(This is the vertical jump/power/speed training program I was talking about in the other thread.)
Canadian Ascending - Descending Power Training
By: Chris Thibaudeau
Canada is a land of many strength training legends. Maybe it’s the frozen tundra and the dark forests we live in or the fact that we have to carry a shovel and dig our way to work in feet of iced snow. Either way, there has been a lot of good strength training advice coming from our side of the border. No doubt that you’ve heard about such Eskimos as Charles Poliquin or Charlie Francis. It’s possible that you also are aware of the existence of a Polar Bear named Pierre Roy. Well, for every well-known Canadian strength coach out there, there is a dozen more just as good that still dwell in the dark, unknown or unrecognized by most strength adepts. Maybe it’s due to the fact that the strength coaching profession is not as respected and revered here as it is on your side of the border or in Europe. Regardless, there are great coaches around that do have some unique training methods worthy of being added to our training codex.
Such a man is strength coach Jean Boutet. A mountain of a man who was himself a strength powerhouse and a **** good football player in his youth. This man, rugged in style and crude of words (great blues singer too!) has produced time after time incredibly powerful athletes in all the range of athletes. From youngsters to master athletes, from synchronized swimmers to football linemen. His training approach is simple, to the point and extremely effective … to say the least!
Probably his greatest achievement as a strength coach is the training of Pascal Caron, the break man for the Canada 1 bobsled team. At the training camp Pascal turned some heads after he bench pressed 425lbs at a body weight of 175lbs (without a bench shirt or any mechanical aid/recoil gear) and ran the 60m in 6.36 (0.02 sec. faster than the actual World Record by Maurice Greene of 6.38). Among other things, he has power snatched 100kg (hang snatch actually) and hang cleaned 130kg for a triple. At a pro football combines a few years back he also bench pressed 225lbs 33 times and ran a 4.17 / 40.
Coach Boutet’s accomplishments are not limited to Pascal as he is currently training dozens of hockey players from midget up to pros (NHL and AHL), he also trains over 70 football players and dozens of other elite athletes from various sports. He is also a great football coach. Last season he was coaching two teams, one High School team and one Collegiate team and both won the provincial championship (equivalent of the state championship) and both were undefeated for a combined 24 - 0!!!
Okay, this is not a eulogy or a biography, you will get some useful training info! Specifically I will expose you to one of Coach Boutet’s most effective, yet simple, training method. The “ascending-descending” method. This method is aimed at improving lower body power to its maximum level. It is simple, brutal, and unbelievably effective.
The nuts and bolts
The method is simple. It uses a series of exercises, each different in nature in regard to the F = ma equation. It will use one pure slow-speed strength exercise (or limit strength exercise), one strength-speed exercise, one speed-strength exercise, one reactive strength exercise and one bounding exercise.
Exercises:
- Full back squat / Front squat
- Hang snatch / Hang clean
- Jump squat
- Hurdle jumps / Depth jumps
- Step up jumps
The workout is done twice per week. The first time you start with no.5 and work up to no.1 (ascending training). In the second training you start with no.1 and work your way down to no.5 (descending training). This way, you emphasize the high speed movements once and the slower speed movements with a greater strength component once also. This will allow you to get an incredibly powerful and explosive lower body!
Program design
While it’s not set in stone, I recommend using a 3-1 approach to this training. This means that you increase the volume during the first 3 weeks, then cut it down drastically during the fourth week to allow the body to surcompensate. During week 3 you should be at the end of the line … you should be tired and somewhat fatigued (although not excessively). Performance-wise that third week is your lowest point (keep that in mind!), but during the fourth week you get better and better and when you start a new
4 weeks cycle you are much improved compared to the first cycle. This progression is maintained for 3 cycles.
Here’s what a sample program might look like. You’ll notice that I do not write the reps, sets and load immediately. Right after the workout description there will be a list of periodization tables for each exercise explaining how much to do every week. BTW, the exercises are not supersetted, you do all the sets for exercise one then move on to exercise two etc.