I feel as though my progression in terms of strength has been stagnant since 2004 and I know this is strange but true. I was looking back at my maxes before my junior year of football I Power cleaned 205 and before senior year I only improved 25 lbs and power cleaned 230. I Benched 250 before junior year and before senior year I couldn’t get 280 off of my chest. My squat has remained stagnant because I am having lower back pains usually from overexertion.
Only thing that has positively changed is my speed, change of direction, and vertical jump which means I have become more explosive. Which is my goal but college coaches are always interested in stats and I feel like a punk when I mention my lifting stats. Relative to my BW I am weak but I am able to jump 33" and run in the 4.6 range, In terms of that what should be my focus when setting up a program?
How consistent is your training, diet, and recovery plans? What are your recovery workouts like? I know you do westside, but you said before you are suffering from tightness and lower back pain. I’ve said it before, but I think you should consider something other than westside at this point, based on your situation.
Change of pace is always good. Post up a sample of what you’re doing. You may just need to switch it up to see a jump in strength and/or size.
Session 1 - REP UB day
A. Repetition Lift – 4 x 8 @ 65%, 70%, 75%, 80% of 1RM
I. Bench Press
B. Supplemental lift (triceps) – 3 sets of 11 reps
I. Incline DB press
C. Medial Delt or Trap Exercise – 3 sets of 9 reps
I. Rear Delt Flies
Session 2 –ME LB
A. Max Effort Lift – Work up to 5RM
I. Deadlift
B. Supplemental lift (Single leg supplement) – 3 sets of 15 reps
I. BSS
C. Knee Flexion (Hamstring) – 3 x 11
I. Leg Curls
D. Abdominal Exercise – Choose on spot
I. weighted or un-weighted
Session 3 – ME UB
A. Max Effort lift – Work up to 5RM
I. Bench Press
B. Supplemental lift (Lat) – 3 sets
I. Pull-ups
C. Elbow Flexion – 3 sets of 10 reps
I. Barbell Curls
Session 4 – DE LB
A. Olympic Lift – 3 x 3
I. Hang Clean
B. Supplemental lift (Posterior chain) – 3 sets of 10 reps
I. Good-mornings
C. Posterior chain – 4 sets
I. GHR
D. Abdominal Exercise – Choose on spot
I. weighted or un-weighted
My diet is decent I try to eat as much protein rich foods as I can and I drink alot of Milk. I don’t really have a recovery plan but I usually have on rest day between sessions and 2 rest days on the weekend. What are other things I could try besides Westside? (It’s not as though Westside hasn’t been successful in improving my vertical and giving me the strength to run a good 40.)
Let’s assume diet is ok, a quality recovery plan may mean doing low intensity sessions (you didn’t note any), which can be key in recovering and even enhancing the high intensity workouts. On top of that, massage and chiro work helps a lot. If you don’t have the cash (as most of us students), self myofascial release, salt baths, contrast showers, and EMS are VERY beneficial.
When I say instead of Westside, I mean a more traditional approach not maxing out weekly and going for something more subtle and looking at all elements rather than just max strength (speed, elastic strength via plyos, and the other little things like work capacity and flexibility).
I know a lot of westside guys say that Westside and CFTS go together (it may at certain points in certain sports), but a quality GPP program may not have max strength as a focus, but rather, hypertrophy, increasing work capacity, and working on weak points (flexibility, weak muscle groups, etc.) and giving some time off of the more stressful work (maxing out weekly is rough–look at the # of injuries Westside has, case in point).
Ok I have an EMS machine but I need new gel pads.
How long would this GPP last for?
I also deload usually around vacation times when the weightroom isn’t open.
During the school year I planned on deloading but only using the Rep method the whole week.
I am guessing I should remove all the ME work and only focus on DE, Rep, and Flexibility.
I am also going to go back to a 3 session to 7 day approach instead of a 4 session 8 day approach.
Here are my stats by the way:
Height: 6’2"
Age: 17
40 yard dash: 4.64 - 12/17/05
Vert: 33" (jump pad) - 12/17/05
Weight: 211.5 - 12/17/05
Bench: 270 - 08/19/05 (185 x 12) - 12/17/05
Squat: 410 - Spring 05
Deadlift: 415 - Spring 05
Power Clean: 230 - 08/16/05
Hang Clean: 210 - 12/19/05
Someone recommended I do this what are your thoughts…
I would keep the ME Upper and RE Upper and split methods like this…
ME Upper- ME Work + Mx Intensity ISO + RE
DE Upper- DE Work/ Mx Duration ISO + RE
Switch ME every 2-3 Weeks, and Keep DE & Mx Duration ISO alternated every 3 weeks, Assistance rotated 3-4 weeks.
