One of the hardest things for a coach can be which exercises to put into their program and which to leave out.  These days this problem seems to be even more challenging because there appear to be so many options with regard to various training tools and people trying to invent “new” exercises:

• “When do we do kettlebells?”
  
• “Where should I program in the TRX exercises?”
  
• “At what point during the workout should I do the Turkish get up?”
  
• “Where do we do speed work?”
  
• “What about plyometrics?”
  
• “Should I use the agility ladder?”
  
• “Do we deadlift or squat?”

On and on the list goes and in the end I think people can get paralyzed with all the options that they end up doing EVERYTHING!

It is easy to get enamored with certain exercises and feel that your program is inferior without them – “If I don’t do Turkish get ups my athletes will never improve.”

The fact of the matter is, there is nothing wrong with any of the exercises above.  What is more important is how you use them. As I stated, people end up getting so hung up on certain exercises and training tools that they don’t know how to write a program without them.  This leads to programs that are incredibly long in duration and sometimes a bit muddy in terms of their focus and direction.

Less Is More

A few weeks ago, on his Facebook page, my friend Charlie Weingroff posted THIS link to the old Bill Starr 5×5 program and asked “Does it need to be more complicated than this?” 

I really don’t think it does!!

In reality, I believe that you can actually do a ton with only a hand full of exercises if you can do them well and know how to manipulate other training variables in order to get what you want out of them in terms of the specific stresses you are looking to impose on the individual.

Talking with my friend Joel Jamieson the other night he echoed these sentiments stating that, “There are really only about 7 or 8 exercises I use any more. I may throw something in that is “different” every once in a while just to keep people from getting bored, but I always come back to my main exercises. It isn’t like the squat just stops working! Look at Bondarchuk’s program. His throwers do the same five exercises year round!”

What I love about the Bill Starr program, linked to above, is that it uses only a small group of exercises – you can squat, press, and power clean or you can squat, press, and row – and you get good at doing the basics!

Nothing fancy, no crazy bells and whistles, just basic exercises and you do them three days a week so that you get really, really good at doing them.

This simple view of training is something that I appreciate most from guys like Dan John (his Intervention DVD was excellent) and Dr. Ken Leistner (one of these days in the near future I am going to buy this collection of all of his old Steel Tip articles).

I know it is easy to get enamored with exercises and believe that one exercise may have some sort of magical power. We have all been there before! However, I urge you to step back and remember that not only are the basics key…they also work! Pick 3-5 exercises that you feel are cornerstones of your training program and hammer them out. Instead of constantly rotating the exercises around change the rep ranges, sets, rest interval, and rep tempo to impart a different type of stress on the body and to get something different from the same lift.

The longer I work with people the more I find that my list of exercises begins to shrink.

Thanks to my friend and colleague, Keats Snideman, for informing me that some new Dan Pfaff videos have been uploaded to youtube.

Dan Pfaff is a guy I really enjoy listening to.  He brings a lot of wisdom and experience to the table and always seems to boil it down into a very practical manner.

Enjoy!

I have gotten a number of email questions recently about recovery strategies for high school athletes so I felt that it would be easier to address these questions in a blog post as many may have similar questions and my replies are typically very similar.  I put the words “high school” in parentheses because the this information does not only apply to high school athletes but really to all athletes in general.

“What are some recovery techniques I can use for my high school athletes to help them recover faster following training?”

I think the important thing to remember about recovery strategies is that you want to use them when you need them.  Obviously there are times when recovery modalities are needed (after games, as the season goes on and athletes tend to get beat up, or during phases of training where there is a particularly high level of intensity and/or volume) but it shouldn’t be something you need to do all the time.  You have to consider the fact that the whole process of training is to increase some stress, disrupt homeostasis, and then allow the athlete to adapt and improve.  The increased inflammation, changes in hormonal state, and break down of tissue, while often thought of as being a “negative” thing, is actually a normal process and can be beneficial as it is these sorts of markers which tell the body to adapt to the stimulus just placed upon it.

