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Getting the Most out of Your Training

What does it actually take to look like the people we see on Youtube, Tik Tok, and Instagram? To perform like the athletes we see on TV?

It takes work. It takes listening to yourself when you don’t want to do the harder option and doing it anyways. Your comfort is killing you. You aren’t following any kind of nutrition plan, because that is too hard, not getting 4+ workouts/week every single week because you don’t have time (2 workouts is plenty to make progress but we are talking about going even beyond that), and you sleep 5-6 hours/night, because you want to go have fun with friends or stay up watching youtube, hulu, or netflix. 


Ok enough with beating everybody up. Who do you sound like? You sound exactly like them at one point. Dreams of wanting to go further, but having no clue where to start. Today, we’ll actually give you a rough draft to help you know what you can change to go to your next level, 1 step closer to your goals. 

Step 1

Build the foundation. I think many times we all see the end product and forget that there is no such thing as an overnight success. Those individuals are where they are due to the habits they built over time. Read that again, over time. They didn’t just wake up and become it one day. Yes they had a thought and a vision to accomplish it, but they weren’t there yet. It starts with 1 simple change just like it did for them. Maybe you have been working out 2-4x/week without a coach to help get you further, or maybe you have been doing tons of random workouts you found online. Those aren’t bad things at all, but to get further it is going to take more than that. Been working out for 1-2+ years and not seeing the progress you want? If any of those sound fitting, it’s time to find a coach and find the right program for you. (hint: the right program for you isn’t doing exactly what somebody who has been training for 5+ years at a high level is doing*). But what if you have never worked out and you want to get to that point? Surely that is impossible, right? Again, it starts with 1 change. At MAP, we look to have the individual who has never been in a weight room train in our system starting with Level 1 if their goal is purely aesthetic or for their own mental health and wellbeing and Kids/Foundations if the goal is to dominate in sports. When you start there, the workouts are AT YOUR PACE. You don’t need to go workout for 3+ hours or anything crazy. 30-60 minutes at that point twice a week is HUGE at this point. What’s even better is we offer times to help you do those with a coach to help encourage and support you along the way to bring out your best. 

Step 2

Increase intensity/volume, frequency, and compliance.

After 2-6 months in the “starting” phase, things can start to pick up to really start making some major changes. This is typically where you will want to pick 1 of 3 things to fix initially (intensity/volume, frequency, or compliance). How do I know which one to fix first? This is where having an honest conversation with yourself is key. I get it, you think you’re jacked now and know everything as your current ego is super fragile. Let the ego go. Only then are you going to be able to assess what you need to fix. So, you’ve been hitting PRs on all the exercises on your workouts for the last 3 months. If that’s you, go ahead and start with adding more intensity OR more volume, not both. How to do this? If you want to add intensity (usually recommend this for the person short on time such as busy parents or people with only x amount of time on their schedule to train) start by doing 1 drop set on your final set of the 2nd and 3rd exercises for your training that day. To perform a drop set, simply hit your regular set then immediately reduce 15-20% of the weight you were using and hit max reps. If you live a stressful lifestyle (business owner, super stressed college student working a job and going to school, individual going through a breakup/identity crisis, you would be better off adding volume. How to do this? Simply add 1 extra set to what you have been doing. If you have been doing 3 sets, now start doing 4. Ok, ok. I got it. I fixed that over the last 12 weeks. Tell me what to do next. The next thing you can do to continue chasing down the body and confidence you want is to add more training sessions (add frequency). To do this, start by adding 1 extra workout/week. I recommend adding 1 extra workout of 4-5 exercises that you ENJOY doing. This can be a complete different workout style if that appeals to you. You are finally allowed to do a “random” workout that you saw online if wanted here. I would do that for the person starting to feel bored with working out. Now for the person who is loving everything, pick 3-4 exercises with 12-20 reps each of things you want more of (ex want bigger arms? Do more curls. Want bigger glutes? Do more glute exercises like glute bridge variations.) Ok that sounds too easy, what’s the catch? The catch is if you are reading this, you probably don’t need to fix either of those two things. You probably need to fix your compliance. If you have been working out 1x/week on average, but your plan says you need to workout 2x/week, start with fixing that. Plan says to eat x food 4 times per day, but you only eat it 2 times per day, fix it. Forget everything that has been said so far and start with that. “Compliance is the science” as Stan Efferding says, and it’s true! Same can be said if you have only been doing 3x/week but were told to do 4x/week. That individual needs to fix compliance before doing anything else. 

Step 3

Keep figuring out what to fix. You never come out of the 2nd step. You constantly need to be surrounding yourself with like minded individuals who are willing to do the work and support you in doing the work. They are part of the key to surviving it all as they will help make it the enjoyable thing it truly is. Community can be the biggest kick starter for anybody especially when they are down. Many people will train on their own as they keep working through piece after piece in step 2 and enjoy it as they see their efforts paying off, but even then, there will be some rough times that come. The right community and coaches is what it takes to get through those times. 

Unsure of what to do? Get a free plan from our coaches. With experience training under 1 of only 3 in the world Master Westside Barbell Strength Coaches, the individual plans we create to drive results for our members are 2nd to none.

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