A Novice Strength Training Program

This is a foundation building program that we use with young athletes who are just getting into serious strength training. The idea here is to build a foundation of general strength and endurance and establish stable motor patterns that will serve them well in later training. Therefore, every exercise in this routine serves a purpose, which is explained with the routine. 

Overall the objective is to strengthen the legs and back and to develop correct posture for lifting. The volume of work is very large and the exercises are general in nature. This is because the novice does not need a very high intensity or special exercises to get stronger. The large volume also builds general endurance for strength sports, which will enable them to train harder than their peers later. Most athletes will achieve the goals of the routine in 8-12 weeks, for most this is a 60-80% increase in strength. Then we move on to proper barbell training.

The exercises used are easy to learn and require very little coaching. All you need is a few kettlebells, a bar to do pull ups and open space. Remember that this routine was originally intended for teams and works best with partners. We have trained as many as 20 kids in a group without a problem. This way everyone pushes each other. We typically trained in a football ground and used the goalposts for pull ups.

You will workout 3 non consecutive days a week and keep notes of your numbers. Every workout the goal is to get the required reps in less sets. The whole workout should take 45-60 mins at most. You can reduce the weights or use easier variations if required, but do not progress to the barbell routines until you have achieved the goals.

Routine for Boys

Warm Up Stretching (5mins)

Cat-Camel- 10 reps

Fire Hydrant Circles- 8 reps per side

Roll Over into V-Sit- 8 reps

Mountain Climbers- 6 reps per side

Static Hip Flexor Stretch- 20s per side

Squat Stretch- 30s

Light Twist Hold- 20s per side

Cobra Stretch- 20s

Shoulder Dislocates with stick or rope- 15 reps

Main Workout (30mins)

Push Ups (Start with an incline around waist level)- 100 total reps, GOAL= 5 sets of 20 on the floor
Kettlebell Goblet Squat (Start with a 16 or 12kg bell)- 100 total reps, GOAL= First 50 in 1 set using the 24kg bell.

Chin Ups (Start with a partner assisting from the hips)- 50 total reps, GOAL= 10 sets or less without assistance

Conditioning (5mins)

Kettlebell Swings (Start with a 16 or 12kg bell)- 100 total reps, GOAL= 1 set of 100 with 24kg bell.

Static Stretching (5mins)

Standing Ankle Stretch- 30s per side

Squat Stretch- 30s

Cossack Squats- 10s per side

Static Hip Flexor Stretch- 30s per side

Standing Toe touch- 20s

Easy Twist Hold- 30s per side

Camel Stretch- 30s

Shoulder Dislocates with stick or rope- 15 reps

Routine for Girls

Warm Up Stretching (5mins)

Cat-Camel- 10 reps

Fire Hydrant Circles- 8 reps per side

Roll Over into V-Sit- 8 reps

Mountain Climbers- 6 reps per side

Static Hip Flexor Stretch- 20s per side

Squat Stretch- 30s

Light Twist Hold- 20s per side

Cobra Stretch- 20s

Shoulder Dislocates with stick or rope- 15 reps

Main Workout (30mins)

One Arm Kettlebell Clean and Press (Start with 8 or 6kgs)- 50 total reps per arm, GOAL= 5 sets of 10 with the 12kg bell.
Kettlebell Goblet Squat (Start with a 12 or 10kg bell)- 100 total reps, GOAL= First 50 in 1 set using the 16kg bell.

Bodyweight Rows (Start with a bar above the waist)- 50 total reps, GOAL= 8 sets or less with a bar below the hips.

Conditioning (5mins)

Short Sprints (Start with 25m)- 10 sprints, GOAL= 10 sprints of 50m.

Static Stretching (5mins)

