So now that you have a basic idea of the exercise selection and what order I would work the different components we need to have a look at the typical recommended Training Load for these different exercises.  I am going to jump straight in with some guidelines from the ACSM.

 

Suggested Repetition Ranges

 

Population	Rep Range
Healthy participants under age 50-60	8-12
Pubescent children
Pre-pubescent children	8-15
Individuals older than age 50-60 or frail persons	10-15
Individuals primarily interested in muscular endurance
Cardiac patients with physician’s approval	10-12
Pregnant women without contraindications who have previously participated in weight training	12-15

 

ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 7th Edition

 

ACSM’s Resource Manual for Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 3rd Edition

 

Now, with all the coaches at APA I have used the 6-15 repetition range as a guideline for the muscle conditioning or accessory exercises for Level 3 onwards where you are working against some load.  This fits pretty well with the ACSM guidelines of 8-15 repetitions.  Obviously at Level 1 and 2 where it is all body weight for the most part you can exceed that repetition number and where the ACSM stop at 15 I will often go a bit further and get my youngest athletes doing up to 20 repetitions on certain exercises.   These guidelines apply to weights lifted continuously, which we know as ‘weight training.’  

 

Remember, we will also have our children doing Olympic weightlifting and Power lifting so the recommendations that I give for these type of exercises are a little different.  The children may be in a learning phase and we will want to get them doing a lot of repetitions but not necessarily one after the other continuously.  So for these types of lifts the reps will always be less even when they are learning because we want them to get used to applying total focus to every repetition.  Again, I must thank Jamie Smith for doing a great job of neatly describing the repetition ranges for the various categorisations.  I put the terms in parenthesis as they relate to APA terminology so it is clear.  In a typical session we will work from Left to Right starting with the Power >> Strength >> Muscle Conditioning >> Energy System development.

 

Methods	Maximal Effort  (Strength)	Dynamic Effort (Power)	Sub-maximal Effort (Muscle conditioning)	Repeated Effort	Metabolic Effort
Training Load	1-5 Reps (Depending on training level) 90% +                    5-8 Sets *I personally go in with 4-8 reps initially at 80-90% 1RM with Level 4 then progress to 1-5 at Level 5/6	1-5 Reps (Depending on training level  and Movement)        40-70%                   5-10 Sets	4-10 Reps (Depending on training level) 80-90%             3-5 Sets *I personally go 6-15 reps Level 3 with 8-12 being typical at 65-80% 1RM moving to 6-10 at 75-85% 1RM	10 + Reps (Depending on training objective)              < 75%                        2-4 Sets	Rep/ set scheme will vary on the different energy system methods, circuits, complexes, timed sets, density training, medley conditioning, and countdowns
Training Effect	Development of maximal strength	Development of explosive strength and the ability to produce force in the shortest amount of time	Development of muscular hypertrophy	Development of strength endurance and restoration	Development of general and specific work capacity
Exercise Classification	Primary and Secondary Movements	Explosive and Primary Movements	Primary, Secondary, and Assistive Movements	Secondary, Assistive, and Auxiliary Movements	Secondary, Assistive, Auxiliary, Energy System  Movements

 

I can’t really argue with the numbers from Jamie.  As discussed above and if you read my previous post on Stages of development you will see I went in at 6-15 repetitions for our Level 3 Anatomical Adaptation / Hypertrophy phase and yes I would typically work around the higher 8-12 repetition range with beginner athletes and I like to move into the lower 6-10 repetition range for intermediate athletes.   We call this part of the session our muscle conditioning. This represents the biggest part of a novice athlete’s training (overload) in the gym.

 

For Strength I would say that I initially like to work around the 4-8 range to bridge the gap between hypertrophy and pure Maximal Strength.  This is our Strength part.  For our level 4 athletes and above this represents a significant part of the training effect.  For our novice athletes they are learning technique.

 

I like 5 x 5 programmes and 8-6-4 programmes.  Once we have got a few cycles in the 4-8 range we can come back to Maximal Strength and hit the big numbers at lower reps, around the 1-5 mark.  This is advanced training.  Having said all of that any work involving the barbell such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press and even chin ups I like to focus on doing no more than 8 reps or so in a row even with technique training as I want the athlete to focus on doing each rep with perfect technique.  This means that our beginner athletes will still be doing 4-8 repetitions at this section in the session even though the weight is light.

