Tip Of The Month Archive

Tip of the Month -- December 2006

When writing programs for athletes there are a few guidelines that need to be followed. Below is a brief overview of some key components to writing a quality resistance training program.

Program Writing Guidelines

Step 1: Needs Analysis

Evaluation of Sport

1.What is important to be successful in this sport?

Skill is the most impt. Aspect for the sport (can only improve, not make)

Strength or power or both (maybe endurance)

Lateral and linear speed, balance and proprioception, agility and footwork, reaction time, flexibility.

2.What energy systems does the sport use? ATP-PC, Anaerobic glycolysis, and aerobic glycolysis

3. In what direction does movement occur?

Sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes

Vertical, lateral, and linear movements

Forward and backwards

4. What are the most common injuries in this sport?

Assessment of the Athlete

1.What is the training status of the athlete? Untrained, moderately trained, highly trained

2.What is the athletes training age? Training background and exercise history should be taken into account

Step 2: Exercise Selection

Exercise Type

1.Core Exercises- 2 or more primary joints, recruit large muscle mass, Olympic core lifts, non-olympic core lifts

2.Assistance Exercises- (Supplemental Exercise) One primary joint, isolate a specific muscle, rehab purposes

3.Structural Exercise- Core exercises that emphasize direct/indirect loading of the spine. (a) squat: directly loads spine, (b) Olympic lifts: indirectly loads spine

4.Power Exercise- Structural exercises that require speed to perform it correctly. (a) Olympic lifts

Movement Analysis

1.Sport specific exercises- resistance training exercises should resemble actual sport movements.

2.Muscle Balance- use exercises that will help maintain muscle balance. DO not just work the mirror muscles and include pre-hab exercises to help prevent injury.

Step 3: Training Frequency

-Train more frequently in the hypertrophy phase of when training for muscular endurance

-Train less frequently when training for strength and power

-To make gains you must train at least twice per week.

-To maintain, lifting once a week is sufficient.

-Allow 48 hours before working the same area of the body again.

Step 4: Exercise Order

-Do a 5-10 min. warm-up

-Perform multiple joint exercises that involve large muscle groups first

-If necessary, perform single joint, isolation, small muscle mass exercises last

-Incorporate warm up sets as the weight used increases.

Exercise arrangement strategies:

Pre-exhaustion-single joint before a multi-joint exercise (tri to bench)

Pairing- Upper body exercise with a lower body exercise, good for untrained athletes

Push/Pull- pushing movement combined with pulling movement

Superset- pairing opposite muscle groups with no rest in between

Compound- Two exercises that work the same muscle group (fatigue a muscle group)

Step 5: Training Load and Repetitions

1.Load- amount of weight assigned to a set

2.Set- groups of repetitions performed without rest

3.Repetitions- number of times the lift is to be done in one set

Hypertrophy Phase-

Time- 1-6 weeks

Load- 50-75% of the 1 R

Volume- 3-6 sets of 10-20 reps.

Focus- develop muscular endurance, rehab injuries, correct muscle imbalances, improve flexibility.

Basic Strength Phase-

Time- 4-6 weeks

Load- Load- 80-90% of 1 RM

Volume- 3-5 sets of 4-8 reps.

Focus- develop muscular strength, exercises are more sport specific

Strength/Power Phase-

Time- 2-4 weeks

Load- 87-95 of 1 RM (non-power core exercises)

75-90% of 1 RM (power exercises)

Volume- 3-5 sets of 2-4 reps.

Focus- Convert strength into explosive power, increased recovery time

between sets, resistive and assistive drills are introduced (running drills, plyometrics).

Step 6: Volume

- Calculation of volume- sets x reps x weight lifted per rep.

Step 7: Rest periods

1.Necessary for recovery between sets

2.Higher the loads, longer the rest periods

3.Rest periods can be shorter for assistance exercises      

Reference: