Installing Today’s Hybrid Pistol Offense Run & Pass from Top to Bottom
This manual provides you with the full offensive line, receiver, and quarterback mechanics for installing each offensive play presented. Coach Campbell has left no stone unturned for implementing today’s Pistol Offense into your program.
Myself and another assistant on our staff have been delegated to take over our team's strength program this off season. Overall we are not real strong and it showed in this years performance (4-5). I am going into my second year at the school and we have not had a real established training program. We want to train four days during the week with three days dedicated to lifting and the other day concentrated on plyos, agilities, speed work etc. All players grades 9 through 12 will be participating in the program. I have read several of your posts and am impressed with your vast knowledge on the topic. Several topics that you have mentioned have actually made alot of sense to me and I would like your input if possible. I believe that building the posterior chain is very important and oftentimes overlooked. I was wondering what your advice would be to us in building this fledgling program. I know every kid is different and each has his own strengths/ weakness but what would you advise for us to start with as far as exercises, sets ,reps, cycles, etc. You get the picture. Any input that you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Jimbo, Been missing your personal messages! Your computer can't still be down as I see all of the posts you have made recently. Whats up with that? Just kidding, really wanted to know if you have jeard how coach Jones is coming in his new program? Give me a shout one of these days if your not to busy.
Coach Easton
J.C. EASTON<BR>HEAD COACH<BR>GA TIGERS FOOTBALL<BR>PROFESSIONAL MINOR LEAGUE
I appreciate it. First off we will consistantly have 35-40 kids attending after school. I would like to go before school but as we are just getting this off of the ground so we are going to do it after school. Ultimately we want to incorporate this into the curriculum. But we are fighting the political battle with that right now. I would like to keep them there for no more than an hour and a half. It is our goal to keep the kids interest by adding variety as opposed to the do the same ol routine day in and day out. We have plenty of talent but we have had some injuries that I believe could have been avoided by us being stronger. We are weak right now. simply put. With one exception. We do have one kid that is as strong as an ox but he just doesn't realize his potential. 350 bench 560 squat and 560 deadlift. These numbers are legit . This is with no proper training or instruction or technique. I am excited to see what he could acheive in a structured program. Again thanks for the help. Please let me know how the movie is because I have two at home that love Sponge Bob.
Whats up, ole' ball coach! I sent you an email about two weeks ago and I was waiting for a response. I figured you had something going on. Check your mail and get back with me. Haven't talked to Coach Jones lately...i assume he's on the prowl looking for some young pups to start his program. He should bring in some good ones. Looking forward to talking with you some more!
Coach Epps,
Thanks for the detailed information. I think an hour & 1/2 will be plenty of time to get the job done. Here is a suggestion, however...rather then using 3 days for training and 1 day for sprinting, agility, etc., you may want to consider combining speed and strength training into the same session.
We will start basic and go from there...here is what I would do w/ a 4 day split:
*Mon: 1)Speed-acceleration (200-300 total yards) 2)Dynamic Strength Upper
Now, if you could somehow run a 3 day lifting split (which is what I am doing currently), you could do something like this:
*Mon: 1)Speed 2)Strength Total Body Emphasis
*Tue: Tempos (about 10-15 mins worth--800-1200 yards)
*Wed: 1)Speed (if the guys can handle it) 2)Strength Lower Body Emphasis
*Thur: Tempos (same as Tuesday)
*Fri: 1)Speed 2)Strength Upper Body Emphasis
Start off easy...maybe two days speed work instead of three. You can include light/medium plyos into the speed days if you feel the need.
With the three day lifting split...yes, it comes out to 5 total days of work, however on tue & thurs the warm up and tempo runs should last about 15-20 mins..then stretch them and get them out of there. About 30 mins total.
Think about which direction you want to go and we will go from there and get more descriptive.
As for the SpongeBob movie, I'll give it a b+...it sends a pretty good message (which is a good thing), however there is not anywhere NEAR enough nonsense, which is what makes SpongeBob such a good cartoon (in my opinion). Not enough Squidward (he is classic) or Mr. Krabs. LOTS of Plankton, though (which I like). All in all, I'm glad I took my family to see it. My son absolutely loved it.
Let me know what you think and we will take it from there.
