THE TRAINABLE MENU REVISITED
A few years ago, while listening to Mike Robertson’s Physical Preparation Podcast (you should check it out if you haven’t), I heard Memphis Grizzlies’ Director of Performance, Chris Chase, dive into the concept of the Trainable Menu. It was such a simple phrase, yet a powerful idea that it blew my mind, felt like it melted my face, and made me wish I’d thought of it first. I’ve written several posts and embraced the idea since, even championing the hashtag #findyourtrainablemenu on Instagram. It’s a great way to rethink training and program design by focusing on what people can do rather than what they can’t do.
One of my biggest pet peeves in the industry is treating program design as a one-size-fits-all phenomenon, like an Old Navy knit scarf. It drives me nuts. The idea that a 60-year-old “computer guy” with a history of low back pain who hasn’t touched a barbell since the Road House days should have the same menu as a 21-year-old college basketball player is, frankly, dumb.
Don’t get me wrong. Across the board—in computer guys, basketball players, baseball players, someone training for fat loss, or Orcs—there are more commonalities in everyone’s trainable menu than differences. In short, most people will be squatting, deadlifting, pushing, pulling, throwing, carrying, doing single-leg work, and doing an array of core and general work.
Where the differences show up is in the types or variations of those movements. For example, if I’m working with a 6’7″ basketball player, I’m probably not going to push the depth of a full ass-to-grass squat. It could be possible they can do it well, just like it’s possible I’ll someday share a kiss with Jennifer Lopez, but it’s unlikely. More often, with a tall athlete, their trainable menu—an amalgamation of health/injury history, goals, ability level, and body size—will include things like box squats, rack pulls, elevated trap-bar deadlifts, pin squats, and similar variations.
The same logic applies to any sport. I work with a fair number of endurance runners in Boston, some training for the Boston Marathon. Do I have them deadlift? Of course I do. Strengthening the hamstrings and glutes and developing the ability to put more force into the pavement will help them reach the finish line faster. But they’re not competitive powerlifters or Olympic lifters, so I don’t worry about whether they deadlift with a straight bar (or from the ground, for that matter).
Every trainable menu should account for an athlete’s sport, the demands it places on the body, what they need to do to succeed in that sport from a movement standpoint, and the cost-benefit of the exercises prescribed. To steal my own quote: “A football strength & conditioning coach may view a program that doesn’t include Olympic lifts and back squats as a joke. Well, if we’re not talking about football players, what the heck? That’s a completely different menu we’re talking about.”
A more germane angle is what I’m going through now with my Achilles injury. Over the past few weeks I’ve been sharing some of my training sessions on Instagram to show that I’m still jacked AF despite a significant injury—that you can still train. I vividly remember the drive home after rupturing my Achilles. I sat in the passenger seat, building a mental list of exercises I knew I’d still be able to do: all the bench presses and pull-ups I wanted; arm work; for the injured leg—open-chain band curls and leg extensions, hip work, and so on; for the uninjured leg—supported one-leg RDLs, one-leg squats, and more. Heck, even a one-week-post-surgery hallway lightsaber battle was on the menu.
I didn’t push anything crazy, and in fact, took three days post-surgery to rest and sleep like a champion. But I’d be lying if I didn’t reach a tipping point on Day 4 and think, I NEED TO DO SOMETHING. By Day 5 I was back in the gym doing a little of this and a little of that, and it felt great. Seated dumbbell curls and one-leg hip thrusts never felt so empowering.
To me it was about starting the healing process (without being reckless) while also giving myself a much-needed mental boost. I’m now six weeks post-surgery and fully weight-bearing on my affected side (still in a boot, though). Just the other day I did my first bilateral Romanian deadlift at 135 pounds. Not a lot of weight, but I’m constantly tweaking my Trainable Menu to match my current capabilities.
I have zero doubt this mindset will help speed my recovery and rehab. That’s the beauty of the Trainable Menu: it’s applicable whether you’re an athlete prepping for a competitive season or you’re someone trying to train through an injury. It’s a powerful mindset.
I honestly have no idea if this is true. It’s probably true. I mean, he is a wizard.
