NICK TUMMINELLO

Practical Program Design

It seems no one really understands program

design because its confusing. Its confusing because
of conflicting opinions, conflicting information,
confusing information that is very sciency, and
things from the 1960s and 1970s out of Eastern
Europe and Russia tend to be very difficult to
translate.
Were also inundated with lots of new fun and
cool exercises. Most trainers have become exercise
encyclopedias, but exercises are just methods.
Principles are what dictate how you should design
a program. Just knowing a lot of exercises, but not
knowing how to effectively put them together to
create a safe, fun, effective and efficient workout
doesnt necessarily make you a good trainer.
Imagine if you were a chef and you had all these
wonderful, tasty ingredients, but you had no idea
how to put the ingredients together to make a dish
anybody would be willing to eat. Thats kind of the
state of our industry. In this material, I want to cover
whats cool versus whats effective.
Were going to talk about how to use cool
exercises in an effective manner. Theres no reason
you cant design an effective program thats cool and
fun for your clients and athletes, and to understand
that they cant really progress until they adapt.
All training is basically adaptation to an applied
stress. Thats what strength is. Basically, your body
is an adaptive mechanism. Whatever you put your
body throughstrength training, speed training,
power trainingyour body will adapt and become
better at that as long as the program doesnt overwork
the body and cause it to become over trained, and
then end up with negative results well talk about.
The general goal here is to teach you how to
make your clients better. Dont just make them tired
and sweaty. Now, I tend to hang my hat when I teach
these courses on getting people moving. I like the
movement-type trainingthe active training
where Im showing many exercises and talking
about program design as we go.

I always try to make sure that anytime I put out

a product or information source, its 100% usable. I
promise to give you a lot of things that are simple and
user-friendly, and that you could use immediately
to improve your programs.
These are some of the objectives. Were going to
talk about the difference between a fitness-training
program and a performance-training program.
Were going to understand the basic periodization
concepts and how to use them to get the best results,
and well discover the five main training cycles we
use here at Performance University.
Were going to talk about what Ive found to
be the best sets, reps and restbasic program
design strategies, those acute variables for all major
training goals, and what weve found to be the most
effective whether youre trying to build muscle,
get more powerful, build strength or metabolic
power. Were going to talk about how to design a
programthe sets, the reps, the rest intervals and
all of the approaches we use.
Were also going to talk about the five stages
of what I call perfect workoutsthe stages of a
workout we would cover in each workout session
regardless of the training phase. Whether youre
trying to build muscle, build strength, build power
or a little bit of everything, you want to make sure
each workout covers these five stages. Then Im also
going to provide you with a lot of great coaching
tips from the trenches along the way.
The first step in designing a good program
is to understand the person youre training. Im
talking about a program thats personalized toward
an individual or is geared toward a specific athlete.
Whether its a MMA fighter, a football player or
a tennis player, you still have to know who youre
training.
In my mind, to keep things simple, there are
two classifications. We have physique clients who
are people who want to basically look great on the
beachnon athletic-type people. Thats not to say

~1~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

that they dont play sports, but its not their primary
objective nor is it their career. This is the Mens
Health reader or the Womens Health reader.
Then we have the performance client. Thats
your junior athlete, high school or college athlete,
professional athlete or someone who tells you
theyre extremely competitive and theyre coming
to you because they want to perform better on the
court, on the field or on the mat.
Heres a rundown of what I consider to be a
physique clientthe specifics youll find with them,
and they may or may not have previous exercise
experience. They tend to have limited training time
due to family, work and other responsibilities or
things of that nature. Sometimes theyre not exactly
sure what they want to achieve with training.
Everybody wants to look better, but sometimes
you have to pull that out of a client. They just say,
Oh, I heard you were great and you could keep
me fit. They have a general idea of what is going to
make them feel better or what is going to make their
program feel successful.
When someone says, Hey, I dont feel like Im
fit or I feel like Im weak, its a good idea to ask
them, How would you know if this program is
successful? Give me a real world example that you
cant do now, but you might be able to do six or eight
weeks from now or twelve weeks, a point when youd
think, Wow, this program is working.
Maybe they feel really weak in their back when
picking up a child. If they didnt feel weak picking
up the child, theyd know theyre getting stronger.
Maybe they get tired going up four flights of stairs
and are trying to take the stairs at work. If they
didnt get as tired going up those four flights of
stairs, they would feel like theyre stronger and more
cardiovascularly fit.
When you ask these things, it can help you
better tell whether programming will create a better
buy-in. Thats a little tip from the trenches there.
Heres more on physique clients. They may
be prepping for a specific event, not necessarily a
sporting event, but a wedding, high school or college

reunion when they want to look their best and really

wow the people there.
They may not be very knowledgeable about
training. Things can be very confusing with
infomercials and all the different magazines
available. Then of course, we have all the magic pills
being advertised that add to that confusion.
They tend to judge their training success by the
weight scalehow much they weigh or how they
look in the mirror. They also tend to judge their
workouts or the effectiveness of their workouts by
what they feel, whether they feel muscle burn or
fatigue. This is something thats important.
This is not to say your client is going to dictate
everything you do in the gym, but its important to
create that buy-in. If you know this client is judging
success by the scale, how hard they work in the gym
or how they look in the mirror, you need to tailor
your program to at least give them some of that so
that theyre feeling successful.
If theyre not feeling successful, theyre not going
to train with you. If theyre not training with you,
theyre probably going to go to someone else whos
not as knowledgeable as you. You want to keep these
people as your clients.
They may also have personal image issues.
You have to be positive. When you meet physique
clients, they may feel overweight. They may not like
how they look in their clothes, how they feel in their
clothes or how other people perceive them.
Therefore, its important to be positive to
them especially on their first assessment. Dont
tell them how bad their squat is or how tight their
thoracic spine is and all of these different things. Be
positive because theyre already coming to you as
a stranger. Theyre already putting their bodies in
your hands. You want to help uplift them and make
it a pleasurable experiencenot add to their image
issues.
Now, lets talk about performance clients. These
are those athletes who tend to possess previous
exercise experience, whereas some fitness clients
may not. They tend to have more time to devote to

~2~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

training, because they understand the importance

of strength and conditioning. They have a clear-cut
goal to achieve with training whether they want to
get bigger or stronger. Maybe they have an upcoming
boxing match, a mixed martial arts match or a figure
or physique showthey tend to have a specific goal
with a date in mind.
They may or may not be knowledgeable about
training, even though they tend to have experience.
Some people have been coached a lot, but some
coaches really dont get the athletes involved. They
just tell them what to do. They also judge their own
training success by weight on the bar, how strong
theyre getting, how fast theyre running or jump
heightmore performance-related goals. Theyre
comfortable with being coached and pushed with
intense motivation.
With some of these athletes, you may not have to
always be positive. You can push them a little. That
doesnt mean you have to be an a-hole and be very
aggressive, but you have to find how these people
best respond. A lot of these athletes arent necessarily
coming in for image-related issues so you dont
always have to work around those. The important
thing is to understand the communication. Who
youre working with determines how youre going
to communicate.
Lets talk about this concept of movements not
muscles, because its related to the training goals or
the training goal differences between a physique
client and a performance client. You hear training
movements, not muscles. From a functional
perspective, thats pretty good. For a performance
athlete, what theyre telling you is they want to move
better. Theyre not telling you they want to look
great naked. They want to move better. They want to
run faster and jump higher.
Were going to give them more movementrelated training to help them move better, so were
going to do more total-body work, rotary work,
power work and things of that naturethings that
reflect more athletic development exercises.
But lets talk about this physique clientthis
fitness clientwhos not necessarily a competitive

