Post edited 6:06 pm – January 20, 2010 by admin
This
will be the first installment of a seven part series examining the
seven variables one can manipulate to design a training program.
The
first variable one can manipulate is the mode, or type, of exercise.
Essentially all movements can be broken down into three types of
exercise: quickness, power, and strength.
Quickness
is characterized by rapid fire, low force movements. Think of typing
or ping pong to wrap your head around quickness exercises. Some
examples of quickness exercises include line hops, dot drills,
jumping rope, light weight dumbbell swings, stiff leg sprints,
agility ladder work, and top end sprinting.
Power
exercises are characterized by high force and high velocity
movements. Power just happens to be the most coveted quality in all
of sports performance. The simplest measure of power is the vertical
jump test. It just so happens that the vertical jump is also the ONLY
NFL combine test that correlates to playing time in the league. With
all of the combine secrets like crowding the line in the 40, the
spiderman pro 20 technique, etc…, the simplest test- and the
hardest to cheat- is the most effective indicator of success. Power
exercises also encompass the greatest variety of movements. Power is
often described as strength x speed, and while this may be an
oversimplification (P=f*d/t) it is effective at describing the two
major contributing factors: strength and speed. Some break down the
power category into two different sub categories: speed-strength and
strength-speed. While this may further complicate the issue it does
provide some additional clarity. Speed-strength emphasizes the
velocity of movement while strength-speed emphasizes the strength
component of power. To make it easier think of speed-strength
exercises as unweighted power exercises like altitude drops, depth
jumps, vertical jumps, sprint acceleration, agility drills, and run
up jumping.
Strength-speed
exercises include an additional load on a high velocity movement. The
most common practice is the Westside-Barbell dynamic effort method
with 40-65% of your maximal effort for 8-12 sets of 2-3 reps. The DE
method can be applied to squats, deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, glute
ham raises, basically any exercise you can think of. You can perform
movements with straight bar weight, chains, and bands. Other
strength-speed movements include Olympic lifts, heavy Kettlebell
swings, cleans, and snatches, and weighted jump squats.
Finally
we have strength exercises. These movements are characterized by low
velocity and moderate force output. Strength work is probably the
type of exercise most people are familiar with. This includes
bodybuilding type work as well as heavy maximal lifting. “WAIT! You
just said that these are low force exercises but maximal lifting is
not a low force activity, is it?” Yes it is! See, if you weigh
200lbs and do an altitude drop off of a 3 foot box when you land your
muscles create roughly 2000lbs of force on impact. How many 2000lb
squatters are there in the world? 0. So while maximal lifting is
quite intensive, on the force register it ranks as a moderate force
exercise. This is because force = mass x acceleration and maximal
weight training emphasizes the mass component at the expense of the
velocity component. Power exercises, on the other hand, present an
optimal blend of mass and acceleration. Look at the speed of
this maximal squat attempt.
Now
that we have successfully identified each of the modes/types of
exercise lets discuss how to organize them into a training program.
Personally I am a big fan of block training, also known as
concentrated loading, where you focus on one or two of the training
modes to create a synergistic effect. This results in greater overall
gains in the desired goal. The following training templates present
themselves.
For
a strong but slow athlete you should use a power template. The
following templates are excellent choices:
***Note
the mode before the colon is day 1 and the modes after the colon are
day 2 for all of the following template***
Quickness
: Power (Speed-strength)
or
Quickness
: Power (Speed-Strength)+Quickness
or
Quickness+Speed-Strength
: Strength Speed
or
Quickness+Speed-Strength
: Strength Speed+Quickness
If
you are a quick but weak athlete the following templates may be
effective:
Strength
: Strength
or
Strength
: Power (Strength-Speed)+Strength
or
Strength
+ Strength : Power (Strength-Speed)+Strength
As
a quick aside, you will have noticed that repetition ranges have not
been listed. This will be addressed in future installments and
the training templates will be fleshed out as the series progresses.
Finally,
when thinking about concentrated loading we must not forget the key
word “concentrated”.
With
this in mind if you are truly seeking quickness you would want to use
the template that emphasized quickness the most with the least amount
of other work (power). This would be the second template with
quickness appearing on both training days and power only appearing on
one. If your goal was power you would want a program with power work
on both days and quickness work on only one day.
I
hope you enjoyed the first installment of the Seven Keys series,
there is more to come.
-Alex
In
part 1 of the Seven Keys we discussed the exercise type or mode. We
identified three different modes of exercise. They are quickness,
power, and strength. Power was further subdivided into speed-strength
and strength-speed. Now we will begin to look at a common variable:
repetitions.
