in need of good advice

Expert Discussion Strength Training
1

Ok, I am in a bit of a different situation. I’m 22 years old and i’m going to be trying out for the area div 1-AA school. And I need help with my training. I was looking at the thread about the miami hurricanes training regimine and I liked some of the things that were on it.

Now basically what I want to do is get stronger and faster, but who doesnt. I’m 6’2 230lbs i want to get down to around 210-215 by the spring(start of camp). I need some help with my current training regimine. And I have a few questions as to what I should and shouldnt be doing.

I have a pretty good regimine now, it just doesnt have much structure. On Monday and Friday I do plyo’s in the morning, and LB later in the day. I would like to get out and run more but i live in ohio and its not exactly the greatest weather in the world to go sprinting. So I was wondering if I could really hit my hams hard in the gym, and that combined with plyos see a gain in speed??

Another question I have is should my workouts be centered around olympic lifts?

A few things that might be useful in order to give sound avice:

-never maxed out on squats generally do 340 for 3-4 reps 6 sets
-i prefer DB bench press over BB both on incline and flat
-looking to get extremely lean
-want to build strong fast legs and build a lil size and strength in my upper body

So if anyone can point me in the right direction i would greatly appreciate it. If there is any info you need that i left out just ask.

Thanx 4 ur time!

2

You prefer dumbell bench, but doesn’t barbell bench build a little more mass?
What is you uperbody routine?
If u want more size on your upper yet want to lose 15 pound of weight I take it that it is fat that you want to Lose?

3

i feel i get a much better ROM and a nice strecth when i use DB and i feel alot stronger with DB

my body type is a mesomorph so i have a natural athletic build but i jus need to trim up around my wasit line. and shape up my legs. i would like to build some size overall but strength is more important to me than size

4

I like DB’s for team sports and conatct sposrt,
I think they have more of a practical applucation - but thats just a personal thing.
:wink:

5

If you do little or no sprinting you will need to develop rate of force development through other means. Plyos are certainly an option but be aware, being a big guy, you may be prone to injury. Also progress in plyos can be difficult to quantify. Olympic lifts are a good option to develop RFD providing you’re technique is sound. A good guide is to keep total reps >75% (<92%!) between 10 and 15 per session.

6

How often should i do the olympic lifts? How many times a week? And what particular olympic lifts should I definatly do. Can you give me an example of what a workout should look like?

I was doing kind of like bodybuilding splits, i.e. back and biceps, chest shoulders and tris, etc. Should I employ more of a total body routine? Would more olympic lifts be more of a total body routine?

How often should i hit the gym? Right now it’s 4-5 days a week. Should everyday include olympic lifts like the hurricanes training says?

I have no time restraits so hitting the gym 5 days a week is no problem.

Thank you for responses!

7

For an intermediate lifter three sessions per week is usually sufficient. If you are not doing any other training components you COULD do more. Hang derivatives are an option and useful if your form is poor or if you want to do higher reps.

Example

Clean/Snatch: 5x2r
Back/front Squat: 4x5r

8

GeneticFreak, I would personally suggest that you check out www.elitefts.com check out the articles section for anything pertaining to football (I am guessing that this is your sport)
The Westside program is excellent with respect to being adapted to football players. If you go to the sport specific section of the elitefts.com (q and a) check out all of the responses pertaining to football (there are many). There are some outstanding contributors (from the staff), in the sport of football, to that forum.
Just to add some personal experience for you. I follow the Westside program (for powerlifting) and I am 6’1 230-233 at about 8-10% bodyfat (drug free), and without even training (specifically) ,for combine testing, I have about a 36’ vertical and can bench 230lbs for 20 repetitions (and I am 29).
James Smith

9

I second jmans Idea

10

All aboard the Westside band wagon…

Westside have some good ideas but the training should be moulded to the individual, NOT the individual moulded to the training.

11

David W, speaking for myself, the Westside/conjugate method proves to be an excellent and highly adaptable model for power development athletes. Thus, it is a great tool which can be “moulded” to the needs of many different kinds of athletes.
Certainly no one program is perfect for everyone. However, any program may be “optimal” for a specific athlete at a specific point in time. Therefore, it is my belief that the Westside/conjugate method is optimal for quite a few who have posted on Charlie’s forum.
I do not intend to divert this particular thread into a debate, however I would certainly welcome an exchange of ideas on a new thread, if you so desire.
James Smith

12

I like the westside template also, but I think the idea would be to use their ideals to develop a program involving the oly lifts as well. For example, the idea of exercise rotation and building up to a low rep max are great ones and a plan could easily be molded around it.
ie
Day 1
Pressing Movement-build to 3RM
Pulling Movement(over at westside Ive read it as lats)-3-4x5-6
Push Press-Auto-regulatory clustering(15 sec between reps)

Day 2
Snatch Movement-Auto-regulatory clustering(15sec between reps)
DL Movement-Build to 3RM(have got to keep good form however)
G-H Movement-Build to 3RM

Then there would be two more days that are similar but with different exercises. This fits the mold of only a few exercises, building up to a maximum(3RM) but also squeezes in the oly lifts, I believe it captures the best of both worlds, I could be wrong though.

13

Numba.

The plan you outline will destroy a lifter within four sessions.

My Olympic lifters typically lift between 75 and 90% for doubles. Only once per macro cycle will they go heavier.

Example 4 week cycle; 3 sessions per week. Clean and snatch workouts are alternated.:

2 sessions @ 75%
2 @ 80%
2 @ 82%
2 @ 85%
2 @ 87%
1 @ 90%
Repeat cycle or test max.