athlete. These clients mainly want to look better, so

when you train movements with them, you might
not necessarily get them looking better because they
need to be training muscles. The best-looking people
out there are models and physique competitors.
Physique competitors have to do some isolation
work. They need to train muscles, because their goal
is to look better. You want to understand to keep
the goal the goal. Theres no reason why you cant
do both.
Its not trained movements, not muscles
its trained movements and muscles. Its what
you prioritize. For a physique clientsomeone
who wants to look better at the beachyou want
to prioritize the muscle training. Those are the
traditional bodybuilding-type exercises. Youll add
in some movementsome sports-related athletic
development exercisesso they dont become
less mobile and less agile. Keep the goal the goal.
Their goal primarily is to look better, and you need
to understand that the bodybuilding component
needs to be a bigger component than the athletic
component.
On the flip side, for a performance client you
definitely want to train movements first. Youre
looking at speed and total body movements,
whether it is Olympic lifts, sprint drills or all of the
above, but you also need to hit the muscles as well,
because there are only two ways to get stronger.
Theres the neurological way and the
physiological way. The neurological way is to teach
the brain how to bring more muscle into the game
and become more coordinated. The physiological
way is training hardwaremuscles, ligaments,
tendons, connective tissues and bone density.
Doing bodybuilding can also help with sports
performance indirectly. If you improve the crosssectional area of a musclethe size of a muscle
not only does that muscle create more body armor
to better deal with impact, it also dissipates force
better. And it gives more horsepower for the brain
to then understand how to coordinate. Again, do
both. Its just what you prioritize.

~3~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

Lets talk more about movement exercises versus

muscle exercises. Heres an interesting study done by
my friend and original mentor, Coach Juan Carlos
Santana of IHP in Florida, as well as Dr. Stuart
McGill, who is best known for his research on the
spine and low back.
They did a research study in 2007 that was
published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning
Research. It compared muscle activation and the
force production patterns of the bench press and
the standing one-arm split-stance press. The bench
press was performed as a traditional bench press,
supine on the bench with two arms, and they had a
standing one-arm press.
From a muscle activation standpoint, what
they found in the bench press was the muscles that
really activated the most through EMG were the
chest, triceps and shoulders, as well as the lumbar
spine to create that arch. Thats pretty much a nobrainer. Interestingly though, when they stood up
and did the one-arm press, the oblique abdominals
primarily lit up the most and the latissimus were
very, very high. It was those anti-rotary muscles that
were the limiting factor.
What this shows is that muscle activation
patterns in the force production patterns when
youre standing doing something in a sport-related
movement (and most sports are played standing,
not lying supine) are very different than in a bench
press.
Im not saying the bench press is a waste of
time and that all we should do are one-arm presses.
What I am saying is you need to understand that
power production and force production are not
only angular-specific but also movement-specific.
Theres something to be said about doing functional
exercises that look a little like the movements
for which youre training. They dont have to be
identical, but they have to resemble the force
production patterns.
If Im looking at an athlete, one-arm presses are
going to be a priority if Im dealing with someone
who is pushing from a standing position. If Im
prioritizing bench press, its going to be more for a

bodybuilder type. Im still going to bench with both

my physique clients and my athletes. Im still going
to do one-arm presses and one-arm push-ups with
my physique and performance athletes, but its what
I prioritize.
With my performance athlete, Im prioritizing
more standing pressing movements if its a pressing
daythings like one-arm push-ups that are not
standing, but are very limited through the core.
Most people are not too weak in their upper body to
do one-arm push-ups. Theyre limited through their
torso. Im going to have bench press as a secondary
and not a primary movement, simply because the
body position doesnt resemble what theyre doing
in a sport.
Thats a little different than what people may
have heard because the bench press is considered to
be one of the three big lifts. The bench squat and
deadlift here at Performance University are big lifts.
We do one-arm push-ups instead of bench press
the bench press isnt a big lift for us.
To continue talking about this study, I will read
this quote, Pushing forces from a standing position
under ideal mechanical conditions are limited to
40.8% of the subjects body weight. Now this is
interesting. What this is basically saying is if Im a
football coach and Im setting up my line, I would
much rather have the 400-pound slob who can only
bench press 200 pounds than I would the 200
pound ripped guy who can bench press 400 pounds
because of how much weight you can press from
your feet.
A lot of it has to do with how much you weigh
how much mass is actually being anchored into the
ground. Thus, 40.8% of 400 pounds is a lot more
weight for my opponents team to push over than
40.8% of 200 pounds, even though the guys are
ripped.
Its physics here. Just because youre a huge
bencher doesnt mean you can apply all of that force
from a standing position. It really has to do with
body weight. With that being said, the higher you
can increase your body weightmeaning the more
muscle you can put on through exercises that are

~4~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

very bodybuilding oriented since those are the ones

that build hypertrophythe more it is going to have
a sports carryover indirectly because now you have
more mass being put into the ground.
Again, you want to train movements and train
muscles. Its not an isolated thing. You want to do
both. All were really doing with training is trying
to do three things and they all have to do with force.
Were trying to help our muscles better produce
force, reduce force and control force, otherwise
known as to stabilize.
Some people say the core transfers force. Thats
technically not true, but is beyond this discussion.
When youre bringing in multiple joints, youre
actually summating force. Saying the core only
transfers force is basically saying that the core
muscles have no role in force production or
reduction. It just says they take one thing and bring
it to the other. Thats not true. They actually add to
the game, so they either dissipate forcewhich is
reduce forceor they produce force.
When youre moving, obviously your local
muscles have to control. When we talk about muscle
exercises, thats what were doing. Were helping each
muscle produce, reduce and control force. These are
segmental joint actions. These are good types of
exercises to bring up weak areas, great for building
size (hypertrophy), better bone density, tendon
health and so on. There are lots of benefits there.
For movement exercises, you could also
call these more functional exercises, although
everything is functional. These help the CNS, the
central nervous system, to better understand how
to summate force across the entire body vertically,
horizontally and diagonally. It teaches the body how
to be more coordinated.
These are multi-segmental joint actions.
Theyre good for improving timing and rhythm of
movement. Theyre great for improving synergistic
coordinated actions. They also tend to have a higher
metabolic cost because youre using total body
more muscles work, more calories burned. They
tend to be a little more joint sparing because there is
a load share. Instead of isolating one joint to move

