When I was a strength and conditioning coach for the New York Yankees, we followed a model of training that is very common in the professional and collegiate strength and conditioning world. Namely, we kept a schedule of training from week to week that stayed the same. For instance:
Monday – lower body main lifts (squats, pulls)
Tuesday – upper body main lifts (pressing, pulling)
Wednesday – lower body accessory movements
Thursday – upper body accessory movements
Friday – total body
This works very well in the team sports setting. Why? Because at that level, you are in one of three places on any given day:
- Sport Field
- Gym
- Home
There wasn’t a concern that you would miss out on Mondays or Wednesdays…or any other day for that matter. The coaches didn’t have to concern themselves with people making 3 of 5 days during the week.
Variance, with regards to the structure of programming from day to day, week to week, month to month, etc, was of little concern in that arena.
The real world, in which CFG operates, is different. We purposely move things around from week to week to ensure that each of you are exposed to all of our movements at one point or another.
For instance, over the course of 4 weeks, you might see us squat on a Monday in week 1, Tuesday in week 2, Wednesday in week 3, and Thursday in week 4. This is because the majority of our members fall into the crowd who comes 3 days per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) OR they come more than 3 days per week.
If we only squatted on Mondays, then the folks who couldn’t make it on those days would never squat. Blasphemy!
When we deliberately change which days the movements fall on, we ensure that we serve each of you the same, no matter which days you decide to come in.
The easiest way to make sure you’re not missing out on anything? Just show up consistently. Thats what matters the most.
