Can You Go?: Assessments and Program Design for the Active Athlete and Everybody Else

by Dan John

The answer isn’t what we want; it’s what we need. Often, I know what we need to do. The issue is usually simple. Rarely do my clients and athletes know what’s needed. My first hurdle is to overcome this gap.

improve every aspect of life. Yes, our athletes will throw farther and jump higher, and that’s great, thank you very much. But they’ll also move the couch easier, carry in more groceries faster, and generally be more of a help than a hindrance in daily life. That, by the way, is nicer for the rest of us, too.

“Being fit is one thing. Being an athlete is another. Fitness is the ability to do work. Being an athlete is something quite different. Fitness is what you pass through on the way to a superior physical, mental and spiritual state.”

Ones: Hypertrophy and mobility training Twos: Hypertrophy and mobility training; nutrition and caloric restriction; inefficient exercise Threes: Nutrition and caloric restriction; inefficient exercise Fours: Strength training; nutrition and caloric restriction; inefficient exercise Fives: Strength training Sixes: Strength training; hypertrophy and mobility training

Assessment One: Stand on One Foot

Ask your client to stand on one foot. If the person can stand on one foot for over ten seconds, great; move along to the next assessment. Ideally, we’re looking for a range between ten and twenty seconds. Anything beyond twenty seconds is not really important. Give a hearty handshake and say, “Good for you.”

Assessment Two: Measurements

If the scale tilts under three hundred pounds, continue assessing. If the measure is over three hundred pounds, refer out.

When a client is over three hundred pounds, refer to three professionals: an eye doctor, a dentist and a medical doctor.

Assessment Three: Three Questions

Question One: How many pillows does it take for you to be comfortable at night?

Question Two: Do you eat colorful vegetables?

Question Three: Do you exercise for at least half an hour each day?

“Make yourself a slave to good habits.”

Assessment Four: Four Tests

Test One: Plank

The test is very simple: Can the client do a two-minute plank? If not, this is an issue. Either, Stu tells us, the client is training the core poorly or is obese.

Test Two: To the Floor and Back Up

Follow these instructions: Sit down on the ground. Now stand up.

“Our study also shows that maintaining high levels of body flexibility, muscle strength, power-to-body weight ratio and coordination are not only good for performing daily activities, but have a favorable influence on life expectancy.”

Test Three: Standing Long Jump

The goal is simple: The client must jump over body height. Not vertically… Horizontally! This is the standing long jump.

Test Four: Farmer Walk

The farmer walk assesses overall work capacity. Let me just say right here that it’s hard to measure work capacity.

I prefer to plan my clients’ daily programs with the big picture in mind, based on these three simple principles—

Focus on movements, not muscles: The fundamental human movements are push, pull, hinge, squat, loaded carries and the sixth movement.

Do it every day.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Addressing the Threes gives us an insight into both nutrition and fitness, and is relatively simple—

There must be some caloric restriction. The person must do some inefficient exercise.

We could sum up all of the information for Th...

Cut out sugar. Cut out cardboard carbs. Get rid of Frankenstein fat. Eat colorful vegetables. Do something you’re not good...

Workout Option One Swings for 20 seconds 6 pushups Rest for 30 seconds Repeat for 15 minutes * Each workout, increase the pushups by one.

Circuit

For most of us, whether we’re Ones, Twos, Threes, Fours, Fives, Sixes, Sevens or anything else, it comes down to this— Stretch what is tightening—pecs, biceps, hip flexors, hamstrings. Strengthen what is weakening—glutes, abs, delts, triceps. Eat like an adult. Seek mastery.

Nutrition and caloric restriction Inefficient exercise Strength training Hypertrophy and mobility training—the Fountain of Youth Mental set

“Obese people and those desiring to lose weight should perform hard work before food. Meals should be taken after exertion while still panting from fatigue. They should, moreover, only eat once per day and take no baths and walk naked as long as possible.” ~ Hippocrates, circa 471 BC

simple hunger to dangerous starvation. Pavel Tsatsouline summed up the whole diet question for athletes like this: “Meat for strength. Veggies for health.”

In the second edition, Rosenberg told me to include my philosophy of training. Mike and I discussed what it was, and we slowly fleshed out these three points— The body is one piece. There are three kinds of strength training: putting weight overhead, picking it up off the ground, and carrying it for time or distance. All training is complementary.

Program like this: Tortilla with cheese, meat and vegetables. Stick with the basics for everybody— Pushes Pulls Hinges Squats Loaded carries Everything else, mostly groundwork

One of my favorite stories comes to mind here. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson are sitting around one day, talking about life, when Thoreau pauses. “Yes?” asks Emerson, expectantly. “Simplify, simplify,” says Thoreau. “You didn’t need the second ‘simplify,’” replies Emerson.

Strength training for lean body mass and joint mobility work trumps everything else.

Tonic Muscles (Shorten) Phasic Muscles (Weaken) Upper Trapezius Rhomboids Pectoralis Major Mid-back Biceps Triceps Pectoralis Minor Gluteus Maximus Psoas Deep Abs Piriformis External Obliques Hamstrings Deltoids Calf Muscles

I usually explain it this way: If a tiger chased you up a tree, the muscles you use to hang onto the branch for a long time are tonic muscles. If you decided to chase a deer, you’d use your phasic muscles.

Combining these tools is the closest I’ve come to a perfect program, what I call the Killer App program— Barbell: Military or Bench Press TRX: T-Y-I Pulls and Rows Barbell or Kettlebell: Deadlift or Swings KB: Goblet Squat Dumbbells: Farmer Walk KB: Turkish Getup Ab Wheel: Ab Wheel Rollout

the bulk of the men we work with will be Twos. They need to do mobility work and they need some inefficient exercise. But, they want to bench press. So, we have them to do a one-arm bench press—more of a mobility lift—mixed with something like swings or work on a rowing machine.

Most women will be Fours. They need to be barbell squatting, benching and deadlifting.

A reasonable approach will always be challenged by the excitement and enthusiasm of the next big thing.

Train appropriately for the goal. Train little and often over the long haul. The longer it takes to get in shape, the longer the shape will remain. Warmups and cooldowns really do play important roles. Train for volume before intensity. Cycle the workouts. Train in a community. Train the mind. Keep the training program in perspective. Fundamentals trump everything else.

“The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”