and all resistance load going through one joint,

its multi-joint. Youre distributing the load across
multiple joints, so no one joint is ever getting beat
up more than the other. On the flip side, sometimes
you have to isolate to force a muscle to grow and
become bigger. Again, you dont want to do too
much of each.
Now, heres a little sample. Its a mini-workout
scenario for a physique client. These are just general
guidelines. Please dont copy these exact workouts.
Im just going to verbally go over two. Im going to
superset dumbbell bench with a barbell bentover
row. Well superset that a few sets. Well talk about
sets and reps later. The second superset will be chinup and dumbbell uppercuts. Uppercuts are a little
movement work. The third superset will be biceps
curls and push-up with a T-rolla push-up and
then a roll to a side plank actionIm sure you have
seen that before. The push-up with a T-roll is a little
of a movement exercise.
The bench press, bentover row, chin-up
and biceps curls are all what I call traditional
bodybuilding-type movements. The dumbbell
uppercuts and the push-up with the T-roll are
more movement-oriented, more functional-type
exercises. Again, everything is functional, but for
the sake of teaching this, Im classifying traditional
and functional, so please dont get too caught up in
the terminologies. Just understand Im only using
those terminologies to help you better understand
my classifications. Were getting some movement
and were getting some muscle-related work, but
primarily well do muscle-related work for the
physique client.
For the performance client, heres a sample of an
upper body mini-workout and how it would look.
Well start off with hang cleans or something like
a powerful medicine ball throw or a box jump. It
just depends on whether or not you know how to
do Olympic lifts. Youre getting some movement
work and some muscle work with the hang cleans.
The second superset will be a medicine ball step
and overhead throw. Thats like a forward lunge and
soccer throw against a wall or maybe to a partner.

~5~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

Well superset that with a one-arm push-up. The

third superset will be chin-ups, and superset that
with dumbbell uppercuts.
You have cleans, which are movement-related.
You have the medicine ball throw and one-arm
push-up that are movement-related. The dumbbell
uppercuts are movement-related. From just a pure
muscle standpoint, you have chin-ups and pushups. Both of these are very functional exercises too,
but they have a little of a traditional component as
well. Again, we have prioritizing movement, but
secondary muscle.
In a lower-body scenario for the general fitness
client, well do back squats and walking lunges. Well
do the same leg each rep before switching legs. Well
do the barbell hip thrust that was invented by my
friend Bret Contreras, and then single-leg squats.
For a performance client, a lower-body workout
would look like this. We have 20-yard sprints, high
box jumps, RDLs (Romanian deadlifts) or trap bar
deadliftsboth are greatand single-leg squats.
You can see the contrast between the physique client
and the performance client.
Lets talk about periodization made simple. I
have J. C. Santana really clarifying this for me, and
now Im going to share it with you because this is a
tough subject. I dont know why no one has really
tried to simplify it before because most of us are
confused. Anybody who says theyre not confused
about this is probably lying to you, because Ill be
the first one to admit some of the things still confuse
me today.
Check out J.C.s book, The Essence of Program
Design. In my mind, its still the most comprehensive
user-friendly program-design book available to
date. Im currently working on a program-design
book myself that will take some of the things he
brought up to speed and then add our Performance
University concepts to it as well. Keep an eye out for
that in the future. Its still in the early stagesits a
work in progress.
Lets simplify periodization here. First is the
history. It started in Eastern Europe in Russia to
organize Olympic athletes exercises into specific

preparatory training phases. A little-known fact

is that periodization has its roots in steroid use. I
know that doesnt sound too fun, but its true. Many
of the Eastern block and Russian athletes were
cycling steroids or cycling different performanceenhancing drugs. They were cycling their workouts
based on their drug cycles, so periodization does
have its roots in that. This is a little tidbit of sports
history there.
Basically, periodization is a training plan. Its
like a progression of how were going to get from
A to B. Its like a business plan. If youre going to
have a good program, you have to have some sort
of plan. It doesnt necessarily mean all of these
different phases. It just means you have a plan: Here
is where were starting, here is where we want to
end and heres what were going to do to progress to
take ourselves from the start to the end in a realistic
manner.
The basic science behind periodization is that its
based on human ability to adapt to an applied stress..
When it comes down to it, in my mind, the SAID
principle is the best principle to followSpecific
Adaptations to Imposed Demands. Basically if you
want to get good at running, you have to run a lot.
If you want to get good at cycling, you have to cycle
a lot. If you want to get good at boxing, you have to
box all of the time. Thats the best way to get good
at these.
With a strength and conditioning plan, we try to
help your body become more capable of performing
the boxing task, the biking or the runningthe
sport-specific task. We actually do try to match
force production patterns of specific sports. To me,
thats functional or sport-specific training.
We may differ here at Performance University
with a lot of other strength coaches who are just
of the get strong mentality. One of the things we
say here is, Im not trying to make my athletes the
best at exercising. Im trying to make them the best
athletes. This principle rule is basically the way we
train here at Performance University. It really comes
down to common sense.

~6~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

The great Hans Selye described the adaptation

process, the bodys adaptation to applied stress as
GASGeneral Adaptation Syndrome. Some people
call it the GAS Principle. Here are the three stages
of the GAS principle. First, you have alarm. Some
people call this the shock stage, which is the initial
shock of a new stimulus on the bodys system. This
is when you tend to get sore or a little tired. It causes
you to really think a lot, because youre not used to
something. Thats the shock stage.
The second stage is the resistance stage. This is
the adaptation where a body adapts to the stimulus
to the bodys system. Next you have exhaustion,
which is the third stage. This is when you get
fatigued. Some people call this the accommodation
stage. This is the stage where the body is no longer
able to repair itself and cannot further adapt. This
results in a decrease in function of the body system.
The goal of a good program is to alarm or shock
the body in a way thats going to force it to adapt.
You want to make sure it adapts, but prevent it
from entering the fatigue stage. You dont want to
overwork it and you dont want to underwork it.
You want to create stress without distress, as Hans
Selye said.
This is where common sense comes in. This is
where listening to your client and communicating
with your client comes in, because everybodys level
of stress and distress, or too much, is different. This
is something I cant teach in any workshop. No one
can teach you that. You really have to go client by
client.
The goals of periodization are as follows.
1) To create a training plan that will transfer
into a real-life ability or goal. To me, thats what
functional training is, because were looking at
training that will transfer into something real-life.
The gym is artificial, unless youre a powerlifter, and
then the gym is your sport.
2) To improve the capacity of the body
and make sure the bodys capacity exceeds the
demands of the sport being played. Whatever your
body is going to go through in that specific life task,
sport performance or what youre training for, were

going to make sure your body is capable of doing

even more than that. Basically, we want to train
hard so competition is easy. We also want to prevent
overtraining by avoiding exhaustion through the
proper program management. You want to make
sure youre always in the stress phase without
creating distress.
3) To help our athletes and clients peak when
necessary for a specific competition or event.
Youre going to try to help a bride look her absolute
best on her wedding day. Youre going to help your
mixed martial arts fighter perform his absolute best
come fight night.
Lets talk about the components of periodization.
Im sure youve heard the terms, microcycle,
mesocycle and macrocycle. I dont know about you,
but these terms confuse the heck out of me. Ive been
training since I was 17, so going on 15 years, and I
still dont really fully understand these concepts.
This is how we look at microcycles, mesocycles
and macrocycles. I basically stole this directly from
Juan Carlos Santanas book so Im not going to take
credit. Heres a simpler way to look at these and
heres how we use the terms.
A training session is a training session. Its a
group of exercises in a workout. You also have a
training day. Thats one or more training sessions.
Some people do two a day. A microcycle is what we
just call a training week. Its one week of training.
A mesocycle is what we just call a training cycle.
These are multiple training weeks. What you might
know as a macrocycle, well call a training block. Its
basically multiple training cycles. Its several groups
of weeks together. A macrocycle can also be referred
to as a training year, which is one years worth of
training.
Again, we dont use macrocycle, mesocycle and
microcycle. To me, these are confusing. We just
have a training day, a training week, a training cycle,
a training block and a training year.
Lets talk about specific cycles next. There are
five basic cycles. What we call cycles is going to
change based on who we are communicating with.
As I said many times before and will keep saying,

