Okay, I might have dated myself with a little Naughty by Nature, but what the hell, it’s the holidays.
What exactly is GPP and what purpose does it serve in today’s training world?
GPP stands for General Physical Preparedness. Long winded? Yup. Hard to understand? Not really. Absolutely necessary? You bet your skinny ass it is. According to fitness journalist extraordinare and soon to be CSCS Roger Lawson, GPP is essentially one’s general conditioning level. You are “essentially using it as a measure of how ready they are to meet the tasks that they might face in an everyday situation.”
Nik Herold, CSCS also thinks along those same lines. “Personally, my definition of General Physical Preparedness is any type of training that helps you do what you're supposed to do in everyday life--squat, lunge, twist, bend, push and pull. It promotes being better balanced”
In the midst of pulling heavy weight off the floor while trying not to spray your colon everywhere or trying to stand up with the weight of a mini-cooper on your back, GPP does play a critical role in the development of even the most undertrained individual. It not only re-enforces movements and muscle patterns, but it also helps you prep your body for the one battle that not many people think about: getting old.
Most of us don’t fear getting old, mainly because we spend all of our time eating and promoting eating a healthy lifestyle. We are also doing some form of resistance training to make sure our bone density is good, we have the strength to move our body through any situation and most importantly, to look good nekkid.
So if GPP helps me do everyday things, how does one add it into a resistance training program? According to Herold, it’s added to help create balance. “I like doing metabolic circuits in between strength training days. They involve all the basic movement patterns that I talked about above yet they are done with lighter weights and higher reps and the sessions reinforce a balanced strength program.”
Lawson also has a plan to include GPP in his clients programs. “I would include some kind of brief interval based strength training circuit 2-3x a week after each workout, I.E. Barbell complexes, bodyweight circuits, etc”.
Either route you go, if you don’t have some sort of GPP added into your program, now’s about time to start adding it in. After all, the year isn’t over yet, so why not start to create that new healthy habit now, just in time for the new year!