The four day split is more along the lines of which we were thinking. We are limited in some of our equipment, so would we be able to split them up by say... positions and have half working on lower and the other working on upper. I want to keep things as fluid as possible. These kids are looking for something to latch on to and I believe that this could be it. We only lost two starters from last years team so we have basically everyone back. They really want to do well and I think if they see initial success of some sort they will totally buy into it and we will be well on our way to establishing a good program. We are going to call our weight room the "Power Company" and we are referring to our to our players as "employees". We figured that we will teach them some life lessons along the way. Just as with any other job, I you work hard, show up all of the time and perservere, good things will come to you. As soon as we get a Strength and Conditioning program established, we are going to put together employee handbooks for our players with inspirational quotes, proper techniques, and a training log/journal to track their progress. Also, we are going to buy a hard hat the same color as our helmets and we are going to put our decals on it. Each week we will give the hard hat to different kid for his efforts in the weight room and he will also lead us in stretches etc. So since we have decided upon the four day split, where do we go from here?
The first thing you need to do is to develop an exercise pool. If you look at the recent post to Coach "RC48" about his program, you will see what I mean. I would initially start the pool with an "Upper Body Pool" and a "Lower Body Pool."
1)Pick every upper body lift that you plan to use and every lower body lift that you plan to use. -Example:Upper Body- Bench Press, Board Press (Various), Floor Press, Incline Press, Close Grip Press, Bent Over Row, Cable Row, DB Bent over Row, Lat Pull Down, Chin Up, Underhand Grip Row, BB Tricep extension, Tricep Cable Pushdown, DB Tri extension (elbows in & elbows out), etc...you get the idea.
2)Categorize each lift that you choose.
a)Pick a Core lift for both Upper Body and Lower Body (example-Upper=Bench, Lower=Squat) that you will use as the "measuring stick" of your progress. (Note: you will not perform these lifts every week. They are just, as said before, your measuring stick).
b)Pick your "Secondary Core" lifts that will be the Main Movement for each Limit Strength Session. This is where your various Board Presses, various types of Barbell Squats, and various types of Deadlifts will come in. These are the lifts that you will be performing (in rotating fashion) on a weekly basis. They will assist in pin pointing your weaknesses as well as building on your Core lifts.
c)Pick several Supplemental and Accessory exercises that help "build" up your weak points. These will be your Good Mornings, Romanian & Stiff Leg Deadlifts, Unilateral work (split squat, lunge, step up, db benches and rows) triceps work, Upper Back/Trap work, etc. These lifts will also be done weekly in a rotating fashion.
I'll tell you now, my lifting template is nothing revolutionary. I have taken ALOT from Louie Simmons and his Westside Barbell Template and modified it slightly to better fit football players. The reason is this...Westside is a Powerlifting template. What qualities make a good powerlifter? A strong Trunk (this is a must), strong hamstrings and glutes (these are the squatting muscles), strong upper back, shoulders and triceps (these are the pressing muscles). The Westside template adresses these. Now, what qualities are needed to build a well-developed athlete? A strong trunk (once again, this is a must), strong hams and glutes (can you say running speed?), and strong shoulders, upper back and triceps. See the correlation? The one thing that the Westside template does not address are unilateral movements. I had talked with Coach Floyd (aka Goldberg, on this site) and we agreed that powerlifting and football were very closely related.
Let me know what you come up with and we will go from there.
Bench, Board Press, Floor Press, Incline Press (DB and BB) Shrugs, Bent over db raises, Face Pulls, internal/external rotation, DB Cuban Press,Plate raises, DB lateral raise, Upright rows, Lat pulldowns, bent over rows (DB,Barbell, over/underhand, Tbar) cable rows, Tricep pushdowns, Tricep extensions (DB, BB) Power rack lockouts, JM Presses, cable ab pulldowns (reg and twisted) side bends w/ weight, med ball twists, weighted incline sit ups, leg raises.
Lower Body:
Good mornings, Romanian deadlifts, Deadlifts (Sumo, trap bar, regular), Rack Pulls, Squat, Box squat, cable pull throughs,lunges ( all variations), Step ups, (all variations), Manual GHR, leg curls, Leg press.