Sample Split…
Day 1- ME Upper + Mx Intensity Iso + Repeated Efforts
ME- Work Up to 3-5 RM using a press
MX Int- Using Power Rack, pick three positions, push through pins 6 seconds x 2 each position (3), total of six sets. Super Set with RE Assistance (preferable horizontal Pull, aka rowing)
Assistance
-Triceps
-Shoulders
-RC
Day 2- DE/ME Lower
DE- Power Clean (Floor)- 5 x 3 (SPEED & form)
ME- Work up to max 3 or 5, pick a deadlift or squat variation.
Assistance
-Unilateral Quad
-Unilateral Hip
-Posterior Chain/Abs
Day 3- DE/Duration Iso + RE
Either-
DE- Pylo-Push Ups (not conventional DE bench)
or
Duration Iso- Functional Isometric Method (Pick sticking point) Work up to heaviest weight you can hold for 25-40 seconds. Set pins just under this point, lift and hold isometrically.
Assistance
-RE Press- 2 x 15-20
-Triceps
-Lats (Vertical Plane)
-Shoulders
-RC
What are your thoughts?
How about a week of active rest instead of doing rep work?
Active rest could mean low intensity medball work, tempo (although at your size, tempo running may not be an option w/o grass), hurdle mobility, core, callisthenics, and possibly light weight lifting (rep work may fit in here, but it can be intense if you go hard at it). This would then be more than just an unloading, but more like the rest used after a comp phase.
Since therapy is not available, it may allow for more recovery than a standard unloading week (keep in mind the therapy implications–if you don’t have it, more work needs to be focused on the low intensity end).
Again about the high intensity work, I don’t necessarily think that is the limiting factor. Low intensity work outs to milk the recovery can enhance the HI work outs very much. Work on the recovery end and see what happens to the HI work. Also, are you doing any sprints or any sort of plyos (up plyos, like box jumps or out jumps like standing long jump for example)?
The Active rest phase would go in place of the deload right?
Are you suggesting that I should remove any rep work and just do Active rest?
Tomorrow I am going to the weightroom and I am going to do start the Westside hybrid that you see above and after three weeks I am going to go into a active rest phase where I focus on some light dumbell stuff (don’t have medballs), work on the core and intense light weight lifting.
I am guessing that you are suggesting the High/Low method where instead of having a day off I do some active rest work.
Currently I am not doing any plyo or sprint work I was just focusing on building a base the last few weeks before I engage in any plyo work. I am going to add hurdle hops for a DE lower body exercise or something like that to stimulate lowerbody for ME lower body work.
Let me explain the way I am thinking like this. Let’s say you follow either a 2+1 or 3+1 schedule where you have 2 or 3 weeks of intense lifting then 1 week as deload. You could do your rep deload 2 or 3 times (so in 2+1, you would have had 6 weeks under your belt), then for the next cycle (this would then be for weeks 7-9 in the 2+1), your deload would just be active rest. You may even do this for 2 weeks (especially if you were following a 3+1 schedule w/ westside. I think a 2+1 may be more appropriate because of the intensities being used.). I think this would allow for the recovery you need.
Tomorrow I am going to the weightroom and I am going to do start the Westside hybrid that you see above and after three weeks I am going to go into a active rest phase where I focus on some light dumbell stuff (don’t have medballs), work on the core and intense light weight lifting.
I am guessing that you are suggesting the High/Low method where instead of having a day off I do some active rest work.
Exactly. If you are doing active rest you are missing out. Just plain rest days are great, but if you plan on intensifying, you need something actively aiding the recovery process. Without therapy, there is no doubt that low intensity work outs would be needed.
Currently I am not doing any plyo or sprint work I was just focusing on building a base the last few weeks before I engage in any plyo work. I am going to add hurdle hops for a DE lower body exercise or something like that to stimulate lowerbody for ME lower body work.
What about starting easy with just up (box/stair jumps) or out (standing long jump) plyos that do not have as intense of a landing? Progression to hurdle hops could happen later on in the off-season.
Also, I just noticed, you only have 1 day a week (very intense though) where you are working lower body at all. I know Defranco does this, but he does this is when athletes are doing other lower body activity (sport practice or sprints for example). What are you planning to do with this? Just curious.
I plan on adding short sprints and plyo’s but I don’t really have a free day to sprint or do plyos. Currently I am in the winter in the northeast so sprinting won’t be as consistent or I might not do any at all. If I find the motivation to do it it will probably be on Saturdays outside in a large parking lot next to my house. How do you think I should go about doing this? Currently I am training for outdoor track and field, I run the 100m and 4x100m but my main event is the Discus while I shot put on the side. My best 100m is 11.8 and my farthest discus was 135’.