Seven Keys to Effective Program Design Part 3

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Welcome back.  In part 1 of this series we discussed training mode.  In part 2 I discussed energy systems and made a case for you to time your sets.  Now in part 3 we are going to discuss volume management and training split.  We will begin with volume management as it lays the foundation for your training split.

Volume Management

Have you ever wondered why a training author suggests a certain number of sets and repetitions in their training program.  The repetitions are designed to get a specific training effect, as was discussed in part 2 of the series, but what about sets.  How come we should do 5×5, 10×10, 3×8, etc…  How does the author know you can handle 5 sets of 5.  A beginner squatting only 225 for a 1rm may be able to handle 8 sets of 5.  An advanced lifter with an 600lb squat may only be able to muster out 3 quality sets of 5 before he is crushed.

You are a snowflake

Every one of us is different.  We are all individuals.  Yes, you are a snowflake.  What may be best for me may not be optimal for you.  In fact what was best for you on Tuesday’s squat workout may not be best for you on Friday’s squat workout after a rough Thursday night at the bars.  So the question is, “How do we individualize the training program to accommodate all of the snowflakes in the world?”

Autoregulation (areg)

Sounds fancy huh?  Areg is a simple method to determine the exact volume your body.  Now the concept was first brought to my attention by the writings of DB Hammer and the inno-sport crew with a complex formula based on training frequency and training mode.  Of course Mel Siff had discussed another form of areg called cybernetic periodization, more commonly known as the Weider Instinctive Principle #281452.  While cybernetic periodization is cool, a wise man named Arthur Jones once said that a man would rather shit on a barbell than lift it.  And if this is our instinct, to avoid activity, then training based only on feel is a sure way to fail.

The inno-sport guidelines, were a step in the right direction but the addition of new complex terminology, changing guidelines based on training mode, and odd drop off %’s necessitated bringing in the old TI-85 calculator into the gym to make sure one was stopping at the appropriate moment.  The advantage of having specific guidelines is that one will know when to stop the workout, and based upon next workouts improvement, one can tweak and modify the drop off %’s to achieve optimal results.  Say through generic guidelines (Drop off %A) you gain 5lbs on your squat in a week, then you decrease your drop off % (B) and your squat shoots up 10 lbs, you have learned that training until performance drop off B will yield greater results.  Thus you should train to drop off B and not A.

What to do?  What to do?

Do we need to bring in our TI-85 and excel spreadsheets into the gym?

Personally, when areging workouts, I use a few different guidelines.

Power and Quickness

When training for power or peak quickness, the goal is to move as fast as possible.  So one would continue to do sets until they slow down or performance decreases.  Here are 2 examples to clarify.

Power: (exercise : Set #1/ Set #2/ Set #3/ etc…

Vertical Jump: 29″/ 30″/ 30.5″/31″/ 30″ – Stop.  The athlete did 4 sets before his/her performance decreased.  You would then make a note that 5 sets were completed.

Quickness: (exercise and reps: duration of set in seconds)

Line Hops 30 reps: 10.5/10.1/9.8/10.0 – Stop.  The athlete completed 3 sets before his/her performance decreased.  You would note that you completed 4 total sets.

Now some exercises are tough to quantify, like altitude drops.  How would one areg altitude drops.  Simply tie it to a strength or quickness exercise.  When your performance decreases on the strength or quickness drill, then you stop doing drops.  Here is an example to clarify:

Altitude Drops: 5/ 5/ 5/ 5 -Stop- Performance dropped for line hops

Line Hops 30 reps: 10.5/10.1/9.8/10.0 – Stop- Performance dropped.

What if you are more interested in conditioning than peak speed or performance.  First, power exercises are NEVER done for conditioning so you need to train them first and use a peak drop off method.  Quickness drills can be trained for conditioning very simply.  You would set the drop off to 20% of the initial sets repetitions and keep track of the set duration.  It sounds complex but is quite simple.  Here is an example:

Line Hops Set 1: 30 reps in 10.5 seconds

The drop off is based on total reps so 20% of 30 is 6 reps.

You would then do sets of 24 reps (30-6) until you could no longer complete 24 reps in 10.5 seconds.  It may seem complex BUT anyone who can multiply by 2 in their head should be fine, it is simple mathematics.

So the remaining sets would look like:

Line Hops x24 reps: 9.8/10.0/ 10.0/ 10.1/ 10.1/ 10.2/ 10.2/ 10.4/ 10.6 – Stop-  including the first set of 30 reps you did 9 sets before drop off and 10 total sets.  Your improvement in conditioning would be a result of the increase in work load.  Make a note of 10 sets completed.

