I think that there should probably be a little variation in the squats during the season. The OL's are a staple throughout the season, but I like to keep squatting fairly heavy throughout the year early in the week. The other two lifting days I do lower weight jump squats, speed squats, drop squats, etc.
I think that there should probably be a little variation in the squats during the season. The OL's are a staple throughout the season, but I like to keep squatting fairly heavy throughout the year early in the week. The other two lifting days I do lower weight jump squats, speed squats, drop squats, etc.
yeh i was thinking the same but still in the process on deciding. my strength levels already high so that gives me more flexability.
I think you'll surprise yourself if you take out the heavy squats in season. First thing that the Olympian jumps coach I had this summer told me to do was to actually stop lifting altogether (even though I still wanted to keep olys at the very least). Shortly thereafter, my elasticity skyrocketed, legs felt fresher than fresh, and I PR'd in the jumps…speed also became very good. Of course, you are sprinting and not jumping, but you may like the effects if you make this change, esp. since your strength is already so high, like you say. I think you may be on to something now. How about olys alone, and at around 80-85% for good power and maintenance? This, along with sampling low volume when the time is right, seems to be a common theme for surprising PR's (Jonathan Edwards, jumperuk here, Mike eluding to Walter Davis, etc). You've banked tons of volume, have raised your max strength levels something nice, and have been preparing well. Cash in for good rewards. Have you used a weight vest much? Seriously, how about that alone? We had a guy come in to our sports center, getting ready to try out for NFL combine. He lived and died by the weight vest. He wouldn't take it off. sprinted, did jumps, etc. with it on. he had an impressive 11'6" SLJ and 40" SVJ. The weight vest has always been my favorite, too. the thing for you, though, I realize, is you gotta keep your weightroom numbers up for the combine, so damn my advice may be a mute point/better suited for track alone anyhow.
I think you'll surprise yourself if you take out the heavy squats in season. First thing that the Olympian jumps coach I had this summer told me to do was to actually stop lifting altogether (even though I still wanted to keep olys at the very least). Shortly thereafter, my elasticity skyrocketed, legs felt fresher than fresh, and I PR'd in the jumps…speed also became very good. Of course, you are sprinting and not jumping, but you may like the effects if you make this change, esp. since your strength is already so high, like you say. I think you may be on to something now. How about olys alone, and at around 80-85% for good power and maintenance? This, along with sampling low volume when the time is right, seems to be a common theme for surprising PR's (Jonathan Edwards, jumperuk here, Mike eluding to Walter Davis, etc). You've banked tons of volume, have raised your max strength levels something nice, and have been preparing well. Cash in for good rewards. Have you used a weight vest much? Seriously, how about that alone? We had a guy come in to our sports center, getting ready to try out for NFL combine. He lived and died by the weight vest. He wouldn't take it off. sprinted, did jumps, etc. with it on. he had an impressive 11'6" SLJ and 40" SVJ. The weight vest has always been my favorite, too. the thing for you, though, I realize, is you gotta keep your weightroom numbers up for the combine, so damn my advice may be a mute point/better suited for track alone anyhow.
the only problem is after indoor season, my fb season may start or i may have more fb tryouts with nfl teams in march/april, so i think i need to have strength.
that's what I realized soon after I got all excited with my post
yeh, i have several options:
a: squat heavy once a week
b: squat med load as in 80% once a week/speed movement second workout.
c: squat twice a week with inseason load for example 3x2x77% 2x2 etc
d: only do single leg movements and jsq etc
given those, I like option B for inseason. that way, you'll have maintained, and still be within striking distance to get numbers up again for fb. also, de-emphasizing the heavy squat for awhile may actually help it to get bigger upon returning to it. don't quote me on this, but I think Mike has eluded to that in another thread.
given those, I like option B for inseason. that way, you'll have maintained, and still be within striking distance to get numbers up again for fb. also, de-emphasizing the heavy squat for awhile may actually help it to get bigger upon returning to it. don't quote me on this, but I think Mike has eluded to that in another thread.
thats what i was leaning towards, what kind of volume 4-5x2x80% etc?