Another thing to remember is that the more fit an individual becomes the better prepared they are to tolerate the rigors of training, the higher their stress resistance will be, and the less they will need to rely on recovery modalities.

Too often athletes want to rush to the ice bath, massage table, or sauna because they want to “recover”, when often times they are out of shape and not able to tolerate the training volume/intensity.  Either that or they are not doing the little things well – eating healthy meals, consuming adequate amounts of nutrients, and getting a proper amount of sleep.

One of the best things you can do for recovery is having a good training program with sound progressions.  Coaches and athletes are often quick to rush through the general physical preparation phase of training to get to the more sexy progressions like intense plyometrics, max strength work, and high volumes of intense sprints.  While there is certainly nothing wrong with these training methods it is important to take the time to allow the athletes to develop a high level of fitness so that they can handle this sort of stress and effectively adapt to it and prepare their body to handle more advanced and more intense forms of training (this is especially important for younger athletes who are less developed).  This means placing a high emphasis on general preparation.

Some key things to consider:

• Are you setting up your training program to ensure that the athletes spend a sufficient amount of time in the general preparation phase of training?
• Do your athletes need recovery or are they just out of shape?  Have they earned the right to use recovery modalities?
• Do your athletes need recovery or are your training progressions t0o advanced to allow them to make the necessary adaptations, causing them to get overly fatigued and/or breakdown?
• Are your training days through the week balanced with regard to intensity to allow for active recovery to take place within the training program?
• Are your athletes doing the basic things first like eating well and sleeping enough?  There is no need to talk about elaborate supplement schemes or other recovery modalities if they are not doing the basics well.  For younger athletes this is an especially important time in their lives where the coach can have a positive impact on them as far as instilling healthy behaviors and habits that they can carry with them throughout their entire lives.

Recovery is more than just foam rolling or getting a massage every week.  It should be a part of the entire training process not just something you do on Sunday morning.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a solid four days at Eastern Washington University with Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Nate Brookreson and his staff.  Some of my time was spent providing soft tissue therapy to a few of the athletes and some of my time was spent watching workouts and watching Nate “coach it up”.

I love seeing coaches work in environments like this where you have a huge number of athletes and limited coaching personnel.  This sort of stuff can present a host of problems and be a complete nightmare if the coach is not well organized and very specific about what needs to get done.  Nate and his staff do a great job trying to make sure that they meet each athlete’s individual needs.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about Nate’s program was the continued emphasis on the basics.  Coaches often get very enamored by high level exercises, increasing the weight on the bar (despite large breakdowns in technique), and cutting edge progression.  But Nate’s program is centered on doing the basics very, very, well.

Over the four days I got to see football and women’s volleyball train.  The first thing I like that Nate does is separate the freshman from the rest of the team.  The “veterans” have a different training program as they have been there longer, their technique is more refined, and they “know the drill” when it comes to being in the weight room.  The freshmen are hammered with a good dose of the basics.  Things like goblet squats, RDLs, 1-leg RDLs, push ups, and rows.  This was awesome to see when watching volleyball train because you could see the progressions right there in the weight room.  On one side of the room you had girls that were learning how to train and on the other side of the room you had girls doing power cleans and front squats with great technique.  You could see the steps that Nate takes to bring the girls to the higher level right there in front of your eyes.

Football was a little bit different in that the freshmen were training in the gym by themselves, not with the upper classmen (who trained at a different time).  Again, the freshman were given a good dose of the basic lifts – even if the athlete came from a high school program where they lifted frequently, Nate makes sure that they are doing things the proper way before more intense loading.  In a sport like football where strength coaches are so quick to get their athletes under the bar and start loading them up, it was nice to see a coach take some time out and ensure that technique was appropriate before allowing the athlete to perform a more advanced progression of the lift (e.g. learning to goblet squat before they front squat or back squat).  I think most strength coaches feel like they only have a limited amount of time with the athlete so they need to get them under the bar right away.  In college setting I just don’t see how this can be though. You have at least four years with the athlete (and five years with a number of them) and many of the freshman redshirt their first year, giving you plenty of time to develop their exercise technique, strength, and fitness level.  There is no need to rush.