Standing Ankle Stretch- 30s per side

Squat Stretch- 30s

Cossack Squats- 10s per side

Static Hip Flexor Stretch- 30s per side

Standing Toe touch- 20s

Easy Twist Hold- 30s per side

Camel Stretch- 30s

Shoulder Dislocates with stick or rope- 15 reps

Explanation of the Exercises

Exercise	Purpose	Description	Video Link
Cat Camel	-Warm Up Lower Back -Learn how to arch and round the back.	-Get down on your hands and knees. -Pull your stomach in and try to pull your lower back up and round your back as much as you can. Look down towards your feet. -Reverse the movement and try to push the lower back and stomach towards the ground and arch your back as much as you can. Look up to the sky.	NA
Fire Hydrants	-Mobilize the hips -Activate the glutes	-The lower back should be rounded and the arms straight. Do not tilt the torso. -When making outward circles, make sure that you are lifting the knee as high as you can to the side. Do not let the knee open at any point. -Make as large a circle as possible with your knee. -When performing inward circles, ensure the knee goes as far back as possible as well.	NA
Rollover Into V-Sit	-Open the groin and lower back. -Teach control.	-Legs together at the back, knees may be straight or bent depending upon comfort, touch the toes to the ground. -Legs apart as far as possible and knees straight in the seated position, reach forward as far as you can. -Use momentum to come up and go back but try to limit it as much as possible for safety reasons.	NA
Static Hip Flexor	-Stretch the front of the hips. -Correct pain and posture in the lower back.	-Push the hips forward and lean back very slightly. -The weight must be on the back knee.	NA
Squat Stretch	-Open Hips, knees and ankles.	-Heels flat, toes out 45 degrees, knees push out and away from each other, sit between the legs. -Try to rest your hips on your calves. If required hold something for support.	NA
Mountain Climbers	-Open hips -Warm up full body.	-The heel of the working leg should be close to the palm on the same side at the top. How far forward the heel goes is more important than speed. -Hop when you switch sides. -Keep the hips straight and aligned with the rest of the body.	NA
Light twist	-Stretch Sides and back.	-Sit on the ground with your shins on top of each other. Hold your thighs with the arm away from them and twist your torso around to the opposite side. -Exhale and try to relax while doing this.	NA
Cobra Stretch	-Stretch abs and front hips. -Improve the ability to arch the back with muscular force.	-The hands should be just below the shoulders. -Push the hands into the ground while pushing the chest out and head back and squeezing all the back muscles, especially the glutes. -Push the hips into the ground.	NA
Shoulder Dislocates	-Open shoulders and elbows.	-The wider the grip the easier the exercise. -Complete a full circle with each repetition. -Keep the arms straight, chest out and the shoulders away from the ears at all times. Do not shrug. -Hold the stick/Rope with your thumb and index finger only	NA
Push Ups	-Build shoulder, chest, arm and ab strength. -Teach proper shoulder positioning and full body tightness.	-Keep the hips, knees and spine tight. Do not sag or A frame. -Twist the elbows inwards, keep the shoulders down and away from the ears. -The hands should be in line with the lower chest at the bottom. Space yourself accordingly. -Feet always together. -Pause at the bottom and the top. -Hands Shoulder Width -Keeping the hands on an object waist high reduces the difficulty by half. You can keep working down inclines until you hit the floor.	https://youtu.be/JyOyo7y6hSc
Goblet Squats	-Build legs, back, hips and abs. -Teach flat back and chest out position. -Improve squat mobility.	-Keep your chest out, knees out and weight on the heels. The toes should point out. -Kettlebell should be propped high on the chest and held up on end from below. -Butt back chest out. -Squat down between the legs. Keep the torso vertical.	https://youtu.be/sWaZRcLhyUs
Chin Ups	-Build grip, arm, upper back and lat strength. -Decompress the spine. -Improve shoulder mobility.	-The palms should face you. -At the bottom the elbows should be straight. -At the top the base of the neck should touch the bar. -Do not swing, keep the legs, hips and spine straight. -Pause at the top and the bottom. -Use a shoulder width grip. -Chest out, shoulders down and away from the ears. -To assist, stand behind the person and push the up by holding at the hips.	https://youtu.be/RtxQKExlLTA
One Arm Kettlebell Clean and Press	-Strengthen the arms, shoulders, abs and lower back. -Teach full body tightness.	-Grab the kettlebell in one arm with a wide stance. -Hike the bell back between the lets and push your hip forward to swing the bell up. -Once it reaches chest height, bend the arms and guide the bell to the shoulder. The momentum should be carrying it to this point. -The elbows should rest on the sides. -Press the bell up in a straight line and lower back to the shoulder. -Swing the kettlebell back behind the body and repeat.	NA
Bodyweight Rows	-Strengthen the upper back, arms and grip. -Improve upper body posture.	-Use a horizontal base that is above just below the hips. The higher the base, the easier the drill. -The lower chest should be below the bar. -Use a shoulder width grip -Pause at the top. -Shoulders down and away from the ears.	https://youtu.be/4IMmgHtIIWU
Kettlebell Swings	-Build hip, hamstrings and lower back. -Improve general endurance.	-Weight on the heels and the feet wide apart with the toes pointing out. -Arms straight at all times, palms facing you. -Hike the bell behind the body and push the hips forward to swing the bell up. -Knees bent at the bottom, straight at the top. -Do not use your arms or shoulders, swing with your hips. -Use the counter-swing at the bottom.	NA
Short Sprints	-Improve speed and leg power. -Improve general endurance.	-Get close to the ground at the start. The hands should be on the ground. Stay down as long as you can. -Weight on the toes and the driving leg should be far forward. The back leg should be straight. -Start slow and accelerate rapidly. -Drive back through the toes and pull the knees as high as you can at the front. -Drive the elbows.	NA
Standing Ankle Stretch	-Stretch calves.	-You are stretching the ankle of the back leg. -Keep the knee straight and try to get the heel to touch the ground.	NA
Cossack Squat	-Stretch groin	-Keep the weight on the heels and use a wide stance to get into position. -The toe of the straight leg should point up. -the knee of the squatting leg should be in line with the toes. -You may hold on to a vertical object for balance and support if required.	https://youtu.be/FTYgvvwEpoY
Standing Toe touch	-Stretch lower back and hamstrings.	-Keep the knees tight an squeeze the heels together. -Do not bounce of use momentum.	NA
Easy twist Hold	-Stretch sides and back.	-The heel of the raised leg should be close to the knee of the other. -Push the knee of the raised leg inwards with the opposite elbow and twist the torso around towards the same side as that leg. -Prop yourself up on the opposite arm.	NA
Camel Hold	-Stretch abs, shoulders and front hips. -improve ability to arch.	-Push the hips forward and lean back slightly. -Grab the ankles with the hands to get some support.	NA

My Basic Training Principles

These seven principles are the foundation of the way we train to be strong. Battle tested and scientifically sound, any program that adheres to these rules will produce exceptional results.

1. Strength is a Skill

Ultimately, strength is essentially the ability to produce force. Therefore that skill must be practiced and honed if one is to become truly strong. Thus our routines have the following features-

• Use big multi joint movements for strength.
• Technique is at a premium and must be perfected with every rep and set. A stable technique is a loadable technique.
• Relatively low reps per set and medium to heavy weight.

2. Large total loads are the foundation for strength

For the system as a whole to adapt, the total stress the organism is subjected to must increase over time. Heavy weights and singles may build strength in the short run, but without the foundation of large total loading, the base will be weak and progress will stall.

Large total loading will allow for perfection of technique, strengthen the skill of applying force, build the muscular system and its capacities and condition the nervous system for the weights to come. When the strength is needed we just lower the load and increase the weights and let the body recover and demonstrate its full strength. Thus our routines have the following features-

• A large amount of the work is done in the 65-80% intensity range.
• Over time the volume per week goes up.
• Out of Volume, Frequency and Intensity one is always pushed, and the others are kept low to medium.

3. Variation in loading and exercises

By manipulating the load imposed on the body week to week, we prevent physical and mental stagnation. Large variations in loading will make the organism more trainable and improve results. Variations are also introduced in exercises to prevent boredom and to develop the body from every direction.

These variations are manipulated in accordance with the trainee's needs and weaknesses. Thus they also become valuable tools to further the development of strength.

4. Build and Broaden the Base of Fitness

The higher the performance level you desire, the more is the stuff that could break down and halt progress. Thus we take special care to ensure that your general fitness base is sufficient to ensure growth. In many cases, beginners do nothing but general fitness work for 2-3 months, until they have been brought to a trainable level.

Our routines always keep sight of-

• Flexibility and mobility
• General endurance
• Speed and rate of force development
• General strength and muscle development
• Diet and body mass indicators

5. Balanced Programming and Longevity

We believe that the athlete who in the long run can maintain balanced development of qualities and general good health will be able to train longer and harder and eventually out perform his competition. Thus we-

• Protect the joints by minimizing unnecessary stress, doing special work to pump up and stretch the ligaments and tendons and build a foundation of solid technique and movement quality.
• Balance the muscles from front to back, side to side and top to down.
• Balance different qualities of fitness and never let any quality totally slide.

6. Progression over time

With every passing training cycle the average weight being handled in the primary exercises should increase. If this is not happening, it is difficult to ascertain progress. Thus we set a variety of rep and weight Personal Records and track them on the heavy days for each exercise. The progressions are tailored according to the requirements of that person.

7. Build around Requirements

At any given point of time only one thing is focused on and attacked. Everything else is done, but not with the same priority. This allows us to build the training structure according to the requirements of the athlete.

For example if the beginner has no base, general fitness is the priority for the first 8 weeks. If the technique is unstable then that is addressed with variations and appropriate loading.

Training Program for Radhika Saxena

Radhika was the first swimmer to come to me to train for strength. While on the surface her strength level may not seem impressive, the improvements in her contest results are. She competed in the Delhi State Aquatics championship in 2015 and came 4th in one event and didn't place anywhere in any other event.

After 5 months of strength training twice a week in the winter months and one year later she won 5 golds and 1 silver at the Delhi State Masters Aquatic Championship. Quite an improvement! For this reason I think her routine would be of great interest to athletes as it shows how to train for GPP with minimal time, zero athletic foundation and high life stress.

