Lecture on Timing in Strength Training given to Wilmington College students. HPE 345, Strength Programming for Sport, Wilmington College of Ohio.

1. Science and Practice Chapter 5

2.  1. How to space the work and rest intervals.
Basically….how often do I work out?
 2. How to sequence exercises. What
exercises should I use? When should I use
them?

3.  Timing in strength training is probably the
element of strength coaching/training that
requires the most knowledge and experience.
 It is also the part of coaching/strength
training where individualization play the
largest part. Some athletes will get burned
out….or make greater gains with certain
types of setups. A good coach will have a
good idea of what each athlete needs in
terms of workload.

4.  These are very important! They make up the basic scheme of almost
any training program, from powerlifting to cross country running.
 Training Session
 Training Day
 Microcycle
 Mesocycle
 Macrocycle
 Olympic Cycle/MultiyearTraining

5.  The training session is the smallest unit of
training.
 It is often referred to as a “workout”
 The technical definition according to the
book is: “A workout period comprising rest
periods no longer than 30 minutes.”
 A training session does not equal one training
day
 There may be many training sessions within
one training day

6. This lifting schedule
is a good example of the
higher work capacity of
elite athletes who have
been training a long time

7. Training load of one workout RestorationTime (hr)
Extreme 72
Large 48-72
Substantial 24-48
Medium 12-24
Small >12

8.  Generally speaking, more workouts that
distribute the workload will be more effective
and allow more recovery than having less
workouts but trying to put a large amount of
work in those workouts.
 Division I programs will often have lifting
workouts in the mornings, and then sport
practices later on in the day. Division III
schools often don’t have the luxury of doing
this because their sport time commitment is
not as great.

9.  The grouping of several training days
 Usually a week long but can be different
depending on the competition schedule of
the athlete.

10.  Microcycle Focus: STRENGTH
 Monday: Conditioning/Static Strength
 Tuesday: Explosive Strength/Plyometrics
 Wednesday: Rest
 Thursday: Conditioning/Static Strength
 Friday: Explosive Strength/Plyometrics
 Saturday: Conditioning
 Sunday: Rest

11.  9:00AMWeightlifting
 SquatVariation (4x5 @ 77.5%T-Max)
 Bench PressVariation (4x5 @ 77.5%T-Max)
 Romanian Deadlift (Hamstrings) (4x5)
 PullupVariation (4x5)
 Body Curls (3x10) (core)
 3:00 PM Conditioning
 15x50 yd sprints @ 90% effort with 30” rest
 4x100 yd sprints @ 85% effort with 1’ rest
 1x GS circuit “Pedestal” 2x10 each

12.  9:00AM
 OlyVariation #1 (Cleans from Floor) 6x3 @ 70%
 OlyVariation #2 (Push Jerks) 6x3 @ 70%
 3:00 PM
 Cone Hops: 3x25 (1’ rest)
 Low Box to Box: 3x5 boxes (2’ rest)
 StandingTriple Jump x 3 (2’ rest)
 Medicine 10lb BallToss for Height 2x8 (2’ rest)

13.  For an active rest day, light sport activity or
light crosstraining might be encouraged. An
example of this would be shooting around in
basketball, or going for a 20 minute jog in the
woods with a partner.

14.  9:00AMWeightlifting
 SquatVariation (3x8 @ 75%T-Max)
 Bench PressVariation (3x8 @ 75%T-Max)
 Glute-Ham Raise (Hamstrings) (3x10)
 PullupVariation (3x10)
 WindshieldWipers (3x10) (core)
 3:00 PM Conditioning
 10 x “suicide” sprints @ 90% effort with 45” rest
 4x100 yd sprints @ 85% effort with 1’ rest
 1x GS circuit “Waterloo” 2x10 each

15.  9:00AM
 OlyVariation #1 (Snatch from Hang) 6x3 @ 70%
 OlyVariation #2 (Hang Clean and Jerk) 6x3 @ 70%
 3:00 PM
 Heidens: 3x20 (1’ rest)
 Hurdle Hops: 3x5 (2’ rest)
 Standing 5 Jumps x 3 (2’ rest)
 Medicine 10lb BallToss for Distance 2x8 (2’ rest)

16.  8x100m with 10 pushups and 30 seconds rest
in between.

