It’s clear that dinner parties aren’t a big thing for many people right now, with the pandemic and all. For the past year, the closest my wife and I have come to a real dinner party is ordering take-out every Saturday night and eating at the table with our four-year-old and his army of superhero figures. Excuse me, Hulk, can you pass the garlic sauce? Still, in the States we’re edging back toward normal, and my wife and I are starting to plan get-togethers with friends in a few weeks. That got me thinking: planning a dinner party is a lot like designing a solid training program.
What planning a dinner party can tell you about program design
There’s a lot to consider when organizing a classy dinner party. Should you use a Canva template for invitations? Will you hire catering or cook yourself? What kind of playlist should set the mood? Should you include board games? And maybe, just for fun, would a password for entry make things more mysterious? We could even reference something like Eyes Wide Shut and go a little over the top. All of these are things worth thinking about (and yes, don’t overlook the cheese board).
Above all, you want the space to be clean and welcoming. If you’re hosting, where should you focus your efforts? Vacuuming the floors, dusting, putting away dirty dishes, clearing laundry, fluffing the sofa cushions, lighting candles for ambiance—these all add up. You’re not going to spend time ironing shirts, scrubbing the shower, or alphabetizing the spice rack. The idea is to focus on the big priorities and save the minor details for another time.
The same logic applies to working with a personal training client who may only have two or three hours per week. What should the priorities be in the program? What broad themes should drive progress that lasts? Of course the answers depend on goals, injury history, and ability, among other factors. Take fat loss as an example. If fat loss is the goal, the plan should center on the major components.
1) Promote a caloric deficit. There are many factors to consider—lifestyle, social support, medical history, food preferences, relationship with food, and other psychological factors. Rather than diving into calories in every detail, it’s often better to align with trusted voices in the field. The key takeaway: fat loss requires a caloric deficit.
2) Strength training. We can discuss methods like supersets, circuits, intervals, finishers, or AMRAPs, but the core priority is still lifting meaningful weights to preserve muscle during a deficit. Emphasize compound movements—deadlifts, squats, rows, presses—to hit multiple muscle groups efficiently. If time is tight, you shouldn’t waste it on tiny exercises like minimal-weight isolation work on unstable surfaces. This is a waste of effort, much like vacuuming the inside of your shoes in the bedroom closet.
Stop majoring in the minors. Too often, trainers sweat the small stuff at the expense of real progress. That’s the Pareto principle in action: 80% of results come from 20% of the work. Global themes that help most people are hard to beat, and while some lighter additions like curls might be tempting, the core idea is to design with impact in mind. I’m not claiming to know the best approach for every client, but I do believe that good program design—selection of key exercises and principles—should be judged by whether it delivers the best results in the quickest, most time-efficient way. If it doesn’t, start over.
Now, I think I’ll go organize my He-Man underwear. For the record, I’m not seriously endorsing any wild activities—just joking. I’m joking, really.
