I am looking for a new lifting routine. I am a wide receiver on two flag teams (play one game Saturday, one game Sunday). My current program is a combination of weights and track work. My track work is as follows M-tempo; T-speed training; W-tempo; Th-speed/plyos; F- off; Sat-game; Sun-game. Ideally I’d like to lift 3 days a week - T, Th., and Sat. I have just finished a very high volume whole body workout. I’d like to switch to a different split/approach with the goal of maintaining and increasing my explosiveness, and also to gain some size and strength in my upper body (for example, at a bw of 187, I squat 350, but can only bench 235). With that in mind, I’d like to make Saturday primarily an upper body day, with maybe a couple of compound lifts for the lower body just to hit it a bit. I’ve thought about building each day around a primary exercise, for example T: Power Clean; Th: Squat; Sat. Bench - but I don’t want to totally get away from the benefits of whole body training. Anyway, I am overwhelmed with info and ideas. Any thoughts or guidance from the experts?
Thanks!
Actually, your current routine looks pretty good. (I’m assuming you do your current lifting on T/Th.) The modifications you are looking at seem to be a step backwards. Lifting (heavy) on Saturday when you have a game on Sunday doesn’t seem like a good idea.
When does your season wrap up? The time to make gains and progress is in the off season. During the season, you should probably be in maintenance mode for your lifting. Pushing speed, explosiveness and weights during the competition cycle is a way to ensure sub-optimal performance or perhaps even injury.
your taxing your body alot on the weekends with the games, so its going to be hard to make strength gains on your current schedule. focus on maintaining right now, in order to make the gains in strength and explosiveness you need something your not optimally utilizing-recovery.
when the season is over then expect the gains to come.