Building the Best Athletes! Step 3-Program Design
4/07/08 11:02:23 AM
Posted By Tony Reynolds, MS, CSCS, YCS II

In part two of Hierarchy of Success we discussed how to define your starting point.

To summarize, I discussed the importance of studying your athletes in their true environment and using your observations to validate their deficiencies as they relate to their requirements for success.

I have also shown you a multitude of exercises that I have used to dramatically improve my athletes performance.

Before I continue into part three, I thought I would share a training program with you. It comes from a workout template that is included in my 3d Strength Training Manual. 

You can download it from here:

http://www.3dstrength.com/Sample3.html

This sample training program includes over 80 exercises and drills and will  provide you with some insight into how I include horizontal and rotation loading techniques into my training programs.

Now, onto the Hierarchy of Success Part III.

I have always thought of program design as an art and the drills and exercises used as the medium.  Although anybody can draw a picture, it takes talent, work, and vision to truly capture “essence.”

The first thing I would like for you to do is to spend some time “studying” the sample workout I just gave you. As you look through this program, I want you to notice what I consider to be the four key concepts of program design that I use to address the essence of sport:

*First concept-Focus on “Movement Strength” Not “Muscle Strength”

To optimize training carryover we need to emulate motions of the sport in our training. This means training multi-directional multi joint exercises in most every workout.

The key to developing “movement strength” is integration.

Through integrated strength training movements we not only improve the strength of the individual muscles involved in the motion…but more importantly we enhance how those muscle function together to orchestrate that motion.

As I keep mentioning, the goal of your training should always be to improve movement aptitude, so…move in the weightroom!

*Second concept-Train Various EFVs

A huge part of my discussion with Brian involved the significance of external force vectors (EFV for short and lazy).

Just to clarify, an external force vector is really nothing more than the direction of “push” from an external load.

For example, the EFV of gravity would be purely vertical since the forces of gravity push the body or object straight down toward the earth. Therefore the EFV or a barbell would be primarily vertical.

However, regardless of how omnipresent gravity is, it VERY rarely acts alone.

In a previous newsletter I discussed the HUGE role momentum plays in athletics. Since the forces of momentum typically occur outside of the vertical plane and play such a huge rule in how our bodies must “react” for compensation, it becomes imperative that we address them in our training. 

This is why I have found horizontal and rotational loading to be such a powerful training tool.

*Third concept- Emphasize Varity

Varity is important for keeping our bodies in a constant state of adaption.

It does not take long for our bodies to adapt to the stresses we place upon them. After all, that is what they are designed to do.

This is easily seen when practicing a new skill. In the initial stages, change comes very quickly. As the skill gets perfected and the body becomes more “educated” on how to execute the skill, change becomes much harder to achieve.

I view strength training in much the same way. The exercises we use affect our bodies in numerous ways.

As we train a particular movement, our neurological adaptation to that movement becomes greater and greater.

Although this is the desired effect, the rate of that continued adaptation will gradually decrease over time rendering the exercise/drill less effective at producing the desired change.

It’s also important to consider the seemingly endless variety of movements encountered in sport.

The production of the forces required to generate these movements come from a varying and quite dynamically changing subset of musculature.

Therefore, it makes sense that “chronically” training with a limited number of exercises does not adequately address what is truly expected from your athletes bodies as they perform their sport.

Although you will probably never truly replicate every action an athlete will make, nor should you try, it is import to address the most vital ones. If you have done your homework, you will know what these are.

*Forth concept- Qualify Everything

I am a huge believer that a coach should be able to qualify…or justify…everything the do to their athletes.  Buy this I mean every drill, every stretch, every exercise, etc you place in a program should have meaning.

If asked why a specific drill/stretch/exercise is done, there should always be a logical explanation that relates to that athletes needs and requirements. Exercises are the tools of your trade and you must truly understand them before you can make the most of their inherent values.

It is once you understand both “what” the exercise does and (more importantly) “why” it does it that you can really start to create the most effective training programs.

Well, that about sums up this newsletter.  Next time I will delve a little deeper into the nuts and bolts of program design.

Until then, yours in strength,

Tony

PS. I have extended the sale until this Friday for this ”Must Have Training Resource” as quoted by Bill Hartman. www.3dStrength.com/Sample3.html

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