A question that continually comes up when working with clients who are from the general public is:

Last week I discussed how people can get enamored with certain exercises which the often leads to confusion when it comes time to write the program as the individual is paralyzed with all the potential options and overwhelmed with the notion that they have to do everything in one training session.

In that article I also included a link to the old Bill Starr 5×5 program. This program can take you a long way as it affords you the time to work on your exercise technique for some of the key lifts in strength training (you don’t need to max out loads to do the program and even beginners can perform the program with very light weight and just making small increases each week and of course if an exercise does not work for an individual for one reason or another you can simply swap it out for something else).

Once you have performed that program long enough and are ready to move on, a simple way to set up your training would be to concurrently train different qualities. For example, instead of focusing only on strength in your workout you would actually try and perform a little bit of everything – a little strength, a little power (speed type activities), and a little repetitive work (for anatomical adaptation or local muscle endurance).

With most beginners or those that only have a short period of time to prepare for a competitive season this sort of concurrent approach seems to work really well. For the beginner it exposes them to a variety of different stimuli and allows them to make a vast number of adaptations in their overall fitness. For the individual with only a few weeks to prepare for their competitive season this type of program will ensure that they are hitting the major qualities they need for their sport when time is limited (obviously when possible it is best to have an appropriate amount of time to focus on the necessary qualities and not be forced to rush into things).

Below is a simple concurrent training program I used a few years ago for some high school athletes who were familiar with the proper technique for the basic exercises because we first spent time learning them.

Day 1
Warm up (Begin with movements specific to FMS needs and progress to dynamic activities like squats, push ups, skips, hops, and easy jumps)
1) Box Jump – 3×5
2) Bench press- 3-5 x 3-5
3a) 1-leg/2-arm DB RDL- 3×6-8
3b) one arm db row- 3×6-8
4) core work

Day 2
Warm up (Begin with movements specific to FMS needs and progress to dynamic activities like squats, push ups, skips, hops, and easy jumps)
1) Medicine ball over the back throw- 3×3
2) Squat- 3-5 x 3-5
3a) Db incline press- 3×6-8
3b) 1-arm cable row – 3×6-8
4) core work

Day 3
Warm up (Begin with movements specific to FMS needs and progress to dynamic activities like squats, push ups, skips, hops, and easy jumps)
1) Power Clean – 3×5
2) Pull up variation- 3-5 x 3-5
3a) Split squat – 3×6-8
3b) DB bench press – 3×6-8
4) core work

As you can see, the program is pretty simple. Each day begins with some sort of explosive movement – Day 1 = Lower body explosive, Day 2 = Upper body explosive, Day 3 = Total body explosive (Olympic lift variation is usually what I select here. You can choose to do the full lifts or just perform pulls if you are more comfortable with that). The strength training program is just made up of three exercises – a push, a pull, and a lower body exercise. Again, you can use which ever exercises you like. The first exercise immediately following the explosive exercise is considered the “main lift” for that day and is loaded the heaviest. Each of the three days has a main lift devoted to one of the three main movement patterns – push, legs, pull. I used 3-5 sets x 3-5 reps down as the sets and reps will vary depending on (a) how the athlete is feeling and (b) what the athlete did the week prior so that we can progress properly. These don’t need to be full on max effort lifts and usually we are leaving 1-2 reps in the tank with one out of every 4-5 weeks we make an attempt to work up to an RM load (if the athlete is up to it). The next two exercises, which make up the other 2 movement patterns that were not main lifts for that day, are performed for reps to enhance local muscle endurance or for anatomical adaptation (hypertrophy). I usually use 6-8 reps but sometimes we will do 8-12 reps. For these exercises, again, we commonly leave 1-2 reps in the tank but there are times where we may try and do reps to exhaustion. The workout concludes with some basic core work, usually done in a circuit fashion which also will include some sort of “pre-hab” activity for the sport.

Additional notes:

• The rest intervals for the explosive activity and the main lift (the heavy strength exercise) are as much as the athlete needs, usually 3-5min, to ensure that they can move the load as quickly as possible (even with the heavy strength work they are trying to move the weight fast). The rest intervals for the exercise following the main lift is shorter and can be anywhere from 1-2min (sometimes down to 45sec).

• Rest intervals can be completely passive rest, however, I do like to occupy some of the rest interval time (especially for the exercises requiring longer rest) with some of the corrective strategies that were used in the warm up which focus on the athlete’s main needs. Of course it should go without saying that exercise selection should be driven by the athlete’s needs and deficiencies. If the movement screen uncovers a glaring limitation that takes a specific exercise off the table then a different exercise which is more appropriate should be substituted, to ensure the safety and health of the athlete, while that limitation is appropriately addressed through corrective strategies or other means necessary.

• The workout looks brief and it is. It should take somewhere around 50-70min depending on the time needed during the warm up. This leaves time for other activities such as practice, energy system work, sprinting, etc. The way these other things fit into the program is essential and will vary depending on the time of year, the athlete’s needs, and the focus of the program. Depending on these factors the workout may be even lower/higher in volume or the intensity may be scaled back/ramped up. The key is to remember that you are training an athlete and not a powerlifter so what you do in the gym is really an adjunct to the actual sport, it isn’t the “main show” itself.

To recap, it doesn’t need to be overly complicated. It is easy to get swept away with complex periodization schemes, block periodization, undulating systems, and vertical integration. However, for most beginner athletes with a young training age a concurrent program that addresses their needs and is tailored to complement their overall sports program (practice and competition) will get you very far. As the individual gets more advanced you can begin to consolidate similar qualities onto separate days or into specific blocks of concentrated loads.

Keep it simple. Work hard!

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.