17.  A Mesocycle is a system of several
microcycles
 The typical duration is one month, although it
can be anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks.
 An example of this would beWestside Barbell
having very short mesocycles as they change
their exercises every 2 weeks.
 The average mesocycle will typically be 3
microcycles of increasing intensity and then a
“recovery” microcycle totaling 4 weeks.

18. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 2 3 4
Training Load
Week:

19.  Accumulative
 Increasing the athletes motor potential.
Increasing non-specific fitness
 Transmutative
 Turning that potential into sport specific fitness
 Realizational
 Peaking mesocycles. Used to reach the highest
possible level of sport performance

20.  I am training a 100m dash sprinter in track and
field. At the beginning of the season I will use
accumulative mesocycles with the focus of
increasing top end speed. I might use some
overspeed training over the course of 30 meters
to accomplish this.
 After I have gained the non-specific gains in
fitness (better top end speed over a short
distance) I will use a transmutative mesocycle
focusing on longer sprints at full effort (2x120m
at 97%) to transform the speed gained into
competition speed.

21.  Refers to one entire competitive season
 A macrocycle is filled with mesocycles
 Mesocycles are filled with microcycles
 Microcycles are filled with training sessions
 An olympic cycle is 4 years in length
 In an olympic cycle, the first 3 years might be high
volume, with the last year possibly being a bit
lower in volume.
 Florida State Example

22.  Short term planning refers to planning micro
and meso cycles
 Medium term planning refers to planning the
macrocycle
 Long term planning refers to planning
training over many years….for example the
Russian sport system.
 90% of coaches don’t get past short term
planning….personal observation

23.  The goal of short term planning is to
effectively manage fatigue
 Training sessions should be designed so that
CNS intensive work is done fairly fresh.

24.  A general principle of short term planning is also
the fact that fatigue effects from different types
of work are fairly specific.
 An example of this would be: I probably couldn’t
have 2 days of ME bench press in a week, the
CNS fatigue would be too great. However, I still
can have a good RE bench pressing workout later
on in the week after my ME session, because the
fatigue left over from that day is specific to
heavier weight and lower reps, so I can still have
a good submaximal workout.

25.  Since the effects of a certain exercise can be
specific to that movement, it is a good idea to
use different exercises over the course of the
week. For example, I might do an ME flat
bench press on Monday and then an RE
incline dumbbell press on Friday.

26.  If you perform two training sessions
consecutively that train similar qualities, the
traces of fatigue from those two exercises will
be “superposed” on each other, or in simpler
terms, stacked.
 This will lead to a very high level of fatigue.
 So for example, I wouldn’t want to max out in
squat 2 workouts in a row, unless I wanted to
walk down the stairs on my hands the next
couple days.

27.  Each mesocycle should have a training focus.
If you try to improve too many abilities in a
single mesocycle, the body will not know
what to adapt to.
 A common saying in training: Maintain your
strengths while you focus on your
weaknesses.

28.  There are many motor abilities which can aim to
be increased by training. These can include:
 Max Strength
 Hypertrophy
 Explosive Strength
 Reactive Strength (plyos)
 Speed
 Alactic Conditioning
 Lactic Conditioning
 Aerobic Conditioning

29. In any given cycle, no more than 2 of these
abilities should be focused on. Whatever 2
are being focused on should comprise
about 70 to 80% of the training in that
cycle. The other 20-30% can be used to
maintain the other qualities.
 Max Strength
 Hypertrophy
 Explosive Strength
 Reactive Strength (plyos)
 Speed
 Alactic Conditioning
 Lactic Conditioning
 Aerobic Conditioning

30.  The general idea in planning strength training
is to have the athlete do as much work as
possible while being as fresh as possible.
 Unlike training for an endurance event, in
strength training, it is not necessary for the
athlete to walk out of the weight room
exhausted. They actually shouldn’t be
exhausted walking out of the weight room.
This doesn’t mean that an individual set
cannot be tiring.

31.  The total amount of sets in the training of
weightlifters has not changed in the last 50
years, but the length of the workouts have
increased.
 Sport science has proven that the distribution
of training volume into smaller units produces
a more effective training stimulus for the
nervous system.

32.  When lifting heavy weights, rest periods are
often 4 to 5 minutes long.
 Even if you don’t feel tired when only resting a
minute or two between heavy sets, it is better
anyways for your CNS to take a longer recovery.
 Lifting weights at theT-Max take around 10
minutes of recovery afterwards, because of the
large toll that is taken on the CNS.