~7~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

creating client buy-in is terribly important. If your

clients dont understand what youre going for,
dont buy into your program and what youre trying
to provide for them, theyre not going to like the
program. Theyre probably not going to stay around.
If they do stay around, theyre probably not going
to put in the effort needed to be successful with the
program.
Dont get so caught up in using these really hot,
hip and scientific trainer terminologies that we love
to use, because other trainers arent paying your bills.
Your clients are paying your bills. Communicate
with them in a way they can relate to and thats
going to get them to go, Okay, I get that and I want
to do that.
Here are the names of the five cycles we use for
a performance client. This is your high-end athlete
or someone who wants to be a high-end athlete.
The first stage were going to call intramuscular
coordination. We can also call it base conditioning.
General physical preparation (GPP) is another cool
term you can use.
Hypertrophy is building muscle. This is the
second stage. These are in no particular order, by
the way. They dont have to be, but I will talk about
later.
We then have the strength phase. We have the
power and explosive training phase. We have the
power and endurance phase.
Here are these same five phases given to you
in the same order and how we communicate it for
more of a fitness client. Thats the physique person.
The first stage is base conditioning or base fitness
muscle size and tone. If Im talking to a man, I might
say, This is where were going to put on size. If Im
talking to a woman, Im going to say, This is where
were going to work on your body tone, the shape of
your body.
The next phase is strength. I think everybody can
relate to strength. Strength is considered strength
across the board whether its a performance or
fitness client.
When we get to the power phase for a man, we
might say, Its your power phase. Even the average

gentleman whos a non-athlete can relate to that.

For a woman, we might say its shaping, because
its a little less intense. Do we really know its not
shaping? No, but it does help them understand the
difference. A female might say, Power, I dont want
power. That sounds very manly. Youre still going to
do the same exercises with them.
If you can come up with a better term than
shaping for power, please e-mail me or hit me up on
my website or Facebook page. Let me know because
Im always looking for better ways to communicate
with my clients.
By no means do you have to stick with the terms
Im giving you here. These are just what we found
to be effective with our clients. Instead of calling it
a power endurance phase for the fitness clients, we
call it metabolic acceleration. Basically, this is where
we speed up your metabolism to really burn lots of
calories and fat both during and after the workout
through the EPOC. Its all the same trainingjust
named differently to create understanding and buyin.
Now lets talk about each of the specific phases.
Lets talk about base conditioning, otherwise known
as GPPgeneral physical preparation. The scientific
term you may have read in some of the books is the
Anatomical Adaptation Phase.
In this phase, were going to increase ones overall
functional capacity and body awareness. Were
going to use simple fundamental exercisesbasic
pushing-pulling movements, things like squatting,
rowing and push-ups, but nothing crazy. Were not
going to bring on too many fancy toys and things of
that nature. We want to get them comfortable with
the body.
Well use things like bodyweight training.
And circuits are a great thing to use in this phase
because the intensity is not very high, and were
really just trying to get body awareness. Were going
to take exercises that are low level and give them a
little higher rep range so they can really learn the
movement, minimize muscle fatigue and maximize
good form.

~8~
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This is also a great time to deal with any

specific injuries, aches or movement limitations.
This is where your assessment is really the most
important. To us at Performance University, were
not necessarily looking at correcting all of these
dysfunctions, because we feel thats the job of the
physical therapist. What were looking at is how a
client moves. Based on what they can and cant
do, were going to find the exercises they can do
successfully and build off of those.

The approach is that were going to use total

body circuits of two or three exercises done for time
and were going to keep the movements simple. For
instance, I may pick a pushing movement, a pulling
movement and a lower-body exercise. Ill pick
a general rep range of 12-15 reps that gives them
higher reps to learn from and say, Okay, I want two
or three rounds done at your pace in as little time as
possible. Make sure your form is always perfect on
every rep, and manage your fatigue.

The whole concept of assessment and dysfunction

is beyond the scope of this presentation. For now,
were talking about what they can do successfully
in good form. Were also going to use this time to
educate our clients. Build a good relationship with
them and again, as I keep saying, create a buy-in
to your services because this is the base. This is the
foundation youre laying and its not only physical.
Its that emotional and verbal relationship youre
building with clients, so be a great coach at this time.

I dont want them really crazy huffing and

puffing. In that way, they can work at their own pace.
The reason Im not making them think too much
about reps and tend to like the timed approach is
because I want them thinking about one thing: good
form. A lot of times, I will count the reps and Ill just
let them go.

Who are we using this with? Ive already

alluded to thisbeginners or anyone learning
new movement patterns. Not all beginners have to
do base conditioning. Lets say Im working with
athletes or fitness clients whom Ive worked with for
three years, but I only see them during the summer
because theyre in school. If theyre just starting with
my program, with the exercises Im choosing and
the way I coach them, I still need to create a base
before I can just put them under heavy loads and
make them move fast.
We still need to make sure motor learning is
taking place, and this is not just for beginners.
Its what you use at the beginning of any new
program. The adaptation were looking for is high
neuromuscular, low cellular. Basically what were
talking about here is really stimulating the software.
Were really trying to minimize the stress on the
hardwarethe muscular system. The duration is
two to eight weeks, depending on the individual.
Normally, its about two to three weeks for most
people. If a person is a slow learner and tends to
have a little tough time with coordination, were
going to extend that time a little.

We also like to do exercises just for time where I

say, Okay, do 30 seconds apiece, 20 seconds for the
tougher exercises and maybe 30-40 seconds of the
easier exercises. For the training frequency, were
going to do three or four times per week. Well do
total body workouts in each workout. The reps per
exercise are 12-20 reps or 30 seconds to one minute
per exercise.
This all depends on the client level. Sets per
exercise are one to three sets. Were going to rest as
needed. Normally what we tell our client is, Rest
as much as you need and as little as you have to.
The intensity is low and the volume is high. Keep
in mind that were trying to practice movements
here, so the more you practice, the better you get at
things. Were looking at low-intensity reps, but a lot
of low-intensity reps.
Once we build a foundation, were going to move
to hypertrophy training. Basically, this phase is to
get big. Thats what Im going to tell my guys. For
women, its to get toned. Were going to add muscle
tissue, lean body mass and body armor. If youre in
an impact sport, adding hypertrophyeven though
thats thought of as a bodybuilder concept from a
physics perspectiveis a good thing.
As I talked about earlier with the Juan Carlos
Santana and Stuart McGill study, the more you can