Most
people are familiar with the old 3 sets of 10 reps protocol however
quantifying repetitions becomes harder when you throw in various
training methods like paused repetitions or static holds. Say you do
a 10 repetitions in the squat would this give you a similar training
effect that a set of 10 reps done with a 5 second pause at the bottom
would. Of course not. This first example would probably take you
30-40 seconds while the second would take an additional 50 seconds to
complete for a total work time of 80-90 seconds. This is more than
double the amount of work experienced in the first set. Then take
into consideration the weight selection for both. You wouldn’t even
be able to come close to using the same weight in both examples. So
when discussing repetition range selection we need something that
will provide reliable results across all types of exercise as well as
across the variety of methods people use in program design like
paused squats. Luckily there is one variable that is present in every
training program: time.
Time
is an easy way to quantify the amount of work present in a set of a
particular exercise. In the example above we discovered the actual
amount of work, or time under tension, was double that of the paused
squats by using the variable of time. If we wanted to adjust the
workload of the above example so that we would be doing a similar
amount of work you would have to either do 20 repetitions of the
squat OR do 5 reps of the pause squat.
Considering
the training effect of 40 seconds of squats would be similar to 40
seconds of pause squats, I would encourage you to assign a set
duration rather than prescribing reps. Not only does this make it
easier to manage training effects of different methods it also gives
you better insight into the amount of work being performed and, as a
result, greater control over volume management.
Hopefully
I have provided a solid argument for prescribing set durations over
repetitions, now you may be wondering “How do I program set
duration?”
Luckily
science provides us some answers.
Energy
Systems
We
all know that there are three primary energy systems present in the
body: phospho-creatine,
glycolytic,
and aerobic.
In
a general sense the phospho-creatine (PC) system lasts from 0-9
seconds, the glycolytic (G) system
covers
activities lasting from 10-50 seconds and the aerobic (Ae) system
kicks in for activities lasting 50 seconds and longer. Obviously
these time frames are not exact and some overlap of the energy
systems occurs. These do, however, serve as good guidelines and
identify the dominant energy system for the set duration. It is
recommended that one use the energy system brackets outlined to guide
the set duration.
Impacts
of Different Set Durations
It
is recommended that power exercises only be trained in the PC time
frame as the goal of power exercises is maximal output. Longer set
durations will reduce output because of fatigue. Strength exercises
performed for 0-9 seconds will develop maximal strength, increase
hypertrophy in the fast twitch muscle fibers, as well as improve CNS
function. Quickness drills performed in this bracket of time will
improve absolute quickness function.
Sets
performed in the G pathway have a stronger energetic component.
Strength exercises performed for 10-50 seconds will increase
hypertrophy by increasing the mass of the contractile proteins in the
muscle. Additionally there will be an increase in the energetic
elements as well as lactic acid tolerance. This will improve the
ability to recover from bouts of strength related activity in the 0-9
second time frame.
Quickness
exercises performed for 10-50 seconds will result in an increased
ability to maintain peak speed. For example, if a running back
explodes through a hole and gets into the open field he will not slow
down as much as another athlete who did not train quickness for
periods of 10-50 seconds. Quickness exercises performed for
10-50 seconds, like strength exercises, will also improve the ability
to recover from an explosive burst of a power/speed activity that
lasts from 0-9 seconds, as well as improve tolerance to lactic acid.
Back to our running back analogy, if he trains in the 10-50 second
time frame he will not need as long of a rest between plays as
another athlete would who did not train strength and quickness for
periods of 10-50 seconds. Training at the upper end of the 10-50
second time frame will have a greater impact on work capacity.
Athletes on teams that run an up tempo game, like a no huddle or
spread offense, should spend considerable time training for set
durations of 25-50 seconds. This is great for sports involving short
explosive bursts of activity followed by a rest interval. Of course I
just described just about every sport including football, basketball,
baseball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, to name a few.
