Sean wipes the sweat of his brow before he steps under the Pendulum Standing Squat Pro for his third and final paired set of squats followed by pullovers performed on the Medx Pullover. Sean is a police officer who struggles to reach full depth with barbell squats without severely rounding his lower back and therefore chooses to use the Pendulum standing Squat Pro to perform the squat motion. This is a lower body squat (knee-bend) movement that aligns well with his body, causes him no pain, and allows him to constantly increase the weight as he gets stronger every week. This is a go-to A+ exercise for Sean because he can continually train on it to get bigger and stronger, all while keeping his body feeling good in the process. Sean priorities all A+ exercises over competitive lifts, because his GOAL is to increase his muscular size and strength to reduce his severity of injuries at work and allow him to perform law enforcement tasks in a more efficient manner, not to compete in a strength sport or fitness competition.
Sean squeezes out the eight rep and racks the weight after reaching the goal for the workout. He will move up 5 pounds as he was able to complete all three sets of eight in good form despite the challenging loads used during all three sets. If the rep goal is not reached or it is a real strain to meet the goal, the weight does not move up and he continues to strive to reach the goal. Sean did not have to decrease the loads on each set nor sacrifice his intensity because of the four plus minute built-in rest between each set. Sean rested long enough between the squats and pullovers until he was ready to deliver a hard effort on pullovers and again rested afterwards until he was ready to attack the squats for another set. If we were to cut down some of the rest between the sets, we would have no choice, but to reduce the load each set or drop the target number of reps. One method is not superior over the others as long as all three are trained in a progressive manner.
After performing squats and pullover Sean moves to the barbell bench press for three all out sets in a descending format of ten, eight, six. He prefers the barbell bench press movement, while I prefer the Medx Chest press. Neither tool is more functional then the other. They both allow you to progressively load the muscles involved in horizontal abduction of the humorous (upper body horizontal push). He pairs this movement with the Hammer Strength Iso Row. He always chooses the Hammer Strength Iso Row movement over the barbell row because he feels it is a safer and more effective way to overload the muscles of the upper back. Sean doesn’t look at free weights and machines as an either-or decision. He understands basic muscle function and decides on which specific exercise is the best for him to use on each major muscle group, regardless of the tool used. He doesn’t get caught up in the functional fitness debates or myths that athletes need to use free weights and older trainees need to use machines, because he understands there is no one exercise that he must use, since he is not competing in a specific strength sport.
His last paired set consisted of Pulldowns and the nautilus power plus lateral raise for two sets each. The lateral raise is iso-lateral, meaning both arms move independently, just like the Medx pullover and Hammer Strength Iso-Lateral Row. The advantages to incorporating iso-lateral equipment are you force both limbs to work independently. This can be used to identify strength difference left to right and allow you to isolate un-injured limbs. We omitted the vertical push for lateral raises and chose to focus more on upper back today, because his next workout incorporates incline, vertical and horizontal pressing. Most weeks he will perform vertical pressing in two different workouts, some workouts he will perform vertical pressing and lateral raises on one day and still perform vertical pressing on the next, it just all depends on how we decide to set up the training. Each week at a minimum we cover the horizontal and vertical push/pull planes of motion for the upper body, squat and hip hinge movement to ensure Sean is strong from top to bottom and front to back.
To finish up the workout Sean completes a quad-set (meaning four exercises) of dumbbell bicep curls, cable triceps pushdowns, Nautilus Four-way Neck flexion/extension and the Medx Lumbar Extension machine for two rounds total. These are less-taxing exercises that do not interfere with each other’s performance, allowing for a reduce rest period in-between exercises. These four isolation exercises fill in the strength gaps missed from the compound exercises. It is a delicate balance of incorporating critical isolations exercises without deemphasizing the basic planes of motion and turning the workout into a marathon of different exercises. Other exercises such as calf raises, shrugs, wrist rollers and leg extensions are sprinkled in throughout his other workouts.
Sean trains all of his major muscle’s groups twice a week with a mix of barbells, dumbbells and good machines. He utilizes the heaviest weight he can for the prescribed goal in good form where his muscles are performing the lifting and lowering of the weight and always adds load when he earns the right to. He rests in-between workouts and never trains the same muscles back-to-back days. Sean eats high quality food with plenty of protein and limits the amount of alcohol and junk food he consumes. Outside of the gym he runs a variety of distances for cardiovascular health, trains law enforcement tactics, weapon handling and firing on the range and studies state and federal laws to ensure he is mastering his craft.
Training principles do not change from individual to individual. The bicep supinates and flexes the same on a football player as it does on a Dentist and the way to overload it is the same. The tools/exercises selected, sequence of exercises and protocols used are specific to Sean’s goals and preferences, but the training principles used are the same for all trainees. Bob Whelan summarized it perfectly in his article “Dinosaur Women” when he stated “muscle fiber is human" ... and "It is the training GOAL that determines how the principles are used”. It doesn’t matter what your sex, profession, or age is, the strength training principles are "Human" and the same for a young tactical athlete like Sean as they are for a middle-aged woman who is a lawyer. The training goal determines how the principles are used. What they do outside of the gym as a result of their career, passion or sport is a completely separate activity and is not always the same as the goal.
