Program Design: Specificity, Order, and Progression
Program Design tests your ability to turn assessment data into a safe, specific, periodized plan. The exam favors questions about exercise order, load and repetition assignment, volume, rest, and progression.
Core rules
- Needs analysis drives exercise selection; the SAID principle means training adapts to the specific demand imposed.
- Order: power and explosive lifts first, then core structural lifts, then assistance work; alternate push and pull when practical.
- Load continuum: roughly 1-5 reps for strength, 6-12 for hypertrophy, and 15+ for muscular endurance. These are guidelines, not rigid boundaries.
- Rest: longer rest (2-5 min) supports heavy strength and power; shorter rest (30-90 s) suits hypertrophy and endurance work.
- Progress load, volume, or density gradually; technique must remain stable before load increases.
Worked example
A college shot putter lifts three days per week in the off-season. Day 1 begins with power clean 5 x 3 at 80-90% 1RM, rest 3 min; then back squat 4 x 5 at 85%, rest 3 min; then assistance work. Weekly volume for each main lift stays around 12-20 reps. Week 4 reduces volume by roughly 40-50% as a deload. The reasoning: power quality is trained before fatigue, strength volume is sufficient for adaptation, and the deload manages accumulated fatigue before the next block.
Traps
Too many sets to failure in a power block; endurance work placed before strength work; no deload; changing exercises weekly so no adaptation occurs; increasing load before technique is stable.