The Most Important Thing Your Workout Can Do

Every workout needs to have goals. And usually, the more specific goals, the better. Nothing is worse than just haphazard training – just doing "some of this" or "some of that" – and hoping that one day, you end up accomplishing something.



I don’t care if you train hard and even use sound principles. This kinda training is no better than the guy who hits the gym with a glazed look in his eye, hits a few sets of bench, some curls, then just sorta wanders around the gym, doing a few sets on this machine, a few sets on that machine.

It’s all stupid training.



So your workout needs to have a specific destination – a place where you’re trying to get. You want to get "there". You’re currently "here". Your workout program is what’s going to put you on the path between the two.



But what should your "there" be?



Well, it depends on you, really. Why are you training? Are you a fighter? An athlete? Maybe military or law enforcement? Do you compete in powerlifting? How about triathlons? Or you might just want to be in good overall shape.



Like I said in my last blog post, I get many guys email me because they wanna be "ass kickers". Or in other words, they want it "all" when it comes to strength and fitness…almost like the Swiss Army Knife of working out. They wanna be strong. They wanna be fast. They wanna have great cardio. They wanna look good. They wanna move a lot of weight in the gym. They wanna be able to jump over high stuff. They wanna be able to run. They want people to know they work out when they see them in a t-shirt…and for girls to swoon and drool when their shirts are off.



(Ok, maybe I went a little far on the last point…or maybe not.



That said – if your workout is supposed to have a goal, but your goal is "everything", then how do you train?



I mean, do you get good at one thing, then move onto something else? Do you do a little of everything? Or maybe you get good at a few things, while letting other stuff slide, then cycle that stuff around – always having some stuff on ‘focus’ mode while everything else is on ‘maintenance’ mode?



There are several ways to do it – none of them ‘wrong’, per se.



Personally, if this is what you wanna accomplish, then I think the goal of your workouts should be one thing:



Work Capacity.



Work Capacity is (put simply) how much work you can do. Now, while others put more scientific definitions to it, I look at it like this – work capacity is kinda like a gas tank. The bigger the tank, the more it can hold. So the more work capacity you can do, the more work you can do.



But we don’t wanna just be able to do a bunch of work. We wanna be able to do a bunch of intense work. Think of it like this – say you’re a runner. Now, you could be a jogger, and be able to jog a marathon. That’s cool…I mean, not many people can do it. And it’s a helluva capacity. But you better hope you never have to run fast or do anything intense – because your body probably isn’t gonna be ready for it.

On the flip side, say you were a short distance sprinter, and only ever trained the 100m. You were powerful, explosive, and fast as hell…for 100m. Because you never trained to go further than that (at least not at any kind of intense speed), then you peter out pretty quickly after that 100m. That’s no good, either.



Now think about a 400m or 800m runner. That is a crazy mix of running super intense, fast, and being explosive. It’s got a certain distance element to it. It’s also a more cranial type of distance (i.e. – you gotta think more) because you can’t just go balls to the wall right away – you gotta know how fast of a pace you can keep up, for how long, and when to really turn it on.



It’s an awesome mix of everything.



THAT is the kinda workouts I like to be able to do.



I’m not as concerned with putting insane amounts of weight over my head anymore (like I used to be). At the same time, I could care less if I could put a 35 lbs. KB overhead a zillion times. But, if I can snap an 80-100 lbs. DB overhead with one hand a whole bunch of times in fairly short order (and not tire out too much nor be sore as crap the next day), then I know I’ve got a great mix of strength, power, and endurance.



Kinda like the 400m-800m runner we were just talking about. (And in case anybody doubts me about those guys, have you ever done 400m sprints? Oh jeez…sheer torture…)



Apply that same principle to all your goals…and you see how I like to do my workouts. Don’t worry about being elite at any one thing – but be really good at almost everything.



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