Strength

We have two options here:

A. Instinctive

B. Mathematic

For those that are less inclined to do simple math I would recommend using Kelly Baggett’s money set method.  It is summarized below:

“There are a multitude of ways to regulate the sets and reps and many that I use. Here is an easy way to do it and what I call the “money-set” method. This is a lot like the max-effort method. The basic tenet of the money set method is each time you repat a particular workout you work up to at least ONE SET where you lift either more weight or do more reps then you did for your best set the last time you did the workout. Generally speaking, you’ll do between 2-5 sets per exercise adding weight each set and working up to at least one maximum effort for a given number of reps. For example, say my last workout on incline dumbell press looked like this and my target rep range was 8:

pushups x 15

feet elevated pushups x 10

50 pound dumbells x 8

60 pound dumbells x 8

70 pound dumbells x 9 * money set

70 pound dumbells x 8 (tried to beat 9 but couldn’t)

So, you can see I did 4 pretty hard sets but only one was a real money set. Next time i do that exercise I gotta beat 9 reps with 70 lbs.

As soon as you can do 3 more reps than your target rep range increase the load by 2-5%. So, if I did 200 pounds for 6 reps on squat the last workout and 200 pounds for 8 reps this time, the next workout I’d increase the load by 5-10 pounds and once again do as many reps as possible building back up to 8 reps.”

For the more mathematically inclined you have the drop off method.

Again, for simplicities sake we will use 20% as our drop off margin.

You can apply this method a few ways for strength training. The drop off for strength training will predominantly be based on repetitions.  See the two examples below:

Peak Strength:

Set 1: Squat 385×5 reps

Drop off is 20% of 5 reps (5x.2=1) So when you can no longer squat 385 for 4 reps you stop the workout.

Squat 385x 5/4/3 -Stop- You could no longer squat 385×4 so the workout is done.  You did 3 sets before drop off and 4total sets.  Make a note of the 4 total sets.

Strength Work Capacity

Set 1: Squat 385×5 reps

Drop off is 20% of 5 reps (5x.2=1) So when you can no longer squat 385 for 4 reps you stop the workout.

Squat 385×4/4/4/4/3- Stop- You did 5 sets before drop off and 6 total sets.  Make a note of the 6 sets completed.

Using the 20% and repetition number will work for just about every training method except for isometrics.  When doing isometrics you would base the 20% drop off based on time.  For example:

ISO Lunge 185 x 20 seconds

Drop off is 20% x 20 seconds or 4 seconds.

Continue doing ISO lunges until they can no longer be completed in 16 seconds.  Similar to the previous examples you can train for work capacity or peak performance.  In the peak performance method you could continue doing sets to failure until you could no longer hold the lunge for 16 seconds.  For work capacity you would hold each subsequent set for only 16 seconds (not failure) until you can no longer hold the lunge for 16 seconds.

Training Splits

Whew!  All that is a whole article in it’s own.  Now we will cover training splits.  This will be simple.  You have two basic splits:

A.  Upper/Lower

B. Total Body

Total body training requires a higher work capacity, because of the frequency of training, thus I recommend beginners start with the first option.

In the upper lower split a generic template would be as follows: (Choose 1 exercise/body part)

Upper

Push

Pull

Delt

Bicep

Tricep

Lower

Core

Foot/Calf

Quad

Hamstring/Glute

***Note*** Areg is based upon an upper/lower split.  So utilize the areg methods outlined earlier in this split.  Once one can do 5 or more sets for each exercise using the peak methods of drop off, they are ready to move into total body training.

The upper/lower split is based upon a M-Tu-Th-Fr training set up.

Total Body Training

With total body training areg becomes much more complicated.  Luckily for you, I have simplified the process.  Recall in the volume management section of the article I had you note the total number of sets completed in each example.  This will come into play now.

For example:

Say you completed 6 total sets of squats on Monday and 5 sets of lunges on Thursday.  This would be 11 sets of a lower body quad dominant movement.

In total body training you would then distribute the 11 sets over the course of the week.  Because the volume of each workout is lower it is recommended that you stick to the same exercises each day of training to allow for better motor learning.  For example:

Monday Squat 3×5

Wednesday Squat 2×5

Thursday Squat 2×5

Friday Squat 4×5

Now for some total body training guidelines:

1. During a total body training cycle week 1 should have a set volume 25% less than your last week of upper/lower training.  So if you did 11 sets of squats, you would perform 8 sets over the first week.

2.  During week 2 you would do the same volume that you did in upper/lower training.  In the above example it would be 11 sets distributed over the week.

3.  In week 3 you would increase volume by 50%, yes 50%.  In the examples you would do 16 sets in week 3.

4.  In week 4 you would either do the same volume as week 2 with a higher weight or switch to an upper/lower split.

5.  If you chose the former in week 4, then in week 5 you should switch to an upper/lower split

6.  A generic split would be: Lower quad/Lower Posterior Chain/ Upper Push/Upper Pull Core and calves would be trained in the warm up

And finally for some more general guidelines.

1.  Only switch to a total body workout when the volume of the upper/lower workouts reaches 5 or greater in each workout.

2.  Always follow a total body training block with an upper/lower block

3.  All blocks will last 3-5 weeks.

4.  Only switch back to total body training when the requirement #1 has been satisfied.

This turned out to be a large article with a ton of info to digest.  Take some time, read it over, and ask questions if you have any.

- Alex