First of all, as a lawyer, Radhika had very little time to devote to training. So we decided to train in the late evening on Sundays and Wednesdays. During the off season, while the pools were closed she also took up a basic calisthenics routine combined with roadwork at the public park next to her residence, with a training partner. This routine consisted of a large amount of running, jumping, tumbling, crawling and general exercises like planks, push ups and bodyweight squats and was designed to build her athletic foundation and general work capacity. Flexibility was never really focused on as she was quite supple and time was limited.

First we determined that she should do some kind of squat, bench and overhead pressing and various pulls for the upper body. The squat was tricky and she just could not squat with even halfway decent form with any kind of weight. Eventually we settled on a below parallel box squat with the safety squat bar so that she could atleast do the movement. For a long time she was stuck in a rut with this exercise but with a little perseverance she finally broke through and suddenly her squat doubled in a short period.

The bench press was never hit truly hard, but progress was achieved.  The real improvements though were in her vertical and horizontal pulling, which significantly impacted her swimming stroke. The basic emphasis was on gaining muscle as that was basically what she was missing. While we had many a battle about "I am getting fat!" the work paid off and her strength was much more consistent after she built the foundation of muscle she needed.

Here then is her basic routine and the results. Her bodyweight was 45kgs at the start of the program and 48kgs by the end though I cannot say all of it was muscle. She is 25 years old.

Wednesday Workout-
Throws + Jumps- 8-10 sets of 2-3 reps each, supersetted
(Typically box jumps and two arm shot throws)
Military press-
4-5 sets of 4-5 reps for warm up
6-10 sets of 2-4 reps (This was changed every week)
Safety Bar Box Squat-
3-5 sets of 4-6 reps for warm up
6-10 sets of 2-4 reps (This was changed every week)
Only in one of the two exercises would we push the volume and weight. This was alternated every week.
DB Clean And Press- 3 sets of 8-12
Lat Pulldowns- 5 sets of 6-10
Cable Crunches/Ab work- 3 sets of 8-15
Sled work- Reverse sled, sprints, forward dragging, monster walk, harness running
8-10 trips of 20m each

Sunday Workout-
Throws + Jumps- 8-10 sets of 2-3 reps each, supersetted
(Typically broad jumps and two arm shot throws)
Bench Press-
4-5 sets of 4-5 reps for warm up
6-10 sets of 2-4 reps (This was changed every week)
Safety Bar Box Squat-
3-5 sets of 4-6 reps for warm up
4-6 sets of 4-6 reps (This was changed every week)
Only in one of the two exercises would we push the volume and weight. This was alternated every week.
DB Bench Press- 3 sets of 6-10
Seated Rows/ Bodyweight Rows- 5 sets of 8-12 reps
RDLs- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Leg raises/Ab work- 3 sets of 8-15 reps
Upper Body Sled Dragging- Shoulder raises, arm work, rowing
3-5 trips of 20m
Lower Body sled Dragging- Sprints, Reverse, Sideways
6-8 trips of 20m

She made the following improvements-
Deadlift- 35kgs to 65kgs
Squat- 22kgs to 50kgs
Military- 12kgs to 24kgs
Bench Press- 15kgs to 29kgs
Box jump- 10" to 22"
Lat Pulldowns- 10 reps with 35kgs on the machine to 12 reps with 60kgs

Congratulations Radhika and all the best, I am proud of you!

Creating training Programs Part V

Source here

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.

Weighted Pull Ups

Weighted pull ups are awesome! They will build the lats more than working on one arm chin ups will and will push your repetition pull up numbers through the roof. Done properly they will also build the lower traps and the rhombozoids and do a hell of a job building your grip. I do not rate them as great bicep builders though, but you can't have everything.

Weighted pull ups will balance out all your pressing work and will provide an excellent base for working on one arm chin ups.

First of all a word on technique. Do not let your shoulders shrug up at any point and focus on pulling the elbows down. Use any grip you want. Do not use a pull up bar that is too high as jumping up with weight will mess up your shoulders. Hang with straight arms and tight shoulders before commencing the pull. Look up at the bar at all times. Tightening your abs, squeezing your grip and clenching your glutes will give you an extra kick and will teach you to develop maximum tension. The chin should be over the bar at the top. If you cannot do the weight is too heavy. Do not kick or swing.

Wieghted chin ups can be a confusing exercise to program into your routine. I find three approaches that work for weighted pull ups-

1. The Conjugate Approach
Every 4-5 days pick a different variation of the pull up and work up to a 1, 2, or 3 repetition maximum weight. Use very small increments and take long breaks. Try to set a record every time in the variation you are using. I recommend having 3 favorite variations. For me these are:
Medium width underhand grip Chin Up
Medium width overhand grip Pull Up
Narrow Width Neutral grip Pull Up

 Maintain 1, 2 and 3 repetition maximum records in each. This gives you nine records to break. Try to break each one of these records in a 9 workout period, and try again the next cycle. This method will teach you how to strain as hard as possible while pulling and will develop basic absolute strength. Using small increments will force you to do a number of repetitions above 85% of your maximum. This method will increase your max very rapidly.

Follow up you record weight with a reduced weight and perform 3 sets of 6 pull ups with the same variation. The last set should be fairly hard. The objective here is to build some muscle.

Then find your weak link and attack and build it up with a lot of volume. If your biceps are weak do close grip underhand chin ups. If your lats are weak do medium grip overhand pull ups. If your shoulders are weak do wide grip pull ups, if your upper back is weak do bodyweight rows, if your stabilizers are weak do one arm bodyweight rows, if your forearms are weak do close grip overhand pull ups. If your grip is weak do one arm dead hangs and a variety of towel chins. If you are weak at the top do top partial pull ups.

A couple of days after this session do some power chins with the main variety you want to develop. Power chins are simply chin ups done with as much force as possible with the objective of ramming the upper chest into the bar. Do not use any swing or kick, this is not a muscle up. You are try to develop explosiveness in the lats. Do 8 sets of 2. Follow this up with more volume work for your weak points as described in the previous para.

This system is obviously inspired by westside and I have used to very successfully on both myself and my clients.

2. The Accumulated Volume Method
This is based to a large degree on the training of soviet weightlifters in the 80s.

Decided how many weighted pull ups you want to do in a month. A good way to estimate this is to simply add up how much pressing work you usually do in a month and subtract 150. For me this number is 370. This is the number of weighted chin ups you want to do in a month.

Distribute 60% of this workload to the first 2 weeks, 25% to the third week and 15% to the last week of the month. For me this means I will do 110 weighted pull ups in the first and second week each, 90 pull ups in the third week and 70 pull ups in the fourth week.

