I just finished reading CT’s different destination artcle. I swear, everytime I read one of his articles, I learn more and more. I can’t wait for this christmas so I can get his book. Anyways, after reading that article, I decided that his OVT program really wasn’t for me because I see it as structural/functional gains. I want primarily functional gains that will transfer over to basketball/speed/vertical leap.
So, I’ve decided to use his functional whole body training format 4 times per week. I figured this would be perfect to gain as much strength as possible before beginning his CAD routine. So here’s how the program will look:
Day 1:
Bench Press 5x3 at 90%
Bsrbell Row 5x5 at 85%
Back Squat 5x3 at 90%
Day 2:
Incline Press 5x5 at 85%
Power clean 6x3 at 90%
Day 3:
off, some minor sprinting
Day 4:
Bench Press 5x3 at 90%
Chin up 5x5 at 85%
Squat 5x5 at 85%
Day 5
Power clean 6x3 at 90%
Push Press 5x3 at 90%
Day 6 and 7
off
My rest intervals will be between 3-5 minutes for each set, preferably 3. I plan on doing this for 3 weeks, with week 4 for deloading. Then I’ll switch up the exercises, and do another 3 weeks with the 4th week for deloading. Then I’ll be ready for CAD.
I was just wondering if my sets, reps, and intensities look right? I really didn’t know how to plan out considering I just want pure strength. If anyone could help me out or has any suggestions, let me know.
It looks fine except for one little point regarding your use of explosive lifts (power clean and push jerk). These are explosive by nature and thus don’t have to be worked at 85-100% to be effective at increasing CNS efficiency. You’ll notice that in the article I list a percentage of 45-65% in the explosive lifts. These percentages refer to the high-speed variations of the powerlifters (bench press, squat, deadlift). However, for the olympic lifts and variations you should also use a lower percentage. Namely the load that allows for maximal power outout.
During a training cycle, the olympic lifts should not be regarder as limit strength exercises but as “limit power” exercises. With the power clean and push jerk I found (with the tendo unit) that maximum power is reached in the 75-85% range (compared to 45-65 for “regular lifts”).
So in a training cycle such as yours I’d STRONGLY suggest using loads in the 75-85% range, and between 75-80% most of the time. This will give you a more than sufficient training effect and will allow you to give your body a break from all that heavy lifting.
Christian, I know you mentioned that you have some of your athletes take shorter rest periods due to the nature of the demands of the sport itself. In a situation such as the present, would it be feasible on Days 1 and 4 to alternate between the pushing and pulling exercises, with perhaps a minute between sets?
Tallan, if one of your primary goals is to increase speed, then I’d suggest that you implement CT’s Pendulum approach to training and include weeks of training in which you train for strength-speed (i.e., moderate loads lifted fast) or speed-strength (i.e, light loads lifted ballistically).
This brings me to another question, CT. If one has goals of increasing total body muscular power (i.e., power-based athletes), then training for limiting strength and either strength-speed or speed-strength would be the primary functional training goals, correct? That being the case, would you have the athlete alternate weeks of training for each goal (i.e., week 1: limit strength, week 2: strength-speed, etc.)? Or, would the athlete be better served by incorporating both these goals in each weekly cycle (i.e., some exercises trained for limit strength and some trained for strength-speed)?
Thanks, Chris!
So, if I understand you right, it should look more like this:
Day 1:
Bench Press 5x3 at 90%
Bsrbell Row 5x5 at 80%
Back Squat 5x3 at 90%
Day 2:
Incline Press 5x5 at 75%
Power clean 6x3 at 80%
Day 3:
off, some minor sprinting
Day 4:
Bench Press 5x3 at 80%
Chin up 5x5 at 80%
Squat 5x5 at 80%
Day 5
Power clean 6x3 at 75%
Push Press 5x3 at 75%
Day 6 and 7
off
Since I lowered the intensities, should I add more sets or reps or neither?
Tallan, I believe that Thibs was referring solely to the Olympic movements when he strongly urged you to bring down the intensity below 85%. In your case, you’d be working in the 75-85% range on the Push Press and Power Clean, as opposed to the oringinally proposed 90%+.
The other lifts (i.e., bench press, squat, etc), however, can remain at the originally proposed intensities.