Even if you’re a weekend warrior burnin’ the midnight oil, you should consider the concept of programming as well.
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[3] Lifting with Intent: Programming
Once you have figured your intent on lifting, it’s time to begin programming. The general idea of programming is to map out your training in order to grow, develop, and peak at the right time. Even if you’re a weekend warrior burnin’ the midnight oil, you should consider the concept of programming as well. Many have the mindset that working towards a “peak” would be worthless if they aren’t a competitor, but to peak your training will give you a vision…a goal…and a purpose. So if you’re looking to blow your biceps twenty inches or hit a massive PR on bench, let’s discuss the ideas and concepts behind programming.
1. Periodization-Make a Calendar
A good cycle for programming would be 12-16 weeks. If we are looking at a competitor for sports performance, I would promote 16 weeks to give more time to build a foundation and promote corrective behavior. Below is a format that I promote with many clients…
Weeks 1-4: Hypertrophy #slabsofBEEF
Weeks 5-8: Basic Strength
Weeks 9-12: Power Phase
Week 13-16: Championship
2. Specificity-How, when and why?
My last blog discussed specificity with more depth. Basically, why would a bodybuilder run a mile when their goal is to attain slabs of beef that would make a carnivore weep in joy? We have to know what movements work for us, and how to program it into our workouts. The following the photos show a client performing the barbell squat and how he would program towards harvesting strength…
In the first photo we see great bar placement to help promote growth and development of not just his quadriceps, but his posterior frame such as the hips and hamstrings. His feet are pointed out, which could or could not be a bad thing. I marked this as a negative if we were looking to promote his abilities as a dynamic athlete like football or track, for in these sports we want to have a neutral stance and neutral tendencies including his feet. But with this athlete looking to be a competitive powerlifter, this would serve fine for him.
In this second photo, we see a great visual as he has a flat back, open hips and great posture due to his neutral head position.
The third photo shows this client beginning to work a rounded back, valgus knees and bad positioning with his head. As he looks down, his posture diminishes as well as his elbow placement being shifted behind him. These are cues and visuals to help understand why certain athletes do certain things.
Within this step of specificity, we need to understand what movements will help this client be successful based off our movement analysis. So in addition to specificity, we want to practice our next step exercise prescription. Exercise prescription to us would be which exercises work for this athlete based of his specific goals.
3. Program-PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
So based off everything we discussed, now it’s time to bring it all together and figure out what’s the best approach towards fixing this athletes movement and getting him a goal of a heavy squat PR.
Weeks 1-4: Hypertrophy #slabsofBEEF
During this phase we would have the athlete work on several reps and sets of squats and other derivatives of this movement.
-Front Squats-Promote strong hips and posture for the descent and ascending actions of his movement
-Back Squats-Gain size and strength through rigorous volume of training.
-Hip Abduction-Any movements that will help increase the action of hip abduction to get better leverage for his squat movement.
-Hip Mobility-Warm up and activating exercises to help his range of motion for better posture and success.
Weeks 5-8: Basic Strength
During this phase we would continue volume, but to a lesser magnitude but start adding other movements to promote the posture towards the ascending motion of the squat.
-Good Mornings-Help increase strength in hips and hamstring, as well as erectors to have a better posture for his ascending movement.
-High Bar vs Low Bar-Work on his high bar placement to put more stress on keeping his posture erect and reinforcing the growth and development from the good mornings.
-Pause Squats-Variation of the squat but helps increase the bottom strength and his transitional strength from the bottom to the top.
Weeks 9-12: Power Phase
During this phase we would drop the volume and work on the explosiveness of his movement. We have emphasized strength, but now adding speed will help him further harness the capabilities of increasing his squat max.
-Dead Squats-Learning to explode out the “hole” and having a greater dynamic ability.
-Cluster Sets-With squat, instead of less sets and more reps, flip and have more sets and less reps to build his stamina and capabilities with continuous opportunities of higher weight.
-Kneeling Hip Extension-Place himself in a kneeling position with loaded weight on his back and practicing a violent hip extension for his lockout.
Week 13-16: Championship
During this phase we will continue to work cluster sets, higher weight and explosive dynamic movement to get him to practice lifting heavier weight at a faster tempo.
-Isometric Squats-Place him in his weakest spot during the ascent of the barbell, and have him push against the pins for 5-6 seconds to learn how to exert intense contractions during motionless movement.
-Dead Squats-Place him in a higher position to learn how to train and explode through his weakest spot during squat. This would reinforce the isometric movements done for squat on the last exercise.
-Heavy Singles-This would be just like the cluster sets mentioned before, but now we are training singles so he can practice hitting one rep and practice towards his future max PR.
Overall, this is just an OVERVIEW of what it takes to program a successful regimen towards improving your goals using this specific example of the barbell squat. If you are looking to venture into this topic, feel free to contact with other additional inquiry to better understand the specifics of this concept.
Jlucero.cscs@gmail.com
#bangtheiron