The one thing that I noticed that I would NOT add, however is Upright Rows. They place the shoulder in a compromising postition that can lead to an impingement. I learned this (among many other things) from Buddy Morris, the Browns S&C coach. He had worked for years prior to his current job in a rehabilitation setting and knows shoulders and rehab like no other coach I know of. When he says something, I LISTEN (and of course read up on it, myself). There is a gazillion other exercises that you can do that would put your athletes in a much better situation.
One thing I would ADD to the upper body pool are DB "cleans". They are done sitting down on a bench with the arms hanging straight down along the athlete's sides and palms facing backwards/knuckles facing forward (holding dbs). Use some momentum to get the dbs going forward (and up) and catch them with the triceps being parallel to the ground. They are great for the rear shoulder and traps.
Next, what I would do is to take your pool and categorize it even further (to avoid ANY confusion whatsoever) into maximum effort, dynamic effort and specific body region categories.
For example, your core lifts are the bench, back squat and conventional deadlift. These are the lifts that you base your overall progress on. However, you will not perform these lifts each week. You will take your variations and throw them into the mix for your main movement of each session. Therefore, it is imperative that you have a smoothly organized pool set up so that you can plan ahead and ensure that you are getting plenty of variation.
*A)Core Lifts (Test Lifts): Bench Press, Full Back Squat, Conventional Deadlift
2)Lower Body: Conventional Deadlift, Full Back Squat, Snatch Grip Deadlift (off 2" box), Front Squat, Sumo Deadlift, Low, Narrow Stance Box Squat, Zercher Squat, Trap Bar Deadlift, Various Rack Pulls. ***NOTE: If you have different bars (i.e. Safety Squat Bar, Cambered Bar, Manta Ray, etc. these can be used as variations of the squat)
***Maximum Effort lifts will be cycled every 2 WEEKS
*C)Dynamic Effort Lifts (This is the "speed" or "explosive" movement) 1)Upper Body: Bench Press (each set using a different grip ranging from wide (index on rings) to narrow (index on the smooth). I use three: Wide, Narrow and Medium (Index b/w ring and smooth).
2)Lower Body: Parallel or (2" above Parallel) Box Squat, Speed Deadlift ***NOTE: The object of these lifts is to move the concentric portion of the lift as FAST AS POSSIBLE. Think of it like you would a clean or snatch.
***These lifts will not be cycled, however the percentages used on the squat WILL cycle.
*D)Supplemental/Accessory Lifts:
1)Posterior Chain: Good Mornings, Romanian Deadlifts, Stiff Leg Deadlifts, Cable Pull Throughs, Back hyperextension, Reverse Back Hyperextention, Glute/Ham Raise, 1-leg Back Hyperextension, Dimel Deadlifts, Cable Speed Romanian Deadlifts (got this from Chuck V.),
2)Unilateral: -Lunge: Standard (BB or DB), Reverse (BB or DB), Lateral, Cable -Step Up: High Box (BB or DB), Low Box (BB or DB), Reverse (BB or DB) Lateral (BB or DB) -1-leg-squat: BB or DB -Adductor/Abductor work (use of cables, bands, etc.)--Can be done in warm up or cool down -Plantar/Dorsi Flexion work (ankle [toe down/toe up])--Can be done in warm up or cool down
3)Abdominals: -Strength: Cable AB Pull Downs, Twisted Cable Ab pulldowns, Side Bends (BB or DB), Weighted Incline Sit ups, Trunk Twist, Cable Trunk Twist (Baseball Swing), Hanging Leg Raises, Hanging Leg Pikes, Bent over Trunk Twist (holding plate or cable) -Stability: Planks, Side Planks, Ab wheel -Endurance: Ball Crunches (weighted) for reps or time, Cable Ball Crunches (reps or time), Slow eccentric crunches, etc.
4)Triceps: Cable Pushdowns, 1 arm cable pushdowns, BB Tricep extensions, DB Tricep extensions (elbows in), DB tricep extensions (elbows out), JM Presses, HEAVY Rack lockouts (halfway to 2" below lockout), Lying DB overhead extensions.
