Creating training Programs Part V

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This is the final part of the creating training programs series. In this part we will talk about commonalities of the training programs of the all time greats.

Defining Features of The training of All time Great/ Super Elite Athletes

If you want to know the specific sources of the information, mail me. I am going to keep it brief here. Also there will be exceptions to everything stated here. None of this is dogma, but it is very useful information.

1. All gifted athletes will achieve considerable success in the first year of training. Very simply a truly gifted athlete will be atleast a regional level contender  within the first year of training in any strength or power sport. If you could not do this in your first year of training, chances are that you simply do not have the genetics that are required in order to reach the very top in that particular sport. This does not mean you cannot improve, it just means you have to be realistic about your expectations.

2. The greatest gains in any strength or power sport are made in the first 7.5 years of training. From then on to 11 years of training, moderate to small gains are made. After that gains are pretty much negligible. However people who have earned a good base in one sport who are petering out can explore other sports as typically the starting point will be higher, and you would have already figured out what works for you and what does not. Due to this many all time greats were successful in the second sport they began competing in (chronologically). For example many great American powerlifters were first college and high school football athletes.

3. The first year of training is typically the linear training year with a lot of volume. After that they play around to find their system. It typically takes gifted athletes 3-4 years to figure out the training that works for them, after which they tend to be pretty consistent.

4. At the highest levels of any strength or power sport, athletes devote a large amount of time and energy training and doing related activities. While 4, 45min sessions a week are good for most people, elite athletes will typically have workhorse like workloads. Most will train 4-6hours a day 6 days a week, which may or may not be spread out. This is primarily because at that level they have a lot more bases to cover. They need to do extra work for all the small muscles and rehab injuries. They need to take care of mobility, flexibility and work capacity. They need to do a lot of practice with the primary events and the assistance drills. They devote time to recovery work and things like massages. They spend a lot of time preparing for worksets.

This does not mean this is something you must emulate in your own training, but don't be afraid of pushing the envelope.

5. There are only so many maximal lifts that can be done in a year from a strength training point of view. After a certain amount the body cannot recover. Which is why it is important to devote yourself to a limited set of primary exercises and their variations, as otherwise you will not be able to give quality effort to the things that matter. Find the exercises that for you are the most productive ones and transfer well to your sport.

6. In the first 3 years of training 10,000-12,000 lifts per year is the optimal amount that should be done for the primary strength exercises and their direct variations with above minimal (50%) loads. This does not include indirect assistance exercises.

For example in the deadlift, the sumo deadlift, rack deadlift, box deadlifts, RDLs, Stiff Leg Deadlifts, good mornings and Snatch Grip deadlifts will all be included in the total. But exercises like hypers, reverse hypers, seated good mornings and ham glute curls will not be included in this figure.

In the 3-4th year of training 12,000-13,000 lifts are done per year. In the 4-5 year it is 13,000-15,000. In the 5-6th year it is 15-16,000. In the 6-7th year it is 14,000. In the 8th year it is 12,000 and in the 9th year it is 10,000. In the 10th-11th year it is 8,000-9,000.

7. The average intensity over the year for the greatest athletes has always been 70-85%. Great athletes will typically perform 50-60% of their work within this range, perform 20-25% of their workload above it and 20-25% below it (but above 49%).

8. Intensity and volume will vary greatly through the year. Most athletes will have phases of reduced workload and intensity, periods of high intensity and moderate to high workload and periods of medium intensity and high workloads.

Typically the best will spend 50% of the year training with a high workload and medium intensity, 25% with a medium to high workload and high intensity and 25% with low workload and low intensity. This could be organized in pretty much any way though- 4 week cycles to a 16 week cycle to year long to multi year long plans.

9. In the first 3 years of training, 50-60% of the total volume is devoted to the primary strength exercises themselves. In the 3-8th year of training, this percentage typically drops to 20-25%. Then from the 8th to the 11th year this will typically rise back up to 40-50%.

This happens because initially athletes just need to build a base and get strong overall. Later they need to correct their weaknesses and build a large base of structural development. Finally they need to convert this strength potential into real strength by performing more of what they want to get good at.

10. All elite athletes have devoted time to developing the spectrum of the force velocity curve that they do not compete in. For example- Shot putters will squat and bench press (slower velocity higher force), they will jump and throw light objects (faster velocity, lesser force).

Similarly the best squatters jump, do weighted jumps, throw and do some speed work with barbells or atleast the focus on moving fast with their warm up sets.

11. The greatest athletes will never focus on improving their peak performance, but will focus on improving their average performance. For example great squatters will not focus on setting PRs in the gym day after day, but rather focus on increasing the average weight being lifted over time.

12. In general power athletes work best with sets of 3-6 repetitions for the majority of their training. Strength athletes work best with 3-8 and in certain cases 3-10.

13. The greatest athletes will train around pain. But they will also try their best to avoid problems in the first place. And they will use their heads when rehabbing injuries.

14. The greatest ability of great athletes seems to be their ability to plan and create systems within which they can consistently improve performance. They know how to set small targets and derive motivation and momentum from them. They build competitiveness instead of relying upon it.

15. There is an ideal weight range depending upon your height, structure and sport. I am giving the figures for 180-185cm. For every 5-10cm add or deduct 10kgs.

For strength sports (like powerlifting) 130-140kgs, for Strength Power Sports (like weightlifting) 120-130kgs, for power sports (like Shot Put or Highland Games) 110-120kgs, for speed power sports (like discus) 100-110kgs, for speed sports (like 100m) its is 80-100kgs.

16. You cannot tell for sure what your genetics are good for. For all you know, you may be the most genetically gifted rower of all time, but you will never figure that out if all you do is curl and bench. Unless you are handicapped or have serious problems, chances are you are gifted for some sport or the other. but you will never know unless you expose yourself to a variety of sports.