The Program Designer Profile

About me:

Inform others about your education, specialities, experience and location.

Newsfeed:

Communicate with your fellow program designers, personal trainers and strength athletes. Strength athletes and personal trainer on behalf of their clients will search for and use your published programs.

Settings: 

Go to settings to update the About Me section, update your plan, check your invoices, and much more.

Each profile type has it’s own settings page: Strength Athlete, Program Designer and Personal Trainer.

 

THE CALENDAR BUILDER:

1. Exercises 

Search and find exercises to create a program with one or several workouts.

 

2. Test exercises

Choose between one to three test exercises (marked «Testable») and method «Test AMRAP set» which will  be applied to the first and last week of the program. The test AMRAP set should be carried out with maximum effort (Reps to failure: 0) and 1-5 reps. It is advantageous to implement a few warm-up sets before the test AMRAP set. It is also advantageous to place the test exercise at the beginning of a workout when the athlete is fresh and has the most energy. If you choose to have several test exercises you can spread them out across the different workout days. For example, if you have three test exercises and three workouts, then you may choose to have one test exercise (at the beginning) of each workout, all in the first week. The test AMRAP set of the test exercises will automatically apply to the last week as well (test & training weeks), this is in order to compare 1 RM (one repetition maximum), strength level and to calculate the results or percentage increase in the 1 RM of the test exercises.

 

3. Repetitions

Choose number of repetitions for each set.

 

4. Reps to failure

RTF are based on how many repetitions remain at the completion of a set. The RTF scale is rated from zero to five, and measures the feeling of effort, strain discomfort, and/or fatigue experienced during resistance training. A set of three reps and two RTF, mean that the strength athlete will do three reps with two reps in reserve.

 

5. Load 

In the workout section you must insert reps and RTF for each set, and the load (percent of one repetition maximum) will then be calculated. E.g., a set of 5 reps and 1 RTF will give a load of 83,7 % of 1 RM.

 

6. Methods

  • Straight set: Is an ordinary set where you do one exercise, rest and proceed to the next set.
  • Warm up set: Perform one or several sets with low weight and intensity (RTF) prior to your work sets or test AMRAP set.
  • Test AMRAP set: Is a test set where you perform as many reps as possible with maximum effort (RTF: 0), used to calculate a strength athlete’s one repetition maximum (1 RM) level, and when the test AMRAP set in the first and last week of the program have been completed: the percentage increase in the test exercise.
  • Pyramide sets: Is a collection of sets of the same exercise that can, for example, start with a light weight and higher reps, building up to a heavier weight and fewer reps, or vice versa.
  • Giant set: Is a circuit of three or more exercises for the same body part performed one after another with little to no rest in between.
  • Pre-exhaust set:Is when performing an isolation or single-joint exercise followed by one compound or multiple-joint movement.
  • Drop set:Performing multiple sets of an exercise to technical failure with successively lighter loads and little to no rest between the sets.

 

7. Tempo 

Standard tempo is «3-0-2-1», meaning three seconds lowering the load (eccentric), zero seconds in the buttom posistion (stretch), two seconds raising the load (concentric), and one second at the top position (peak).

 

8. Rest period 

The rest period between sets is measured in seconds and minutes. Short rest periods between sets that activate the same primary muscle(s) or body part will reduce the load (% of 1 RM) in the next set due to accumulated fatigue.

 

9. More options 

You can add and remove sets by clicking on the plus (+) and minus (-) signs in the Workouts section, move an exercise up or down. Save the workout when it is completed.

 

10. Calendar section

When all your workouts are completed and saved you will find them under «Saved workouts». Drag and drop the saved workout on the desired days, and choose the length of the program/number of weeks. The Test AMRAP set(s) in the test exercise(s) will only be applied to the first and last week. The other weeks will automatically have ordinary sets in the test exercises.  Save the program and proceed to the Builder*.

 

11. Program information

Decide on a program name, category, training split (for example, two split: one day of upper body and one day of lower body), and create a description of your program.

 

*Adding exercises, changing the order of exercises or dragging workouts to desired days, can only be done in the Calendar Builder. If you proceed to the Progression Builder and save your program there, you can not go back to the Calendar Builder. This is because a workout (for example Workout 1) may have been converted into multiple versions (for example workout 1A, 1B and 1C) in the Progression Builder.

 

THE PROGRESSION BUILDER:

In the Calendar Builder you have created a static program, meaning there are no implemented progression strategies.* The load, sets, and reps, etc., are the same for that particular workout throughout the program. Your goal as a program designer is to create a program that ensures a positive improvement for the athlete in the test exercises.

*There is one excepton: Frequency Progression is set in the calendar function in the Calendar Builder.

 

1. Test exercises: 

Choose at least one (maximum three) test exercise(s) in at least one workout. The test exercise must have method “Test (AMRAP) set” (as many reps as possible), on the last set. The first sets are warm-up sets with lower loads and lower intensity (% of 1 RM and/or RTF). The test set will only be applied to the first and last week of the program. The test sets are used to calculate the athlete’s strength:

  • 1 RM and level (Strength Standards)
  • Result or percentage increase (Experience Bank).

The first and last week is a “test & training week” where the test set is performed (method: test (AMRAP) set) in the chosen test exercise (barbell or dumbbell exercises). The weeks in between are referred to as training weeks.