The first two weeks are the preparatory phase, where 70% of the work is done between 70-85% of your maximum. So if you weigh 90 and your best weighted chin up is 60 your max will be 150kgs. Your range will be 105-125 or 15-35kgs of added weight. In this phase you have to complete all these reps with this weight using not more than 6 reps per set in whatever manner you deem fit. You could do 3-4 sets every day, or your could do 5-6 sets every alternate day like I do or any other workable combination that you can think of. For the remaining 30% of the volume 10% should be heavy singles above 85% of your max and 20% should be the warm up sets of weighted chin ups. Bodyweight chin ups will not be counted in the total.

The third week is the intensification phase, where 60% of the volume will be between 80-90% of your maximum. 30% will be below it and 10% will be heavy singles above it. This is the time to set records for future calculations.

The fourth week is the deload phase where all repetitions are to be done with no more than 70% of your maximum.

3. The Double Progression Method
The simplest method in the book. Choose a certain starting weight and reps and sets. Keep using that weight until you hit whatever target volume of sets and reps you have. Increase the weight and start over. Set and rep combinations I like are:
3 sets of 4-6 adding not more than 2kgs at a time
5sets of 2-3 adding not more than 1 kg at a time
3-6 sets of 2 adding 2kgs
3 sets of 3-5 adding 2 kgs

I hope this helps you structure your weighted pull up training. 

Raw Mass with Calisthenics- Second Edition

A long time ago I wrote a post in which I spoke about how you can get big and strong using just your bodyweight. I still stand by that statement but my approach has entirely changed. In this post I am going to flesh out some of the fundamental considerations while trying to get big using bodyweight exercises only.

I am assuming here that the reader is familiar with basic bodyweight exercises and their progressions. If you are not, just see the posts marked bodyweight exercises first.

Basic Concepts

1. Progressive Overload must be maintained. Over time you have to increase the resistance of the exercise you are performing. In bodyweight work this is done by doing one of 4 things-
a. Changing the leverage
b. Putting more weight on one limb
c. Increasing the range of motion
d. Tightening up the form

Just go through the archives of this blog to find progressions for everything.

2. You must incorporate all the basic movements. Don't just do pull ups and dips. You have legs, use them. In addition the added leg size will increase the resistance for your upper body, enabling you to build a larger upper body in the long run.
The basic movements are-
1. Pushups of all sorts
2. Pull Ups of all sorts
3. Squats
4. Leg raises and sit up variations
5. Bridges and hip extensions
6. Inversions
7. Loaded carries of all sorts

3. You have to train in a variety of repetition ranges to get truly big. You have to utilize movements that let you to do very few repetitions to build raw strength. However, the majority of your training must be done in the 6-20/set range. A few higher repetition sets here and there will build the tendons as well. Using maximum effort isometric exercises like front levers, flags and L sits will develop absolute strength as well.

4. For the majority of your bodyweight work think like a sculptor. Build the beauty of the body by targeting your weakest areas. Have an idea of exactly how you want to look. Then use tons of volume to target those areas. Use variations that throw more work on the under developed parts. Don't underestimate single joint movements like sissy squats, ham glute curls, bodyweight tricep extensions and front lever pulls. They are still fairly compound  and will transfer well to other bodyweight work.

5. To build the muscles of the torso use bilateral exercises. To build the muscles of the limbs use unilateral exercises.

6. Do some crazy explosive work to help develop your maximum strength. Jumps, clapping push ups and pull ups must be performed. You have to do some throwing as well. All this will help keep your strength ahead of your training intensity, giving you space to grow.

I want explain this concept a little more here. Basically the biggest thing that stops people from continually getting big from bodyweight work is the fact that they get good at doing repetition work, because of which they are either training too close to their maximums all the time, or too far away from it. To counter this, increasing your maximum strength will ensure you have a good margin within which you can train productively.

Biggest Mistakes People make

The really important thing to remember while designing a training program for getting big with bodyweight work is to cover all your bases. This is the biggest reason people fail to get big with calisthenics. They will forget to train the lower body, or do heavy loaded carries or isometric holds or jumps and sprints and then wonder why they cant get bigger. Because the body is a unit, and you have to stress the whole body to get the stimulus for growth. You can only get so far just trying to pump up your arms with chin ups.

The second reason people fail to make progress is that they have not learned how to juice exercises for all their worth. They will do push ups in sloppy form and do a set of 30 and think its time to move to diamond push ups. In reality you have to squeeze every little size increase you can get from an exercise before going to harder variations. Learn to contract the glutes and abs to make the push up super tight. Hold your breath during the repetition and use power breathing to make it stricter. Screw you hands into the ground and maximally tense your triceps and shoulders while doing the pushup. Really enjoy the pause at the bottom and squeeze the chest to come up. You really have to learn how to make a movement literally perfect. Only then move to something more advanced.

The other mistakes are training too often, training too hard too early, moving to harder variations too soon, not keeping a training journal, not moving to harder variations ever and wanting to destroy the body every training session. But this is not really specific to bodyweight training. People in gyms everywhere make the same mistakes. Don't make them.

Also not eating enough. You have to eat to grow, specially around workouts. This is as true of bodyweight work as it is of powerlifting or bodybuilding. But be mindful of fat gain, as unlike powerlifting or bodybuilding, it will immediately hamper your progress with bodyweight work. Stay below 15% bodyfat and eat a lot of proteins and carbs around workouts. If you feel you are getting fat, just cut the calories for a few days or add conditioning work.  Keep it simple and don't get so fat in the first place that you need to do something dramatic or complicated. If you are over 15% bodyfat, deal with that first and gaining mass later. You will never go beyond rudimentary bodyweight movements being fat.

Program Checklist

1. Any productive mass gaining routine utilizes limited exercises and decent volume and intensity. Aim and program for a balanced physique.

2. Have decent mix of extremely difficult, quality repetition work, ultra high repetition work, heavy isometric and explosive training.

3. Stress the whole body with loaded carries and reap the anabolic benefits.

4. Build the torso muscles first and then the extremities.

5. Build your weaknesses.

6. Use intelligent repetition, set and frequency schemes. Don't exercise for no real reason and avoid junk exercises and sets.

7. Eat well but in moderation.

Sample Routines 

Any of these routines can be used with just minimal modification. You will have to see what exercises suit you and what does not, but don't mess around with the basic scheme.

Raw Beginner

Do this workout on three non consecutive days a week after a general warm up.

Chin Up Isometric holds- Hold the top position for as long as possible, After 2 mins do the same for the mid position.
Pushups-
2 sets of 20 wall pushups or high incline pushups as warm up
3 sets of 3-5 reps of a hard push up variation such as full push ups, diamond push ups, feet elevated pushups while the hands are on bricks to get a full range of motion, pushups while wearing a back pack with weight in it and push ups while wearing a backpack in front with weight in it, while the feet, hand and feet are elevated on stools or bricks so that the bag can drop low and a full repetition can be done.
2 sets of 6-30 repetitions of incline or kneeling push ups, depending upon training level. Start with a conservative number or reps (like 8) and add a rep each workout until you hit the end of the range. Then move to a harder variation and repeat.
Bodyweight Rows- 3 sets of 6-20 of high, low or very low rows.
Jack knife Pull Ups- 1 set of 6-15.
Assisted Squats or full Squats- 3 sets of 10-35
Reverse plank hold- 2 sets of 30-120s
Short Bridges- 1 set of 20-50 reps
Knee tucks, lying leg raises or hanging knee raises- 3 sets of 8-20
Jumps onto bench or box- 3 sets of 6
Throwing rock or shot for distance- 3 sets of 6 per arm
Sled Dragging, rock carrying, car pushing, rock dragging or walking lunges with a rock/log/pole held at the chest- 5 sets of 20-40m with 60s rest.

