Build Elite Strength and Fitness With the Basics
Before we start, let’s revisit the time old tale of the ant and the grasshopper. The grasshopper was a fun loving insect that needed to be entertained in his training program. The ant was a hard worker that prioritized doing the basics, over and over again. A competition was soon approaching and the grasshopper was not taking it seriously. While the ant was consistently putting work in on his deadlifts, squats, and pressing, the grasshopper was going around performing every exercise variation he saw on Instagram and laughing at the ants “boring” training sessions. The grasshopper was having fun and everyone wanted to watch what crazy thing he would do next. The competition finally arrived and the ant was ready, but the grasshopper had not been diligent in his preparation and bombed out of every lift. The ant built such a strong foundation that he cruised through every event and felt great at the end while the grasshopper was running off trying to hide his embarrassment.
That’s how the story goes, right? Well, maybe not, but you get the point. Learning how to perform the most basic of lifting movements over and over again sets up the foundation for elite athletic and strength performance. The best athletes in the world don’t do the advanced moves better than everyone, the best athletes in the world do the basics better than everyone! The ‘basics’ in weight lifting refers to the movements like the squat, deadlift, push up, pull up, overhead press, row, and locomotion exercises like carries and get ups. Building a program around improving these movements will build the muscle and motor control to allow for success in any other variations of these movements.
Dan John has stated that 80% of the results come from 20% of the exercises. For example, if the leg workout includes single leg hurdle hops, side band steps, barbell squats, TRX leg curls, and a calf machine and you start to see muscle gains, then 80% of those results are probably coming from the barbell squats. Improving the basic movement provides more benefit than the other 80% of the exercises.
“The best athletes in the world don’t do the advanced moves better than everyone, the best athletes in the world do the basics better than everyone!”
Ryan Patrick of PeakFAST refers this bell curve of exercise selection: a beginner only has a few exercises to choose from because of fitness level and competency; when the beginner becomes an intermediate lifter they are now able to perform many exercises and start to explore all the variations; as that intermediate lifter wants to become advanced they will remove all the unnecessary movements that won’t advance their fitness and go back to getting even better at the basics.
World class powerlifters aren’t trying to improve their slide board side lunge, they are putting in the work consistently on squats, bench, and deadlift. Even if you aren’t trying to be an elite lifter, prioritizing the basic movements will not only get results faster, but it will save time for doing other fun things outside the gym. The training floor is a place to focus and work diligently. If you want to have fun go see a stand up show or take a vacation.
Hopefully this has illuminated the power of the simple stuff, so what would a training plan look like prioritizing the basics? The basic human movements include the following: squat, hinge, push, pull, locomotion. If you are training more than 3 times per week then you can add single leg/split stance and divide the push and pull between horizontal and vertical. That’s it! If you are training 3 days or less per week perform one of each movement every workout and you will achieve great results. More than three times per week would allow for the variations of the basics mentioned above and also allow more focus on one movement each day. Here is an example of a 3 day Plan:
Day 1:
Barbell Squat
Bench Press
Pull ups
KB Swings
Suitcase carry
Day 2:
Overhead press
Romanian Deadlift
One arm row
Goblet Squat
Sled Push
Day 3:
Trap Bar deadlift
Front Squats
Push ups
Pull ups
Bear Crawl
This is a very simple training cycle. The basic human movements are covered every day, but with some variance of exercises. Variability is a great tool to improve athleticism and prevent injuries, but too much variability will prevent from becoming great at anything. The program above has consistency in the movements, but enough variability in the exercise selection to keep each day fresh. Programs like this won’t be found gracing the pages of a Muscle and Fitness magazine because there is not flare or empty promises of crazy results, just basic movements that will take time to improve, but will yield the best results. So the next time you are in the gym wondering what to do, pick one squat, hinge, push, pull and locomotion exercise and you will be on your way to elite strength and performance.