THE STRENGTH ATHLETE PROFILE
The purpose of the strength athlete profile is to enable you to identify the most effective programs that best suit you, analyze and learn from subsequent results. Once completed, you will get objective feedback on how well you responded and what strength level you are at, and make you aware of any improvements that you can make.
FINDING AND UPLOADING A PROGRAM
The first thing a strength athlete must do is to find a program. This can be done in one of three ways:
- Search bar.
- The Program Designs site.
- The Experience Bank site.
Once you have identified a program you want to try, go to the foot of the Program Designer profile, where the program was created and published:
Click on “Add to your calendar” and the program will be uploaded to your Calendar & Workout log.
Blue days are upcoming days; once you complete a session that day turns green, and orange days represent missed sessions. The dotted orange line indicates that this is a test session where the Test (AMRAP) set in the test exercises is conducted, and the dotted grey line represents the current day.
Adhering to an uploaded program is important. Try not to miss too many sessions, especially the test sessions which are essential in order to accurately analyze your results.
Before starting the program, you need to fill out the pre-interview form.
We will also ask you about other activities you will be doing in addition to the program you are about to start, because your total exercise load during the period may affect both your energy expended in the gym and also your recovery capabilities.
In the third and last step we need to calculate your 1 repetition maximum in all the exercises. The Program Designer creates the program with percentage of 1 RM values, and by calculating your 1 RM values we replace the percentage value with your individual baseline kg values on a set-to-set basis. For example, if your 1 RM for bench press is 130 kg, then a set with 80% of 1 RM equals 104 kg. This becomes your target load. Try to be honest and provide as accurate information as possible about load and reps for each exercise, so that the estimated 1 RM values are as accurat as possible. The estimated 1 RM values are used as target load, and if 1 RM values are set too high, it may become impossible to reach your target loads and it will appear that you are adapting poorly to the training program.
Press “Upload values” and you are ready to start the program in the Workout Log.
HOW TO EXECUTE THE PROGRAM
The orange column in the Workout log marks the current set. The autoregulated load (“autoreg. load”) is your working load. Try to hit target reps and target reps to failure (RTF). Enter the number of successful performed reps and performed RTF and press ok. If target reps are not the same as your performed reps or the target RTF is not the same as your performed RTF, then the load on the next set will autoregulate either up or down. Read more about this under About Autoregulation.
The test AMRAP set is the test set that will calculate your 1 RM and strength level in the test exercise. By doing so in the first and last week of the program we can calculate your results or percentage increase in your 1 RM. Read more about this in the Strength Standard Guide and the Experience Bank Guide.
At the end of the session the Workout Summary will inform you how well you adopted to the session by comparing total target volume load (reps x sets x kg) with total performed volume load per body part. Insert how you feel regarding currently sleep pattern, energy level and stress level and if you have any injuries. You may also take some workout notes.
When completing all the sessions in a program and you have answered the post-interview form, the program will be analyzed and results displayed in your Strength Athlete profile:
TROPHY WALL
On the Trophy Wall you can click on available test exercises from completed programs and monitor their development closely. See how your strength progresses from one program to the next and compare your 1 RM to other strength athletes. Get rewarded with a golden trophy each time you reach a new and higher level. Total percentage increase shows your total percentage increase in 1 RM, in the selected test exercise from your very first to the last completed program. The level lines in the performance graph get their values from the Strength Standards, while the You are stronger than section compares your last 1 RM with other strength athletes 1 RM values for the same exercise.
Every major body part has its own Trophy Wall: chest, back, shoulder, thighs, upper arms and calves. All programs include test exercises in the first and last week of the program, where your 1 repetition maximum (1 RM) is calculated.
TIMELINE
To get an overview of all the programs you have completed, and the status and fluctuation of important lifestyle factors like sleep pattern, stress level and energy level and body weight in combination with hip- to- waist ratio. Lack of recovery and sleep will be detrimental to your workout performance, and these can have a adverse effect on your hormone levels and performance output.
We have to maintain a calorie surplus in order to supply the building blocks necessary to increase strength and muscle tissue. Too big a calorie surplus can also increase your fat tissue, so try to achieve a gradual and slow increase in body weight with a minimal increase in waist- to- hip ratio.
Consistency is a key factor. Orange areas are periods where you have had a break in your strength training. Your body will adapt to the demand placed on it, but that should be a consistent process, so if the requirements of a six week program are five resistance training sessions per week, but after that you do not do any more for several weeks, your body will adjust to the period of inactivity and you will lose some of the gains you have made.
The timeline will intuitively tell you where you need to improve regarding lifestyle and fatigue factors.
PERFORMANCE TABLE
The Performance table analyzes all the programs you have completed and displays detailed information such as one repetition maximum (1 RM) and results or percentage increase in 1 RM in the test exercises, objective level based on the strength standards, changes in body weight, waist- to- hip ratio, age and injury status, in addition to your dominant muscle fiber type, height and gender.
Fatigue & recovery monitoring are based on your subjective feedback provided at the end of each and every session, given in the Workout summary, and which shows any fluctations in your stress level, sleep pattern and energy level on a daily and weekly basis. The blue columns represent the autoregulation of load and provides you with an insight into how well you are adopting to the program with the help of the Autoregulation feature. A blue column going upwards into the green field means that your performance was better than expected (Target load vs. Performed load) and that you lifted more than the target for the session. A blue column going downwards into the red field means the opposite. The height of the columns indicates the size of the effect. In the workout summary you can also write notes, which you can read in the exercise notes section.
By comparing your results or percentage increase in the test exercises in the Experience Bank, we can find out how well you responded to a specific program compared to other strength athletes, like your Mirror Athletes. Your Mirror Athletes are those strength athletes who resemble you the most in terms of gender, age, height, body weight, waist- to- hip ratio, strength level and dominant muscle fibers. We will also compare your results with other strength athletes that have only the same height as you or only the same body weight as you, and so on.
If we see any potential for improvement you can find details of them under Recommondation. Maybe for your next training program, you should sleep more, reduce stress, eat more or eat less, or perhaps try another program design?
If you would like to leave a specific program a review and some star rating, this is done under Program Review, and it will also be shown in the Program Designer profile and in the Program Designs serach site. If you collaborated with a personal trainer you can give them a feedback under Personal trainer review.
TOP PROGRAM DESIGNS
Everyone is different and consequently will respond differently to the same program design. The program designs identify the main structure of a program, in terms of intensity, training volume, frequency and more. Intensity is both a percentage of your one repetition maximum (objective measure) and Reps to failure/RTF (subjective measure). Volume can be defined as repetition x sets per body part per week. Frequency is how often your train a body part each week.
The Top Program Design table tells you which program and program design you have responded to best, for each major body part, in which test exercise and your actual best % increase in 1 RM.
SETTINGS
You can go to Settings to update the About Me section, update plans, see your invoices and more.
Each profile type has its own settings page: Strength Athlete, Program Designer and Personal Trainer.