Dynamic Identity

Simple Strength for all.

By Coach Aaron Hanlon

As a coach, one of the most frustrating things you have to deal with is people’s misconceptions about different types of training. Just say the word Strength and watch the faces of most of your new clients scrunch up in either disgust or outright horror. You may sometimes even bear witness to an out and out swoon (sometimes even from the girls) at the mere mention of the S word.

For some reason when most people think about strength training they think, Big Hairy Gorillas, who spit nails and fart hurricane winds of Whey and Creatine, (the latter is only true of the really great ones). They assume that Strength training is only for those who need to get their clothes specially made for them and who are not happy until they are lifting every weight in the entire gym in one big all out, jaw screaming, fabric of space-time ripping, testosterone boiling… effort.

So is that true?

Well the answer to that question is…. NO, NO, NO, NO and just in case you missed my last utterance… NO!

Strength training is not just about lifting huge heavy weights. It is about lifting more weight next month than you did this month. It is about making your body more solid and better able to handle the day to day crap. It is about standing easier, walking easier, carrying your suitcase through the airport without looking like you are trying to dispose of a body. It’s about opening jars of jam for your girlfriend, or changing a tyre for your, (non-lifting boyfriend). It’s about revving your body’s engines up a bit and burning more calories not just when posing in the gym but also when you are home vegging out in front of the TV.

Of course there also aesthetic benefits to adding a few pound to the bar and doing less reps. For the lads it can be about having that strong broad back and shoulders that look like they are built for more than hanging a silk shirt from and for the girls it can be about having that ass that the guys just want to grab a hold of and your girlfriends just hate you for.
And of course sometimes it can be just because you like to play a little sport.

When Trevor came to see me, he had the simple idea of building his strength a bit because he was considering going back to playing some friendly local rugby and he wanted to get some way in shape before 15 burly lads came running down the pitch towards him.
A good idea all round we can all agree.

The problem is that Trevor is a busy Solicitor, working for a large corporation and he wasn’t exactly overflowing with free time. In fact he had just three sessions a week to play with. Not the end of the world you might say, you can do a lot in threes session a week in a gym but add in to the equation that we only had a s small corporate gym to train in, with limited equipment and not a squat rack or Olympic bar in sight and things begin to get a little more… complicated. As luck would have it, Trevor, is not a barbell munching Gorilla, but is in fact a very nice man (who agreed to let me name him in this article).

Armed with only a few basic machines, a pull-up bar, and a few body-pump bars, we went to work. I put together a simple 3 phase, six week, evolving program (which I have given below) and using Trevor’s E1RM (Estimated 1 Rep Max), using the ((Weight x reps) x 0.0333) + weight, formula, I calculated the weights he would need for all six weeks.

Trevor’s Beginning and 6 week stats where as follows.

Exercise Start 6 weeks later Difference as %

Chest Press 70 kg/154 lb 85kg/187 lb +21%
Pull-up 90 kg/198 lb 102 kg/224 lb +22%
Shoulder Press 34.25 kg/ 75.5 lb 46.2 kg/101.8 lb +35%
Leg Curl 65 kg /143 lb 76 kg/167 lb +17%
Leg Ext 87.5 kg/193 lb 117 kg/258 lb +34%

Now these are very impressive gains by anyone’s book and Trevor is not new to the gym either. We did not feed him like a ranging Dinosaur for this program either; in fact I didn’t give him any sort of diet at all, he was eating as he always had. What this does show is that someone who is not used to strength training can get really good results with the right sort of program. And just in case you are wondering, I didn’t kill him for the 6 weeks either. In fact. if anything, he found the program very easy and had difficulty not doing more training although I had absolutely forbidden him from doing so. The beauty of it is, that you do not need to kill yourself every time you enter the gym. Sometimes it is better to pull back and just let the body move through the exercises with apparent ease.

Doing it for Yourself

The program I used with Trevor is listed below and if you wish to give it a go yourself just substitute your own 70% E1RM for phase 1, 75% E1RM for phase 2 and 80% E1RM for phase 3.

The Meat-head version

For all the Barbell munchers out there like myself; who have access to a fully equipped gym I would pick the following exercises, but any good compound movements would work well.
Bench Press
Pull-up
Shoulder Press
Seated row
Squat
Deadlift

Trevor’s Program

All sets and reps are given in the Sets x reps format

This is a 3 day a week program that cycles over two weeks. Bench-press, Pull-ups, Shoulder press, Leg ext and leg curl will be done in all 3 sessions of the week with the sets or reps rising on each day.

