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ATTIKA Programming System
Understanding your workout
As you may know, we share our clients' programs with them so they too can track their progress and understand themselves the best training methods for them. This is particularly important for Group Personal Training clients who work on reading and filling in the program themselves. A great practice to learn how to train properly, in counting reps and sets outside of the ATTIKA studio.
This article will go through how to read our style of programming including the program structure and terminology. Plus, some added coaching tips to help you in your sessions.
Order
The order of movements outlines the order in which to perform the exercises. The letters are sets. So A would be set one and B set 2.
So you do all of the A exercises before going on to the B exercises.
When there are numbers next to them, they are in the same set, like a super set so A1) A2) would be a superset in which you would alternate between the A1 exercise and A2 exercise before going on to the next group.
Sets
This is how many times you perform the set. So if the A exercises have 3 sets it means you do all the exercises in the round 3 times. e.g you would perform A1), A2), and A3) and then repeat those twice through
Activation
You may see Activation as a set name and this would be at the beginning. The aim of this set is to get the neurons firing to the right muscle groups, you may have heard of this as ‘mind-muscle connection.’ You therefore should check with your trainer (here more than usual) which muscle you are supposed to be feeling and engaging to then activate it properly.
Reps
This is your rep range – the number of repetitions to perform on the exercise per set. If you are given a range to hit you want to select an appropriate weight that will challenge you to reach that number of reps.
If you get to the higher number of the range and it starts to become easy then the weight is too light and you should look to increase it on your next set, that means you are okay to hit the lower number until your muscles adapt and can do more reps, eventually meeting the higher number and the cycle repeats. This means you're continuously growing and improving. If you just hit the bottom number of reps with a struggle then you may need to lower the weight slightly for the next set.
Sometimes you will be given a single number to hit. The same training ideas apply here; you want to be able to achieve the number of reps and not fail before it. But equally achieving that number of reps should not be easy. We are trying to give your body enough of a stimulus to change it.
Tip: Don't worry if you feel as though the number of weights or reps is not increasing. Remember that strength increase can come from many different factors, not only lifting heavier weights. Such as efficiency in movements, speed, neurological efficiency and more.
Instructions
Here we write important things to consider in performing the movement. So check these each time. Here we will also add the tempo.
Tempo are 4 numbers that outline the speed with which you will perform the lift. The four numbers each stand for a specific part of the lift.
* The first number is always the lowering phase (eccentric phase).
* The second number is the pause (isometric) at the bottom.
* The third number is always the lifting phase (concentric phase).
* The fourth number is the pause at the top.
* An ‘X’ stands for explosive, or lift as fast as you can without the form breaking down.
So @0410 for a pull-up would mean that you lift for 0 seconds, pause for 1 second at the top, lower for 4 seconds and no stopping on the floor.
X means explode, usually on the third number (concentric.) a 50X1 for a Squat would be lowering down to squat for 5 seconds, no pause, explode up, pause for a second at the top.
Rest
This is a guideline for amount of time to rest in between sets. Resting is important as we need both our muscles and our brain to recover before attempting a new set. You don’t want to start a set with depleted energy and thus perform the moves less than your full potential.
Tip: Although we write a guideline for resting, rest more if you feel you need it. It should be enough that you don’t still feel too fatigued from the last set. If you don’t feel like you need a rest at all then it may be that you’re not lifting heavy enough.
Conditioning
At the end of your lettered sets you may see a set labelled ‘Conditioning’. This is a cardio set that we usually put at the end to not take away from the energy needed to complete the strength and mobility required in the previous rounds.
AMRAP Stands for As Many Reps/Rounds As Possible. You will be given a time limit to complete as many reps or rounds as you can. Most of the time the individual session will have intentions written out for you.
EMOM Stands for Every Minute On the Minute. Starting from 0 on the clock, complete the required work and then rest the remainder of the minute. Then complete the next movement at the start of the next minute. E2MOM Stands for Every 2 Minutes On the Minute and as you can imagine we may also write even more minutes e.g 3 minutes would be E3MOM.
Sometimes we’ll just write in the rep range the number of seconds such as 40”on 20” off. Those speech marks stand for seconds and indicate the rest and work period so you would go as hard as you can for 40 seconds to then rest and recover for 20 seconds as a format of high-intensity interval training.
Some other shorthand or technical terms we may use in the training cycles:
BB = Barbell
DB = Dumbbell
KB = Kettlebell
BW = Bodyweight
RDL = Romanian Deadlifts
HR = Heart Rate
Cal = Calorie
Supinated = Palms facing up or towards you
Pronated = Palms facing down or away from you
Neutral = Palms facing each other or a neutral grip
Writing your reps and weights
‘R’ stands for reps and 'W' stands for weight. Of course, if you don’t have a weight you may leave this space blank but it can be helpful to put any other numbers here such as the height of the box in box step-ups or height of the rings in the pull-ups. It’s important here to write each R and W for each set to see your progress as the weeks go on. Personal Training clients will have this done for them by their trainer.
If you had a break between reps in a set, for example in pull-ups you did 5 and then had to stop for a brief second to complete 3 more. Then use a comma to indicate the break. This example would look like ‘5,3’ in the ‘R’ section of the set.
COMMENTS
At the end we leave a box for any comments from the trainer or the client to make note of the performance that isn’t Reps or Weights. This is so that both parties have a better idea of how the session went and can adapt based on feedback.
Want to progress in your health journey?
Our programming system is important for building your abilities consistently and progressively. If you are struggling to see results and want to try a method that works then start your health journey with us by purchasing the Bespoke Fitness Blueprint. A 90-minute consultation with one of our trainers.
