I've been using the 4 day express strength and power program for about a month. I am performing anywhere from 10 to 14 exercises a day with quite a few sets. I really like the exercises you have me doing, however, I'm beginning to wonder if it's too much. I know it's very common for people to overtrain and I don't want this to happen. I've always been under the impression that low reps and big compound movements build strength and size. I was also under the impression that more than 3 or 4 exercises performed a day would lead to overrtraining. Can you explain the benefits of doing so many exercises. I'd really like to understand the concept behind the 4 day express strength and power program. Thanks! Jim

Hey Jim, Thank you for your patience with my response. I have been getting so many e-mails that it is impossible to get back with everyone in a timely manner. We are currently adding additional topic areas that will make finding an answer to our member’s specific questions much faster. Until then, I will just keep answering away! So, thanks again for your patience! Here are some responses that I think will help you to understand the concepts behind my programs. By now you have probably been through week 5 on your program so you know that some workouts are very easy while some are totally brutal. Also, a very hard week #9 program is different than a very hard week #4 program. Having been through an actual program will be helpful for you as well. There are a bunch of responses here so it may take you a week to get through them all but they will help you to understand everything! Response 1 There are many little "tricks" in my programs to offer variation while continuing to stimulate an overload process (through volume and/or intensity) as a program progresses. To give you a little more understanding there are exercises that are more multi-joint oriented like bench press or leg press, and others that are more single-joint oriented like triceps pushdowns and leg extensions. The multi-joint exercises are also called Primary Strength exercises whereas the single-joint exercises are called Assistance Strength exercises. The Primary Strength exercises will follow a more complete periodization model going from higher repetitions and lighter weight to lower repetitions and heavier weight. The Assistance Strength exercises will only go so far through a periodization model, meaning they won't go "down" too low in reps and subsequently too high in weight. They are just too joint specific to really push high volumes or intensities with. What this means is that in order to offer more variation with these types of exercises I must "play" with the set and rep (volume) parameters in order to keep stimulating your body to adapt and to avoid staleness in your program. Response 2 Get ready for some technical info. One of the major factors in controlling volumes and intensities in order to gear a workout towards being hard or easy is dependent upon the total number of sets in the workout. Also, the total number of sets is determined by the total number of exercises prescribed for any given workout. So, while I may have a pretty good bench routine on week 3, there won't be as much supplemental exercise work such as Incline benching or dumbbell bench etc. as there will be on a week 4 program for example. Thus making the workout medium hard instead of very hard. So, even though you may increase the weight of a particular exercise, it may or may not occur in the next workout or it may have more or less sets and a higher or lower intensity range than a previous workout. Finally, don't increase the weight of any exercise unless you can complete all the sets and reps required for that exercise. And, you should only do negative reps on Weeks 4 and Weeks 9. These workout weeks are followed by the very easy weeks 5 and 10 so overtraining is minimized. Response 3: Everyone can have small differences in how their body reacts to training. I have been training for 20 years and I have trained thousands of people professionally in the past 12 years. What I have found to be the best training program is one that works each muscle group twice per week. However, one of the training days should be a little more easier and one of the training days should be hard. Take your legs for example. I would recommend training them twice per week. One of those days would be heavier squats, step ups, lunges, etc. The other training day would be a much easier squat workout or just the step up and lunges. This will provide the best balance in your training program. You can also train every day as long as you are training on a split program. A split program simply means that you are splitting up the muscle groups so that you don't train the same muscle group 2 days in a row. All of the Fitrex programs are balanced properly for optimal results! I even have variations on a weekly basis. Some workout weeks are very hard and some are very easy! This is called periodization. This type of weekly variation will keep you away from being overtrained or having plateaus in your progress. What you need to do is go to the Fitrex home page and type in the work "periodization" in the search area. Read about periodization and you will see why it is the only way to train! Response 4 Here is some interesting info for you regarding my program setups. All Fitrex programs use something called a leveling system. So, when I write a program I am actually writing 4 different versions of the program at the same time. A particular version or "level" of a program that is applied to an individual depends on the specific strength to bodyweight ratio of the individual who is signed up on the program. We receive the strength information from the initial testing data that we ask you to input. You are either a level 1 or 2 for your upper body. So, you only have 1 biceps exercise on biceps training days (workout 3 and 6). If you were a level 3 or 4 you would have 2 biceps exercises on each training day. Response 5 Periodized programs have been scientifically proven to provide greater results in strength and conditioning than a non-periodized program. However, with any program, if you switch from high volume training to low volume training too quickly or if the cycle is too short you will definitely limit your overall physical potential. In the program you mentioned you go from a high rep/low weight phase to a low rep/high weight phase in 4 weeks with the 5th week being an active rest type of phase where you play racquetball etc. This workout is way too short to provide enough stimuli for maximal development. An ideal "minimum" length for a full training cycle is 12 weeks. This is why I have written all of the Fitrex programs to be 12 weeks in length. I will eventually write programs that will span from 4 weeks to 28 weeks in length. However, the shorter programs will be used in the context of fitting into a longer overall cycle. They will not be written to take somebody from a general preparation phase to a peak phase in such a short time span. Response 6 You are experiencing the classic training paradox. What I mean by this is you are wanting everything at the same time. This is normal! Everyone wants the following: Size, Strength, Power, Muscular Endurance, Low bodyfat levels, etc. However, each of these areas must be trained specifically to truly see results. For example: It is very difficult to maximize strength and power when you are also dieting to lean out. When your caloric intake is minimal you just don't recover at a pace that allows your body to train heavy frequently enough to gain strength. The key to overall success is to organize your training into yearly segments. I know this sounds long and boring to do but it will truly allow you to reach your potential if you do so. Your training year needs to be broken down into (4) three-month cycles. Three months or 12 weeks is a great segment of time to really maximize a physical goal like strength or lower body fat levels. Here is an example of a great yearly training schedule: Macrocycle 1: 4 Day Strength and Power Program Macrocycle 2: 4 Day General Fitness Program Macrocycle 3: (1st 6 weeks) 4 Day Get Lean EXPRESS! Program (2nd 6 weeks) 4 Day Strength and Power EXPRESS! Program Macrocycle 4: 5 Day Get Lean Program Cycling your training programs like this provides your body with a great amount of variation and allows you to continue making progress.