5)Lats: -Vertical: Lat Pull Down (various grips), Underhand lat pull down, Pull up, Chin up, Chin up (palms facing each other), Towel pull ups (wrap towel around pull up bar and pull up holding towel), 1 arm lat pull down, Stiff arm pull downs (with lat pull down machine) -Horizontal: Bent over row, 1 arm DB row, Cable row, Cable underhand row (various attatchment and grips), Chest supported or machine row, Underhand bent over row, fat man pull ups
6)Shoulders/Traps: internal/external rotation, lateral raises, bent over lateral raises, chest supported lateral raises, db "cleans", cable scarecrows, cable face pulls (done on lat pull down or cable rack), BB shrugs, DB shrugs, scapula push ups, suspended chain push ups
8)Misc. Supplemental work: Incline DB bench, DB bench (these can be done for reps to increase hypertrophy or as an off week from maximum effort work).
9)Grip work: Towel Hangs (see towel pull ups--just hang for time), heavy DB farmer walks, plate pinch holds, thick bar holds, wrist roller, forearm curls (reverse curl), cable reverse curl
***These will be cycled every 4 to 6 weeks
This is how I set up my exercise pools. Of course, the first thing to look at is 1)Do I have the equipment to perform all of this? and 2)Do I know HOW to do all of these exercises? If the answer to number 1 is "no", then you will have to improvise or simply not do it...if the answer to number 2 is "no", then you can go to elitefts.com and look at their exercise index and it will show you pretty much all of these lifts (or you can email me:---jjchale@charter.net---and I will go over them for you)
I know you had a pool set up, however I wanted to show you what I meant by "categorizing" them by region and type of lift.
Take a look at this and tell me what you think and how YOU would modify this based on what you have in your weightroom. Next we will go over a general template, set/rep ranges, rest intervals, etc.
We still have speed work, tempo work, recovery and nutrition to discuss as well.
Coach, I love reading your posts. I always learn something. How far ahead to you have planned out for your workouts this off season? Would it be possible for me to look at what you have set up for your program for an extended time? Also, it looks like you are completely away from the olympic lifts (hang clean, etc). Is this the trend in college and HS football programs these days?
I do have a planned macrocycle, however I always keep an eraser handy! I have certain cycles planned out, however most of it is determined by the feedback I get. I am the same way with my own training...I listen to my body (aka cybergenetic periodization). That brings up a good point...Athletes need to understand that when they don't feel up to snuff, let their coach know so that their training can be modified. Not saying its ok to wuss out of a training session, but sometimes if a guy or girl is sick or is a multi-sport athlete, he or she may need a break from time to time.
As for jettisoning the oly lifts, it is actually "going against the grain" within the strength coaching community. Im not against olympic lifting and every now and when I implement a three day split (which I am currently doing) I use the hang clean on the total body emphasis day. I just don't think that the oly lifts are the ONLY way to increase explosiveness and at the same the box squat and bench done explosively is 100 times easier to teach then the clean or snatch. Its a simple cost vs benefit thing.
Thanks for the info on the Upright row. If you sit back and look at it objectively, it makes sense. The Dumbell cleans are in. After looking at the list you gave me, the only things that we don't have is a neck machine or a reverse hyper machine. So if you have a way of doing reverse hypers manually I'd love to hear about it. The only thing that I would like to add to what you have listed are plate raises for shoulders, simply because we won't have a lack of plates and this is a exercise that we don't have to wait for equipment. I would like to get a couple safety squat bars, it's on my wish list. Other than that. we have the equipment to be able to do the rest. My only question is that on the maximum effort lifts you wrote:
you had board press, incline press then board press, close grip press. etc. What do you mean by this? Do you do each of these lifts on max effort day? Could you clarify this for me, Thanks
Re: Reverse Hypers--If you dont have a reverse hyper, you can use the 90 degree back extension backwards or even a table that allows the kids legs to hang off without touching the ground (holding a med ball with the feet or using bands). If you dont have the back extension, then doing cable pull throughs is probably the next best thing.
Re: Neck--Just make sure you throw in some neck work somehow. Either manual (with a partner) or use weight plates (and a towel for cushion on the head). Using plates is very convenient and everybody can do them at the same time. I think I can find a link that demonstrates this if you need it...let me know.
Re: Maximum Effort lifts--you will have two maximum effort days per week (1 upper and 1 lower). On these days, you will choose ONE lift from the respective pools and perform it for two weeks. The next two weeks you pick another and so on and so on. I will post the general template that I use a little later on. In the meantime, I would go over to elitefts.com and read up on this method. It will give you a little better understanding on this.