As you may know, we share our clients' programs with them so they too can track their progress and understand themselves the best training methods for them. This is particularly important for Group Personal Training clients who work on reading and filling in the program themselves. A great practice to learn how to train properly, in counting reps and sets outside of the ATTIKA studio.
This article will go through how to read our style of programming including the program structure and terminology. Plus, some added coaching tips to help you in your sessions.
Order
The order of movements outlines the order in which to perform the exercises. The letters are sets. So A would be set one and B set 2. So you do all of the A exercises before going on to the B exercises.
When there are numbers next to them, they are in the same set, like a super set so A1) A2) would be a superset in which you would alternate between the A1 exercise and A2 exercise before going on to the next group.
Sets
This is how many times you perform the set. So if the A exercises have 3 sets it means you do all the exercises in the round 3 times. e.g you would perform A1), A2), and A3) and then repeat those twice through
Activation
You may see Activation as a set name and this would be at the beginning. The aim of this set is to get the neurons firing to the right muscle groups, you may have heard of this as ‘mind-muscle connection.’ You therefore should check with your trainer (here more than usual) which muscle you are supposed to be feeling and engaging to then activate it properly.
Reps
This is your rep range – the number of repetitions to perform on the exercise per set. If you are given a range to hit you want to select an appropriate weight that will challenge you to reach that number of reps.
If you get to the higher number of the range and it starts to become easy then the weight is too light and you should look to increase it on your next set, that means you are okay to hit the lower number until your muscles adapt and can do more reps, eventually meeting the higher number and the cycle repeats. This means you're continuously growing and improving. If you just hit the bottom number of reps with a struggle then you may need to lower the weight slightly for the next set.
Sometimes you will be given a single number to hit. The same training ideas apply here; you want to be able to achieve the number of reps and not fail before it. But equally achieving that number of reps should not be easy. We are trying to give your body enough of a stimulus to change it.
Tip: Don't worry if you feel as though the number of weights or reps is not increasing. Remember that strength increase can come from many different factors, not only lifting heavier weights. Such as efficiency in movements, speed, neurological efficiency and more.
Instructions
Here we write important things to consider in performing the movement. So check these each time. Here we will also add the tempo.
Tempo are 4 numbers that outline the speed with which you will perform the lift. The four numbers each stand for a specific part of the lift.
* The first number is always the lowering phase (eccentric phase).
* The second number is the pause (isometric) at the bottom.
* The third number is always the lifting phase (concentric phase).
* The fourth number is the pause at the top.
* An ‘X’ stands for explosive, or lift as fast as you can without the form breaking down.
So @0410 for a pull-up would mean that you lift for 0 seconds, pause for 1 second at the top, lower for 4 seconds and no stopping on the floor.
X means explode, usually on the third number (concentric.) a 50X1 for a Squat would be lowering down to squat for 5 seconds, no pause, explode up, pause for a second at the top.
Rest
This is a guideline for amount of time to rest in between sets. Resting is important as we need both our muscles and our brain to recover before attempting a new set. You don’t want to start a set with depleted energy and thus perform the moves less than your full potential.
Tip: Although we write a guideline for resting, rest more if you feel you need it. It should be enough that you don’t still feel too fatigued from the last set. If you don’t feel like you need a rest at all then it may be that you’re not lifting heavy enough.
Conditioning
At the end of your lettered sets you may see a set labelled ‘Conditioning’. This is a cardio set that we usually put at the end to not take away from the energy needed to complete the strength and mobility required in the previous rounds.
AMRAP Stands for As Many Reps/Rounds As Possible. You will be given a time limit to complete as many reps or rounds as you can. Most of the time the individual session will have intentions written out for you.
EMOM Stands for Every Minute On the Minute. Starting from 0 on the clock, complete the required work and then rest the remainder of the minute. Then complete the next movement at the start of the next minute. E2MOM Stands for Every 2 Minutes On the Minute and as you can imagine we may also write even more minutes e.g 3 minutes would be E3MOM.
Sometimes we’ll just write in the rep range the number of seconds such as 40”on 20” off. Those speech marks stand for seconds and indicate the rest and work period so you would go as hard as you can for 40 seconds to then rest and recover for 20 seconds as a format of high-intensity interval training.
Some other shorthand or technical terms we may use in the training cycles:
BB = Barbell
DB = Dumbbell
KB = Kettlebell
BW = Bodyweight
RDL = Romanian Deadlifts
HR = Heart Rate
Cal = Calorie
Supinated = Palms facing up or towards you
Pronated = Palms facing down or away from you
Neutral = Palms facing each other or a neutral grip
Writing your reps and weights
‘R’ stands for reps and 'W' stands for weight. Of course, if you don’t have a weight you may leave this space blank but it can be helpful to put any other numbers here such as the height of the box in box step-ups or height of the rings in the pull-ups. It’s important here to write each R and W for each set to see your progress as the weeks go on. Personal Training clients will have this done for them by their trainer.
If you had a break between reps in a set, for example in pull-ups you did 5 and then had to stop for a brief second to complete 3 more. Then use a comma to indicate the break. This example would look like ‘5,3’ in the ‘R’ section of the set.
COMMENTS
At the end we leave a box for any comments from the trainer or the client to make note of the performance that isn’t Reps or Weights. This is so that both parties have a better idea of how the session went and can adapt based on feedback.
Want to progress in your health journey?
Our programming system is important for building your abilities consistently and progressively. If you are struggling to see results and want to try a method that works then start your health journey with us by purchasing the Bespoke Fitness Blueprint. A 90-minute consultation with one of our trainers.