Follow this program until you can do 5 chin ups, 10 push ups, 3 sets of 30 full squats, 10 hanging knee raises and have mastered reverse planks. It should take about 8-12 weeks depending upon your starting point.

Basic Size Routine

In this routine we are trying to build the muscles of the torso. For this we will primarily use bilateral movements. A backpack and some kind of weight (like bricks) can be used to add weight to movements as well. A sled will be indispensable. Just buy an old car tire and fill it up with cement and tie a rope to it. If it becomes too light just tie another cement filled tire to the first. Alternatively you can push your car around. Just make sure someone is in the driver's seat. If nothing else is there find a big rock and lift and carry it.

You will train in the following pattern-
Workout A
Workout B
Off
repeat

When you are feeling beat up, just take an extra day off.

Workout A-

Dips with weight in back pack- 5 sets of 3-5 reps
or Push ups with back pack in the front and the feet and hands on stools, bricks or benches.

Chin Ups with weight in back pack- 5 sets of 2-3 reps

Dips- 30 reps in as few sets as possible
Chin ups- 30 reps in as few sets as possible
Push Ups- 50 reps in as few sets as possible
Bodyweight Rows- 50 reps in as few sets as possible

In any of these when you can complete all the required reps in 3 sets or less, simply add weight using the back pack. We want to get to the stage where you are using 10-15kgs in the bag for all your reps

Workout B

Box Jumps with back pack or weight held in hands- 3 sets of 6
Heavy sled dragging/ car pushing/ Hugging a rock and walking- 3 sets of 10m
Close Squats (with or without back pack)- 2 sets of 10-30
Standard Squats with back pack- 2 sets of 50
Squat jumps with weight in the hands- 3 sets of 6
Hopping with weight in the hands- 3 sets of 10m
Stool/ Head/ Full Bridges- 3 sets of 6-20
Hanging Leg/knee/frog raises- 3 sets of 6-20
Throwing 5-10kg rocks- 3 sets of 6 per arm
Sit ups- Total 100 reps in less than 3 sets

Follow this system for about 12 weeks until you can do 12-15 chin ups, 20-30 weighted pushups with 10kgs, 30 dips in 1 set and can do 30 close squats with 10kgs.

Primary Bulk Routine

This routine should be used for a long time (a year plus) and follows the traditional progressive approach to bodyweight exercises detailed in the earlier bodyweight posts on this blog.

You will have balanced training of the extremities and torso muscles.

You will follow the following workout pattern every week-

Workout A1
Workout B1
Off
Workout A2
Workout B2
Off
Off

Workout A1-
Weighted Dips- 5 sets of 3-5
Front Lever Holds- (tuck, flat, straddle, half or full)- 5 sets of 10-15 seconds
Chin Up Progression- 3 sets of 5-15 depending upon the variation
Handstand Push Up Progression- 3 sets of 5-20 depending upon variation
Dips- 2 sets of as many reps as possible. Use weight if you can do more than 30 after all the previous work.
Diamond Push Ups- 2 sets of as many reps as possible.

Workout B1-
Squat Jumps with weight- 3 sets of 6
Pistol Squats progression- 3 sets of 6-30 depending upon variation
Bridges Progression- Full or a unilateral variety- 3 sets of 6-20
Ham Glute Curls- Try for total 15 reps. Once you can do it in 2 sets, try for 25
Hanging Leg Raises Progression- 3 sets of 7-20
Roman Chair Sit Ups on parallel bars- 2 sets of as many reps as possible
Heavy Sled Dragging- 5 sets of 10-15m

Workout A2
Throwing Weights- 3 sets of 6 per arm
Weighted Pull ups- 5 sets of 3-5
Planche Holds- 5 sets of 10-15s
Push Up Progression- 3 sets of 6-20
Pull ups- total 50 reps
Bodyweight Rows- 3 sets of as many reps as possible.

Workout B2
Box jumps with weight- 3 sets of 6
Weighted Pistol Squats- 5 sets of 3-5
Sissy Squats- Total 30 reps
Ham glute curls- Total 15-25
Bridges Progression- 3 sets of 7-20
Hanging Leg Raises- 2 sets or as many reps as possible
Roman Chair Sit ups with weight behind the head- 3 sets of 10
Hugging Rock and walkinging-  sets of 10-15m

When you feel you have had enough of this routine, you can start playing around with other advanced movements like sternum chin ups, maltese cross push ups, full ROM handstand push ups, weighted one arm bodyweight rows, pistol squat jumps, one leg wall squats, front lever pulls, back lever pull ups, dragon flag, human flags and planche push ups.

You can also slowly start dropping all the weighted bilateral work and move towards more unilateral movements. You can train both limbs together with upper body gymnastic holds and sled pushing.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to organize a bodyweight routine for size. I would like to close with the point that this is all for maximum bulk and mass, not bodyweight exercise for the sake of getting good at bodyweight work itself. For that you are better off following the progressions more closely.

Creating Training Programs Part IV

In this post I will cover adjusting training for females, older athletes and injured lifters. I will cover structural and functional adaptations. I will also talk about the basic principles of strength training athletes for other sports as a part of their GPP. Finally I will also talk about specific problems that are faced by the intermediate-advanced level lifter.

Adjusting Training For Females-

In its essence strength training for men and women is similar, in the sense you must use fundamental compound movements to get strong and progressively add weight over time. It should go without saying that all the usual principles we have discussed in the first post in this series applies for women as well. However there are 5 main things you must look at when training a female vis a vis a male:

1. Women have a greater proportion of slow twitch muscle fibers than men of comparable training standard. Due to this, women will be able to do more repetitions with weights in any percentage of their max. For example if a man can do 3 reps with 90% a woman of comparable training can probably do 5 or even 6 or 7 reps with her 90%.

This means that woman can also tolerate a higher total volume at any given percentage than men can. But on the flipside, women seem to hit their max rather suddenly as they may look fine and strong with say 100kgs but may be completely unable to hit 102kgs. So it is important to be Conservative in estimating maxes for women as well as the increments that have to be made to the lifts. It would be useful to invest in half and quarter kg plates so that smaller increments can be made.

Also it is important to have a decent amount of explosive movements in a female's training as it helps improve the activation of the fast twitch muscle fibers.

2. Women have a lesser number of muscle fibers then men in the same muscle groups. For example if a man has 40,000 muscle fibers in his bicep a woman of comparable training may have 20,000. This leads to an important understanding- it is harder for women to get stronger by neural adaptations, as the scope of increased recruitment is limited.

