Chris T. on Athletic Pendulum

Expert Discussion Strength Training
1

Hello everybody this is a fragment of an article by Chris t. from T-nation

This last pendulum is for athletes requiring both strength and power. This is especially true of such sports as football, hockey, rugby, track and field events, etc. This pendulum is different from the others in that it includes four steps instead of three. This is because athletes will require a broader range of physical capacities.
On a side note, it’s possible to design a pendulum of any type (bodybuilding, powerlifting, athletic) using four steps, but don’t use any more because the interval between two similar steps will be too long to stimulate optimal gains.
Here’s what an athletic-specific pendulum should look like:

And the weekly breakdown should be:
Week 1: Structural (hypertrophy: moderate volume/moderate load)
Week 2: Functional (strength 80-90%)
Week 3: Functional power 1 (strength-speed)
Week 4: Functional power 2 (speed-strength)
Week 5: Functional power 1 (strength-speed)
Week 6: Functional (strength 80-90%)
Week 7: Structural (hypertrophy: moderate volume/moderate load)

Well it seems to me so OK but I have a few doubts…

1-In spite of the hypertrophy phases, Could this system of training be exclusively indicated for GPP? or it could be good to use it all around the year?

2-How we can train in such a manner that we can combine it with the “peaking” concept? (if we can use that system trough all the year)

So much thanks in advance, I hope the experienced ones of the site could help with their oppinions, anyway I appreciate any idea on it :slight_smile:

2

I too have kind of wondered about those issues.

Not to hijack your thread but if you’re gaining the attention of others here to CT’s stuff I was wondering what some thoughts about his continuum training article are. It looks solid in that you can have a GPP, SPP and Pre-comp phase and that you could even peak it twice a year easily. The only hole I was seeing in it was that it looked difficult to fit sprint training or throws training into the schedule.

Here’s the link:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=647910

Anybody have anything to say about this?

3

It has been discussed before I suggest you do a search using Pendulum as keyword.

My recollection was that there are better ways for athletes to train. Joe Kenn’s Tier was one example cited.

4

Lot of thanks John, and my excuses for not having search it correctly, I´ve been out of the forum for a pack of moths so it seems like everything is new to me :frowning:

5

Pendulum method is a hybrid of short linear method of periodization (sequential approach) — like a pyramid!

The shortcomings of this approach for elite athletes are the followings:

  • One week of particual emphasis is too short to provide an adaptation
  • There is 1/3-4 development/non-development ratio of a given ability, and this seems like an uforable condition (“Use it or loose it” law)
  • Too much of emphasis switching, which disable elites to adapt
  • This approach is hardly implemented to all around athletic development/system
  • You can find more on this http://www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/abstracts/pdf/periodization-overview.doc including a pro’s and con’s of other periodization methods
  • I have read the article long time ago, so maybe I have missed something here!

The solution is either conjugated approach or conjugate sequence system. Both can be easily implemented into the Tier system. Visit Joe Kenn’s page (bighouse) or buy the book — you won’t regret it!

6

Yeah, Kenn’s system is good. CT’s thing though probably works well for today’s ADD generation. Try getting high school kids to do the same thing twice in a row anymore. Unless you’ve worked with kids, and taught them correctly, from the time they were young, it can be very difficult to take an older teen in high school and put him on a “program”. They want results yesterday.

They are both good options, depending on your situation.

I’ve actually adapted Kenn’s initial thoughts into a 2 week phase blocks for high school kids. I guess it could also be viewed as expanding CT’s. Contraction or expansion, it all depends what where you are coming from.

7

Are you able to provide an example?

8

So Kenn’s approach is good for athletes. In your opinion does it apply well to sprinters as well as throwers?

9

to me its just theoretical.

How do you wanna train speed with weights??? Or am i totally wrong with his idea?

10

You could either use weight training as a means to general improvements, and let sport (i.e. track in this example) be the specific.

Or you could do it inno-sport style. (please don’t turn this into an inno-thread).

11

well, so thats nothing new,ithink.

Doing max strength with weights/EMS and “specific” speed work on the track.

Just what we are doing all the time, when unloading track/weights and setting goal at different periods in the season.

12

John,

I can try. I have devided all high school sports into 3 seasons; Fall, Winter, Spring.

I also have three training phases/blocks; GPP/Hypertrophy, Strength, Power.

I also have them do 3 catagories of training per day; explosive, main, circuit.

Now with that all estabolished, i have a small weight room so i have to shot-gun start the phases/blocks so that we don’t bottle-neck the bench and squat rack.

When school starts Spring will start with GPP, Fall will start with Strength, and Winter will start with power.

Every two weeks they switch/progress to the next phase.

Now every training day covers all three catagories of training; explosive, main, circuit, however, the order changes according to phase.

GPP goes, circuit, main, explosive.
Strength goes; main, explosive, circuit.
And Power goes Explosive, main, circuit.

The difference lies in the amount of work geared towards each catagory.

The first catagory of the day has the most emphasis, therefore, it get’s the majority of the attention. The other two catagories or more or less on preservation or preperation mode, with less volume and intensity.

I did this all for flow purposes.

I have also printed up about 24 workouts, with only slight differences, per phase. Everytime a kid comes in he/she only has to grab a workout from the correct phase and go to it.

I also have master boards that show the yearly flow.

Also, every week the sets/reps slightly changes, so they feel like they are never doing the same thing twice, even though in the big picture, they really are.

When designing this, i had to try to keep my flow my main priority along with the kids lack of attention these days.

If this makes no sense i can try to upload my charts.

Oh, yeah, I also call each phase by a school color instead of gpp, strength, power. My workout sheets match the correct color for that phase also.

13

I tried to upload my charts but it was a mess. I’ll try again later. If all else fails, I can put it on a website that I use, and post an attachment.

14

Those kids are lucky to have you. This sounds like a solid plan that is easy for them to follow and keeps them motivated.

15

Thank you very much. It is always great to hear positive comments back from peers.

16

I think Chris T should stick to training his biceps. He’s way out of his league when he tries to relate his bodybuilding routines to athletics. I remember one training routine he recommended for hockey players was to do up to 10 all-out 400m runs, because running a 400m is about the same amount of time as a hockey shift and it develops the energy systems they require most??

This guy has no idea what he’s talking about.

17

I disagree he is one smart guy although I think his volume of weight room work is far too high for most people.

I recall that 400m program and the discussion of intensity and it most definitely wasn’t 100% effort. I have a feeling it was approx 75-80% but the rest periods were pretty short around 90 seconds. That combined with the volume made it extremely difficult.

18

I agree Thib is a real smart guy, very hard working. He has a good ability to get his message across to the lay audience, which is usually backed up from the scientific and coaching literature.