 

The final point to make is that with the Velocity Dependant lifts such as the Olympic lifts (which is the Power section) I will generally get the athlete to do no more than 3 repetitions in a row and only if it is part of a combination where you are breaking down the lift into sections.   Even if it is technique work and we want to do 10 cleans, or 20 snatches every rep needs to be completed with a pause between each one where they release contact with the bar.  So the Power section is always done for quality.  With advanced athletes you can get them to rep out cleans etc for a conditioning effect both in preparatory and pre-competitive training cycles but then it fits into a different section, with a different purpose!!

 

Varying Workloads: What does the Research say?

 

I just wanted to throw a curve ball out there because so far I have only presented my way which is to train concurrently by targetting all the parameters in every session.  Below is some research on how you can alter workload from session to session.

 

Making workload alterations (8RM, 6RM, 4RM) every workout was more effective in eliciting strength gains than doing so every 4 weeks.

 

Rhea MR, Ball SD, Phillips WT, Burkett LN (2002). A comparison of linear and daily undulating periodized programs with equated volume and intensity for strength. J Strength Cond Res. 16(2):250-5.

 

Hunter et. al. compared variable resistant training (once-weekly training at 80%, 65%, and 50% 1RM) versus training 3 times a week at 80% 1RM in men and women over the age of 60. After 6 months both groups made similar strength and lean body mass gains. However the variable resistant training group reported lower perceived exertion during a carrying task.

 

Hunter GR, Wetzstein CJ, McLafferty CL Jr, Zuckerman PA, Landers KA, Bamman MM (2001). High-resistance versus variable-resistance training in older adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 33(10):1759-64.

 

I am open minded and want to make sure that just because I like to do something a certain way doesn’t mean that I think it is the only way.  For me there is no question that Variation is an important training variable to consider.  I believe my programmes have in built variation in every session because I work on Power, Maximal Strength and Muscle conditioning in EVERY session.  I vary my training load from week to week by manipulating the volume load (sets x reps) on a weekly basis in Strength exercises and vary exercise selection every cycle in the muscle conditioning exercises.  I don’t like to have the type of variation in my strength parameters described above because I personally want to hit every part of the Force-Velocity curve every session,  but clearly evidence supports it works!!  Something for you to ponder in your own programme design!!

 

Well that about sums up the basics of the Training Load parameters for now.  I’ll be back with a post on Training Frequency / Density and a few more golden nuggets from my Coaching Mandate and that will wrap up the big 10 APA Philosophy Posts!!!

 

If you have followed my previous posts about the different Philosophies of Training that are out there, I think I was pretty clear in making the point that APA doesn’t subscribe to one particular method of training to the exclusion of others.  Rather we borrow from all of the different methods that are out there.  I don’t believe in cookie cutter programmes and since most of our work is with individuals or small groups I feel we can be more individualised with our approach.  Having said that I do feel that we can borrow a lot from the sports of Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting.  The key is choosing big bang for your buck exercises that will develop an Overload.  There are many ways to produce an Overload.  The first step is to determine the training methods or Exercise Selection.

 

So, begs the question, what do we do at APA and what would a typical session look like? Well, for me good quality training in the gym is about Mastering the Basics.  What separates an expert from an amateur? Experts are masters of the basics.  Focus your time on improving your lifting technique in the Olympic Lifts.  Focus your time on improving and perfecting your squat, deadlift, overhead press and chin up.  Over the course of a young athlete’s career they will get to a point where they are ready to get brutally strong and powerful at each movement and become a technician in regards to their execution.  

 

Dan Johns about the basic patterns of movement: Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, Loaded Carry.   Paul Chek calls these Squat, Bend, Push, Pull, Lunge, Twist, Gait.

 

These are the movements that we did every day in the primal ages, before we got lazy and stopped being active!

