|
Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail!
One of the most common mistakes people make when
setting up a training program is not making a comprehensive
plan for their workouts. These people show up at
the gym every day and do their exercises, but fail
to make consistent progress. Experience tells me
that athletes who keep a log of their training and
nutrition regimens make far better progress. Keeping
a log allows the athlete to clearly see what works
and what doesn’t work for them. It also gives
a clear picture of how much time is needed to sufficiently
recover between workouts and to see when it’s
time to step back and decrease training volume to
avoid over training.
Planning effective workouts involves two steps. Short
term and long term plans need to be mapped out to reach
specific goals.
The short-term plan usually involves a 2 to 4 week
block of training. At SST we have found that younger
athletes generally need to have their program changed
about every six workouts. Our more advanced athletes
usually require change every 2-3 workouts. One way
to determine when a plateau has been reached is by
checking the log. New trainees experience strength
gains of 10-20% initially because they are learning
new motor patterns. However, this rate of gains slows
down with increased training experience. Most athletes
should generally be able to increase weights 2 to 3%
each training session (this is where having plate-mates
for micro loading helps). If you continue to use the
same weight you should increase the number of reps
by 1. If you aren’t able to reach these goals,
this tells you one of two things. Either you may not
have recovered sufficiently from a previous training
session or you may need to change your program.
Another important thing to keep in mind is to be sure
to focus on all points of training such as speed, power,
agility, flexibility, energy system training etc. 100
% priority can’t be given to each of these areas
so you need to spotlight the area of greatest necessity.
For example, focus may need to be placed on increasing
muscle. In that case the athlete would do no aerobic
training because that would slow down the process of
building lean muscle.
Long term planning may refer to a single off-season
or it may center on a cycle as long as several years.
For now let’s look at one off-season cycle. Many
hockey players have only 12 weeks to prepare for an
upcoming season. At SST we look at the last week before
camp as the week in which the player wants to peak
and make our plan of action based on the amount of
time available to us.
Each player has different needs and for that reason
we assess each athlete individually. For instance one
player may need to develop upper body strength and
balance while another needs to work on core development
before he’s ready to concentrate on upper bodywork.
Some players need to increase lean mass, while others
may need to drop body fat. An assessment is vitally
important to find out what the athlete’s requirements
are and what he most needs to work on to make him the
best he can be. We focus on fixing muscle imbalances
early on and then spend time enhancing muscle groups
that are important for the sport. If a player has a
short off-season then the amount of time to work on
stability exercises, for example, is decreased because
he needs to get strong first.
While Swiss Balls and unstable surfaces have an important
use, the short off-season precludes their use because
the player needs the time to overload the prime mover
muscles in order to increase physical strength.
SST uses 3 different training phases: Accumulation,
Intensification, and Power. Accumulation training has
higher numbers of reps with lower rest and intensity
levels. The goal is to increase muscle size during
this phase. Intensification refers to strength training
where the reps are lower and the rest intervals and
intensity are higher. The focus in this phase is on
neuromuscular enhancement. The final stage is power
training where the concentration is on making strength
gains and teaching motor units to fire faster. This
area of training involves Olympic lifts, Bands, Plyometrics
and Medicine Ball Training.
Here’s a sample 12 week program for an athletically
advanced hockey player who wishes to gain lean muscle,
add bulk and get stronger.
Weeks 1 – 3 - Accumulation
#1
Workouts: 4 days per week (2 upper body, 2 lower body)
Volume: 18 – 32 sets per day
Sets: 3 – 4 for each exercise
Number of exercises: 6 – 8
Rest between Sets: 45 – 75 seconds
Use many different exercises to try and hit as many muscle fibers as possible.
Add small muscle exercises to improve shoulder and hip stability.
No Aerobic training. Increase calories.
Monitor body fat levels to ensure that weight is mostly lean mass (muscle).
Flexibility training – amount depends on individual assessment.
Weeks 4 – 6 - Intensification
#1
Workouts: 4 days per week (2 upper body, 2 lower body)
Volume: 12 – 18 sets per day
Sets: 5 – 8 per exercise
Number of exercises: 2 - 4
Rest between Sets: 120 - 180 seconds
Focus on large muscle exercises such as Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, and Chins.
For Anaerobic Alactic Speed: Sprinting,
2 weeks, 10 second sprints
1:20 – 1:12 work: rest
3 sets of 5-6 reps – active rest between sets of 5 minutes
1 week 20 second sprints
1:10 – 1:15 work: rest
2 sets of 4-5 reps – active rest between sets of 6-7 minutes
Weeks 7-9 - Accumulation #2
Workouts: 4 per week (2 upper body, 2 lower body)
Volume: 20 - 24 sets per day
Sets: 3 – 4 per exercise
Number of exercises: 6 – 8
Rest between sets: 60 - 90 seconds
Continue with large muscle exercises. Add in supplemental exercises to continue
increasing lean muscle.
Weights should be greater than in the first Accumulation phase.
Anaerobic Lactic Acid Speed (Sprinting)
2 weeks
20-40 second sprints
1:18 – 1:14 work: rest
2-3 sets of 3-4 reps – active rest of 8 minutes between sets
1 week
20-40 second sprints
1:14 – 1:8 work: rest
2-3 sets of 4-5 reps – active rest of 6-7 minutes between sets
Weeks 10-12 - Power # 1
Workouts: 3 days per week (Full Body)
Volume: 12-15 sets each day (complex training)
Sets: 3-5 per exercise
Number of exercises: 3-5
Rest between Sets: 240 seconds
Combine a Strength or Olympic movement with a plyometric exercise.
Anaerobic Lactic Acid Speed (Sprinting)
2 weeks
20-40 second sprints
1:18 – 1:14 work: rest-
2-3 sets of 3-4 reps – active rest between sets of 8 minutes
1 week
20-40 second sprints
1:14 – 1:8 works: rest
2-3 sets of 4-5 reps – active rest between sets of 6-7 minutes
Coach Steve Bodanis, SST Director
of Strength Training and Program Design
|
