Recently an old friend contacted me on Facebook and asked me the following question:

“What are your thoughts on the 5/3/1 Program? I ask because I’m thinking of completely changing my program to focus on strength, and I’ve read some rave reviews about that program. “

Now honestly, I own the 5/3/1 Program, but have yet to read it so I can’t really make a fair assessment of the program (although I hear it is really good).  I have some degree of ebook ADD and I tend to purchase a lot of them and it takes me a long time to read them all.

However, after reading this question it got me thinking about how people go about choosing programs and it occurred to me that a lot of people have it ass backwards.  They pick a method or program first and set goals from there.

When someone decides to work with me I do the opposite.  I ask them to set out their goals from the very beginning to help me with the overall direction and design of the program.  Instead of choosing a type of training and then setting goals to suit the method, I like to define the goal and select the training methods that are best suited to helping the person reach them.

If strength training happens to be necessary to achieve the goal then I’ll include it as a block of training. However, if it is not necessary to produce the goal, it won’t appear in my client’s program no matter how good the material out there is at at time. Instead of being focussed on the method, I think it is important to focus on the results you want to obtain and select the ideal methods to bring those about.

One question I always ask new clients is ”Where do you want to be in a year from now?” The answer to that question tentatively dictates all blocks of training up until that point. If you’re training primarily to look better, then doing a strength block for no reason other than because a program sounds good, probably isn’t the best way to go.  That is not to say that there is no place for strength training in a physique based program, but you need to plan it accordingly.

Now that it is officially 2010 I urge you to look ahead to where you want to be next year at this time.  Pull out your calendar and work backwards by tentatively planning training blocks all the way through.  And whenever you include something all you have to ask is “does this take me closer to my stated long term goal”?  If the answer is no, your time would be better spent on something else.