 

By performing a range of movements using the whole body  you can mimic almost all of the positions you can expect to find yourself in during sport and daily living!  The squat, deadlift and overhead press take care of the squat, bend and push respectively.  The Olympic Lifts take care of the pull as well as a good dose of chin ups!  One criticism of following a strict power lifting or Olympic weightlifting programme is the lack of direct single leg work and core work.  So by working uni laterally and getting in a bit more direct core work we can tick off the Lunge and twist category.  Obviously we can also do a bit of energy system work at the end if appropriate to target the running gait.

 

At the bottom of this post is a table that was created by a coach from the USA called Jamie Smith .     I think it is a pretty good summary of how I would go about setting up an hour in the gym with a young athlete.   To be honest there is a lot of different exercises listed  and I might be more tempted to just focus on a few selected lifts in the first year (like my previous post on the Olympic weightlifter’s programme).  Pay attention to the Athlete Column.  Notice that there are different exercises to achieve different purposes.

 

I tend to use Plyometrics (jumps/throws) along with Olympic Lifts for Power development; the Power lifts for Strength Development; and a selection of movements in different planes (vertical push/pull; horizontal push/pull; and single leg exercises) to get some good ‘muscle conditioning’ into the small accessory muscles so that they can cope with increasingly larger volumes of work.

 

The muscle conditioning / energy system development is sometimes known as ‘work capacity’ training. By focusing on this initially you will allow your body to handle doing MORE WORK later at the HIGHER LEVEL without over stressing your system.

 

There’s nothing worse than an athlete who hasn’t build up any work capacity and can only do a few sprints before being totally gassed out!

 

Remember, less is more.  By focusing on a few exercises but adding volume (by adding more sets/reps per exercises at the same intensity) you take advantage of the fact that your Nervous System is primed to make that movement.  Additionally you are mentally more accustomed to making that movement and you can focus on improving your technique and lifter bigger weights instead of continually adjusting to a new exercise.

 

Exercise Selection	Average Joe / Jane	Athlete – Team Sport	Power Lifting	Olympic Lifting
Explosive Movement (Power)	Basic Jump and Throw Variations	Jump (Box, Hurdle, and Depth Jumps) and Throw (Overhead, Push, and Rotational) Variations Clean, Jerk, and Snatch	Dependant on Individual	Dependant on Individual
Primary Movement (Strength)	Foundational Exercises-             Squat, OH Press, and DL Variations	Foundational Exercises-             Squat, Bench Press, DL, and OH Press Variations	Competition Lift- Squat, Bench Press, and DL	Competition Lift- Clean, Jerk, and Snatch
Secondary Movement	Horizontal Pull- DB, BB, C/S Row Variations           Vertical Pull-        Chin-ups and Pull-ups Posterior Chain Dominant- GHR, Hip Lifts, 45-degree Hyperextension, and Pull-through	Horizontal Pull- DB, BB. C/S Row Variations           Vertical Pull–           Chin-ups and Pull-ups Hip Posterior Chain Dominant– GHR, Hip Lifts, 45-degree Hyperextension, Pull-through, and Swing Variations	Supplement Movements: Bench- Board Press, Floor Press, Reverse Band Press,           Squat- Dead-Squat, Good-Morning Variations DL- Block Pulls and Deficit Pulls	Supplemental Movements: Clean- Hang Clean, Clean from Blocks, High Pulls, Squat Jerk- Push Press Snatch- Hang Snatch, Snatch from Blocks, DL Variations
Assistive Movement	Horizontal/ Vertical Push:  Push-up, Dip, and DB Press Variations Horizontal/ Vertical Pull: Blast Strap Row and Pull-down Variations Single Leg Movement- Split-squat, Lunge, Step-up, and Single Leg DL	Horizontal/ Vertical Push: Push-up, Dip, and DB Press Variations Horizontal/ Vertical Pull: Blast Strap Row,        Face-pull and Pull-down Variations Single Leg Movement– Split-squat, Lunge, Step-up, and Single Leg DL	Horizontal Pull- DB, BB, C/S Row Variations Vertical Pull- Chin-ups, Pull-ups, and Lat Pull-down Variations Posterior Chain Dominant-                      GHR, 45-degree Hyperextension, Reverse Hyperextension, and Pull-through Elbow Extension- Band Push-down, DB Extension Variations, Dips	Horizontal Pull: DB, BB, and C/S Row Variations Vertical Pull: Chin-ups and Pull-ups Posterior Chain Dominant: GHR and 45-degree Hyperextensions Single Leg Movements: Split-squat, Lunge, and Step-up Variations
Auxiliary           Movement	Torso Movement: Anti-Extension  (Planks and Roll-outs) Anti-Rotation (Side Planks and Belly Press) Rotary (Chop and Lift Variations) Flexion (SLSU’s and Reverse Crunch) Corrective Exercises: Glute Activation Psoas Activation Lower Trap Activation RC Activation	Torso Movement: Anti-Extension  (Planks and Roll-outs) Anti-Rotation (Side Planks and Belly Press) Rotary (Chop and Lift Variations) Flexion (SLSU’s and Reverse Crunch) Corrective Exercises: Glute Activation Psoas Activation Lower Trap Activation RC Activation	Torso Movement: Anti-Extension  (Planks and Roll-outs) Anti-Rotation (Side Planks and Belly Press) Rotary (Chop and Lift Variations) Flexion (SLSU’s and Reverse Crunch) Corrective Exercises: Glute Activation Psoas Activation Lower Trap Activation RC Activation	Torso Movement: Anti-Extension (Planks and Roll-outs) Anti-Rotation (Side Planks and Belly Press) Rotary (Chop and Lift Variations) Flexion (SLSU’s and Reverse Crunch) Corrective Exercises: Glute Activation Psoas Activation Lower Trap Activation RC Activation
Energy System Movement	(Energy System will be dependant on the individual goal)              Sled                   (March, Sprint, or Drag) Sprints (Flat or Hill) BattleRopes Sledge Hammer	(Energy System will be dependant on the individual but will be more specific to the sport and position)     Sled                   (March, Sprint, or Drag) Sprints (Flat or Hill) BattleRopes Sledge Hammer Jumps and Throws Slide-board	Dependant on the Individual	Dependant on the Individual