~9~
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increase body weight, the more mass you have into

the ground, the more force you can produce and
the harder it is to push you over. This is very good
for a sport like football or rugby. Also the bigger
a muscle is, the better you dissipate force. Being a
bigger individual means you dissipate forces away
from your joints better. Thats just physics.
There are a couple of indirect sport-specific
applications to just getting bigger. Thats why I say
you have to do some of that muscle training even in
a sports-oriented or movement-oriented program.
Were going to build muscle density and tendon
strength. Thats important for the heavier loads to
follow when we get to the strength phase. Its also a
good time to build up weaker, less-developed areas.
Im a good example here. Ive always been a very
glute-dominant athlete. I dont really have much
calves, and calves are very important because thats
what really helps with ankle strength, pushing off
the ground and exploding. I always have to up the
calf work to help bring them up to speed with the
power I have in my glutes.
Well use more traditional old-school training
methodsbarbells, dumbbells and even machines
because machines are not limited by stability. You
need it with free weights to really force the muscles
to get as strong as possible. You also want to teach
some of that stabilization-limited training with
dumbbells and barbells.
Were going to minimize momentum, so were
going to try to take all of the momentum out of
the movements. Were going to emphasize a slow
eccentric tempotwo to three-second eccentric
lowering. We dont do any slow concentrics,
however. Were going to add some movement
training at the beginning to stay athletic. Maybe
well run some sprints and do some jumps to make
sure they dont become too much like bodybuilders.
The problem with bodybuilding is bodybuilders
become non-athletic because all they do is isolation
training. They are non-athletic because they dont
do athletic movements as well as isolation training.
You can still do some bodybuilding hypertrophytype work and not lose your athleticism as long as

you do athletic movements along with your musclebuilding activity.

A good example in the late 1980s or early 1990s
was Evander Holyfield when he was training for
his fight against Mike Tyson. He went from 208
pounds to 218 pounds absolutely shredded. He
worked with Lee Haney in the evenings and worked
with a famous track coach in the morning. He did
two a day. He did all of his speed work, plyometric
work and track drills in the morning. That was his
functional movement training and then he did pure
bodybuilding at night.
He became an apex predator and that skyrocketed his career. He gained a ton of muscle and
lost body fat. He went from an average heavy weight
boxer to a hall-of-famer and just walked through
Mike Tyson like nobody had before.
Blending these training concepts together
does work, and this stuff has been happening since
the 1990s. Evander Holyfield was one of the first
popularized cases of true cross training where
bodybuilding and sports performance functional
training were blended together to create a really
comprehensive program.
With the hypertrophy training programs,
were going to add some cardio or conditioning
at the end just to make sure you dont become
all muscle and no hustle, and that you still have
some conditioning there. The adaptation is high
cellular-low neuromuscular, so were really looking
at the physiological aspect of the body and not
the neurological aspect. Were really training the
hardware here, if I can use computer analogy.
Duration is four to eight weeks, depending on the
individual.
With some people, the goal is just to get as huge
as possible. Thus, we might stay in a hypertrophy
phase for months, months and months until theyre
as big as they would like to get. You just have to keep
changing the program every three or four weeks.
That way, youre always adapting. Youre creating
that shock and then youre adapting, but youre
never accommodating. You are never overtraining.

~10~
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The approach we use is normally single or

superset exercises. Were going for that pump.
There is research showing that going for the pump
does help to create hypertrophy. Well focus more
on bodypart splits, because again were trying to
increase hypertrophy in specific muscles. Training
frequency is three to five times per week. Well
train weaker muscle groupsthe ones we need to
bring uptwice a week. Once a week well train the
muscles we feel dont need to come up as much as
fast.
These programs look very much like
bodybuilding workouts. We have pushing, pulling,
arms, shoulders and things of that nature. Our reps
per exercise are normally around 8 to 12 repetitions.
That said, this is a general rule. We will use rep
undulation because the research shows this helps
build muscle a little faster. Sometimes well go a
little higher in repetition and sometimes well go a
little lower in repetition, but for the most part, were
staying in that 8 to 12 zone.
We also like to use rep pyramids, mid-range
reps and other bodybuilding intensity methods
such as rest pauses, very traditional bodybuildingtype concepts. With sets per exercise, were looking
at three or four sets per exercise. The rest is 30-60
seconds in between sets. The intensity is medium.
The volume is high. High-volume work in research
has been shown to stimulate that growth hormone
response.
Now with strength, this is where were going
to get strong. Basically, were looking at how much
weight you can liftmotor unit recruitment. This
is great, not only for every individual and athlete,
but its great for weight-class athletes who want to
get stronger without gaining mass. If youre a boxer,
a MMA fighter or a horse jockeyand I happen to
train a lot of all three, which shows the importance
of strength trainingthis is great because its more
about teaching the brain how to bring more muscle
into the game than it is about adding more muscle
mass.
Basically, this is more about your software and
less about your hardware. Were going to increase
motor unit recruitment, which in turn creates more

force output. You only want to use strength with

individuals who already possess a solid training
base. I dont recommend going right into strength
work unless someone has already been training with
weights for a while or youve already brought them
up from base conditioning and the hypertrophy
phase.
This is where were going to use a little less
isolation work and use more bigger compound lifts
like deadlifts, one-leg squats, chin-ups, one-arm
push-ups and things of that nature. Were going to
emphasize a fast concentric action, so were looking
at two things here.
Were either going to lift a heavy weight or
were going to lift a medium-resistance weight fast,
because those are the two ways to recruit maximal
motor units. I dont like using lifting percentages,
but lets say something around a 75% one RM. Were
going to say, Rip that weight off the ground if
youre doing a deadlift. Even though the weight is
heavy enough that you cant lift it fast, in your brain
youre thinking about lifting fast. Or, were just
going to give you a really heavy weight and have you
lift that, which forces you to maximize your motor
units.
During strength training, were going to
sprinkle in some speed drills. First, are these are RM
movement drills. We might do a change of direction
drillsanything that is a three-dimensional
movement just to make sure theyre not just getting
great at the gym and not understanding how to
run, cut, turn and things of that nature. Were also
going to finish with some fun functional movement
circuits with some of the trendy things in fitness
and some cardio conditioning to keep those bases,
because big strength movements tend to be sagittalplane dominant.
We want to make sure we dont forget about
rotary training and lateral movement as well. If
youre looking at some of the other funmore
3-D movement stuffa good time to throw that in
is at the end after youve done all of your strength
movements just to make sure you havent lost those
abilities to move in three planes of motion.

~11~
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For strength training, the adaptation is very high

neuromuscular-medium cellular. Youre getting a
little hardware and software, but were primarily
targeting the software, which is your brain. Duration
again is two to eight weeks, depending on the
individual. As I said with hypertrophy, if someones
primary goal is just to get as strong as possible, were
going to stay in this phase for as long as it takes for
that person to be satisfied theyre at the strength
they want to achieve before we move on.
Because we have to extend the rest intervals,
the approach here is that were going to use paired
sets, bi-sets and tri-sets. Well make performance
exercise, rest for 60 seconds, then perform different
exercise, rest for 60 seconds and then go back to the
first exercise or we can do that with three different
exercises: Exercise 1: Rest 60 seconds. Exercise 2:
Rest 60 seconds. Exercise 3: Rest 60 seconds and
then repeat back to Exercise 1. Training frequency
is three or four times per week.

find an exercise you really enjoy and that you really

want to get stronger. Were going to make sure you
get stronger at it in this phase, so its not necessarily
a powerlifting program.
Power trainingnow were trying to get
explosive. Were going to use this phase to develop
strength with speed. Basically power is strength
times speed, so we want to teach that force
production to happen very fast now. Were going to
enhance coordination of multiple body segments
and concentrate on the rate of force production
power and speed. Every rep must be high effort.
A lot of times when were doing these exercises
we tell the athlete if were doing 3 reps to make them
three separate reps so its three single efforts. They
might explode into the weight, put it down, reset,
think about it, maximal effort, go, explode into the
weight, put it down and then repeat.

