Well over a decade ago Bill Hartman, Eric Oetter and I locked ourselves in the purple room at IFAST with a simple goal:
To create a better system for writing workouts at our gym.
Now don’t get it twisted…I felt like we were writing really good training programs at that point in time, and our clients and athletes were getting amazing results.
But the issue wasn’t the workouts themselves – it was how we were delivering them.
Whether it was using industry buzzwords, technical jargon, or just language our clients weren’t familiar with, we wanted to create a framework that was easier for everyone to understand.
So while R7 started in that purple room many years ago, I can assure you it’s continued to evolve ever since.
And one of the coolest things about this system is the scalability. I know coaches who are working at every level of sport – from high school to the professional ranks – who use the system.
But on the flip side, I know numerous personal training gyms that ONLY work with gen pop clients who are having incredible success as well.
So if you haven’t been convinced to give R7 a shot before, I hope these 12 reasons might finally persuade you once and for all.
Let’s dive in!
- Never forget elements of the workout. As a young coach, it wasn’t uncommon for me to forget about a certain part of the workout. Maybe it wasn’t including power development at the start. Or skipping conditioning because I loved to lift. But with this system now you’re building sessions from an outline versus starting from scratch, and you’ll be less likely to forget (or skip) parts of the workout.
- Smooth the transitions. Too many workouts feel harder to clients and athletes because there’s a rough transition between phases, like going straight from a gentle warm-up into heavy lifting. With R7, you’ll seamlessly move from one portion of the workout to the next, with the body prepared to met the demands every step of the way.
- Touch ALL the performance bases. When you use R7, it guides you to naturally touch on all the elements of human performance and movement. Whether it’s mobility, speed, power, strength or conditioning, everything is already included – you just have to plug and play!
- Improved organization. One of the biggest issues young coaches have is “organizing” their workouts. R7 will help guide you so that your workouts are seamless and have a great flow from start to finish.
- Easier to write. As someone who has written online for over 20 years, the worst thing you want to be looking at is a blank screen. Instead, if you have general thoughts or an outline, the writing process is infinitely easier. The same goes for workouts – when you have the R7 structure in place, it’s immediately easier to write any/all training programs.
- A gentle reminder to warm-up. Let’s be honest – most of our clients (as well as ourselves) don’t love to warm-up. But with the R7 structure in place, you have a not-so-subtle reminder that rolling out, resets, and mobility work should happen first and foremost in your training session.
- Planned post-workout recovery. The sooner you can switch from sympathetic (i.e. fight or flight) to parasympathetic (rest and digest) after your workouts, the faster you’ll be ready for the next session. Simply banging out 10 good breaths at the end of a training session before you leave can kick-start this process!
- More POWER training. Over a decade ago, I was mocked for saying that I thought EVERY client should be doing power training in their workouts. Now it’s common place in most gyms, because we all know that power is the first physical quality that declines with age. So if you train older gen pop clients, find safe and creative ways to incorporate power training into their workouts. Their bodies will thank you!
- Can be used for athletes OR gen pop. One of my favorite reasons for using R7 is the simple fact that you can scale it up or down depending on the client standing in front of you. Got a world-class, professional athlete? Great – this system will help you write a solid training program for them. OR if you’ve got an 80+ year old clients who’s never trained and needs a walker to get around? Don’t worry – you can help that client, too (just watch the video below)!
- Improves communication across coaches. If you work in a facility with numerous coaches writing and coaching programs, one of the biggest issues is making sure they can communicate and understand each other’s work. With R7 this is baked into the program, as you’ll better under each other’s intentions and what they’re trying to get every step of the way.
- Uses language that resonates with your clients/athletes. One of the original reasons we created was R7 was because we wanted to create an emotional connection to each portion of the workout. For instance, who knows what the heck “soft-tissue mobilization is?” Instead, using words like “Release,” “Resistance” and “Recovery” are not only easily understood, but help explain the goal of each section of the workout.
- Saves time and helps you write better programs! You get paid the same to write a program, whether it takes you 30 minutes or 3 hours. So why make it harder on yourself? R7 guides you through the process step-by-step, ensuring you don’t make mistakes and ultimately, helps you write better workouts.
Okay my friend I hope that you’ve learned a thing or two about R7, and how you can use it to write better programs.
Thanks so much for reading and MAKE IT a great day!
All the best,
MR
PS – My Complete Coach Certification re-launches this week and will explain – in detail – exactly how I use the system to write programs for all of my clients and athletes.