33.  Include main sport exercises before
assistance exercises
 Don’t do arm curls and shoulder shrugs first
 Use dynamic, power-type drills before slow
exercises, such as squats
 Do olympic lifts first. This is a general
statement, there are some cases where doing a
sequence, such as deadlift-clean-snatch can be
beneficial due to CNS potentiation.
 Exercise the larger muscle groups before the
smaller ones

34.  The heaviest sets should be early in the
workout.
 If you are doing max effort work (ME) you
don’t want to wait until the end of the
workout to do it.
 Take Joe DeFranco’s max effort day workout
for example.

35.  It might be a good idea to do some flexibility
work between heavy resistance training
sessions to help speed up recovery and
prevent a loss of flexibility.

36.  A “special strength” workout is one that is
done outside of the teams regular practice
time. (In team sports)
 For example, a regular strength workout
would be one that you do right after practice.
 A special strength workout is one done
outside of practice. Sports requiring high
maximal strength levels will benefit from
special rather than regular strength work.

37.  The timing of heavy resistance protocols in
cycling workouts is dominated by two main
ideas:
 Allowing enough recovery between exercise
periods
 Finding the right balance between the steadiness
of a training stimulus. (When do I change
exercises? I need to have them around long
enough to cause adaptation, but need to switch
enough to promote the principle of variety)

38.  In order to allow adequate recovery in
training, exercises in consecutive training
sessions should minimally involve the same
muscle groups.
 It would not be a good idea to have two
consecutive workouts using the snatch lift
exercise.

39.  The recovery time of an exercise varies with
the size of a muscle
 It will take much longer for a large muscle
group such as quads and glutes to recover
than a small muscle group, such as the calves
or forearms.
 These small muscle groups might only take
12 hours or less to recover. A large muscle
group such as the quadriceps will take at least
48 hours to recover from a tough workout.

40.  The use of large multi joint exercises are not
used very often in a training week. Squatting 3
times a week would be extremely taxing on an
athlete.
 Olympic lifters typically only squat about twice a
week in their lifting programs with about 72-96
hours recovery between sessions.
 When working with athletes who’s sport is not
just lifting, and they actually have to go to
practice as well, It might be a good idea to squat
even less than this (once a week).

41.  In many sports, squats are dropped from the
training program 10 to 12 days before
important competitions.

42.  Sometimes experienced athletes will use
“stress microcycles” to try to break through a
plateau in their training.
 A stress microcycle is a microcycle where
more training is put into the week than the
athlete can recover from immediately.
 The gains from one of these microcycles will
be seen in the weeks after the stress
microcycle.

43.  Planning the macrocycle can also be referred
to as periodization
 Periodization refers to the changing of
exercises, training loads, and methods during
pre-season and in-season training.
 This needs to be done in a training year. If the
same training is applied the whole year the
athlete will likely level off early and find
staleness in their training later in the year.

44.  2 authors of classical periodization areTudor
Bompa and the Russian, Matveyev.
 Typical periodization will have:
 Higher volume, low intensity exercises early in the
year.
 Lower volume, and higher intensity exercises later
in the training year.
 Some sort of conversion to power phase before
the competitive season.

45.  DelayedTransformation
 DelayedTransmutation
 Training Residuals
 The superposition of training effects

46.  A very important training concept
 What delayed transformation means is that
during periods of strenuous training, athletes
cannot achieve the best performance results.
 This occurs for two main reasons.
 It takes time to adapt to a training stimulus
 Hard work induces fatigue that will accumulate
over time. A period of relatively easy exercise is
needed to realize the effect of the previous
training sessions.

47. 0
20
40
60
80
100
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
TheoreticalUnits
Training Weeks
Training Load
Performance

48.  The period where the training load is
reduced, and the performance begins to rise
is the “period of delayed transformation”
 So, once again, if I train hard with weights
and sprints for a few months, I might notice
my sprint speed in the 40 yd dash decrease.
Once the season nears, I decide to ease back
on my training. What I will find is that my
performance in the 40 will improve as I ease
back on my training.

49.  Typically about 2-6 weeks. Average time is 4
weeks, or one mesocycle. This mesocycle is
sometimes called the “realization” or
“precompetition” mesocycle.