Phase 1: Week 1 and 2 @ 70% E1RM

Day 1 Week 1 Week 2
A1 Chest Press 49 kg 2 x 3 49 kg 5 x 3

B1 Pull-up Body-weight 2 x 3 Body-weight 5 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 22.5 kg 2 x 3 22.5 kg 5 x 3

D1 Leg ext 62 kg 1 x 3 62 kg 1 x 9

E1 Leg Curl 45 kg 1 x 3 45 kg 1 x 9

Day 3 Week 1 Week 2
A1 Chest Press 49 kg 3 x 3 49 kg 6 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight 3 x 3 Body-weight 6 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 22.5 kg 3 x 3 22.5 kg 6 x 3

D1 Leg ext 62 kg 1 x 5 62 kg 1 x 11

E1 Leg Curl 45 kg 1 x 5 45 kg 1 x 11

Day 5 Week 1 Week 2
A1 Chest Press 49 kg 4 x 3 49 kg 7 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight 4 x 3 Body-weight 7 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 22.5 kg 4 x 3 22.5 kg 7 x 3

D1 Leg ext 62 kg 1 x 7 62 kg 1 x 13

E1 Leg Curl 45 kg 1 x 7 45 kg 1 x 13

Phase 2: Week 3 and 4 @ 75% E1RM

Day 1 Week 3 Week 4
A1 Chest Press 52.5 kg 2 x 3 52.5 kg 5 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight +2kg 2 x 3 Body-weight+ 2kg 5 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 24.0 kg 2 x 3 24.0 kg 5 x 3

D1 Leg ext 66 kg 1 x 3 66 kg 1 x 9

E1 Leg Curl 48 kg 1 x 3 48 kg 1 x 9

Day 3 Week 3 Week 4
A1 Chest Press 52.5 kg 3 x 3 52.5 kg 6 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight + 2kg 3 x 3 Body-weight + 2 kg 6 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 24.0 kg 3 x 3 24.0 kg 6 x 3

D1 Leg ext 66 kg 1 x 5 66 kg 1 x 11

E1 Leg Curl 44 kg 1 x 5 48 kg 1 x 11

Day 5 Week 3 Week 4
A1 Chest Press 52.5 kg 4 x 3 52.5 kg 7 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight + 2kg 4 x 3 Body-weight + 2kg 7 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 24.0 kg 4 x 3 24.0 kg 7 x 3

D1 Leg ext 66 kg 1 x 7 66 kg 1 x 13

E1 Leg Curl 48 kg 1 x 7 48 kg 1 x 13

Phase 3: Week 5 and 6 @ 80% E1RM

Day 1 Week 5 Week 6
A1 Chest Press 56.0 kg 2 x 3 56.0 kg 5 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight +5kg 2 x 3 Body-weight+ 5kg 5 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 27.5 kg 2 x 3 27.5 kg 5 x 3

D1 Leg ext 70 kg 1 x 3 70 kg 1 x 9

E1 Leg Curl 52 kg 1 x 3 52 kg 1 x 9

Day 3 Week 5 Week 6
A1 Chest Press 56.0 kg 3 x 3 56.0 kg 6 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight + 5kg 3 x 3 Body-weight + 5 kg 6 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 27.5 kg 3 x 3 27.5 kg 6 x 3

D1 Leg ext 70 kg 1 x 5 70 kg 1 x 11

E1 Leg Curl 52 kg 1 x 5 52 kg 1 x 11

Day 5 Week 5 Week 6
A1 Chest Press 56.0 kg 4 x 3 56.0 kg 7 x 3

B1 Pull-up body-weight + 5kg 4 x 3 Body-weight + 5kg 7 x 3

C1 Shoulder Press 27.5 kg 4 x 3 27.5 kg 7 x 3

D1 Leg ext 70 kg 1 x 7 70 kg 1 x 13

E1 Leg Curl 52 kg 1 x 7 52 kg 1 x 13

This program is deceptively effective, so I do not suggest you take on any other heavy lifting over the 6 weeks. Just kick back and relax and let the training do its thing. And remember that 70% is just that, 70%, not 75%, or 72%. If you want this program to work then you gotta keep to the numbers, going heavier because you feel the intensity is just not high enough will just sabotage the whole program. So give it a try if you dare. it may leaving your ego at home for a few weeks but the the point of the program is to inflate your strength, not your head.

Coach Aaron Hanlon