T Nation

Alternate Training Weeks

Powerlifting
#1

So the other day I am talking to this guy at the gym who has a really rugged tough looking physique. Really lean too. His is strong for his size as well. He tells me that every week he switches between weight training and gpp/energy work.

So one week he does about 4 days of weights, heavy lifting. The next week is all sprints or intervals, bodyweight exercise or weighted gpp, a little slow distance stuff here and there. He says he has been doing that for years.

Does this makes sense to anyone? Wouldn’t you be losing whatever you gained in each respective training week or does the body like this kind of thing? I thought it was interesting anyway. Probably not for bodybuilders but what about those who are more interested in athletic style training?

#2

he should be doing weights and his sprints in the same week. this will help to improve him alot.

#3

obviously, it works for that guy.

it’s different, and it sounds like a good way to stay healthy.

heavy weights for a week = STIMULUS

sprinting/GPP/etc for a week = conditioning and active recovery

it’s like a back off week every other week. i prefer to lift every week. what the other guy said - not necessarily. somebody much smarter than me, Dave (wunder)Barr, said basically this: the fundamental requirements for strength / conditioning / hypertrophy / etc. are the same among all people, BUT we likely underestimate our individual differences.

Waterbury has said it a million times - that he designs basic programs that work for most of us. they are 80% solutions.

so then there’s what works and what is optimal. which brings me to this: the best program is the one that you aren’t on.

in conclusion, here’s my idea: try that guy’s routine for 8 weeks. 4 weeks of lifting and 4 weeks of conditioning. then decide for yourself. what’s the worst that could happen? what’s the best? if you don’t try it, you’ll always wonder, and so will we!

Bastard!

#4

[quote]crazylegs89 wrote:
he should be doing weights and his sprints in the same week. this will help to improve him alot.[/quote]

He has a rugged physique, is lean and strong.

Seems to be working just fine for him.

#5

[quote]BradS wrote:
So the other day I am talking to this guy at the gym who has a really rugged tough looking physique. Really lean too. His is strong for his size as well. He tells me that every week he switches between weight training and gpp/energy work.

So one week he does about 4 days of weights, heavy lifting. The next week is all sprints or intervals, bodyweight exercise or weighted gpp, a little slow distance stuff here and there. He says he has been doing that for years.

Does this makes sense to anyone? Wouldn’t you be losing whatever you gained in each respective training week or does the body like this kind of thing? I thought it was interesting anyway. Probably not for bodybuilders but what about those who are more interested in athletic style training? [/quote]

Yeah, it makes sense…read some of Coach Thibaudeau’s Pendulum articles.

Especially if the guy does some bodyweight stuff, he’s not likely to be losing much strength in the off weeks. Sprints themselves are plyometric in nature, essentially the guy is just following a crude undulating periodization scheme. While I wouldn’t call it ideal, it’s certainly possible to make good gains doing this stuff, and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see somebody develop a solid physique who took this approach.

And yeah, I think the pendulum approach is a good strategy long-term as far as staying healthy goes. Coach Staley is fond of saying the longer you stay on a program, the more you attenuate to the benefits, and the more you accumulate the drawbacks. With an undulating or pendulum scheme, I think you can avoid this problem to a large degree.