Strength
training for set durations greater than 50 seconds will develop the
slow twitch muscle fibers. This will improve your body’s ability to
clear out lactic acid. Quickness exercises will improve aerobic
fitness as well as improve the ability to recover from bouts of
activity lasting from 10-50 seconds. Ice hockey, where shifts last
30-50 seconds, would be an example of a sport where training the
aerobic pathway is very important. **Watch the vid it is good**
Lets
take a look at our training templates and flush them out a little bit
For
a strong but slow athlete you should use a power template. The
following templates are excellent choices:
***Note
the mode before the colon is day 1 and the modes after the colon are
day 2 for all of the following template***
Quickness
G: Speed-strength PC
Quickness
G: Speed-Strength PC + Quickness G
Quickness
G + Speed-Strength PC : Strength Speed PC
Quickness
G + Speed-Strength PC : Strength Speed PC+Quickness G
If
you are a quick but weak athlete the following templates may be
effective:
Strength
PC : Strength G
Strength
PC : Strength-Speed PC+Strength G
Strength
PC+Strength G : Strength-Speed PC +Strength G
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
It is time for part
4 of our ongoing series examining the keys to effective program
design. In part 1 I discussed training mode, part 2 covered
energy systems, and in part 3 we looked at autoregulatory training
and training split. This weeks article will look at work
capacity.
Work
Capacity
This was touched
upon in part three of the series but we will go into more detail.
Every sport requires some form of work capacity. Luckily for
us, the utilization of autoregulation (areg) makes programming for
both types of work capacity a cinch. Essentially sports require
one of two kinds of work capacity: peak or repetitive.
Peak
Capacity
Peak work capacity
is essentially the ability to produce one peak maximal effort during
competition. For some examples of sports requiring peak
capacity think of sprinting.
Or powerlifting
Other examples
include pretty much every track and field event, speed skating, etc…
Another fine example of a peak capacity athlete is a closer in
baseball. He may play one inning, throw 10-20 pitches, and fire
the ball at 95 mph+ throughout the course of that one inning.
Training for
peak capacity is fairly simple.
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.
For exercises that
are tough to quantify, like altitude drops you would 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.
Strength
training for peak capacity is pretty easy to organize. If
an athlete was doing squats it would look like the following:
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.
Repetitive
Capacity
Repetitive capacity
is required in any sport where a repeated number of high intensity
yet sub maximal efforts are repeated. These types of sports
often include incomplete recovery intervals. Some examples of
sports involving repetitive capacity include football
and ice hockey
(check out highlights 1 and 2)
Going back to our
baseball closer analogy, a starting pitcher would fall into the
repetitive capacity. A starting pitcher cannot go out and fire
95mph fastballs all day because he would only last 1 or 2 innings
maximum. They would need to use a little more finesse so that
they can last 5-7 innings.
Essentially the
sports requiring repetitive capacity fall into the “major sports”
category which also includes basketball, baseball, tennis, etc…
Areg for repetitive
capacity is also fairly simple.
For quickness
and power:
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.
Areg for strength
training would look like the following:
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.
Selecting
the Right Capacity Measure
When designing your
training program selecting between peak capacity and repetitive
capacity is quite simple. Just ask yourself this simple
question:
“Does my sport
require a one shot burst of performance or does it require repeated
efforts?”
If your sport is a
one shot effort than peak capacity should make up the majority of
your training time. If it requires repeated efforts, then you
should spend the majority of your time working on repetitive
capacity.
Of course some time
must be spent training the non-dominant capacity for your sport as
well. For example, who cares that you can lose very little
speed during the course of the entire game if you only run a 5.5
second 40.
Or to the contrary,
if you are a powerlifter, the increase in repetitive capacity will
allow your body to adjust to greater training volumes and tonnage
which, in the long run, will open up the door to increases in maximal
strength in the future.
The take home
message is this: You need to train using both capacity methods
spending the majority of time developing the dominant work capacity
in your sport.
Capacity
Guidelines
While deciding when
to switch from peak capacity to repetitive capacity, or vice versa,
may seem complicated the following brief guidelines may help simplify
the process for you.
1. Generally
you should spend 70% of your time training the dominant capacity and
30% of your time training the other capacity. Now put your
calculators away because this works out to the following guideline:
For
every 2 cycles training your dominant capacity, you should spend 1
training cycle training your non dominant capacity.
So if you are a football player you should spend 2 cycles training
repetitive capacity and 1 cycle training peak capacity. Pretty
simple and no math required.
2. When your
peak capacity drops to 2 sets you should switch to a repetitive
capacity cycle.
3. When your
repetitive capacity reaches 8 sets per exercise you should switch to
a peak capacity cycle.
Closing
I hope you found
this article helpful and interesting. The capacity examples
were taken directly from the previous article. Deciding how to
develop work capacity in a sport specific manner can be quite
complicated, however the proper application of areg coupled
with the simple guidelines set forth should help simplify the process
for you. As always, if you have any questions just ask.
Block Training in a Nutshell
Block training boils down to a concept called concentrated loading.
While initially it may seem complex, it is a rather simple concept.