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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No philosophy would be complete without some sort of position on planning.  I use this term rather than Periodisation as this immediately associates itself with complex terminology and Eastern European practices not relevant to most trainers needs.  Trust me I have read these documents and they can take you too far away from the basic concepts you really need to be familiar with.

 

I have to admit, it took me a LONG time to get my head around this one so I hope it turns on a few light bulbs and new coaches don’t have to go through the same process as I did.  Basically I went to University in the day when Tudor Bompa was the messiah and Linear Periodisation was the main form of periodisation taught.

 

I am not going to get into the theory of Training Adaptation as there are a number of voluminous textbooks out there to help but visit the Philosophy page for more detail:

  As a quick summary, The Science and Practice of Strength Training (Zatsiorsky and Kraemer) states that Overload, Accommodation,  Specificity and Individualization are the basic concepts of physical training.  To obtain your short and long term goals you must follow these basic principles of programme design.

 

For the purpose of this blog I will not go into great detail about the different models of periodisation used to achieve these adaptations. There are many different ways to plan a programme. In short, there are two major schemes, Concurrent and Sequential (or Linear).   

Below is an example of a classic linear periodisation model:

 

 

So in the case of strength for example,  Strength endurance > Anatomical Adaptation > Hypertrophy > Max Strength> Speed-Strength might represent 5 mesocyles for sake of argument.   Here you would do no power work (speed-strength) until after several phases of progressive strength development.  Yes you could argue that you need a strength platform to benefit from power training but I could argue equally strongly that you need the technique of how to clean first so when you do ‘Focus’ on power you actually have the techniques to get the benefit of the exercise!!  This linear periodisation approach is represented diagrammatically as horizontal integration.