Now, powerlifting programs are different than

strength programs. I dont work with powerlifters,
so Im not the guy to talk to about powerlifting.

Were going to use less weight resistance than

in the strength cycle. Were going to lift as fast as
possible. Were going to emphasize exercises like
sprints, heel sprints, box jumps, long jumps, Olympic
lifts if they have an Olympic-lifting background,
medicine ball throws, clapping push-ups and things
of that nature. Its also great to use band-resistance
exercises with speed. Some people call that
accommodating resistance, but the nice thing about
bands is that they dont accumulate momentum.
Thus if you explode into a band, that band is always
pulling you back, whereas if you exploded into a bar
or dumbbell, the bar or dumbbell might continue
with its own momentum in the direction youre
pushing it, so you cant really go as fast as you would
like. With a band, you can go as fast as you want and
it is always right there with you.

When I talk about a strength program, I dont

necessarily mean getting great at the squat, bench
and deadlift. All I care about is that whatever
movements we pick as our primary lifts, thats where
I want you getting stronger. If Im talking about an
athlete, I want to make sure this is translating into
the actual sport and not just into the gym. If youre
an individual whos not training for a sport and you
just want to see the results improve, were going to

Power training is only for advanced athletes who

have a solid training base. You cant really be powerful
unless you have a base of strength and strength times
speed, so we like to follow our strength phase with
a power phase. I know this sounds very linear, but
well talk about linear and conjugate methodologies.
At the end of a power-training program, you might
add some bodybuilding to maintain muscle mass as
well.

We still like to use some sort of split. Its more

of a movement-related split and not a body partrelated split. One day well emphasize a pushing
movement, another day a pulling movement and
another day a lower body oriented-movement. The
reps per exercise will range from anywhere to three
to six reps, but primarily in the four to six rep range.
The sets per exercise are four to six sets per exercise.
Were resting about 90 seconds to three or maybe
even four minutes between sets of one particular
exercise. The intensity for each set is high. The
volume is low to medium.

~12~
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I alluded to linear versus conjugate programming.

If youve noticed, what Ive talked about is when
youre emphasizing one stagewhether its strength
or powerI talk about still sprinkling in elements
from other stages. Youll notice that I stated in
the power stage to add in some bodybuilding
movements. In the strength phase, I add in some
three-dimensional conditioning movementbasic
athletic movement.
Were not ever doing multiple aspects of training.
These stages are just what were emphasizing
in each training phase. Just because Im doing
power training doesnt mean that every exercise
I do has to be explosive. Ill still throw in some
bodybuilding work. Ill still throw in some strength
work. However, most of the exercises, the largest
percentage of the exercises, are going to be powerrelated. Thats how you can do a linear periodization
model with a conjugate feel. In that way, you dont
lose the elements of the other phases for which you
work so hard.
Heres more on power training. The adaptation
is very neuromuscular, low physiological. Duration
here, because its very high neuromuscular, is two to
four weeks. Again, it all depends on the individuals
needs and abilities.
The approach is tri-sets and quad-sets. With
this, we like to do contrast training where you do
a strength exercise and immediately follow it with
an unloaded equivalent of a deadlift, followed by a
long jump or a bench press, followed by a clapping
push-up. Then what well do is follow it up with a
few other exercises that dont interfere with the
recovery.
Lets say its a pushing day and we did bench
and clapping push-ups. I might do something for
the lower body thats really a low-level exercise,
resting two to four minutes by the time we get back
to the pushing movement. The tri-sets and quadsets are not all intense movements. Well pick one
power movement, intense movement, and the other
movements dont hit those same muscle groups or
movement patterns.

Theyre definitely not as intense as the primary

movement. The training frequency is two to four
times per week. Were looking at movement-related
splitsagain a lower-body day, an upper-body
pushing day and an upper-body pulling day. Thats
a sample here. Reps per exercise are two to five reps,
or 8 to 12 seconds as fast as possible. So, if were
using a free weight, kettlebell, dumbbell or barbell,
were going to stick in a two to five rep range. If were
using something thats band resisted or maybe its a
band wrapped around a barbell, were going to do
as many reps as possible in 8 to 12 seconds. Sets per
exercise are four to six.
We will again rest two to four minutes between
sets of a particular exercise. The intensity is extremely
highas high as possibleand the volume is low.
Next is the power endurance phase. This is
where were going to try to outlast a competition.
This is metabolic endurance. Some people call it
metabolic training. Its basically building up work
capacity. This is also great for fat loss. If youre in the
athletic population, need to lose weight and youre
a performance athlete, this is a great way to not lose
your strength and power, especially your power,
and still lose some body fat. If youre a fitness client,
youre really going to like this, because its a great
way to ramp up your metabolism.
The goal with power endurance is just what
the name implies. Youre going to now be able
to transfer that speed and power throughout the
duration of a game or competition, because most of
the power training is a very short duration in the
previous stage. But when you play a game or youre
in competition, you have to explode throughout
the entire duration. This is truly where sports
performance and conditioning come into play. Its
not who is the most powerful. Its who can stay the
most powerful the longest. Thats why this stage is
so important.
Were going to make you fatigue resistant. The
way we do this is to give you intense circuits of four
to eight exercises performed for a given number
of reps or a specific timeframe per exercise. It can
be general or specific in nature. What I mean by

~13~
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this is that for a general fitness client who doesnt

play a specific sport, we may give them a pushing
movement, a pulling movement and a lower-body
movement. If its a specific athlete lets say a MMA
fighterI may give a movement that resembles
grappling on the ground, one that resembles
throwing kicks and one that resembles take-down
defense. Its a little more specific in nature. The
specific exercises I would use is beyond the scope
here, but I do have other workshops that talk about
that.
This is great pre-season prep for athletes who
are getting ready to go into practice. Lets say you
have a NFL player or even a high-school football
player. This is to make sure that when they get into
practice, theyre already ready for all the things the
coach is going to bring upon them. They can focus
on the tactical and technical aspects of their football
game and not use practices to get in shape. Coaches
will really notice that stuff, and the kids will stand
out when theyve come into the season practice in
shape.
This also builds mental toughness. I know a lot
of other coaches say, You shouldnt use exercise
to build mental toughness. Its not just to make
the exercise hard, but also to toughen up people.
However, it does give clients, especially athletes,
confidence when theyre pushed to fatigue levels
similar to what theyre pushed at in competition. It
gives them the confidence that theyre not going to
get beat on fatigue. Theyre only going to get beat if
theyre outclassed, because theyve now been there
and done that. Theyve become comfortable with
how they function and how they perform when
theyre tired.
Maybe its not necessarily mental toughness. Its
mental familiarity and confidence that, Hey, I know
what I can do when Im tired, because Ive been here
before, and I dont need to worry about what Ill do
if I get tired in competition because it has already
happened in training. Were not beating up people
just to say, Hey, it makes you tougher, but theres a
confidence factor to that.
During the power endurance circuits, were
going to use exercises that are familiarexercises