Essentially concentrated loading is a model where you concentrate your
efforts by training towards a singular goal. The more “concentrated”
the effort the greater the gains made towards that goal. For example,
in part 1 I discussed 3 modes of strength training: quickness, power,
and strength. In a “non concentraed”, also known as concurrent, phase
one would incorporate all three training modes into their cycles. So a
workout may look like the following:
Line Hops 3×30 sec – Quickness
Shuffle Run 3×30 sec – Quickness
Altitude Drop x 25 – Power
Vertical Jump x 25 – Power
Squat 5×5 – Strength
Glute Ham Raise – Strength
To the naked eye this may look like a solid plan however its design
begs the question: “What is the goal?” The obvious answer being
“Everything.” Of course we know that the body only has a limited
capacity to recover and adapt. In this program each training goal is
going to compete for the same reserves. This leads to little to no
gains towards any of the goals.
You may become a little quicker, a little more powerful, and a little stronger. Or you may not achieve anything!!
So how do we avoid this dilemma?
Simple. Concentrated loading. Utilizing the concentrated loading
method you would concentrate your efforts towards one goal.
Considering the three modes of exercise, you would only utilize types
of exercise that are similar and discard the type of exercise that is
furthest from the goal. With this in mind we see that power, because
of its utilization of quickness and strength, will serve as a bridge.
That is one could incorporate power and quickness exercises into a
power cycle and one could incorporate power work into a strength cycle.
One would not incorporate quickness and strength into the same cycle.
Why not?
Because strength and quickness are furthest away from each other on
the force-velocity spectrum thus they will compete for results
targeting vastly different goals. Not very concentrated huh?
Maintenance
Now you may be wondering: “If I ignore strength training will I lose all of my gains?” Simply the answer is: no.
So how do we maintain our strength levels while ignoring strength work
(or vice versa for quickness depending on your cycles). Remember that
power work has a strength and quickness component and thus will serve
to protect your strength and quickness gains while training in a cycle
that excludes one of those components. In addition to the
incorporation of power work into your training cycles, I would also
recommend doing a maintenance workout targeting the neglected quality
once every two weeks (Option 1) Or doing a maintenance week once every
three weeks (Option 2).
Option 1 would look like the following:
Week 1
Monday Quickness
Thursday Power + Quickness
Week 2
Monday Quickness
Thursday Power + Quickness
Week 3
Monday Strength
Thursday Power + Quickness
So you can see that you completed 2 weeks of a quickness block and then added in 1 strength workout.
Option 2 would look like this:
Week 1
Monday Quickness
Thursday Power + Quickness
Week 2
Monday Quickness
Thursday Power + Quickness
Week 3
Monday Quickness
Thursday Power + Quickness
Week 4
Monday Strength
Thursday Power + Strength
Week 5- Begin the cycle over
As you can see Option 2 involves 3 weeks of quickness training and 1
full week of strength training. Obviously you would flip-flop the
cycles if your training focus was strength.
Periodization
Yet another fancy ten dollar word. Simply this means a training
plan. In general, the simplest way to organize training blocks is
utilizing the performance loop which looks like the following:
Hypertrophy->Strength->Power/Quickness->Hypertrophy
In this cycle we see that hypertrophy builds larger muscles laying
the foundation for greater strength gains. Then we capitalize on the
increase in contractile protein by making your muscles even stronger.
Finally we teach those muscles how to apply the new found strength very
rapidly. The rapid application of force requires maximal CNS
stimulation and recruitment. This will teach the muscles to be able to
recruit some of the more dormant high threshold, fast twitch muscle
fibers. Which will open the door to the athlete being able to recruit
these fibers in their next hypertrophy cycle and open the door to even
greater gains!
So the training Templates now look like the following:
***Note the mode before the colon is day 1 and the modes after the colon are day 2 for all of the following template***
Main Goal – Hypertrophy
Strength G : Strength G
Maintenance – Power
Quickness G + Speed-strength PC
For a strong but slow athlete you should use a power template. The following templates are excellent choices:
Main Goal – Power
Quickness G: Speed-strength PC
Quickness G: Speed-Strength PC + Quickness G
Quickness G + Speed-Strength PC : Strength Speed PC
Quickness G + Speed-Strength PC : Strength Speed PC+Quickness G
Maintenance – Strength
Strength PC + Strength G
If you are a quick but weak athlete the following templates may be effective:
Main Goal – Strength
Strength PC : Strength G
Strength PC : Strength-Speed PC+Strength G
Strength PC+Strength G : Strength-Speed PC +Strength G
Maintenance – Power
Quickness G + Speed-strength PC
I hope you enjoyed the fifth installment of this series and have
begun incorporating some of the advice. If you have or have any
questions I would love to hear from you.
