Using this information, I determine my periodization model. If the emphasis is power, I like to use a modified concurrent model. If it is strength, I use the conjugate method. If the focus is general strength and work capacity, I use an undulating periodization model. For the purposes of this article, I will use the modified concurrent method with a power emphasis. This means that I will be training multiple attributes throughout the cycle, but the volume of each will dictate the focus. If power is my focus, I will be training that attribute on the first day of training and with the highest volume. This will ensure the program will elicit the desired response through proper stimuli and preparation. Because this is the first day of the training week, I know the athletes have had proper rest and recovery. For example, if the first training day is Monday, I know they have had Saturday and Sunday to recover. I will be training three days per week; Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Now it is time to write the template. Because power is my focus, I will train that Monday for the reasons described above. I will train strength on Wednesday. I do this because my other attribute to train is volume/work capacity, and fatiguing the musculature and exhausting the Central Nervous System (CNS) on Wednesday, would not allow for proper recovery of either system by Friday. I will train volume/work capacity on Friday because I know they will have the weekend for total recovery.
I will not go into great detail about exercise selection, and let you decide what you think best addresses your needs, but I will share my thought progression. If my focus is power on Monday, I will do an explosive movement such as a hang clean. Then I will follow through with related exercises that will help increase my power and that lift itself; ie. RDL's, power shrugs, upright rows, front squats, etc. Wednesday is a strength focus and I will squat heavy. Friday is work capacity, so I will do a field workout using non-traditional strength training techniques, such as strongman events.
General principles I use for programming are a thorough warm-up prior to the weight room session, followed by some very dynamic movement, such as sprints, agilities, or medicine ball throws. This simply primes the CNS and the related motor units. As far as the weight workout itself, I use the following guidelines:
- Dynamic work before Max Effort work
- Max Effort before Strength Effort
- Strength Effort before Repetition Effort
- Multi-Joint exercises before Single-Joint Exercises
- Lower Body exercises before Upper Body exercises (unless it is a superset or circuit)
Now that the template is written, it is time to fill in sets and reps. I use the Prilepin Chart for this. If I know my best power output is going to be in the 60 to 70% range, then that is the percentage I will use to stimulate the proper energy system, reinforce proper mechanics, and ensure I get the desired response. Because power is my focus, I will use a high volume scheme as dictated by the Prilepin Chart. At 60%, high volume is listed as 30 reps. You don't have to be perfectly at 30 reps to elicit the response, but get close. The optimal volume for that percentage is 24 so just don't get that low. If you do 28 total reps (7x4) that is perfectly fine. I will use 10x3. Wednesday is a strength focus and I am squatting. For me to get a strength response I need to use a percentage at 85% or above. But because it is not my focus and I want to simply maintain that quality that I trained earlier in the off-season, I will use a low volume scheme. At 85% the volume is listed at 10, so I will do 5x2. I will follow this line of thought until every exercise is completed for every week of the cycle. I tend to go up 5% each week with a download week every fourth week for my less trained sports or high school athletes.
Additional thoughts: You can stay with the same focus for multiple cycles but I don't like to program too far in advance to make sure I am always analyzing needs of the athletes. As a strength coach, you must learn to adapt and love it because it will happen a lot. If you program too far out, something is bound to come up and you will have to scrap 90% of the program you did. I like to superset my core exercises with ballistic or plyometric application of the trained attribute such as dynamic effort med ball punches with bench, box jumps with squat or depth jumps with cleans. With my strength effort and repetition effort lifts, I like to pair those in an upper body/lower body fashion. More specifically, I like to do push and pulls in relation to those exercises. For example a lower body push with an upper body pull like single leg squats with pull ups, or a lower body pull with an upper body push like RDLs with overhead press. This makes sure the musculature involved with one exercise is resting while the opposite exercise is being performed but the energy systems are still at work. It increases work capacity gradually through conditioning the energy system and just makes efficient use of time. If you have any questions just email me at partsch@usouthal.edu with the subject "The Jag Power Way."
No comments:
Post a Comment