 

In fact when I was first taught to develop Biomotor Abilities in a  linear manner I was taught that the focus needed to change something like this:

 

Endurance >> Strength >> Speed

 

On one level this is still what I do (in a fashion) but I was taught a very literal interpretation of this where you ONLY do endurance for a period of time, or at least it was the case that you did say 5-6 sessions of it and say only 1-2 strength sessions and NO speed work.  My first experience that led me to question this approach was when I started working with someone who to this day is a colleague of mine, Sergio Cuesta Gomez.  He is the physiotherapist/ tennis coach at the Tennis Academy where I spend most of my time.  When I told him that I was only going to do 1-2 strength sessions with a tennis player we were working with at the beginning of a training block he nearly chocked on his food!

 

He showed me a new way of thinking where every week you’re going to do at least 15-20 units of training but the distribution of training will be fairly evenly spread across all the different biomotor abilities. This type of periodisation is known as concurrent periodisation.  It is just the Training Load (Intensity versus Volume) that is manipulated to create a focus for a certain type of training.  This is represented diagrammatically as Vertical Integration.

 

Now it looks more like this where in this example strength is the main focus but we are still working on all the other biomotors:

 

Suppleness

 

Skill

 

Strength

 

Speed

 

Stamina

 

Now, the clever bit is knowing where the athlete is on their athletic journey based on their stage of development, assessment results and the current Goals they are aiming to achieve from a performance point of view.  You use this to make decisions on which Biomotors you will spend more time teaching, which ones will be trained and which ones will be sustained!!!!  The diagram below shows how this might look diagrammatically:

 

 

APA athletes train Concurrently.

 

This means my athletes train vertically across several different biomotor abilities during the same session, week and month!

 

Below is perhaps the most succinct explanation of the principle of concurrent periodisation I have ever seen written as it relates to the concurrent development of strength and power.  It is written by Dr Lon Kilgore, PhD based on experiences  from  his time at the USA Weightlifting Regional Development Center

 

Beginners should do LOTS of the competitive lifts with moderate weights. To us, moderate means as heavy as can be done with consistently good technique and a low percentage of misses, whether it is 75% or 95% of max. Most workouts are started with snatch and clean and jerk, and in most workouts beginners do at least 20 snatches and 10 clean and jerks. We aren’t afraid to try new maxes whenever they seem possible, but try to do it within a framework of lots of lifts, few ugly lifts, and fewer misses.

 

We believe in doing all 3 squat variations normally done by weightlifters (front squat, back squat, and overhead squat), most weeks doing at least one workout of each style. We focus on the back squat for strength building, and concentrate on good position in front squatting and overhead squatting. We also do ‘unusual’ strength exercises, exercises designed not only to strengthen, but to condition and toughen. Exercises like dumbbell and barbell clean and press (each rep includes a clean and a press), walking lunges, kettlebell work, and strongman type training. We believe the training of beginners is a three-fold process, learning efficient technique on the competitive lifts, increasing strength, and conditioning the body to handle the increased training that will be required as a more advanced lifter.

 

Our training programs for beginners are simple. A sample weekly workout for a first year, 12-13 year old lifter could look like this:

 

Monday

 

>20 snatches

 

>10 clean and jerks

 

> 3 sets of 3 front squats

 

> 2 sets of 10 dumbbell clean & press

 

Wednesday

 

> Snatch to roughly 95%

 

> Clean and jerk to roughly 95%

 

> 5 sets of 5 squats

 

> Walking lunges, 2 sets of 40 yards each

 

Friday

 

> 20 hang snatches

 

> 20 hang clean and jerk (could alternate jerk and power jerk)

 

> 3 sets of 5 overhead squat

 

> 3 sets of 10 bent press with kettlebell

 

We try to end each workout with some low-back and abdominal work, and some jumping exercises. For this we use a glute-ham bench, a reverse hypermachine, lots of bands and medicine balls, and Plyo Boxes.

 

We don’t believe in a lot of ‘formal’ periodization for beginners. The strength, technique, conditioning, and abilities of beginners are changing at a rate that makes planning difficult. We have found the best way to periodize a beginner is to simply shift focus over time from one part of training to the next (This holds true for intermediate and advanced lifters).

 

Immediately after one competition and looking forward to another in say, 3 months, one of our lifters may spend the first month focusing on conditioning exercises (aka accessory exercises). The snatches and clean and jerks and squats will still be done, but the majority of the energy of the workout might go to the walking lunges, the kettlebell exercises, the clean and presses, and the various glute-ham raises, reverse hyperextensions, and ab work that ends the workout.

