Building An Athletic Physique Isn’t Hard. It’s Misunderstood.

0:00 Building an athletic physique isn't as hard as you think, and I don't just mean looking athletic, I mean feeling it. Knowing your body can handle whatever you throw at it, and being happy with what it looks like, too. Most people assume that athletic training is more complicated than bodybuilding because bodybuilding is what everyone in the gym is doing. Chest day, leg day, glute day. I did exactly the same for years, but athletic training isn't harder, it's misunderstood. You just need to know which exercises to pick, what to cover, and how to challenge your body in more ways than just building muscle. I've been training for 12 years and coaching women for the last five, and in this video, I'm going to take you through the things that actually make the difference. Most people start the gym with a body part split because it's the easiest thing to figure out. It's chest day, so you do chest exercises. Pretty straightforward. Whereas athletic training can feel a bit more vague. It can be hard to know what actually counts as an athletic exercise, where to put certain movements, and nobody online actually explains the how behind any of it. If this isn't your first time watching one of my videos, hopefully you know by now that's what this channel is for. If it is your first time watching my videos, firstly, hello, nice to meet you. I'm Abby. And secondly, I would highly recommend checking out these two videos because they break down my methodology. But watch them after you've watched this one. So, here's the simple version on how to structure your workouts if you're wanting to look and feel more athletic. You warm up following the ramp protocol, which I covered in this video. You do something fast and explosive whilst you're fresh, then move into one or two big compound lifts followed by a couple of athletic accessories, and finishing with some core work. Now, if you're not sure which exercises fit into these categories, here are some ideas for you. I've split them into the seven movement patterns so that you can make sure that you're covering all of them across the week.

1:42 And if you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say the seven movement patterns, definitely watch this video next. So, here's what your structure and exercise selection could look like across a week. In this example, you're strength training twice a week and doing cardio once a week. Hopefully, you can see here that you absolutely do not need to be training six times a week to get an athletic physique. As long as your week includes some strength, some power, some athletic movements, and some cardio, you will be covering everything that you need. You just need to find a training frequency that works for you and be consistent with it. Now, let's talk more about the power aspect of your workouts because it's the bit that most people skip, but it's also the bit that has the biggest impact on how athletic you look and feel. Power is just strength produced quickly, so any jumping, throwing, or sprinting. But most people who lift weights, even those that have done it for years, have never trained power. The thing is though, being athletic in real life is being fast. It's all about reacting quickly, changing direction, catching yourself when you trip, so you need to work on that speed. And it also impacts how athletic you look. Explosive work hits your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are the ones with the most potential to grow. It's a big part of why sprinters look the way they do. And if that's not enough reason for you to cover power in your training, explosivity is actually one of the first things that we lose with age. We lose it earlier and at a faster rate than our strength. So, it's really important to work on, especially if you want to look and feel athletic.

3:03 Now, you can slot power into three places in your training. In your gym sessions, after your warm-up and before your compounds, or by doing throws or slams to finish as a part of your core work. My personal favorite here is the split squat rotational slam. It just makes you feel so strong and so powerful. And the third place you can integrate power into your training is by doing sprints for your cardio. Here, you want to keep every rep fast, have plenty of rest, and stop the second your reps get sloppy. The reason that most people never start with power training is that it feels intimidating. It's hard to know where to start, how to land, and how to make sure that you're actually doing it safely. And that's exactly why I built my newest training program, Move Athlete. It takes you through power in three blocks. First, you learn how to absorb force and land well, then produce it, then express it. Every session is planned for you, so you just turn up and train. The link is in the description.

3:51 Now, power gets you moving like an athlete, but if every rep is on two feet and facing forwards, you will still hit a ceiling. Most gym training happens in one direction with both feet planted, but real life doesn't work that way. Every step you take is a single leg movement. You twist. You step sideways. You reach across your body. So, if you're wanting to look and feel more athletic, you need to address those types of movements in your training.

4:13 Single leg and multi-directional work in athletic training is what does that. It builds the small stabilizing muscles around your hips, knees, and shoulders. And it evens out your left and right sides. The easiest way to implement these types of movements is in your accessories. Swap isolation work for something that makes you stabilize, and straight away you'll have that aspect of athletic training covered. So, you've got the structure, the exercises, the power, and now you're doing athletic accessories that challenge more than just how much you can make a muscle burn. But, there's one more thing that's misunderstood about building an athletic physique, and people either avoid it completely or do far too much of it.

4:48 Some people skip cardio because they're scared it will make them lose muscle. Others only do cardio because they're scared of getting bulky. Both of those groups are getting it wrong. If you don't do any cardio, you're strong, but you're also probably wheezing after you take a flight of stairs. If all you do is cardio, you're fit, but you don't build the muscle that will make you feel strong and look athletic. Cardiovascular fitness is what lets you actually use your body. It also means that you recover faster between sets and sessions, so you can train harder. And it makes staying lean a lot easier. The minimum is one low-intensity cardio session per week. Do 20 to 45 minutes at a pace that you can hold a conversation, and pick whatever version of cardio you will actually stick to. If you've got time, add a harder session like hill sprints or intervals, but just make sure that you're not putting it too close to heavy leg days, and that you're building up slowly so that you don't get injured.

5:36 I actually posted a video on how I balance my strength and cardio last week, so if you're interested in a more detailed breakdown, definitely have a watch of that. Okay, so that was athletic training simplified. Keep your training structure simple with a frequency that works for you. Don't skip out on power and explosivity. Challenge your body in more ways than just how much you can lift with athletic accessories, and work on your cardio alongside your strength. There is one thing underneath all of this that I haven't covered in today's video, and that is your food. You can't train like an athlete and not fuel it. So, if you're unsure on what to do there, have a watch of these videos next. If you've spent years training one body part a day, this might feel like a big jump, but keep it simple and remember that doing a bit of everything that I've spoken about in this video consistently is all you need. If you want to take the thinking out of the programming and exercise selection, all of my training programs are linked below. Watch this breakdown of the seven movement patterns next, and I'll see you in the next one.