Taking maintenance weight cues from Charlie, I came up with an equation(through a little trial and error) and settled on taking the athlete's 3rm for a given exercise and divide by 1.2 to come up with the weight for the work sets and start with 3 x 2 after two-three warm-up sets. For some that we did not have enough time to come down as low as 3rm(basketball players who missed initial 3 weeks of season) we got a 5rm and divided by 1.15. After 2-3 weeks we went down to 2 x 2 and eventually we might go to 2x1. Charlie had mentioned that after the max strength work and some time into the maintenance phase power would peak and sure enough a few kids got training bests in 30m and 60m and another kid mentioned that he had never gotten so high on a dunk that he got this week. The plan definitely works. I may have come about this in a round about, inexact manner and some further adjusting may be in the offing next year but right now it looks good.
I wish I could give some incredible scientifically based answer but, like I said, it was trial and error over the last 9-12 months to find weights which would both reasonably stimulate or maintain(maybe not the same thing) yet not over tax the CNS. It's sets x reps. Let me know if you guys need any help. By the way the estimations of the 3rm's or 5rm's were either just that-estimations or actual rm's that were achieved during the max. strength phase. If, for example, a kid squatted 295(arbitrary number) for 3 reps in a squat and then went to 305 for 3 on his last set during the heaviest workout of the max strength phase I would estimate that his actual 3rm would be more like 310-315 usually opting for the more conservative number in order to determine what the maintenance weights will be in the following weeks. I also believe you could go just a bit lighter in your maintenance weights if absolutely necessary but those number worked well for(and continue to do so) my guys. Some people might need to go lighter to ensure not overtraining.
Thanks gf_200 I think I might try to market the concept(maybe "after some more caffeine" like another guru recently said-just kidding).
I'll have to give credit to #1 Charlie for his maintenance guidelines and recommendations and #2 and article in T-mag by Dennis Weis on conversions of various rm's to 1rm's etc.
After looking a little closer to the numbers and starting with the assumption that the 3rm/1.2 gives a pretty reasonable intensity to base maintenance weights on I came up with these numbers to divide with that correlate well with the numbers provided by the the 3rm equation. Again, these might not work for all and you might have to adjust up or down to work for you or your athletes. Still, I feel they can provide a decent starting point.
Assuming that most all develop and/or test strength in a given exercise with 6 reps and below, here they are for estimated or actual repetition maximums. As you can see, my original number for the 5rm of 1.15 was a bit high.
6rm/1.1
5rm/1.132
4rm/1.165
3rm/1.2
2rm/1.26
1rm/1.344
I started first(in maintenance) with a progession similar to what Charlie suggested of 3x2(setsxreps) for 2-3 weeks and progressed to 2x2 for 2 weeks then to 2x1 or 1x2 for 1-2 weeks. In some cases we even slightly dropped the weights for example a 5-10 pound drop for clean pulls/squats while dropping around 5 pounds for exercises like bench/incline. This was done on individual basis if, for example, I felt the athlete looked to be working a little too hard or struggling with weights that should not have been extremely challenging.
The drops in sets/reps and, possibly weight came about to ensure peak power output would be attained during the strength maintenance phase. I had never really experienced this before this past indoor season. If the other elements are periodized correctly(speed volumes/intensities, plyos, etc)along with the strength work, this will happen. Pay attention to Charlie's advice!
The workout usually progresses as like this 1st warm-up @ 65% of workset weight 3-5 reps and 2nd warm-up @85% of workset weight 2-4 reps then the 1-3 worksets depending upon how late or deep you are into the maintenance phase.
In the past, we had done a power or conversion phase but now, thanks to the advice of CF, we will always shift to a maintenance phase after performing max strength work. I hope that helps further, good luck.
This is such a great thread I had to put in a worksheet I have started using this season.
Not into a stage where I am doing it for 7 weeks. But the first week of comp has started and the season finishes in 5 months.
PIONEER COEFFICIENT FOR MAINTENANCE WEIGHTS (X = REP NUMBER)
Rep Max Calculation of %1RM Maintenance Coefficient
1 100 1.344
2 97.22 1.260
3 94.44 1.200
4 91.66 1.165
5 88.88 1.132
6 86.10 1.10
Sample 7 week maintenance programme (sets and reps only)
Week Sets x Reps
1 3 x 2 (Volume = 6)
2 3 x 2 (Volume = 6)
3 2 x 2 (Volume = 4) *
4 2 x 2 (Volume = 4)
5 2 x 2 (Volume = 4)
6 1 - 2 x 1 - 2 (Volume = 2)
7 1 - 2 x 1 - 2 (Volume = 2)
* Can be 3 x 3 depends on how you feel & look
Formula to calculate a 1 rep max from a multiple rep max. (Works okay for me up to 6 reps)
%RM = 1.0278 - 0.0278x (x = Rep Number)