 

The next 4-6 weeks may be spent with the emphasis on squatting. Like the previous month, the workouts still start with snatches and clean and jerks, and heavy weights are lifted in these exercises when possible, but the emphasis of the workouts is pushing the different squat variations to new maxes. Workouts end with lowered volumes and intensities of general strength work like clean and press, and lowered volumes of lower back and ab work.

 

The last 2-4 weeks before a meet, the emphasis shifts to the competitive lifts. Squatting and other strength work is decreased, so that the lifter comes into each workout fresh and ready to do their absolute best on the competitive lifts.

 

It is important to note that the workouts throughout this time would look pretty much the same on paper. The sample workout shown above could show a week 3 months prior to competition, or a week’s workouts only 2 weeks out.

 

We don’t stop doing any strength exercises before a competition, and we don’t stop doing the competitive lifts in the ‘off season’. we just shift where we really ‘push’ and focus our energy.

 

So there it is. A simple program that pushes the kids continuously, is simple to understand and follow, and not only builds the total, but prepares the body for more frequent, more intense later training.

 

Before I get into the Training Philosophy that underpins the design of all programmes that APA coaches write I think we need to spend some time talking about the Mindset that is required of a champion athlete.  It’s an old cliche but a bad programme that is followed consistently is probably better than a great programme that never gets done!  The point is that consistency is key to achieving success and so developing the mindset of an athlete is a key priority of all APA coaches.  

Bill Sweetenham  is a world renowned coach who I first heard speak in 2005.  At the time he was the National Performance Director for British Swimming (he was in this role from November 2000 to September 2007).  If you read read my next post on APA Philosophy 2 you’ll see I give Bill a big mention.

 

Bill had a number of interesting things to  say but relevant to this post was his views on the mindset of winner:  Below are some bullet points on what he had to say:

 

THE ATHLETE has a job to:

 

1.  Train and prepare the fitness of the mind to match the fitness of the body.

 

Bill always gets a feel for athletes he may potentially invite into his programme by asking them,

 

>’What are you prepared to do/willing to commit?’

 

>What are you going to bring to the programme? The programme is going to contribute a lot to you.  Are you going to bring a work ethic that is better than the one we have in the programme now?

 

Bill wants to work with athletes who have a WORK ETHIC in advance of their TALENT level.  You can’t win unless you have this!

 

>Bill says  ‘T- it’s the difference between CAN and CAN’T.  Negative people never win.  You have to be CAN DO people.  Positive people always win.

 

They don’t work hard enough……

The key frustration I have experienced in my coaches who work for me is them feeling like there is an incongruence between the aspirations of the athlete and what they are currently willing to put into their training.   Coaches often tell me an athlete needs to work harder; they are ‘supposed’ to be an elite performer.  The key is to meet them where they are at and constantly give the child (if a junior) and the parent/coach HONEST feedback on how closely the behaviours and actions of the athlete are aligned with their GOALS.  If there is a mismatch for a period of time this usually is addressed by a revision of the goals or a shift in attitude of the player.   Something will have to give.

 

 

THE COACH has a job to:

 

1.  Convert involvement and participation into commitment.

 

Bill describes the image of Bacon and eggs.  He says the Eggs represent Involvement because the chicken is only involved in the process- they lay the eggs for the meal.  But the Bacon represents Commitment because the pig gave up it’s life.  Which one are you?

 

2.  Keep athletes out of the Twilight Zone

 

In Swimming Bill describes the twilight zone (I’m sure it exists in all sports).  At one end of the participation level, athletes might do 5 x 1 hour sessions a week.  They’ll never make it but they do it for fun and fitness.  At the other end there are athletes who do 20-25 hours a week including gym and swimming.  These athletes expect a tangible reward for competing.  They’re really hungry for winning and even more hungry for the rewards that go with winning.

 

In Swimming 80% of swimmers are training BETWEEN this 5 and 20 hour week.  So they are in a Twilight Zone.  They’re doing too much for it to be enjoyable and fun but not enough to get the real benefits from it.  So Bill says try and avoid the Twilight Zone!

