A Sample Day at Kingwood Strength & Conditioning

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

You are correct. In the context of a personal training session, ramping 5x5 in the way that Starr does saves a little time over sets across. I do think that sets across is the preferred method however, when you have the time to do it.

[Rob Waskis]

Any other time saving strategies you'd care to share with us? Even though a lot of it doesn't apply to me (i.e. training for women or older clients) I find all this really interesting.

[Ezpeasy]

Interesting topic!

KSC, if you don't mind me asking, what types of goals do you set for each client (I'm sure it varies quite a bit but a general feel)? And structuring of goals; aim for X/Y/Z in 3/6/9/12 months, etc? Do you touch on diet/nutrition at all?

And somewhat related question but not directed at anyone in particular - why is it that globogym PT's rarely preach barbell, or even fundamental movement based training? All I see are things that, if I can read people at all, just overwhelm, maybe even discourage most trainees. Just the other day I saw a PT run a few people through a metcon of sorts and one girl wanted to puke afterward. PT then told her to eat some food before the next metcon (???)..

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Any other time saving strategies you'd care to share with us? Even though a lot of it doesn't apply to me (i.e. training for women or older clients) I find all this really interesting.

Alternating exercises......like 5 reps of squat, 5 reps of bench, 5 reps squat, 5 reps bench.......this works particularly well with the ramping 5 sets of 5 because the first 3 sets generally aren't very hard. Sets 4 and 5 are generally the hard sets, so you just rest a little longer between.

This isn't "supersetting" either. You are taking rest periods after each exercises...you are not flip flopping back and forth as fast as possible. Starr talked about the utility of circuit training like this in his book. It may not be the most optimal way to train, but it enables you to get alot more done inside of an hour

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Interesting topic!

KSC, if you don't mind me asking, what types of goals do you set for each client (I'm sure it varies quite a bit but a general feel)? And structuring of goals; aim for X/Y/Z in 3/6/9/12 months, etc? Do you touch on diet/nutrition at all?

And somewhat related question but not directed at anyone in particular - why is it that globogym PT's rarely preach barbell, or even fundamental movement based training? All I see are things that, if I can read people at all, just overwhelm, maybe even discourage most trainees. Just the other day I saw a PT run a few people through a metcon of sorts and one girl wanted to puke afterward. PT then told her to eat some food before the next metcon (???)..

Goals vary with clients. Some initial goals with a really overweight client or a client with no exercise history are simply behavioral......create a habit of exercise by showing up to all your scheduled appoints for 8 weeks without missing a session. Lots of clients don't know how to effectively work exercise into their lifestyle and if they dislike the exercise program will always find a way to bump the exercise session out of their schedule instead of scheduling other things around their sessions.

The training goals for a novice are simply to come in and master our 4 or 5 base exercises. After that, the goals are to add 2-10 lbs per workout to each exercise, every time they come to train. Once they get rolling with the program and I see who I have to work with we will start setting goals. Goals I set are always "plate arrangement goals." 135 lb squat, 185 lb squat, 225 lb squat, 315 lb squat, etc. Some people who haven't been around the gym might say "Why 315 and not 300???" The answer is because 315 is 3 plates on the bar with no loose change.

Nutrition is always addressed from the very first session.

The PT certification industry does not preach barbell training. You have to go outside of the standard NSCA, NASM, ACSM, ACE world to find out about it. Even those PTs that do it themselves often train their clients with alternate retarded methods.

Also, when you are a PT at a globo gym you have alot of eyes on you when you are working with a client. If you aren't a great barbell coach then trying to teach a rank novice barbell training can make you, your client, and your methods look very stupid and/or dangerous in the eyes of the rest of the gym. If you are a good coach and you have a bunch of clients doing aesthetically pleasing squats, deadlifts, and presses, then you might have a line full of people waiting to sign up with you.

Care to comment Jordan??? Jordan is a barbell coach who trains in a globo gym if I'm not mistaken???

[rageshrub]

Thanks for the insight into daily training!

As a PT working in a small private studio its interesting to see how other successful coaches go about their business.

How do you go teaching your older clients to squat? I have a few older female clients who I have worked with using goblet squats mainly, however have had mixed success with depth as most seem to struggle with mobility.

At the risk out exposing myself on this forum, can you get such clients into a full squat such as you would expect for a 30yo? How do you go working around shoulder/hip mobility?

Thanks again.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Well, one of the things you will learn after doing this for quite some time, is that mobility is rarely the factor that prevents clients from reaching full squat depth. Strength is.

I teach all my clients how to squat from day one using the method in SS. If they cannot reach the full squat position due to lack of strength then you basically have two choices:

1) Leg press - Rip has a video about that on this site, I believe
2) Box Squat from above parallel. Reducing height an inch or so each workout, until client is below or at parallel.

The limitation with the box squat is the dependence that the client gains with the box. Sometimes there is a little hiccup in the transition from the box squat to the "free" squat. An imperfect method, but it does work.

I dont' do any mobility work with clients. I teach em how to squat and press and that is it. I hate stretching and all that crap. If they want to do that, I will block out a session and show them how to do some things, but then I have them do that stuff on their own. My job is boring enough sometimes, if I had to stretch people out every day, I would shoot myself in the head.

[Michael Wolf]

My job is boring enough sometimes, if I had to stretch people out every day, I would shoot myself in the head.

Cracked up at this one, Andy!

Though I'm not at a globo anymore, I was for 6 years - both as a trainer and as a training dept. manager. In my experience, there are several reasons why you don't see a lot of barbell training from the trainers there.

The two most important are scarcity and lack of education. Scarcity in that most globos have only one or two racks, and thousands of members. At any given time, there's a good chance someone will be in the rack when you want it - so you either have to fight to work in (because let's face it, only a very rare few have the etiquette to work in, and even then it only works with squats if the people aren't TOO far apart on height) or wait. And no client paying a premium for a special personalized service wants to spend part of their hour just waiting for equipment to open up.

So from the scarcity perspective, a trainer - even an otherwise decent one - might not want to rely on equipment that's very likely to be unavailable when he needs it. Designing a linearly progressed barbell program requires access to a barbell and rack.

Second is education. These trainers, among the many other things they don't know, don't know that a barbell squat/press/deadlift/bench press are vastly superior to whatever silly bullshit they're doing. Some of the more "functional training" experts among them even think these things are bad. They simply don't understand the value. So they might use them as part of a rotation of a million variations, but tying this to reason #1 above, if they planned to do a barbell squat and the rack is taken, for these trainers it's no big deal. "Well just do some leg extensions instead. Don't worry, Client X, they work the same muscle group and you even get to sit down!"

There are other reasons too, but just my $0.02.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Agreed 100%.

[Rob Israel]

How do you go teaching your older clients to squat? I have a few older female clients who I have worked with using goblet squats mainly, however have had mixed success with depth as most seem to struggle with mobility.

...can you get such clients into a full squat such as you would expect for a 30yo? How do you go working around shoulder/hip mobility?

I was really impressed how Rip managed to coax people lower into their squats at the SSS I attended. I've seen my coach do it a lot too, and it seems to me that most of it is psychological. Yes, they have the mobility and the strength but just won't go deep enough and basically have to be coerced down. Rip did it rather forcefully (as per the clients he was dealing with at the time) and my coach basically takes 1-3 sessions to get the resistant folks below parallel.

That said, I'm not talking about 70 year olds that Andy is referring to who really aren't strong enough.