Another thing that I thought was really great was that within the freshman group there was a further subdivision of guys that may have come to the program with injuries from high school, guys coming back from surgeries, or guys with pain.  Those guys were pulled out of the larger group and placed into a smaller group where one of Nate’s staff worked with them on more remedial exercises to ensure that further damage was not done, appropriate healing was going to take place, and the athletes were maintaining their fitness level and getting ready to eventually go back into the normal practice environment.

I really enjoyed my time at Eastern Washington.  It was great to see a staff that puts so much effort into the care of their athletes and you can tell that many of the athletes know they are getting something special in their strength & conditioning program that some of their friends at other DI universities might not be getting.  Great job by Nate Brookreson and his staff!

On Monday, I wrote an article about my thoughts on separating strength and conditioning and the importance of thinking about them as a singular entity (Strength & Conditioning: Keeping it All Together).  Today I just want to lay out a few circuit training methods that I have used over the years.  The number of times per week you perform these and which method you choose will depend on what you are looking to get out of your training at that time.  Of course you don’t have to use circuits in your training program and may opt to just do straight sets of exercises.  There are different times to use different methods and that is going to be up to your individual situation, the athlete(s) you are working with, the amount of time you have to devote to training, and what you are trying to achieve.

There are a number of ways to perform circuits and I generally group circuits into four categories (Please note that the terminology of this stuff often confuses people.  The terms that I use to describe the circuits are just for me so to have a way of classifying how I think about intensity and the work to rest ratio of a given circuit):

1. General fitness/aerobic circuits
2. Alactic-aerobic circuits
3. Strength circuits
4. Anaerobic-glycolytic circuits (further divided into extensive and intensive circuits)

General fitness/aerobic circuits

General fitness/aerobic circuits are simply to raise work capacity, improve fitness, and can also be used as a recovery modality on days when the athlete is beat up and needs to back off. The intensity of these circuits is low and the rest interval between movements is minimal, allowing the athlete to move from one exercise to the next at their own pace.  The only time I assign a rest interval for this circuit is if we use resistance and the individual is performing 8-12 repetitions using a 15-20RM load, followed by 30-60sec rest.  However, if we are doing these circuits for recovery purposes, we rarely approach intensity/effort like that, usually just performing various mobility drills and/or core work.

The exercise selection is up to you as a coach (Note: for total beginners to resistance training, I will use body weight or very low intensity, however their rep ranges will be 5-8 reps per exercise to allow them to learn the movement and not have technique deteriorate.).  I find that the exercises in this circuit can range from the normal resistance training exercises, body weight exercises, specific mobility/corrective exercises (FMS correctives fit in well here), or core work.  We are looking to work for > 30min in a circuit workout and they are allowed to take a little bit longer rest at the end of a complete circuit (90-120sec) before starting over. The number of circuits you do in this time will depend on the number of exercises you use and how long you plan to work for. Commonly, a workout using this format would consist of a warm up (10-15min), 30min of circuit work, and then 30-40min of tempo work on the bike or running in a field.  When using this method of circuit training for recovery purposes, we tend to focus more on joint mobility exercises, various stretches (yoga type sequences), and dynamic mobility activities.

Strength circuits

Strength circuits are focused on improving strength, just as the name implies. Usually I go to a superset of two main exercises with a mobility or core exercise in between them or I do a circuit of push, pull, legs, core. The important thing here is the rest interval, which so many do not obey. If you are able to perform this sort of work with no rest interval or very little rest then you probably need to place more weight on the bar and work towards getting more strength.

Reps in this circuit are </= 5 per set and the rest interval is anywhere from 3-5min. Rest can be active rest, which is why I use the mobility or core work in between; however, there are times when complete rest is going to be desired in order to allow for full recovery.  Additionally, I do not pressure the individual to move rapidly from one movement to the next, rather, I allow them to take their time when moving to the mobility/core exercise so that they can get sufficient rest and prepare for the next exercise or next set. The rest interval is very important here to allow for recovery and allow them to output as much force as they can.

