Db Hammer-program advice

Expert Discussion Planning and Periodization
1

Hi

I wanted to do this template/program that Db Hammer says is optimal to build some serious strength for his later power work. Considering I want to develope my agility for bball could someone who knows about Db’s stuff recommend a set of exercises that I could use for the program?

Also, for session 1, block 1, does that mean I am supposed to do sets until a 6% fatigue (ie get below optimal work capacity) of the excersise. Also rest four days between sesions 1 and 2? Should I spread my sets throughout several sessions to in order for better cns recovery efficiency? How much rest inbetween sets?

If someone could also give me some general advice on how to generally implement such a template/program it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Extracted from http://www.inno-sport.net/Articles/The%20Buchenholz%20Method%20Vol%202.htm

The Buchenholz Method

Volume 2 : How to Become a Freakshow Athlete!

by Dietrich Buchenholz

Block 1
(1) Session 1: Heavy Eccentrics (N x 5-9 seconds. Control as much weight as possible with a soft touch down to support pins/apparatus.)
(2) Session 2: Iso-Miometrics (N x 6-10 reps. 3 second iso-pause between each positive contraction. Emphasis on acceleration out of pause- EXPLODE!)
Block 2
(1) Session 1: Max Miometrics (N x 1 rep. Bar lifted from rested position at mid-point of movement. Stress the reduction of time between when you begin to apply force to the bar and when the bar actually begins to move! BLAST it up!)
(2) Session2: Oscillatory-Isometrics (N x 25-40 seconds. Focus on achieving as much tension as possible before you strive for as much relaxation as possible. Rebound action should come with minimal effort. Flex…release…spring!)
Program Guidelines: (Alternate from Block 1 to Block 2 every week for 4-6 weeks)

2

Jesus christ! I don’t know if that program will make you stronger but I sure as hell know it will take its toll on your body. Unless you are 100% injury free I would look elsewhere. If you are a high level lifter I think you will find that these methods will take more than they give back.

3

Actually yes, I would say that I am 100% injury free. I’m an 18 year old bball player but my frequency of actual structured games and practice is very low. I don’t really won’t do do heavy strength training because Db hammers says this reduces an athletes overall ability to relax after a contraction, something thats very necessary for an elite sportplayer. However, the workout seems to resemble what Db Hammer actually recommends against. But maybe its a compromise, ie not as bad as traditional heavy weight training but still something needs to prepare you for EMS and actual ‘force training.’

4

The program looks good as long as you do it for 4 weeks only and get off it when you start doing power.The stuff will prevent loss of speed qualities associated with regular intense squating programs such as Smolov.
I just don’t like the fact that people refer to these methods as “DB’s stuff”. Verchoshansky wrote about this 20 years ago (yes,all of it!!)

5

From DB’s article remember it is a big cycle

Get stronger
Get more powerful
Get Bigger
Get stronger
Get more powerful

So while the strength work is “against” what DB says, if your strength levels stay constant- where they are now- Your power output will eventually plateau.

The goal is maximal power.

According to DB you can produce max power between 51 and 74% 1rm (AW). So when you begin to produce max power with 74% then you need to get stronger, because at your given strength levels you have maxed out your power.

A common misunderstanding of DB’s system is the notion that he ignores or doesn’t value strength work. Strength is the foundation. Strength represents potential. There is a time to get stronger, there is a time to get faster.

6

Exercise judgement. What if DB advised you to perform high intensity reactive drop jumps off of a bridge.LOL

If heavy strength training inhibited the performance of elite sportplayers (I presume this is refering to team sport athletes), then it would appear that football players, hockey players, rugby players, etc, have been doing it all wrong all these years.

We must not make the mistake of viewing any singular peculiarity of training as existing in a vacuum. Every training consideration exists as part of a living breathing thing, in our case, the human organism.

It would not be wise for an elite sportplayer to engage in only reactive drills, nor would it be wise for an elite sport player to engage in only maximal strength (or duration in DB’s terminology) training. The key is to program the optimal volume of work at varying intensities over time and specific to the motor demands of the sport in question. This,however, is easier said than done, which is why I am greatly looking forward to attending Charlies Programming workshop.

7

I think its quite possible that “football players, hockey players, rugby players, etc, have been doing it all wrong all these years.” Look at rugby players-have you ever seen a rugby player run a full field try at a decent pace (I doubt it). Rugbys player are slow and anyone with common sense can tell it in large part to the training methods they take part in. About a year ago I saw one of the fastest players in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) race against some amateur sprinters, (electronically timed, this was a serious, proper race). He got beaten easily, real easily. Winning time was around 12 flat.

NFL players are a different story. They are the definition of excellent athletes. However, Db’s point is that heavy strength training limits the ability of a muslce to relax after a contraction which hightens an athletes potential injury factor as will as limiting the bodies potential ability for a peak force contraction. NFL players do suffer from a lot of muscle injuries. I agree that this is no causal evidence however. But it is also not proof to suggest that Db’s theories are incorrect simply because athetes in various sports (football etc) are good athletes already.