 

My experience of working with athletes in all levels of participation tells me that it isn’t always so black and white.  Sometimes athletes would like to commit more but can’t afford to.  Sometimes parents are unsure whether it is in the interests of their son and daughter to specialise in one sport at such an early age.

 

Broadly speaking I feel it is important to encourage diversity of activity in children between the ages of 5-12 years

 

Certainly after this age it is increasing important to narrow the focus towards the sport in which the child wants to excel.

The key point in sports such as Tennis which are highly skill dependant is that the child is given ENOUGH time in the sport at a young age, to acquire fundamental skills of stroke production (serves, ground strokes and speciality shots like volleys and smashes).  Now the more ‘Talented’ the athlete the more quickly they may acquire those skills!

 

My final point to make is:

 

Do what makes you happy!

 

If a child is absolutely in love with one sport and that is what they wake up and go to bed dreaming about doing then I don’t have a problem with that.  I also don’t have a problem if they wake up tomorrow and decide they don’t want to be David Beckham any more.   They want to be Bradley Wiggins!!

 

 

 

 

 

5.  How would you deal with a (tennis) coach who believes their player should not be lifting heavy weights.  It will slow them down and could injure their back.

 

 

 

Gil actually answered this question in the context of Football (soccer) because this is a sport where he has experienced this sort of comment.  Don’t be confused by the photo above of an American football player.  This was not the sport Gil was talking about.  But I saw the picture and I thought it was a good stereotypical image of a coach that came to mind and illustrates what we’re up against!!!   One thing I must mention that Gil said (which I did not expect) is that professional footballers are truly exceptional athletes; every young boy aspires to become one but most are just not born of superior genes and end up filtering into other sports.   Given Gil’s association with Rugby it was refreshing honesty-something we must acknowledge about footballers once we look beyond all the drama with diving players and the lack of existence of an S&C culture at the top level!

 

 

Gil went on to say that they really are the most robust kind of all athletes when you think that they play 60 games plus each season  and seem to get by with a quick patch up job by the medical team and sub-optimal S&C programmes!

 

 

Anyway, back to the question!!!!!   Gil’s reply was succinct.  ‘The bottom line is coaches don’t know what they don’t know.   They are unconsciously incompetent.’

 

 

Gil gave an example of a unnamed Team whose medical team were giving the S&C department ear ache for doing too heavy squatting with their players which was causing them (it was alleged) back pain and pain during matches.  The S&C coach asked Gil for advice as this was a very difficult situation.  For the record these were male professional footballers and squatting 65kg!!!!!!  Gil has a 13 year old female overhead squatting half of that!!!!

 

 

To me this is unbelievable and if you look at this logically it isn’t a stretch to say that perhaps the reason these pro players are breaking down in matches is because they are so weak they can’t tolerate the impact forces of the contacts/collisions that take place in football.   How awesome might our pro footballers be if they actually delivered somewhere close to their athletic potential in the gym????

 

 

6.  What is starting strength and how do you train it?

 

 

Well, if you already read Lessons 2 you will have seen the definition from Mel Siff’s Supertraining.  But here it is again,

 

 

“starting-strength” refers to the ability of the muscles to develop force at the beginning of the working contraction before external movement occurs and is always produced under conditions of isometric muscle action. This fact alone has important consequences for strength training, because it dispels the opinion that the once-popular method of isometric training should be completely abandoned in modern training. On the contrary, the ability to generate starting strength rapidly can exert a profound effect on the dynamics of an entire movement, not only in terms of the magnitude of the impulse, but also regarding the psychological sensation of “lightness” that it creates during the crucial initial stage of a highly resisted movement.

 

 

Gil said that the basis for all acceleration based movements comes from isometric muscle actions and training to develop this would definitely help greatly with acceleration.  I questioned what sort of weight because I have read on more than one occasion that starting strength has been described as the ability to initiate movement quickly using moderate loads which enable you to get the bar moving quickly.  From discussions with Gil he said that I shouldn’t confuse acceleration speed of the bar with acceleration strength.  Yes the bar travels at its fastest during the 2nd pull when RFD is highest (peak RFD) but acceleration strength is initially gathered under isometric conditions which is best done under heavy load– using the principle of an immovable load!