Alactic-aerobic circuits

Alactic-aerobic circuits are used to try and improve the individual’s ability to repeat their effort in an explosive task. You wouldn’t really be at this type of circuit if the athlete does not have a well-developed work capacity to tolerate this sort of activity. However, you can scale back the intensity and perform aerobic plyometrics (a method that Joel Jamieson covers in his book Ultimate MMA Conditioning).

Aerobic plyometrics can be good for preparing an athlete to develop a sport specific work capacity. These are similar to the alactic-aerobic circuits; however, the intensity of the jumping activities you choose is much lower. For example, when using aerobic plyometrics, I am a fan of the skipping activities that Gary Gray/Todd Wright have talked about (multi-directional skips and hops) and various medicine ball throws. You would perform these in a work to rest ratio of 6-10sec  or 8-10  reps of work followed by 10-30sec rest and you would do this continuously for 5-10min.  This is a great way to train sports and athletic movements in the initial phases of training when an athlete may not be prepared to tolerate more intense methods of jumping or plyometrics and may need to work on more general type movements.

The alactic-aerobic circuit can be performed in a similar fashion however the intensity of the activities will be greater – more intense jumps, skips, hops, or sprints. The work period is again around 6-10sec or 8-10 reps followed by a rest interval of 20-40sec depending on the intensity of the exercises choosen and you ability to recover.  For example, 10yrd sprints with 30sec recovery, or a circuit of  jumps and/or hops for a desired number of repetitions.

Anaerobic-glycolytic circuits

These are what most people think about when they hear the word “circuit”.  These sorts of circuits have gained popularity recently with the various bootcamp and crossfit type of training methods out there.  Oftentimes people refer to these as “metabolic circuits” or “metabolic training”.  I would, however, caution people from using these circuits so frequently and/or year round.  The intensity of these types of circuits can take their toll on the body and this type of work is not a great starting point for someone beginning training with a limited training background.

Anaerobic circuits can be divided into extensive or intensive. These can be timed sets of work or they can consist of lifting weights to failure or near failure in the 6-8 rep range (similar to the repetitive effort method talked about by Mel Siff in Supertraining and made popular by Westside Barbell).

If the sets are timed they can be anywhere from 30sec to 2min. The 30-60sec intervals are what I would call more intensive and the 75-120sec intervals are what I would call more extensive. The rest interval in with these circuits is typically a 1:1, 1:2, or 1:3 work to rest ratio (so work for 30sec rest for 30sec or work for 30sec rest for 60sec, or work for 30sec rest for 90sec).  This type of work would be used only at the appropriate time in the training program. I do not start with this sort of work with people and it may only occupy a short block (2-3weeks) in a training program.

The type of exercises I choose here would be either general resistance training exercises (if you are using 6-8reps to failure or 1-rep shy of failure), some sort of complex (barbell complex, KB complex, DB complex), or sprinting activities (bike or running).  Another thing I have used are medicine ball circuits where we have a specific number of repetitions for each of the different throws and I time how long it takes them to go through the circuit and have them rest 1-2x’s their working set.

The important thing with anaerobic-glycolytic circuits in the intensity you are working at.  This method could easily fall under the general fitness circuit method if the intensity is too low.  Medicine ball circuits can be used in either an aerobic or anaerobic fashion as can various complexes (DB, KB, BB) depending on the weight on the bar and how hard you are working.  However, if the goal is to develop the anaerobic-glycolytic system then the intensity needs to be appropriately chosen for the given work duration.

Rest Intervals

The rest interval for the various circuits is essential!  Too often coaches and athletes cut their rest interval short in order to try and “do more work”or just get things done in a faster period of time.  If you want to properly develop some of these energy systems then the rest interval is an important rule to follow as it will ensure that you are able to put the greatest amount of effort into the work interval.  There are times when doing things under fatigue and trying to repeat your effort in this manner are important, however, you should work up to this sort of training by first making sure that you can give 100% and slowly lowering the rest interval until you can repeat maximal or near maximal efforts with minimal rest.