It does not mean that it does not happen, on the contrary it happens even at the most elite levels. But in order for this to happen a woman requires a greater amount of practice with the technique than a man would, as the adaptation is slower. Conversely it also means that extremely heavy loads will lead to quicker stagnation (over 95%). So a lot of heavy practice must be done, but you must generally stay away from 95% plus if you can help it. This is true for men too but the hole of CNS fatigue digs deeper and faster in women.

3. Due to hormonal reasons women in general have lesser muscle than men and have a harder time gaining muscle. This hormonal environment also puts them at greater risk for weakening of the joint structures and of the bones.

4. Women have poor leverages and lesser natural strength in the upper body than men. The difference in squatting and leg based movements in not as much. Back strength depends upon the individual.

5. Menstrual cycles have to be accounted for in training. A woman will be strongest during and immediately after ovulation. Her strength will drop during the PMS phase. Rather than forcing hard training at this stage, it is better to program a drop in intensity for a week or so every four weeks. This is a practice that is useful even for men, but with woman can be a lifesaver. A lot of general activity should be undertaken during this phase and you can just do your usual workouts with lesser weight and reps per set. This will slowly develop tolerance in the body to working during menstruation and over time the difference in strength will become minimal. Also do not forget to take advantage of the post ovulation strength spike, by programming your hardest training weeks around ovulation. Work with the flow of the body not against it.

The primary take away points are-
- Women can do a lot more volume at higher percentages then men can.
- Women need to make smaller increments in weights and generally be wary while moving up. Also avoid moving past 95% or so if you can help it. A good rule of thumb is to always use weights that can be tripled. Work from 3-6RM numbers in regular training.
- Women need to do a lot more volume and hypertrophy work as muscle size is the biggest weak link.
-. Women can and should perform more practice work with decently heavy weight to maximize strength.
- Women need more explosive training to maintain fast twitch mass.
- Women need to do a lot more upper body work then men.
- Women tend to respond better to lesser sets and more reps in their hypertrophy work and a generally greater variety of exercises then men, due to their physiology and tendency to burnout in any one movement if over done. In terms of assistance work think like a bodybuilder.
- The hardest weeks should be around ovulation and the easiest around menstruation.

As a side note of advice, while I am not sure of the greatness of the westside template for people at large, I know that it works incredibly well with female athletes, more than it has for my male athletes. The only other program that has given comparable returns to my female trainees has been the 5-3-1 system, which is also awesome. I make the women on 5-3-1 do 4-5 singles with their training max (Joker sets) after their PR sets every workout though. Please note that I never cross the training max.

Adjusting Training For Older Athletes-

The basic training is the same for younger and older lifters. A few things to keep in mind are-

1. Older lifter have a lowered testosterone and growth hormone production. Therefor they need a higher volume with decent weights to spike growth. Generally more lactic acid work will help and classic programs like the 20rep Squat should be used to stimulate the endocrine system. In general older trainees need to do more hypertrophy work.

Special emphasis should be given to diet and supplementation. Vit E, Fish Oil and Gokshura should be used liberally. It is also advisable to eat smaller meals by the same token as the metabolism is not as high, and smaller meals will spike growth hormone levels over time. However make sure that an adequate number of calories are being consumed and the diet has plenty of mineral content.

2. Bone and joint health must be maintained. Supramaximal lifts like heavy partials should be done to build the skeleton and ultra high repetition light movements like band tricep pressdowns and lat pulldowns must be done to build the tendons and keep the joints supple. I generally like to work 1 movement every day for 2 sets of 50 reps after the main workout as a way to both cool down and help the joints.

3. Build mobility, flexibility and tissue quality. Very simply ease of movement and pain management is the key. Make the effort to add a lot of stretching movements and take the effort to foam roll thoroughly every single day. If possible get a weekly full body massage and do other things to relax the muscles like steam baths and salt baths. Go swimming to open up the joints, walk outside and move on the ground to develop mobility. A lot of outdoor groundwork drills must be present. Taking up basic yoga like surya namaskar etc is not a bad idea. Take the joints through a full range of motion.

4. Simplify the heavy lifting but keep it intact and progressive. Gaining strength and staying strong is the most important thing for an older lifter. However adaptation is a little slower so you may want to use a sensible frequency. I have also found that basic old fashioned liner periodization over 8-10 week cycles and double progression training works best for older lifters.

5. Emphasize exercises that promote stability in the joints and prevent burnout. Try to make more and more of your assistance work based on dumbbells and bodyweight exercises.

6. Building a base of cardiovascular fitness is important. I suggest slow cardio once a week, intervals once a week and serious HIIT once a week, combined with daily walks outside.

7. Avoid impact work. Try to avoid hard landings and joint stress if you can help it. For example sled work can replace sprinting, box jumps can replace regular jumps, cycling can replace jogging etc.

8. Work extra hard on the hamstrings and mid section as the knees and back are the main problem areas as you get older.

9. Do not let the trainee get fat. Just do not. It is too difficult to lose fat when you are older and very simply the real solution is to not get fat in the first place. If your trainee is anything over 18% bodyfat, get him down to 15% as soon as you can. For women 23% is the number.

Injured Lifters

1. The first thing you must do is identify if you are hurt or just in pain. Every serious trainee will experience pain, even debilitating pain in their training. This is no reason to stop training. You have to figure out what you can do for that area with minimal pain, and do it. Figure out what the problem is and fix it. When in doubt go to a doctor and find out if you are actually injured.

2. Do not stop training the rest of the body. Figure out the compound movements you can do for the rest of the body and focus more there. Vigorous exercise will accelerate healing as long as it does not compound the injury. For example if you have injured your shoulder, you can do hyper extensions, hip belt squats, leg press, ham glute raises, 1 leg squats, decline sit ups, one arm push ups, one arm military presses, sled dragging with belt etc etc. Be imaginative.

In case of a limb injury do not discount unilateral work. It will make sure you get back quicker when the injury is healed. Think of this as an opportunity to specialize elsewhere. In case of torso injuries, like spinal injuries, cable work, isometrics and resistance bands will enable you to continue training most of the major muscle groups.

3. Focus on restoring mobility to the injured area. Go to a physio if you don't know how to. Generally pick a compound movement and see how much ROM you can handle. Then do ridiculously high rep work with light weights, gradually increasing the ROM every 20 reps or so.

For example in a shoulder injury let us say you cant get your arms over head. Do a one arm arnold press with 10 pounds and just get the weight till your forehead. Do this for 20 reps. Then slowly try to go one inch higher for 20 more reps. Maybe another inch and call it a day. Then next workout start with pressing the dumbbell one inch above your forehead. Do these kind of light drills for the injured area every 3-4 days. This of course assumes that surgical intervention is not required. If it is, just get it done and go to a physio for a while before doing any of this.

