“Where do you get your programming?”

A question that we get from new people coming into the gym on a relatively regular basis… Where do we get our programming for our classes? If you’ve ever tried our bootcamp style classes they change daily, some more cardio focused, some strength focused but never the same day to day. We write each and every workout from scratch and pride ourselves on our classes having lots of 1v1 attention from the trainers.

What is programming? Programming can be broken down into layers- Macrocycle programming would be on the level of weeks, months, even years. Lets say I’m in a macrocycle of strength training, the end goal may be for me to hit a new one rep max on deadlift, squat or bench. Microcycle programming is broken down into weeks/days. What is my programming for that day? And, how is that going to contribute to the macrocycle goal?

All of our group classes are unlimited, meaning you can come to as many classes as you’d like. We have some clients come 2x per week, some 7x per week. This is why when it comes to group classes macrocycle “programming” is virtually worthless. You cant program (effectively) a macrocycle for 100+ people all coming to a different number of classes, all with different ability levels, schedules, injuries etc.

Personal training- totally different story. We have a set schedule where I know how many times you’ll be in the gym per week and I know exactly what your goals, abilities, injuries etc. are. A lot of work is done outside the gym planning for that specific clients macro/microcycles to ensure the success of that plan.

On the microcycle side of things- all of our class programming is written by us. Writing good microcycle programs for classes is the only/best way to get results for your class clients. There are A LOT of gyms that do not write their own programs. Bottom line is if you’re at a gym where the “programming” is coming from an outside source (whether that’s another gym, corporate office or in some cases Google…) there is a serious issue and here is why.

If your coaches/trainers are not competent enough to write their own programming…they aren’t competent enough to teach someone else’s programming… Program writing takes A LOT of experience to do successfully. A sure fire sign of inexperienced, unqualified trainers is if they are getting their workouts from someone else. This is exactly why we hold our trainers to a very high standard and require them to write their own classes and workouts before we even hire them.

So to sum this up… We at Black Flag write our programs personally… Our group class clients and personal training clients alike see great results time and time again. A lot of our clients actually do classes and personal training to get the best of both worlds! But, as we’ve said before…the fitness industry is FLOODED with “trainers”. In our day in age anyone whos relatively fit with an Instagram is a “trainer”. When looking for a gym know who you’re joining well and if this so called programming seems cookie cutter it most likely is…