Next question, how many athletes will participate in the program? Splitting the team into groups of 3 or 4 works great. Let me know whats up.
We will have between 35 to 45 kids in the weight room on a consistant basis. Thanks for the tip on the reverse hypers, I have heard so much about this excercise an how important it is for the posterior chain that I would have hated to leave them out.
With groups of 4; 45 kids will give you about 11 groups. If you choose to go with groups of 5, you have 9 groups. Whatever choice you go with, think it through carefully b/c you don't want to group together buddies that will end up playing WWE Superstars with each other when they should be encouraging their training partners and spotting/coaching (Im sure you know what I mean). My big thing (I touched on this in another post) is leadership. You have to have a junior or senior (or soph. if he's a leader and knows whats going on) to take charge and responsibility of his group. This leader or captain ensures that his group shows up and on time and ensures that each partner is doing what they are supposed to be doing. Try to make this a mentorship type program as well, however this isn't always going to run perfectly b/c of differences in strength b/w rising seniors and freshman (at least this SHOULD be the case). However, with 4 or 5 in a group, plate loading/unloading should not be very time consuming. The main point to drive home here is to teach the leaders to lead in the weightroom, and in turn those athletes pass it down. That is why you MUST sit down and discuss thoroughly with the leaders how things are going to be. This allows you to be more mobile so that you can get around to each group and teach.
I don't know how big your weightroom is, but if you have to split the groups in half you can do something like this.
Cohort A (Groups 1-5--skinny/fast guys)
*Monday: 1)Speed-Acceleration: 200-300 yds 2)Strength-Lower Body Maximum Effort
*Tuesday: 1)Strength-Upper Body Dynamic Effort 2)Conditioning-Tempo runs: 800-1200 yds
*Thursday: 1)Speed-Acceleration: 200-300 yds 2)Strength-Lower Body Dynamic Effort
*Friday: 1)Strength-Upper Body Maximum Effort 2)Conditioning-Tempo runs: 1000-1500 yds
Cohort B (Group 6-9--big uglies, lb, te, etc.)
*Monday: 1)Strength-Upper Body Dynamic Effort 2)Conditioning: Tempo Runs: 600-900 yds
*Tuesday: 1)Speed-acceleration:100-200 yds--(mostly in 10-15 yd sprints) 2)Strength-Lower Body Maximum Effort
*Thursday: 1)Strength-Upper Body Maximum Effort 2)Conditioning-Tempo Runs: 600-1000 yds
*Friday: 1)Speed-acceleration (same as tuesday) 2)Strength- Dynamic Effort Lower Body
This isn't perfect by any means, as I have heard the speed and maximum effort work aren't a good combination. But this I am investigating as we speak. Bottom line, I am always evolving as I learn more. But in the mean time, this is what I do. What it does though, it allows you to have a cohort "A" outside or in the gym doing speed work while the other cohort "B" is inside lifting. Then the two cohorts simply switch. Except that cohort "B" will do conditioning work instead of sprinting.
I prefer the Cohort "A" split b/c tempo work (which is also done for recovery) comes after a leg training day. I dont like to do speed work and leg work on different days b/c that gives the legs less time to recover. So if you have the room, let them all lift...if not, you can even start them like 30 mins apart. Cohort A starts at 3:30pm with sprinting then moves to the weightroom...Cohort B starts at 4:00pm with sprinting and then moves to the weight room. This way you have everybody out by 5:30 (Assuming this is even feasible, of course).
This is why I prefer a three day lifting split at times b/c it works well with speed and conditioning work and due to the different body emphasis each day, you can have all of the team running and lifting at the same time.
Like I said, I am still working on better ways to do speed & conditioning in conjunction with strength work, so if anybody else has ideas...let 'em rip.
Let me know what you come up with, Coach, and we will go from there.
I did plan on putting an upperclassman in charge of each group. I believe it puts more emphasis on him as a leader and if he does his job then he will be grooming future leaders as well. As far as the weight issue goes... you have to give something up but we will just rotate, two guys not lifting will fetch weight while the lifter and other guy loads/ unloads. I think that will work fairly well. Due to the lack of coaches availabe, I would like to be able to keep an eye on everyone, would it be possible if we could have everyone together for speed/conditioning then in the weight room have the skinny guys do as you prescribed, and have the fat boys do dynamic bench, then on the next day the groups switch bodyparts. What do you think. This may be more feasible for us just for the fact that we will have a limited number of coaches supervising and I want to make sure that everything is getting done and being done correctly. If we can then that would be great. If we can establish this then what is next on the agenda?