4. Build the supportive structures around the injured area. Do tons of short ROM single joint exercises to build all the muscles around the joint. Focus on balanced muscular development and do extra work for the smaller stabilizer muscles. This will also build the tendons. Do movements that do not restrict the joint path. Therefore dumbells and D handle cable work is awesome for this.

For example, if the shoulder is injured, do lateral raises, front raises, bicep curls, tennis backhand cable extensions, french presses, elbow out rows, elbow in rows, one arm lat pulldowns, quarter military presses with dumbells, external and internal rotation with cables etc

5. Once you are confident of getting back into your primary movements start light and progress slow. Build volume first then intensity. Try to use as many closed chain kinetic movements as possible for the first couple of months and maintain the supportive work for the stabilizer muscles and small stuff.

For example in the case of a shoulder injury, let us say you have started military pressing and bench pressing once a week each. You could do 3 sets of 5 with 50% of your old max in each, followed by pushups and rotator cuff work, rows and pull downs. Every workout increase the reps by 2 until you are doing 3 sets of 13 with 50%. Then add 5 pounds each workout and reduce reps whenever it gets too hard until you end up doing something like 3 reps with your old max. This first linear cycle will be long, longer than you are accustomed to, 20-24 weeks is how I plan it. After that you can resume your normal training.

6. Eat a lot, make sure you are getting plenty of minerals and build a base of cardiovascular fitness. A good cardiovascular system will greatly accelerate healing.

Functional And Structural Adaptation-

Strength training of any kind leads to adaptations in the body in order to make the body stronger. These adaptations are of two types- functional and structural.

Structural changes are changes in the actual structures of the body. This includes muscular hypertrophy (growth in muscle size), thickening of tendons and ligaments, increase in the bursa capacity in the joints, increase in the ATP capacity of the mitochondria, hypertrophy of the heart, vascularization, increase in lung capacity, vascular hypertrophy, increase in bone density, changes in body fat levels and changes in blood content.

Functional changes are adaptations that happen in the nervous system. This includes increase in muscle fiber recruitment, motor unit firing rate, inter-muscular coordination, intra-muscular coordination, development of sport skills, development of motor skills and relaxation in the inhibitory and protective mechanisms of the body.

Functional changes are the primary reason for increase in strength in the first couple of years of training. They are the primary results of dynamic effort, explosive and maximal effort training.

Structural changes are primarily the result of repetition effort training. They are also caused to a lesser degree by maximal effort training.

Training At the Intermediate Stage

An intermediate trainee is a person who has basically reached the point of minimal returns with traditional strength training. They can no longer add weight regularly or add repetitions. This is because the greater share of functional adaptations that can happen with the current body of the trainee have already happened.

This does not mean the more gains at the same muscle size and bodyweight cannot happen, but it will become increasingly harder and harder to get stronger with the same body structure. Thus an intermediate trainee needs to focus on simply causing structural adaptation. The priority list in my opinion is tendons, ligaments, joints, bones and muscles. But this really depends upon your weaknesses and previous training.

Normally it is said if strength is built, shape and size will follow. Well, now we have reached the stage where shape and size needs to be built, for more strength to come. The good news is, if you have trained right up until this point building shape and size will be much easier than it would have been if you started with it.

An intermediate trainee needs to sit down for the long haul and wait for the adaptation to come, not force it. The structure must be built first and only once the structure has been built will great amounts of functional adaptations happen to make you significantly stronger. A combination of repetition training and maximal training will build the body up for greater strength. The basic checklist for a intermediate trainee is-

1. Focus more on repetition effort training. Get in more volume for all your body parts and build the base of muscle and tendon strength.

2. Consistently perform Maximal effort work. Do not force PRs, wait for the repetition effort work to do its thing, and then the PRs will come rolling.

3. Use big basic compound movements to build size and strength. Just tailor them to focus more on working the muscle, rather than moving weight. For example start squatting deeper, start doing more RDLs, bench with a close grip and with a lesser arch, start pausing in the bottom of movements etc.
Understand why you are doing an exercise- to move weight or to build muscle? This way you will know exactly how to do it.

4. Eat to win. You are trying to gain muscle.

5. Work on your weaknesses. Don't be completely anti isolation movements. They can help force work onto a weak muscle group so that they work harder during main exercises.

6. Set and target a variety of rep records in a variety of exercises. Go for 5-10 RM and keep breaking them. Objectify your muscle building goals into repetition records. For example if you want big quads and you want to weigh 200 pounds eventually, a good eventual goal could be squatting 405 pounds for one set of 20 reps. Set balanced  goals, for example:
-Squat 405pounds for 20 reps
-Bench Press 250 pounds for 20 reps
-T Bar Rows 185 pounds for 20 reps
-Military Press 165 pounds for 20 reps
-Chin Ups with 25 pounds for 20 reps
-40 50m hill sprints in under 30mins
-45 degree decline sit ups with 45 pounds held behind the head for 20 reps

7. Make recovery a number one priority. Sleep, stretch, foam roll and optimize your frequency.

8. Learn to get more out of less.

9. Start light and progress slow. Take your time to build muscle and might. Think power building not muscle building.

Here is an example of a good training system for intermediate trainees that I frequently use-

Train 3 times a week. It is a 4 workout cycle. You will repeat the cycle 3 times in four weeks.

Workout A1
Work up to a Max triple in the back Squat (Keep breaking PRs)
Bench Press 5X5 (2 warm up sets and 3 work sets, add weight whenever you can do all three sets for 5 reps)
Chins and Dips- total 50 reps each. If you can do it in less than 4 sets each, add weight.
Push ups- 2-3 sets
Dumbbell Curls- 3 sets
Kroc Rows
Squats- 5 sets of 10 with 60-70%
Sit ups

Workout B1
Work up to Max Triple in the Military Press
Deadlift 5X5
Good Mornings- 3 sets of 6
Reverse hypers 2 sets
Dumbbell Side Bends- 2 sets
Hanging Leg Raises- 2 sets
Bridges- 2 sets
Military Press- 5 sets of 10 with 60-70%
Lat Pull Downs- 5 sets of 12

Workout A2
Work up to Max Triple in the bench Press
Squat 5X5
Leg Press- 3 sets of 15
Ab rollouts- 5 sets
ham glute curls- 3 sets
Dumbell/barbell bench Press- 5 Sets of 10
T Bar Rows- 5 sets of 12

Workout B2
Work up to Max Triple in the Deadlift
Military Press- 5X5
Dumbell Press- 3 sets
Lateral Raises- 3 sets
Tricep Extensions- 3 sets
Chin Ups- 5 sets
Lat Pull Downs- 2 sets
Good Mornings- 5 Sets of 10
Leg Raises- 3 sets

Strength Training Athletes as a Part of their General Physical Preparation (GPP)

The most important thing that you must remember while training athletes is that for them strength training is a part of their general preparation and therefore secondary to actual sports practice. Now in certain stages strength training may become more important but in general athletes cannot devote a very great part of their time and energy to strength training.