For shorter cycles, you may choose 5% intervals.

With higher reps (e.g. 3’s & 5’s), I use ‘relative’ intensity (See ‘Buffering’ article)

14

Why would it destroy a lifter? Total reps per session and per exercise are low and you dont repeat those two days and also its not a 3RM per se, but more like you have 1-2 reps you could do.

15

And I like you buffer idea a lot, but see there I go implying things without saying them again.

  1. With only three move and a total of around 12 reps per exercise(except for assistance lifts where the total volume is outlined) and around 8-10 total reps for oly lifts per session, why wont this work. From what Ive read this low total rep count for each lift and session allows one to repeat heavy lifting.

  2. The use of a 2 rep buffer would allow, I believe, one to maintain an intensity like this, and also the extremely low volume would facilitate this no?

16

i’m lost…

17

OK I have been doing alot of reading and I have come up with this…

Sunday-Off

Monday-Lower Body, Hang Cleans, squats, step-ups, Good Mornings, Glute Ham Raises
ALL HEAVY 5 sets no more than 5 reps

Tuesday- Upper Body,(work entire upperbody?? or split between 2 days??)

Wednesday-Light cleans, squat(no more than 225),RDL, Pull Throughs
work light and fast

Thursday-UpperBody,(same question as Tuesday…)

Friday-Lower Body, step-ups, front squats, good mornings, lunges, reverse hypers, cleans
ALL HEAVY 4 sets of 5

-ab work ED
-Plyo Mon and Fri
-sprinting 3x week max(weather permiting)

How does this look??

18

1.Why do legs 3 times a week and upper body twice?

2.Exercise selection is actually pretty good, but you should have more options for variance for as a football player you goal isnt lifting the most weight possible(which if it was exercise variance wouldnt be the most important thing), but this helps with general neural and muscular adaptation which is important for athletes not competing in competition lifts.

3.I dont like RDL, form can be ify and this can place undue stress on the back and its ligaments. I read about keystone deadlifts and have tried them. They work well.

4.If you look at the response I put for a sample two of four days program, it shows ME lifts build to a 3RM, and auto-regulatory clustering(max of 15 total reps) for oly lifts. I like this approach and feel it will work great, but David W feels differently and I still have no reply on why.

5.Weight training should not be thought of as a conditioning tool, but one to increase ones general nervous system capabilities and muscular strength/power. Conditioning and specific neural qualities can be developed through agility drills, 7 on 7, sprints with short amount of rest periods between(60-90 sec) or types of energy system work.

  1. What days did you plan on sprinting? What type of distances and volume?
19

  1. Wednesday is more of a maintanence day, not really going to put alot of stress on my body.

  2. Don’t really understand what you are saying

  3. I wasnt really sure on the RDL’s either so how about subbing those for good mornings? I dont know what keystone deadlifts are either…

  4. Not really understanding that one either…

  5. Exactly, I am looking to build strength and power. Was planning to do agility drills on tuesday and thursday.

  6. No more than 50 yards, on mon wed and friday, full recovery.
    ex. 10yds 4r
    20yds 3r
    30yds 3r
    40yds 2r

20

  1. Wednesday is more of a maintanence day, not really going to put alot of stress on my body.

  2. Don’t really understand what you are saying

  3. I wasnt really sure on the RDL’s either so how about subbing those for good mornings? I dont know what keystone deadlifts are either…

  4. Not really understanding that one either…

  5. Exactly, I am looking to build strength and power. Was planning to do agility drills on tuesday and thursday.

  6. No more than 50 yards, on mon wed and friday, full recovery.
    ex. 10yds 4r
    20yds 3r
    30yds 3r
    40yds 2r

1.A little iffy on that, I understand active recovery, but I dont know, itd be better to lower volume and be able to get in 4 days of nervous system training

2.Im saying you dont need to list a specific exercise, but a category and select from because this will provide more neural stimuli and result in a greater general neural adaptations(ie your you bodies ability to coordinate firing within a single muscle, between a series of muscles to perform actions, lowering the amount of stimulus needed to activate the muscle, higher muscle activation rate, etc…)

3.A keystrone deadlift is a version of a RDL that does not allow the undue stress on the back to occur. Basically pop your butt out and push your chest forward then perform the movement. This position allows you to go as far as your flexability will allow without letting you round your back.

4.Auto-regulatory clustering is performing a rep, then taking a 15-30 sec pause, this allows for rep quality to be at its highest, and you keep performing reps until quality falls even the slightest bit, then rest, then repeat until reaching total reps(at most 15). Basically for ME exercises perform 3 reps with all weights(starting with the bar, then adding weight until you reach your 3 rep maximum, the max amount of weight you can lift for 3 reps, but make sure that your have a rep left in you, thats when you stop the exercise). Also I am a fan of rep manipulation(acc eccentric, isomiometric, and isometrics), but this is not neccessary. If your interested I can explain in greater detail.

5.For agility drills you can do 2 different ones a day in the morning and as a linebacker another goal should be as much functional structural hypertrophy as you can get as well.

6.Acceleration is the most important thing for a football player, as you rarely get to express max speed. Sprints should be between 30 and 50m, a program looking much like that a 55m sprinters minus the special endurance. Endurance I believe is best developed with energy system work twice a week on off days, this is unweighted low impact low CNS stressfull activity that is specific to the energy system used in football, helps develope explosiveness, helps with recovery with the elevation of heart rate and getting blood pumping throughout the body, and helps to increase capillary density.

Again if you are interested I can elaborate on these points.