weve already used in base training, the power or

the strength phase. Now the intensity is up and the
fatigue level is a little higher, so the last thing you
want to give somebody when theyre a little tired
and a little fatigued is something to think about that
theyve never done before. If theyve never done the
exercises before, the chance of great form goes way
down. If form is bad, the chance of injury goes up.
This is a bad trend in some of the circuits these
days. Form is still key no matter what phase youre
training. Ive already spent eight weeks teaching a
movement pattern to somebody. Now all I want to do
is throw them in the circuit. They can hit that same
exercise with their eyes closed because theyve done
it so many times before. It becomes engrainedit
becomes automatic. Were going to use any and all
equipmentwhatever we feel is necessary.
Power endurance training can either be total
body workouts, movement or muscle specifics.
For instance, we have leg complexes where well
perform a bunch of squats, then lunges, then squat
jumps and then lunge jumps back to back to back to
really build leg power endurance in the lower body
for a soccer player or someone whos getting ready
to climb a mountain. We can also do total body
circuits for someone like an MMA fighter whos
really using the entire body.
The adaptation here with power endurance is
very low neuromuscular. Were not really looking at
the nervous system anymore. Its all about looking at
the hardware. Weve already taught the brain how to
do these movements effectively with a lot of power
and a lot of speed. Now we just have to teach the
work capacity on top of that to give the ability to do
what you do best and do it for a long period of time.
A lot of athletes are very skilled, but if they
havent conditioned, its not that they lost their skill,
they just dont have the capacity to maintain that
high level of fitness it takes to keep performing the
skill. This phase is going to give the opportunity to
do what you do best, and do it for a longer period of
time. The duration were going to do these training
phases is two or three weeks.

~14~
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For the most part, total body circuits are general

or specific exercises. Training frequency is one or
two times per week. Reps per exercise are 15-30 reps
or 30 seconds to one minute per exercise within a
given circuit or sequence. Sets per exercise are one
to five rounds on a circuit. Concerning rest, were
going to go little-to-no rest between exercises and
then two to five minutes of rest between circuits
unless we need to make the rests shorter.
Lets say its an MMA fighter who is fighting
with a one-minute rest between five-minute rounds.
For the last week of his power endurance training,
hes going to be doing five-minute circuits with
one-minute rests between those circuit sequences.
The intensity is super high and the volume is high.
Because the intensity is high and the volume is high,
were only going to keep the duration pretty short at
two or three weeks.
Now, here are a few tips on these cycles. Its
okay to skip cycles depending on the strengths and
weaknesses of who youre training. For instance
if youre working with someone who has a heavy
bodybuilding background and has already been
doing lots of hypertrophy training, you can start off
with base conditioning to teach new movements
the person might not have done before. Then jump
right into the strength work because you dont need
to build any more hypertrophy. Thats already been
done.
If youre working with somebody who has really
been doing lots of metabolic conditioning and
maybe has been caught up in this big circuit trend
lately, the movement patterns are really off of not
being coached on good form. That circuit may have
been all about exercising until you feel like youre
going to throw up. We all know what that mentality
is these days.
What youre going to do is give them some base
conditioning to re-teach good form. Then youre
going to try to build into some hypertrophy and
some strength because they more than likely have
great endurance, but probably dont have a lot of
strength or muscle to go behind that. This is really
common sense, but you dont have to follow those

orders. You can also use the conjugate method

using cycles together.
This is what I personally prefer because in
research, using multiple aspects of training together
have been shown to get better results over a longer
period of time than just using one phase or another
phase or another phase. For instance, you can
combine hypertrophy training with power training,
or you can combine strength training with metabolic
power training, or power endurance.
For example, if Im doing a three times per week
workout, week number one may be hypertrophyrelated work. Week number two might be powerrelated rep ranges, sets, rests and work. Then Ill just
go back and forth. Week number one is hypertrophy.
Week number two is power. Week number three is
hypertrophy. Week number four is power. I could
do that for six weeks plus.
Lets say that Im doing a four-time-per-week
split. I could do two days of strength work, two days
of metabolic endurance work and then continue
with that for a few weeks. There really is no right
or wrong way to do that. Some cycles go better with
others.
What we find, for example, is strength and
hypertrophy are really close, but you tend to lose the
ability to move fast, so we like to do hypertrophy
and power together. They have a nice complement
together, but its really up to you. Just make sure you
have a good training base of one phase before you
throw in that next phase. If needed, you can stay in
one cycle for as long as you need until the goal is
achieved. Just keep changing the exercises, but keep
the rep ranges very similar to fit whatever phase you
are in.
Unless youre in a power endurance phase, dont
try to make it the everything workout. With power
endurance, youre trying to throw everything at them
because its a circuit-related concept. Youre taking
everything youve taught them before and bringing
it together in a fatigued state with incomplete rest.
For the most part, find your goal for that day and
stick with that. Whether its hypertrophy, strength

~15~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
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For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

or power, stick with that. Dont try to just throw

everything but the kitchen sink out. Dont forget
that rest is important. Youre not growing during
the workout. Youre getting stronger during the rest
from the workout. Give active recovery during the
week. Give rest days during the week. Also give deload weeks every three to six weeks, depending on
the individual.
When youre figuring out a program, you want
to start with their final goal and work backward
from there. If I have a 35-year-old mother whos
getting ready for marriage and wants to look great
for her wedding day, Im going to start with the
day of her wedding. Lets say its in 16 weeks. Im
going to write that on the calendar. Then Im going
to work backward from there and figure out what I
need to have her doing in week 16 so she can look
her best, then week 15 so she is prepped for week 16
and then week 14 so shes prepped for week 15, so
on and so forth.
The best way is to start with the goal and
work backward from there. Each week, make the
workout a bit more difficult. Thats just the principle
of progressive overload. I think a lot of folks have
just forgotten that principle, but you have to have
progressive overload. Make sure youre doing a little
more the next week than youre doing this week.
Lets talk about organizing the workout. This is
how to organize each training session for maximal
density and best results. This is the performance
you approach. What Ive found through teaching
trainers all over the world, writing lots of articles
and working in video, is that most clients training
programs arent really personalized. Theyre really
based on the trainers personal bias.
For instance, if youre a Pilates instructor, youre
really not giving personal training. Youre giving
private Pilates lessons. If youre a powerlifter, youre
really not giving personal training. Youre probably
just giving private powerlifting lessons. Theres
nothing wrong with that. Just make sure whatever
it is that youre doing with your client best fits their
goals and not your personal bias.
If someone says, Hey, I really want to work on
my mobility and I want to work on my speed and

youre a powerlifter, a powerlifting approach might

not be the best option for this client if the primary
objective is to run faster and work on mobility. It
could be a component, but it might not be all of the
things you need to do.
We need to stop training toward our bias and
focus on the principles to best achieve our clients
goals and not just what we found useful for us. See
the strength and weaknesses in each type of training
from bodybuilding to Pilates to yoga. Try to use the
best of everything. Again, theres no reason why we
have to have this all-or-nothing approach. Hey,
Im a bodybuilder. Im a Pilates instructor. Im a
track coach.
Everything works. Thats why it exists. Thats
why youve found people in every aspect of fitness
who have gotten great results, but it hasnt worked
so great for the next person. The best way is to create
a comprehensive approach to training and try to use
the best of everything.
Keep in mind that its not what you can do for
a good training concept. Its what that training
concept can do for you. For example with the
kettlebell community, a lot of people think tall you
need is a kettlebell and youll become a superhuman
or some sort of superhero. Well, its not what you
can do for the kettlebell. Its what the kettlebell can
do for you. Dont use it just to say, Hey, I did this.
Kettlebells are an inanimate object. You need to see
what it can best do for you to help you achieve your
goal. Try to use it all.
Thats our approach here at Performance
University. We call that hybrid training. Try not to
specialize in any one training style. Specialize in a
type of client. As soon as you say that youre a Pilates
specialist or a kettlebell specialist, thats great, but
everything has its limitations.
We want to be the MMA fighter of the training
world. We want to be good at grappling and good at
kicking, punching, boxing, submissions and all of
those things. We want to be good at mobility, power,
stability, bodybuilding. You can specialize in a piece
of equipment, but just understand that there are
other aspects of training that you need to be well
versed in as well.