50.  This is similar to the “conversion to power”
phase ofTudor Bompa’s training scheme.
 DT refers to the use to specific exercises to
turn the non-specific work done in the
offseason to specific power that can be used
in the competitive season!

51.  I spent much of the off-season lifting weights
and doing hill work. My event is sprinting.
 To produce delayed transmutation, I will do a
lot of bounding and sprint work on the track
to transform my non-specific gains
(strength/hills) to specific gains (sprint speed)

52.  The training content (exercises) and training
load should vary over the entire season.
 Training cycles need to follow one another in
a certain fashion
 Accumulation
 Transmutation (transfer to sport specific)
 Peaking

53.  When an athlete stops strength training, the
process of detraining occurs.
 The rate that an athlete will lose strength is
dependant on a few factors
 Duration of the immediately preceding period of
training (accumulation period)
 Training experience of athletes
 Targeted motor abilities
 Amount of specific training loads during
detraining

55.  Generally speaking, the longer the period of
training, the longer the training effects
gained from that period will stick around
during detraining loads.
 “Soon ripe/Soon rotten”

56.  More mature/experienced athletes will
experience detraining at a slower rate than
novices.
 Mature athletes can often achieve good
results after relatively short periods of
retraining.

57.  Once the special training ceases, different
training benefits are lost at different rates.
 Perhaps the most applicable part of this
theory would be that of performance gains
made because of neuromuscular
efficiency, and gains made because of
muscular hypertrophy.
 Structural gains last longer than CNS based gains.

58.  Sometimes, it might be good to only put
specific training loads into a training program
in amounts that will allow that quality to be
maintained, or lost at a slow rate.
 For example, a coach might keep a little bit of
max strength training style training in the
program during the competitive season (5x2
@ 90% 1RM) twice a week to keep the
athletes from losing max strength)

59.  Varying training loads and content over the
course of a year is necessary for athletic
success
 Although targeted motor abilities can reach
high levels at the end of the training
year, non-targeted, or early targeted motor
abilities can fall to very poor levels towards
the end of the training year.

60.  I am training over the course of the year to
improve my speed and explosiveness for x-
team sport. Early in the year I focus my
training on a large volume of strength
training, but as the season progresses, I taper
off the strength training and focus on speed.
 The problem here as, although my speed will
increase at the end of the year, I will have
neglected my strength for a large enough
period of time that it has decreased
significantly.

62. New planning is based around the
cycling back and forth of different
motor ability emphasis over the course
of the training year.
Think, in this case of moving back and forth between training
emphasis in mesocycles throughout the year, with stimulating and
retaining loads (not detraining loads).

63. According to myself….a hybrid of the classical version and the newer version might be
the best way to go. I’ll provide an example of what I am talking about with some
training schemes.

64.  Lets say we are shooting for increasing our
explosiveness and jumping ability for track
and field.
 Motor ability A is maximal strength (weights)
 Motor ability B is plyometric strength

65.  Monday: weights
 Tuesday: plyometrics
 Wednesday: active rest
 Thursday: weights
 Friday: plyometrics
 Saturday: active rest
 Sunday: rest
 Let’s say this is our basic training template for the
whole year, for this example.

66.  Let’s say that the following represents a
retaining training load for each type of training:
 Strength (M/R)
 Cleans 2x5 @ 80%
 Squats 2x5 @ 80%
 Step ups 2x5 @ 80%
 Plyometrics (T/F)
 Max jumps for height: x3
 Bounding: 75m total
 Hurdle Hops: 2x5 hurdles

67.  Now let’s say we wanted to focus on the
mesocycle to be on stimulating strength, but
retaining plyometric ability. Here is what that
might look like:
 Strength (M/R)
 Cleans 4x5 @ 80%
 Squats 5x5 @ 80%
 Step ups 3x5 @ 80%
 Plyometrics (T/F)
 Max jumps for height: x3
 Bounding: 75m total
 Hurdle Hops: 2x5 hurdles

68.  Now let’s say we wanted to focus on the
mesocycle to be on stimulating plyometric
ability, but retaining strength. Here is what that
might look like:
 Strength (M/R)
 Cleans 2x5 @ 80%
 Squats 2x5 @ 80%
 Step ups 2x5 @ 80%
 Plyometrics (T/F)
 Max Jumps x 8
 Bounding 200m
 Hurdle Hops 6x5 hurdles