Charlie, or anyone else, what is you’re oppinion on Db’s idea of not doing slow heavy weight training. Do you think it is justified?

I want to be a very explosive, quick guard in basketball. And yes, Db’s stuff has made me scared of doing traditional heavy weight training. It would be much easier for me to ignore Db’s advice and continues the heavy weights but I’m not going to because I have this idea in my head that if I do, then I will screw my chances up of becoming the champion athlete that I want to become.

8

well said james!!! I hope DB was reading!!!

9

Look at all the athletes who have lifted heavy weights and have been exlposive. Look at the throwers, they are all heavily muscled and are still very explosive. Throwers are just under the strength development of PL’s and OL’s. You play basketball right, go ask Ben Wallace if heavy weight training has hindered his playing ability.

Also Ben lifted heavy weights, and he looked pretty relaxed when he blazed down the track in 9.79!!!

10

NFL players are a different story. They are the definition of excellent athletes. However, Db’s point is that heavy strength training limits the ability of a muslce to relax after a contraction which hightens an athletes potential injury factor as will as limiting the bodies potential ability for a peak force contraction. NFL players do suffer from a lot of muscle injuries. I agree that this is no causal evidence however. But it is also not proof to suggest that Db’s theories are incorrect simply because athetes in various sports (football etc) are good athletes already.

Charlie, or anyone else, what is you’re oppinion on Db’s idea of not doing slow heavy weight training. Do you think it is justified?

I want to be a very explosive, quick guard in basketball. And yes, Db’s stuff has made me scared of doing traditional heavy weight training. It would be much easier for me to ignore Db’s advice and continues the heavy weights but I’m not going to because I have this idea in my head that if I do, then I will screw my chances up of becoming the champion athlete that I want to become.

More then likely you will screw your chances of becoming a good athlete by worrying too much about this. I don’t know a thing about you other then that you’re a guard in basketball…But if you put 100 lbs on your basic lifts and arent more explosive and quick then hit me up for $50.

rugby players are slow cause of their aerobic conditioning…they have to run 50 miles during a match (ever seen a fast marathon runner?)…football players don’t have to worry about this contidioning it’s more of a power sport.

Do you know what the difference between an NFL defensive back and NBA basketball player is? About 10 inches on the vertical jump and 200+ lbs of squatting power in favor of the DB.

10 minutes after a heavy set of squats the vertical jump is up to 10% higher. What does that tell you?

The time to worry about stuff like this is when you’re already strong and you have to consider where to focus your volume.

11

Good advice! <clap> <clap>

12

I agree with Kelley on this one. Strength is our foundation.

Goind back to DB and my forts post,

The first strp is to get strong.

13

My intention is not to disprove DB’s theories. Infact, I feel that DB (or who ever he is) has put together a highly systematic and well thought out training concept.

My reference to elite athletes who have done well for years by becoming strong via heavy lifting simply indicates that maximal effort training has secured a place in sport training. If you look closely at DB’s methods you will observe that maximal effort training falls under neural duration training, which will greatly benefit any athlete who already exhibits strengths on the rate/magnitude end of the curve, and who’s sport demands strength/power development.

Once high/max levels of explosive strength and power are capable of being expressed, the only factor which will raise these motor abilities is the development of max strength. This calls for heavy lifting.

As Kelly and I have agreed upon in the past, 99.99999999999999999999999% of most athletes are no where near capable of producing max force so highly so as to create a large explosive strength deficit.

Do not make the mistake of breezing over the development of GPP (of which max strength is a component) simply to be dazed by DB’s nomenclature. Remember, as has already been stated, almost every training concept that DB Hammer illustrates was utilized 40 years ago in the former USSR and Eastern Bloc. Where do you think he learned it. He has simply constructed, as I said, a highly systematic and organized framework with which we may apply the concepts, and I am very respectful and appreciative for and of his knowledge and concepts.

I agree with your statement that many high level team sport athletes have experienced sporting success in spite of their F’d up training programs, however, I was not refering to these athletes in my initial post.

Regardless of which training philosophy you wish to subscribe to, the following may be viewed as a golden universal rule:

If you identify the requirement for maximal strength to be specific to the sport for which you are training/competing in, then you would be foolish to discard the employment of maximal effort training as PART of your training program.

Understand where all components of strength exist along the curve and you will appreciate the fact that ALL strengths (within a strength/power development context) are relative to max strength.

14

[i]"Let’s take another example- not so much to help you but because I’m having fun with these! You have two basketball players who can jump just as high as one another. They are driving the lane stride-for-stride, one on offense and one on defense. The offensive player can achieve peak-twtich 20 ms into the concentric phase of the jump and the defensive player takes 45 ms into the concentric portion of the jump to achieve peak-twitch. Knowing that the quicker the achievement of peak-twitch the greater the rate of force development of the athlete (which means the quicker the athlete will achieve peak velocity and consequently get off the ground quicker); Who do you think is going to win this battle? Can you smell chin-nuts, anyone?

