can pick out his favorite candy bar, but picking a second favorite can get tricky.

The good news is that you don’t have to pick your second favorite candy.  It can be changed, swapped, and rotated.  Yes, we want to be consistent with our progress, but working hard and challenging yourself will take care of that as long as our indicator lift is pointing in the right direction.

THE PLAN

Everything from here is designed for the aesthetic athlete, which is broken down into two categories.  The first–athletic–is being fast, jumping high, and moving gracefully.  The second–aesthetic–is having broad shoulders, a “V” look, and a low body fat.  It’s amazing how easier it seems after breaking down like that.  This lies on the aesthetic side of things.

PUTTING IT IN THE OVEN

1)     Pick an indicator lift that

1. Gives you what you want out of training, from an aesthetic standpoint
2. Is compound and can be heavily loaded
3. You can do with good form
4. Doesn’t aggravate or injure

2)     Pick a second compound that

1. See 1, 3, and 4 in #1
2. Is compound
3. Is less demanding than your indicator lift

3)     Pick a third exercise that

1. See 1, 3, and 4 in #1
2. Is less demanding than your second compound
3. You can get absolutely jacked with

SAMPLE STRUCTURE

I’m a fan of training in the three popular repetition zones, unless you have a reason not to.  The trick is delegating what lift’s will fall in each zone.

Your indicator lift should be your most intensive lift.  If we want to blow out our upper chest, an incline barbell press is our best bet (unless it gives you shoulder problems).  Indicator lifts are unique in that they can be trained in any repetition zone imaginable, but I like keeping the reps between 4-8.  It’s heavy enough to serve it’s purpose and light enough to get some good volume in.

Our second lift should be less intensive than the first.  Staying on course with the incline press, a flat barbell press would not be a good second lift because you can handle more weight.  A better choice would be, say, a 45 degree incline dumbbell press.  This secondary lift will fall within the 8-15 repetition range, and can be rotated through at your heart’s content.

The third lift is the fun part, because it’s so we can get jacked out of our mind.  But the hard part is picking our area of most needed important, and this is where cutthroat decisions have to be made.  If you want to annihilate your upper chest further, you can pick any traditional isolation lift you want.  Incline flies, incline pushups (not isolation, but low intensity), but maybe you feel that your upper chest had enough work with the first two exercises and you’d rather do a tricep exercise.  The choice is yours.  Keep the reps between 10-20.  Feel the burn and challenge yourself.

THE “BEST” EXERCISES?

Now that you have an idea of how to go about organizing your training, the next installment will reveal what exercises I have found, both from experience and listening to others that have walked where I want to be, to be the best for reaching our aesthetic goal.

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