The only problem is that speed and conditioning are two different things all together. In my opinion, speed work should be done on a leg training day and should be performed PRIOR to strength work. On the other hand, tempo runs are done AFTER strength work and are done as a form of recovery and to increase the level of conditioning. The problem with alot of programs is that speed and conditioning are done in unison...this is completely wrong. You have to run full speed to get faster and if you are tired, then full speed sprinting is out of the question, not to mention technique, which will go down the drain as fatigue increases.
If you don't have the staff available, then of course, you have to "do whatcha gotta do" to make things happen. Strength is the No. 1 priority here, so make sure you get them in the weightroom. At this time of year, Im not sure it wouldn't hurt to drop the speed work from time to time and just work on general conditioning and getting strong.
How much space is available in the weightroom? Can you accomodate 45 athletes at once?
Coach Hale, Whenever I have to condition and lift in the same day, I condition first. My thinking is that you can always take weight off and get a good workout.. and keep good technique (like you do). What are your reasons for doing conditioning after strength workouts? You got me thinking and any conditioning work challenges technique. Maybe it is better to condition after the workout where it will be easier to get fatiqued. Is this you're thinking?
The main reason that I do conditioning after strength is because strength is the number 1 priority when talking about high schoolers. ESPECIALLY the young guys. After conditioning, the legs should be like jell-o and trying to squat or DL after 1800 yds of tempos will lessen the productivity of the strength session. I don't want to do anything that will hinder their strength gains.
I do speed work before lifting b/c fatigue is not really a factor. However, trying to sprint full speed AFTER training the legs will definitely prevent you from hitting 90-95% of your maximum speed. Others on here have disagreed, but I have not found sprint work to be a hinderance to strength work.
Now the problem is that we don't live in a perfect world and all these athletes have lives that include Church, Family, Classes/Homework, other social activities, etc. so we can't possibly expect them to spend a whole lot of time in the weightroom/track/field. Therefore, it is up to the coach to decide how all this will go together. If possible however, I feel that strength before conditioning and speed before strength is the way to go.
If I have the opportunity, I will use a 3 day split and do conditioning on strength off days. This will take up 5 or 6 total days of the week however so it is often not possible.
I forgot to mention that If at all possible, I try to split the sessions up by at least 4 hours...meaning speed work in the morning and strength later in the afternoon. Also, I would split up the strength/conditioning as well.
We have enough space in the weight room to accommadate that many athletes. Unfortunately we are limited as far as staff is concerned . If we broke it up into 2 different cohorts as you put it then we have enough equipment available for all of the athletes. We may have to have some do good mornings while others are box squatting but If I understand you correctly these are both acceptable max effort lifts. We (the coaches) will just have to be organized. So once we have the pools set up and have the number of days we will be lifting what comes next?
Yes, you can have the athletes working on different max effort exercises.
On the good mornings, I wouldnt go with less than a 5RM, especially for younger guys. As they get better at it, maybe a 3 RM at most.
Do you have a general template set up?
If so, lets take a look at it.
Speed work (running speed) should be done in the 200-400 yd range in the form of 10s, 20s, 40s. Acceleration should be the main focus with lengthy rest intervals (1:30-4 minutes depending on length of previous sprint) so that each sprint can be done at near full speed.
As the guys get stronger, their speed should go up, assuming they aren't getting fat or anything.
I'm Actually working on a template right now. How many excercises other than the main lift , do you recommend an athlete do in one workout. I was going to keep the number low... say between 5 and7. Am I off base here?
You are on the right track. A couple things I might do differently however:
1)Max Effort Lift--going to 1RM right away for some athletes may not be a good idea. #1 priority here is to make sure that they can even squat properly (i.e. sitting BACK, not DOWN, knees out, back arched, etc.). Normally I wouldn't do high box squats for Max Effort, however they will be ok for those with back arching issues. As for rep scheme, I would shoot for a 5RM for week 1 and then on week 2, shoot for a 3RM. The reason is that week 1 will be an introduction week to get them used to the lift.