The fact is that there are lots of baseball players who can swing 90 mph and lots of basketball players who can jump 35 inches. But when they have to display these abilities at “game speed” only a few of them survive. Why? Poor explosive-power development (read: not enough speed-strength work in their training programs)."[/i]

http://www.inno-sport.net/Articles/The%20Buchenholz%20Method%20Volume%201.htm

That’s what caught my attention. So are you guys saying thats theres no real justification to what he proposes? Doesn’t the program that I originally posted have the benefits of accomplishing the same thing that heavy weight training accomplishes without the negatives of what I have been talking about?

To me his example make good sense. Compare Kobe Bryant to all the other athletes in the NBA. The others may be just as strong and just as explosive but Kobe Bryant can explode up and dunk by the time the defense is rising to block the shot. It seems he has the ability the achieve ‘peak twitch’ very fast. Although this has a lot to do with genetics, the reasons Db’s ideas appeal to me so much is because it seems he system provides you with the means to achieve such athletic ability, even though naturally I may not be one who achieves peak twitch that quickly.

I appreciate all your oppinions and I agree that training is not just about theory but practical implementation. But to make it to where I want to be in basketball I’m going to need to become an Iverson, kobe Bryant sought of athlete. But, I’m also going to have to work on my individual skills alot too.

I’m 6foot and not likely to grow any taller. I have a natural ability for Basketball but I feel my athletic training is going to be the thing that makes or breaks me.

I can now see, judging from your posts, that I probably do need some guidance on my goal. Could you guys please give me some suggestions on what I need to do, steer me in the right direction. Obviously I’ll do as much research as I need to do. I just wanted to make clear that my aspirations arn’t just some impactical fantasy kind of ideas that I have in my head. I’m being honest and practical with myself and I truly beleive that I can make it.

Thoughts?

15

The progam you proposed would make you stronger which is most likely what you need at this time and what we were trying to say is don’t be afraid of getting stronger. You would be surprised how strong Kobe Bryant is. Haven’t you seen the commercial of him doing squats with chains? If you don’t have the natural genetic structure and build of someone like Kobe or Allen Iverson then there’s a greater likelihood that it’s gonna take plenty of baseline strength to accomplish your goal. There’s a pic somewhere on this site of me throwing down a dunk. When I was 16 I only had a 23 inch vertical on a good day. I wasted 2 years doing reactive drills etc. without anything to show for it because just like you I was afraid of getting stronger.

Why don’t you lay out what you’ve been doing as well as some of your best lifts, VJ, etc.

16

Sorry accidental post-please delete mod.

17

Thanks Kelly, I really appreciate your help.

The thing is I haven’t been doing anything very structured, ever. This year I’v had to spend so much time studying for school that I just fitted in a weight session when ever I could.

I did:

bench press, 1-5 reps (basically as much weight as I could lift)
Squats, 1-3 reps
deadlifts, 1-3 reps
Chinups, 4-10reps
upper back exercise, 1-5reps
military press, 3-6 reps.

my pb’s for each: squat 95kg, bench 85kg, deads 115 kgs, chinup 10reps (bodyweight), upperback:not sure, military 55kg.

This may have been an decent program if I actually did it consistently and ate right and streched. But I didn’t. I’v now just bought colgan’s sport nutrition guide and zatiorsky’s book to learn some basics.
I’m now committed to eating right right so that shouldn’t be a factor. I’m now on a 3 month break from school. And next year I’ll have as much time as I need for my training. The pro’s if my ultimate goal, my dream and my obsession (thats sounds a bit over the top but you probably get my point).

My training history:

Well I started getting interested about improving my athleticism about when I was fifteen. Started off with calf raises and 1 legged dquats then few months latter did Air alert 2, not much gains but it helped me devleop a work ethic. Havent done any program or such since then, just basically weights, skipping, jumping around, adjustable rim dunking, ocassional sprinting every now and then. So basically not much structure but my trainaing got better as i got older and learnt more.

My current 2 foot standing vert is 30inches. Running 1 leg is about 33-34, running 2 leg is about 34 (can almost dunk 1 handed with reach being 7f8inch). These may be sligthly too high estimations, but should be fairly accurate. I think I’v got good fast twich genes but I don’t know if this effects my training methods anyway. I’v never really done any consistent, smart athleticism-improving focused training. I’v been doing a lot of research cause I’m now commited to devloping a smart structured program that will make me the athlete I want to be. But as you can see this is harder than at first glance. I’v also got to be able to do alot of individual skill training in the day, so I got to work this into my overall training in a smart way.

Thankyou

18

You are putting the cart before the horse. If you READ the article and the previous one (part 1) DB clearly states that a certain foundation of strength is needed for success. He does come off hard on those that suggest that max strength is the most important quality, but by no means does he suggest that it is not important. He also repeats what I wrote earlier: Get stronger-get more powerful-get bigger-get stronger-get more powerful. It’s a cycle. Notice that getting stronger is a part of the cycle.

So is he against all forms of max strength training?

NO

You are rather weak and need to get stronger.

What do you weigh?

19

I weigh 70kgs=154lbs

20

You have a F’N truckload of room for maximal strength development before you should even think about further gains hindering your athleticism.

Ben Johnson was squatting over three times his bodyweight when he was the fastest human on the planet.