-Alex
Methods
So we have covered a ton of information in the previous parts of this series. To get up to date please check out:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
When discussing Looking back at training mode we see a general
breakdown of exercise modalities, strength, power, and quickness. In
the next sections I will briefly touch upon my favorite training
methods for each.
Strength
Strength movements are characterized by low velocities, moderate
force, and high tension outputs. In this category we utilize the
following methods:
Isometric (ISO): Isometric exercises have a multitude of benefits.
They can increase hypertrophy in connective tissue when held for longer
durations. In addition, since they are held statically, they can
improve muscle recruitment patterns via the mind-muscle link. Finally,
when held in the stretch position they increase dynamic flexibility,
maximal strength, and muscle stiffness.
Pause reps: Pause reps are beneficial for improving starting
strength, or the ability to recruit a large amount of muscle fibers at
the start of a movement. In addition they serve as a great bridge
between the recruitment patterns of ISO holds and normal weight lifting.
Multiple pauses in a rep: This is a great method for increased
hypertrophy in connective tissue, muscle stiffness, and muscle
endurance.
Oscillatory Isometrics: This method involved holding an isometric
contraction while contracting all of the involved muscles as hard as
possible. Then you release the tension and free-fall. Once you feel
that you have completely relaxed you then contract all of the involved
muscles as hard as possible again. The reflexive response should be an
elastic rebound to the starting position. Keep in mind you are not
pushing back to the starting position but flexing as hard as possible
allowing the elastic energy absorbed by the tendons to fire you back up
to the starting position. This method is great for improving the body’s
ability to turn muscles on and off as well as developing muscle
endurance.
Normal Lifting: You should all be familiar with this method. Be sure
to explode through the concentric/lifting phase of the exercise. This
is good for maximal strength and strength endurance.
Slow Eccentric: This involves a slow lowering phase and explosive
lifting phase. This method is primarily beneficial for muscle
hypertrophy and muscle endurance.
Power movements are characterized by high force, high velocity,
and,subsequently, high power outputs. In addition, Power happens to
represent the middle training ground between strength and quickness
exercises.
Our favorite power methods include:
Dynamic Effort Method (a la WSB): This is generally done by
completing explosive reps in the 40-60% range for 4-10 sets of 2-3
reps. This is a great lead into explosive exercise.
Weighted Drop and Catch: This involves holding a weight, then
releasing all tension as you free-fall. Then you fire your muscles
explosively and catch the load in the stretch position. This movement
is an excellent way to teach your body to absorb force.
Weighted Drop, Catch, and Explode: This is essentially the same as
the second method with the only difference being that after the catch
you explode to the starting position. This teaches you to absorb and
release elastic energy and well as produce a lot of force rapidly.
Altitude Drop and Catch: This is also like the second method except
instead of dropping a load you drop your body weight. One excellent
example is stepping off a bench and landing in a squat position. The
main difference between the second method and this one is that the
first method focuses more on absorbing greater loads- making it a
strength speed method- and this one focuses more on absorbing higher
velocities making it a speed strength method.
Altitude Drop, Catch, and Explode: This is essentially the same as
the above method except you follow the absorption phase with an
explosive concentric contraction. In the previous example you will be
landing from the drop and then jumping as high as possible (aka depth
jump). This teaches the body to absorb force and utilize elastic energy
to enhance the subsequent concentric contraction.
Finally quickness exercises make up our last category of exercise.
These movements are characterized by a high velocity and a low force
output. These movements can be used to improve both absolute quickness
and are beneficial for conditioning. Our favorite quickness methods
include:
Reflexive Firing Isometrics: These are movements where exercise
velocity is high followed by a short eccentric phase and a reflexive
isometric phase of the contraction. Great examples include line hops as
well as jumping rope. This is great for ankle stiffness and teaching
the body to stay low while changing direction.
Weighted Drop, Catch, and Explode: These are rapid movements that
have a greater reactive component to the exercise than reflexive firing
isometrics. Great examples include kettlebell swings and snatches as
well as sprints for durations greater than 10 seconds.
Normal Lifting: Using this method select a weight in the 10-25% 1 rm
range and perform the exercise as rapidly as possible. This method is
primarily beneficial for conditioning purposes.
I hope you have enjoyed this part of the series. Honestly this
section could be a whole book. For more information about the large
variety of methods avaialable please check out Christian Thibaudeau’s
work as well as Inno-Sport.
Enjoy
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