 

2. Deload week: 

In order to reduce fatigue and improve performance before the last week and the test set(s) it can be beneficial to make the week before the last “Test & training week” a “deload week” where the volume, intensity and/or frequency are reduced. This is in order for recovery and adaption to accrue before the final Test AMRAP sets in the test exercises. By comparing the calculated 1 RM in the test exercises in the first and last weeks of the program, we can calculate the athlete’s results or percentage strength increase.

 

3. Save or publish your program: 

Click on “save program” if the program is not completed or “publish program” if you want to make the program available for all strength athletes. You cannot make further adjustments to the program after it has been published. This is because the program design is set and data from the strength athletes are automatically saved in the Experience Bank (percentage increase) and the Strength Standards (1 RM and level). Otherwise, the changed data will become invalid and not comparable.

The programs will be displayed on your main page:

*Read more about this under Get started: The Calendar builder and The progression builder.

 

MAIN SITE FOR THE PROGRAM DESIGNER PROFILE  – PART 1: 

1. Program design: 

The program design summarizes how your strength training program is structured, concerning the most important variables, such as training volume, intensity, frequency and more. Exercise selection is not necessarily the most important variable in a training design.

 

In the strength athlete profile, the Top Program Design table reveals which program they responded best to, and the optimal program designs for that individual.

 

2. The Progressive overload graph: 

The graph provides a visual overview of your implemented progression strategies throughout a program per body part. It shows total volume (set x reps), average intensity (% of 1 RM), total volume load (set x reps x load) and frequency (sessions per body part per week) for each session and the development of that targeted body part over time.

 

THE STRENGTH ATHLETE: 

By publishing your program, you are making it available for all strength athletes. The first thing a strength athlete must do is to find a suitable/appropriate program. This can be done in three ways: *

  • Search bar.
  • The Program Designs section.
  • The Experience Bank section.

 

*Read more about this under Get Started: The Strength Athlete profile.

 

1. The Training program: 

The Calendar function in the Program Designer profile is simply called the training program.

Here strength athlete can see all the details of the training program, such as training days, exercises, sets, reps, method, etc.

A strength athlete can then upload the desired program to their calendar & workout log, ready to start the program where the sessions are logged on the athlete’s mobile phone.

 

2. Pre- and post- interview form: 

A strength athlete must complete a pre-interview form, to provide variables like body weight, waist and hip measurements, injuries and more, and calculate 1 RM for all exercises so that the load for each set will be transferred from the program designer’s percentage of 1 RM to the strength athlete’s individual kg values. Now the strength athlete can perform the program in the Workout Log. When the program is completed, the athlete must complete a post-interview form and the results will be analyzed in the Performance Table of their profile.

 

3.Workout log and autoregulation: 

In the strength athlete’s workout log autoregulation is implemented. The predetermined weight increased from, for example, session to session indicated in the Progression Builder is not always doable for a strength athlete since it does not take into account their current shape, degree of readiness, level of stress, sleep pattern. Autoregulation is a very useful tool that automatically individualizes load progression and allows an athlete to train with higher loads on days when they have low fatigue levels and vice versa. By comparing the target reps with performed reps and target reps to failure (RTF) with performed RTF, the load on the next set is either up- or down-regulated *

*Read more about this under the Workout Log and About Autoregulation.

 

MAIN SITE FOR THE PROGRAM DESIGNER PROFILE – PART 2

1. Top-three results 

When strength athletes complete your program, the results will be saved anonymously in the Experience Bank and displayed in your Program Designer profile in the top-three results table. Here you will se the athletes’ top-three results (% increase), physical traits and strength level. There is one table per test exercise. The results are objective measurements which takes assumption out of the equation. Because of the principle of diminishing returns, we can expect the more advanced and elite lifters to make less progress than beginner and novice lifters. This does not mean that all programs are for beginners. For more experienced lifters, minor improvements are better than none at all. The main challenge for more experienced athletes is overcoming the problem of plateaux. Under your Published Programs you can see how many athletes have completed your program.

 

2. Other functions

In your Program Designer profile main page there is a section where the strength athlete can insert their physical traits and see how other strength athletes with the same physical traits have fared with programs.

The outcomes are actual achieved results of other athletes for each test exercise per inserted physical trait: strength level, body weight, waist-to-hip ratio, age, height and dominant muscle fiber. Your mirror athletes are strength athletes that have completed a program and who match all of your input values for physical traits. Average results are an average of all the single % increase values, and can be used if the mirror athletes’ data is missing. The % increase value shows the expected results if an athlete starts and completes a specific program, trains hard, takes care of nutrition and rests correctly.

When an athlete uses the Sort By function, the program chosen will also be applied to the Review, Progressive Overload graph, Program Designs- and Program Sections:

 

3. Reviews

In the Review section, strength athletes and personal trainers can provide feedback on their experience with your program. This enables you to learn and improve your work.

 

4. The Progressive overload graph

The Progressive Overload graph is the same graph that was created in the Progression Builder when creating the program, and gives strength athletes, personal trainers and other program designers a visual overview of your implemented progression strategies throughout the program per body part. It shows total volume (set x reps), average intensity (% of 1 RM), total volume load (set x reps x load) and frequency (sessions per body part per week) for each session and and its development over time.

 

5. Program design

The Program Design was created in the Progression Builder when you created the program, which will be available at your main site for strength athletes, personal trainers and other program designers. The program design summarizes how your strength training programs are structured, taking into account the most important variables, like training volume, intensity, frequency, progression strategies, and more.