~16~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

Here is the Performance University five-stage

workout method. No matter what phase of training
youre inhypertrophy, strength, power, power
endurance base or whateverevery workout we
deliver is going to have these five stages. Its going to
go in this order.
Stage one is the warm-up. I know a lot of fancy
terminologies are floating around theremovement
prep and all of these different thingsbut its the
warm-up.
Stage two is nervous system development. All
were doing is more athletic-type movements that
Ill talk about in a second.
Stage three is muscular system development.
Stage four is energy system developmentI
stole the name from Athletes Performance.
Stage five is cool down and recovery.
Certain training concepts and techniques tend
to go best in specific stages. A lot of people get
confused, because were throwing in all of these
exercise applications, but we dont know where to
best fit them in a program. Im going to help you
figure that out right now.
In the warm-up phase, what were trying to
do is prepare the body for more intense activity
than youve been doing in your regular everyday
life, which is probably sitting at a desk. In this
phase, were going to use mobility drills, dynamic
stretching, three-dimensional matrix-type things
from Gary Gray, muscle activation drills and maybe
corrective exercises if we learn those from a physical
therapist or have been recommended by a physical
therapist.
Old-school callisthenic moves are great.
Bodyweight exercises. Yoga exercises. I say yoga in
fast forwardbasically just do them a little faster
because most yoga exercises are more static and we
want to keep them dynamic. Weve been known to
use Pilates moves in our warm-up phases because
theyre great for that.
With nervous system development, this is
speed, skill, power and movement-related work. In
this phase, were going to use plyometrics, explosive

bodyweight exercises, the speed ladder, minihurdles, medicine ball throws, Olympic lifts if you
already have an Olympic background, 10 to 40-yard
sprints (short quick sprints), heel sprints, change
of direction drills, kettlebell swings with a really
aggressive hip-hop and speed-related exercises with
bands.
In the muscular system development section,
were going to make sure were looking at strength,
size and stability of the muscles. Thats where we
might use powerlifting exercisessquat, deadlift
and bench, bodyweight strength exercises, TRX
exercises and unilateral strength exercises. We use
unilateral and bilateral exercises because they both
work, and bodybuilding exercises that include
machines. Yes, we do use machines. Swiss ball
exercises normally without external load. With band
and cable exercises, this is where we bring in some
Pilates exercises and more core and torso exercises.
We cover everything.
The energy-system category is great for fat loss,
work capacity, power endurance and endurance.
This is toward the end of a session. We use interval
training and circuit training. Nowadays people
think everything that looks like a circuit is Cross-fit,
but people were doing Cross-fit before Cross-fit was
invented. However, that type of training would go in
the energy system development category. Just make
sure you use good form.
Aerodyne bike intervals, boxing training,
weight sled training, strong man training, kettlebell
complexes, barbell complexes, dumbbell complexes,
battling ropes, Power Max 360, which we use a lot
here at Performance University, and then some of
the functional fun circuit stuff that you see folks
like Gary Gray using and that of my friend, Bill
Sonnemaker. These are all wonderful to use. We like
to use those more at the end as part of circuits.
Then finally the fifth stage is cool-down. Some
people call it recovery region, but to us, its just cooldown. I like simple terminologies, but whatever
you call it, this is what were going to dostatic
stretching, yoga, maybe more corrective exercisetype work, meditation drills, foam roll drills and

~17~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.

things of that nature. If were going to use unstable

surface training, well use it here. Where a warm-up
is building you up to the workout, this is bringing
you back out of the workout to normal levels of
function.
Some final coaching tips: Spend the most time
in the workout stage your client needs the most or
wants to achieve relative to the goal. For instance,
if youre trying to become more powerful and
faster, you are still going to do a warm-up, but then
youre going to spend most of your time in the
central nervous system development section of the
workout. Then youre going to do a little muscular
development, a little energy system development
and a cool-down. But youre going to spend the
most time developing that nervous system, because
thats what you need to make you move faster and
more explosively.
If your goal is to get really big, like hypertrophy
and strength, youre still going to do the warmup. Youre still going to do the nervous system
development. Youre just not going to spend a lot of
time there. Youre going to spend the predominant
amount of your time doing things to get bigger and
stronger. In that muscular system development
category, youre going to do some energy-system
work just to make sure youre not all show and no
go. Youre still going to do a cool-down to make sure
you dont lose mobility.
Everything is a conjugate aspect. Youre always
training multiple aspects together, but youre still
using a certain phase and structure to know where
youre going and what you want to get. If youre
always training everything together equally, its
pretty tough to have a goal and logistically keep
track of that goal.
Again, use a linear model with a conjugate field.
Using these five stages is the way we bring things
together. Keep the stages in order. Theyre in order
from high central nervous system demand to the
lowest central nervous system demand. Thats
important.

With specific sporting demands of an athlete,

were going to definitely prioritize those first.
For instance, if an athlete is looking at pushing
somebody over, were going to do movements that
resemble those force production patterns. Were not
just going to give them general exercises because
thats we believe is right. Were going to try to tailor
these to their sport-movement patterns. We dont
necessarily have to mimic the movement patterns,
but were trying to match the force-production
patterns of the movements they experience in their
sports.
Now, pick the stage you need to train the most
before you pick the exercise. Dont just say, Okay,
I love kettlebells, and Ive already deemed that Im
going to use kettlebells with this person. Thats not
fair to your client. Theyre not paying you just to
give them random exercises. Theyre paying you to
invent a program thats the most optimal for them to
get them the results they desire.
Once you figure out what they desireto get
bigger, get stronger, get more powerful or a little
of eachyou need to pick the stages in which
you need to spend the most time, whether that
be energy-system development, muscular-system
development or nervous-system development.
Once youve established what phases you need
to train the most, the methods, the reps, the sets and
the rest range have all been taken care of because you
already know what stage of the workout youre in.
We already dictated what rest ranges, set ranges and
rep ranges are optimal for getting specific results.
I really appreciate your interest in my work. I
invite you to keep in touch with me on my website,
nicktumminello.com. Im always updating it with
new exercise videos, concepts and things were using
here at Performance University. Good luck and I
look forward to seeing you sometime in the future.

~18~
This is the transcript of Nick Tumminellos Practical Program Design audio lecture.
If youve received this material, do not own the audio lecture and would like to learn about it, visit www.movementlectures.com.
For more from Nick, visit him at nicktumminello.com.