Card Counting for Balanced Program Design

"How do I count cards Niel?
I need mad munnayz!"

A few weeks ago the power at our apartment building was out and my roommate showed us the gist of card counting. Yes, we were that bored.

Unfortunately I don't recall much of it, but I did get something out from it.

There's a certain strategy involved in card counting where point values are assigned to each group of cards. I loosely based this system off it and applied it to identifying imbalances in weight training programs. The total points in the end show if there's too much of one type of movement in the program.

My first - and only - application of it was to someone asking over at the Precision Nutrition forums if the program they had was balanced. So for the rest of the post I'm going to simply insert my reply to their question.

Before jumping into the reply, here are some clarifications on terminology:

• Hip-dominant means it primarily engages the hamstrings & glutes while knee-dominant exercises target the quadriceps.
• Vertical and horizontal press/pull means how the weight is moving in relation to your body. Typically horizontal movements are moving almost perpendicularly towards or away from your torso - like bench press or seated row. Vertical movements are done in an up-down fashion in relation to your body (think pull-up or overhead press).
• Press and push are synonymous with one another in case you see push being used somewhere else.
• You can find out whether an exercise is a push or pull here.
  

Enjoy!
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The question was:

I am considering changing up my exercises a bit. I will stick with the basics of a 5x5 template. I just want someone with more experience than me to confirm that I am going to stay balanced (push vs. pull). Does this look good?

DAY 1

M: BACK SQUAT

M: BENCH PRESS

M: BENT ROW

A: WEIGHTED PUSHUP

A: TRAP BAR SHRUG

A: TRICEP EXTENSION

DAY 2

M: DEADLIFT

M: OH PRESS

M: PULL-UP

A: DB BENCH

A: GOODMORNING

A: BICEP CURLS

DAY 3

M: TRAP BAR DEADLIFT

M: DIP

M: DB ROW

A: DB BENCH

A: CHAIN ROW (FEET ELEVATED)

A: UPIGHT ROW

M = MAIN LIFT (HEAVIER)

A = ACCESSORY LIFT (LIGHTER)

Most likely go 3 weeks or so with 5x5 on main lifts with 2x10 on accessories. Then switch to 3x10 on main lifts with 1x15 on the accessory lifts. Every couple of cycles I will probably move some of the accessory lifts to main lifts and vice versa.

I replied:

From my understanding it looks like this:

DAY 1
M: Knee-dominant w/ vertical press
M: Horizontal press
M: Horizontal pull
A: Horizontal press
A: Vertical pull
A: Vertical press

DAY 2
M: Hip-dominant w/ horizontal pull
M: Vertical press
M: Vertical pull
A: Horizontal press
A: Hip-dominant w/ horizontal pull
A: Vertical pull

DAY 3
M: Hip-dominant w/ horizontal pull
M: Horizontal press (if you're leaning in)
M: Horizontal pull
A: Horizontal press
A: Horizontal pull
A: Vertical pull

So to look for balance, we're checking between hip- & knee-dominant exercises and opposing upper-body movements (vertical press/pull or horizontal press/pull).

A trick to check for balance is to assign a +1 or -1 to movements. Assign +1 to knee-dominant, vertical press, & horizontal press exercises and -1 for hip-dominant, vertical pull, & horizontal pull for the rest. In the end, a total of 0 would mean balance.

DAY 1
M: Knee-dominant w/ vertical press [+1/+1]
M: Horizontal press [+1]
M: Horizontal pull [-1]
A: Horizontal press [+1]
A: Vertical pull [-1]
A: Vertical press [+1]

DAY 2
M: Hip-dominant w/ horizontal pull [-1/-1]
M: Vertical press [+1]
M: Vertical pull [-1]
A: Horizontal press [+1]
A: Hip-dominant w/ horizontal pull [-1]
A: Vertical pull [-1]

DAY 3
M: Hip-dominant w/ horizontal pull [-1/-1]
M: Horizontal press (if you're leaning in) [+1]
M: Horizontal pull [-1]
A: Horizontal press [+1]
A: Horizontal pull [-1]
A: Vertical pull [-1]

Totals:
Knee-dominant (+1) + (-3) Hip-dominant = -2
Horizontal press (+5) + (-6) horizontal pull = -1
Vertical press (+3) + (-5) vertical pull = -2

Now while this may seem unbalanced, it might not be. If you have a weak posterior chain and spend a great deal of time sitting throughout the day (i.e., desk job or student), then having more horizontal rows and hip-dominance in the program is beneficial to counter those negative postures and weaknesses.

Of course this doesn't account for exercise selection and volume, but it gives you an idea of how to assess your program.

Best of luck!