Program Design
Program Design tests whether you can turn assessment data into a structured, progressive plan using FITT-VP (frequency, intensity, time, type, volume, progression), exercise order, and periodization.
Core rules
- Start with a needs analysis: goals, training history, injury history, available time, equipment, and movement quality.
- Apply progressive overload by increasing one variable at a time: load, reps, sets, density, or range of motion.
- Sequence compound, skill-heavy lifts before isolation work; pair opposing muscle groups when appropriate.
- Match rep ranges and rest to the goal: heavier loads and longer rest for strength, moderate loads and shorter rest for hypertrophy, higher reps and limited rest for muscular endurance.
- Use periodization to manage fatigue: base/build/peak or linear, undulating, and block models all need planned recovery.
Worked example
A beginner wants to improve push-up capacity from 8 to 20 in 8 weeks. She can do 8 strict reps, trains 3 days/week, and has no shoulder pain. Prescribe full-body sessions with push-ups 3 sets of 6-8 at RPE 7, plus dumbbell bench press and band pull-aparts. Progress weeks 1-4 by adding one rep per set when all sets hit 8 with clean form; weeks 5-8 add a fourth set and one tempo day (3-1-1). Retest at weeks 4 and 8. Reasoning: the goal is local muscular endurance, so volume and repeated submaximal effort matter more than maximal load; progression is gradual enough to protect the shoulder.
Traps
Do not copy an advanced program for a beginner. Do not change load, volume, and exercise selection all at once because you cannot tell what worked. Avoid 'muscle confusion' as a rationale; planned variation is not random variation. Do not ignore the client's schedule, because a plan they cannot attend fails.