The purpose of strength training for athletes is three fold-

1. To increase their maximum strength to a level that strength is no longer the limiting factor in athletic performance. Both in my experience and in training literature when the athlete's maximum force production is 4 times that of the amount expected during athletic performance, strength is no longer the factor that limits performance.

For example an elite shot putter generates somewhere around 700-800 newtons of force while throwing, That means the athlete has to be capable of producing around 3200 newtons of force in the various movements related to the shot put in a maximum attempt for one repetition. This works out to roughly a 500 pound bench press and a 600 pound squat, which is pretty much the strength level of elite shot putters.

Now there may or may not be benefits to getting stronger than this depending upon the weight of the implement used, the carryover that the athlete experiences from strength training etc. This is why shot putters typically do very well while increasing their strength, since the implement is heavy and shot putters are generally bigger and taller. In contrast the discus throw does not respond nearly as well to strength training, as both the implement is lighter and the athletes smaller. But the basic point remains that you have to increase your strength such that  the required force is 25% or below of your max.

Now keep in mind these have to be in exercises that have a high carryover to the sport. And these may or may not be the classic barbell lifts, though more often than not they are. In any case it is better to start a beginner with a classic squat, bench, deadlift, front squat, military press, power clean and chin up program.  Then over time you can figure out what exercises are working and what are not.

Here are a list of exercises I find work very well for the sports I am involved in coaching people in-

- Sprinting- Squat, RDL, Reverse Hypers, Chin Ups, Heavy Wheel Barrow Walks, Sled Dragging, Pistol Squats, Barbell Lunges, Chin Ups, Push ups, Hanging Leg raises and Dumbell Overhead press.

- Kettlebell Lifters- Deadlift from 8 inches off the ground, Full Squat, barbell Military Press, Kroc Rows, Chin Ups, farmer's walks, one arm carrys, waiter walks, turkish get ups, ab rollouts.

- Jumpers- Back Squat, hip belt squat, front squat, good mornings, kettlebell swings, weighted jumps of various sorts with a kettlebell held in the hands, hopping drills with a weighted vest, jump squats with a weighted vest on, power cleans, hanging leg raises, decline sit ups, chin ups and dips.

- Throwers- Back Squat, Bench Press, Incline Bench Press, military Press, Chin Ups, Dumbell Rows, T Bar Rows, Front Squat, Side Bends, Turkish Get Ups, Ab Rollouts.

- Cricketers (batters and bowlers)- back Squat, Bench Press, Military Press, Deadlift, power clean, turkish get up, pallof press, chin ups, t bar rows, weighted jumps, wheel barrow walking.

- Football players (Soccer)- Front Squat, Deadlift, Power Clean, Pistol Squats, Ab Rollouts, hanging leg raises, Bench press, T bar rows, reverse and forward sled dragging.

Another thing you want to ensure is that the gains in strength are coming from primarily structural changes. This is very simply because functional gains in strength training may or may not transfer well to the sport, but generally structural changes caused using relevant movements carry over really Well. Ultimately as an athlete advances his gains will become more and more specific to the strength training exercise. Which is why you must focus on increasing both the maximal and repetition strength of athletes. I think 3-6RMs work well for athletes, plus a lot of repetition and dynamic effort work.

Secondly, perform movements in a fashion to maximize sport performance, not the weight used in the movement itself. Remember there are no points for the actual bench press you have if your actual strength for the shot put is lacking. Therefore arching your way to a bigger bench or using more leg drive is sub optimal for a shot putter.

Thirdly, you have to program differently for athletes. Ultimately if you have the time and the ability to train in season, (like with high school athletes) use undulating or linear models. Keep it basic and try to keep the frequency low. Remember athletes have a great workload and therefore recovery must be optimized. If you don't have more than 16 weeks I think conjugate training is the best way to go about things. It will cause sizable increases in strength and will maintain other qualities.

2. To prevent Injuries. All athletes endure a lot of stress and shock to the joints. As a result tendon and ligament injuries, muscle tears are all very common. This is another reason to build strong and thick ligaments and tendons as well as build quality muscle.

In addition to this it is important to maintain muscle balance in the athlete. Most athletes will have certain movements that they will repeat over and over again. Over time these will cause muscular imbalances and tightness in certain muscles. It is important to counteract this with mobility work and foam rolling as well as developing the antagonists and the smaller structures supporting the working joints.

3. To achieve the correct body type the athlete needs for his/her frame and sport by adding muscle where required.

For example a 6 foot tall discus thrower should probably weigh around 80-90kgs and have a hugely muscled torso. A 6 foot tall shot putter should weigh around 100-120kgs with a lot of shoulder and torso size, and huge legs. A 6 foot powerlifter should be around 120-130kgs and needs to be developed pretty much everywhere. Your training needs to reflect this.

Here is a sample routine I use with beginner sprinters, mostly 16-18 years old with 2-3 months of training experience-

3 workouts a week. I typically run this routine for 6-9 months depending upon how the sprinter responds. Don't switch the routine if the athlete is still responding.

Workout 1
Deadlift-
5 reps with 75%
4 reps with 80%
3 reps with 85%
2 reps with 90%
1 rep with 95%
I add 2 kgs to each set every week. This goes on until this can be done really. When the trainee is unable to complete any of the sets, we estimate the new max and start over the next week. A trainee typically adds 10-15 kgs every cycle.
Squat-
2 sets of 6 with 60%
3 sets of 6 with 75%
Again I add 2 kgs every week. When the trainee is unable to complete the sets with a certain weight, we stay at that weight until he or she can.
Reverse hypers- 3 sets of 15
Barbell Lunges- 3 sets of 8
Hanging Leg Raises- 3 sets
Ab rollouts 1 set
Chin Ups- Laadders
Push Ups- Ladders

Workout 2 (Done Outdoors) 
Heavy Wheelbarrow walk- 5 sets of 10m add weight whenever possible
Forward Sled Draggng- 3 sets of 50m
Reverse Sled Dragging- 3 sets of 50m
Sideways Dragging- 2 sets of 30m each side
Dragging Forward with rope held between and through the legs- 3 sets of 50m
Jumps Holding a kettlebell- 3 sets of 6
Squat Jumps with a Kettlebell- 3 sets of 6
backwards Throw with a kettlebell- 3 sets of 6
Broad Jump With Kettlebell- 3 sets of 6
Hopping on both feet with kettlebell- 3 sets of 10m
KB Swings- 3 sets of 12
Turkish Get ups- 3 sets of 6 per side

Workout 3
Squat-
5 reps with 75%
4 reps with 80%
3 reps with 85%
2 reps with 90%
1 rep with 95%
Deadlift
2 sets of 6 with 60%
3 sets of 6 with 75%
Again I add 2 kgs every week. When the trainee is unable to complete the sets with a certain weight, we stay at that weight until he or she can.
Weighted Hypers- 3sets
Pistol Squats- 3 sets
Hanging Leg Raises- 3 sets
Ab Rollouts- 1 set
Weighted Push ups- 3 sets of 10
Weighted Chin Ups- 3 sets of 10