2)I always go with a unilateral lift for the #2 exercise. One day of the week, I will do a horizontal unilateral lift (i.e. various lunge or single leg squat) and the other day, I will perform a vertical unilateral lift (i.e. various step up). Make sure you get equal amounts of horizontal and vertical.
3)Hamstring/Posterior Chain Movement is my #3. I usually go HEAVY here for 3 x 5-8. It consists of various good mornings, romanian or stiff leg DLs, resisted back extensions, etc.
4)Hamstring/Posterior Chain Movement is #4. This is a LIGHT exercise for 3-4 x 12-15. Reverse hypers, 1 leg back extensions, non-resisted back extensions, Dimel DLs, cable pull thrus, etc.
5)Grip or Abdominal: I train abdominals in the warm up, so this is usually some sort of grip exercise. However, it is also a good place for ab work.
This is how I do it. It is ultimately up to you how to place the lifts and what rep schemes to use. I like how you are thinking and coming up with solutions on your own. I enjoy helping AND LEARNING from those who want to expand their knowledge and then go out to find it.
Well to be quite honest with you I will get a lot more out of it by doing most of the research and learning on my own I appreciate your help thus far because I just need to be pointed in the right direction. What good would it do me or my athletes if you just gave me a generic template and said do this. With your guidance I have been able to learn about this method objectively and see how this actually works. It really MAKES SENSE to me. I want to be able to gain the knowledge myself in order to help others like you are helping me now. So THANKS. Right now we have our athletes in the weight room and we are putting them through an "orientation". During this time until after X-mas we are spending time working on just form with the various exercises. Very little weight is used, we are looking to perfect their form first and foremost. We wanted to familiarize them with this new approach and get them comfortable with it, that way we can hit the ground running. This time is also giving the other coaches time to learn the lifts and coach technique. I believe this to be a sane approach because we are stressing form over weight. What do you think? I will work on my actual templates more and post them when I am done. Again Jimbo, I appreciate the guidance that you are providing me
This is what I have as far as generic templates go:
Max Effort Squat:
Parallell Box squat: work up to 3-5 RM DB lunges: 3x6-10 Good Mornings: 3x 5-8 Reverse Hypers: 3x 12-15 Wrist Curls: x 3 sets
Max Bench Day
Floor press: Work up to 3-5RM Close Grip bench: 3x5-8 Barbell extension:3x8-10 Lateral raises: 3x10-12 Bent over Rows (3x5-8)
Dynamic Squat Day
Box Squat: 6-8 sets of 3 @60% Step ups: 3x10-12 Good Mornings: 3x12-15 Pull Throughs: 3x12-15 Plate pinches: x 3 sets
Dynamic Bench
Bench Press (3 grips): 6-8 x3 @ 60% Incline DB extensions (elbows out) : 3x8 DB Cleans: 3x10-12 Bent Over Laterals: 3x10-12 Lat Pulls: 3-4x 10-12
I believe that I am getting closer. I decided to do more reps on dynamic days and heavier on Max days does that sound alright? I understand that the max effort lifts will rotate every couple of weeks and the others will rotate occasionally but this is just a basic template to see if I'm getting any closer. Also, what is the difference between a Dimel DL, Romanian DL and stiff leg DL aren't these basically the same?
As for the template, I think it looks fine. Just make sure that you cycle Max effort, dynamic effort and repetition effort work separately. In other words, plan each characteristic individually.
RE: Deadlifts:
I actually meant to say straight leg instead of stiff leg. Straight leg is just what it sounds like, no bend in the knees and can be done off a box.
The Romanian DL and the Dimel DL are different b/c of the speed of the lift. Romanian DLs will be done with a controlled (explosive concentric!) movement with heavier weight.
Dimels are basically a RDL but it will be done with less weight (40-50%) and done with speed for higher reps 15-20. Basically a very fast RDL. Have the athletes perform the 1st 2-3 reps a little slower to get their rythym going and then BANG let them go at it.
Jimbo: As for the template, I think it looks fine. Just make sure that you cycle Max effort, dynamic effort and repetition effort work separately. In other words, plan each characteristic individually.
Could you expound on this for me. I believe that I understand what you are saying but I would just like to make sure. Also thanks for clearing up the DL issue.