 

 

Below is an example of APA coach Fabrizio Gargiulo demonstrating a 5-10sec isometric 1st pull using a load marginally greater than his 1RM Deadlift so that the focus is on starting strength.  (For the record he could do a lot more but he hadn’t done a proper warm-up!!!)  Something to consider is that this type of isometric work could actually be very appropriate for a complete beginner to learn how to gather up their force to ‘feel’ what it is like to properly brace and develop those internal forces that Gil was talking about so important in getting the right POSTURE!!!

 

 

Now one point to note is that resisted running is quite popular for a neural overload at the speed end of the continuum.  When asked if you could put athletes in harnesses with resistance from the coach or with a really heavy weighted sled to train the sprint motion isometrically Gil said you could, but he wouldn’t, because you could affect the sprint mechanics. For me personally, I quite like the use of ‘bungees’ to run against for agility work or light sleds for sprinting but if I want to do something really heavy to help develop sprint starts I’ll squat and deadlift!!!!

 

 

Once you get over the fact that they are not actually going to lift it then actually the heavier the better!! You might want to inform the parents of the 11 year old girl what you’re doing first though!!

 

 

Below is an example of APA coach Fabrizio Gargiulo demonstrating a 5-10sec isometric 1st pull using a load.  This is at a weight that you could normally rep out for 3-5RM but doing singles for 5-10sec isometrics soon adds up!

 

 

 
7.  How do you organise speed, plyometrics and strength/olympic weight lifting into a microcycle?

 

 

If truth be told we didn’t get into this in great detail as by the time Gil spoke about the underpinning theory, answered our questions and did some practice at the first pull and 2nd pulls from hangs we were running out of time.  There were a couple of key messages I took about how Gil organises his programmes:

 

 

1.   Train the qualities of strength, power and speed concurrently.  Gil has never done a plyometrics session in isolation for example it has always dovetailed with a weights session or even a speed session.  Gil likes to have plyos always present somewhere; in general strength blocks this might be in the warm-ups for proprioception.  In strength blocks these might happen before or after the weights and in the strength/power block they will be more than likely complexed together with the weights!!

 

 

A typical progression over several mesocycles might be:

 

 

General Strength >  Maximal Strength >  Maximal Strength/Power > Maintenance of Strength > Taper

 

 

Gil was suggesting he would take out the plyos and heavy power work in the phase before the taper.  I have seen this before where you actually get a rebound effect as the true neural transfer takes place AFTER you stop doing them!!

 

 

2.  Vary the Training Load weekly.   Gil personally favours keeping the sets x reps fairly constant so say 4 x 6 for the whole mesocycle of 4 weeks but varying the percentage between H, MH, VH, M where on the Very High week you push for a greater percentage of the Repetition Maximum determined in the first week microcycle say 105% plus.  I am a bit more traditional and like to keep going heavier over 3 weeks gradually then have a bigger Deload on the 4th week or even 5th or 6th week with my youngest athletes.  But perhaps this is because I am working with younger athletes who have a bigger window for week on week gains.

 

 

I also quite like the ideal of changing it up in some cycles so rather than increasing Training Load with increases biased towards the Load end, I like to start with 3 x 6 and build volume at that same weight over 4 weeks such as 3 x 6 > 4 x 6 > 3 x8 > 4 x 8

 

 

3. Combinations for conditioning.  Gil talked about using combinations- where you do 3 similar exercises back to back to make one rep.  So this could be derivatives of the Olympic lifts such as a pull from hang into a high pull from hang into the full catch.   Or it could be 3 big movements such as a clean into a front squat into a push press.

 

 

Gil has used these successfully both at the initial basic strength block to develop connective tissue adaptations and work capacity as well as at the end in power cycles to really get some anaerobic conditioning work in.  He has used a 3 rep combination for 10 rounds (30 reps) with a goal of 2 minutes or under looking to drive the heart rate up to >200 bpm and then going again once it drops to below 140 bpm.