Priorities

The purpose of each assessment is to provide us with our priorities or biggest areas of progress towards our goal in the long term. This can be low hanging fruit or addressing an obstacle before it becomes a larger problem. We need to choose a priority to focus on to allow our bodies to allocate our resources. Our bodies will not do as well multi-tasking as they do on a single task. For this reason, we focus on the areas that will give us the biggest return on investment. Strengthening the weakest link will often yield the greatest improvement. To decide the weakest link, we look first for major mechanical imbalances. Imbalances are the 2nd highest rate of cause of injuries behind previous injuries. In the long term an injury will prevent our ability to train as effectively as possible. After mechanical imbalances we look for general strength imbalances. We look at the ratios of our lifts to see if we are outside of a normal ratio between strength in squatting, hinging, pushing, or pulling. Last, we look for performance based imbalances. The ratio to determine the imbalance will be based on the requirements for the sport and the importance of each physical attribute in the sport.   

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) vs. LISS (Low Intensity Steady State) Cardio

There is a lot of debate in the fitness community about which form of cardiovascular exercise is best. It all comes down to individual preference, the type of athlete, and the athlete’s training phase. Each method of cardio has a time and place within a program and is either inappropriate or appropriate for the athlete’s goal. 

HIIT cardio involves short bursts of all-out effort followed by a low-effort rest interval. It will raise the amount of calories you burn for the rest of the day and is the most efficient. However it will cause the most fatigue. LISS involves a constant effort at a steady pace for a duration of time and it is the lowest from a fatigue perspective.

HIIT works well when the athlete is short on time. However, recovery from a HIIT workout will be longer since the energy output was much higher. LISS puts minimal stress on the body and can be more easily recovered from. 

If you are trying to build your conditioning from a general perspective, getting a wide range of time domains is important with a combination of HIIT and LISS styles. If you are trying to build your conditioning for a certain time domain in particular, you must decide which form is appropriate for what you are trying to improve.

Building a Workout

How do you go about programming one day’s workout? The general structure of an individual workout within a training program will play a role in the effectiveness of its individual parts.

The basic structure of each day’s workout goes as:

Movement Prep- Stretching and joint prep for the movements of that day’s training

Warm Up- This is where we get our heart rate going and our muscles ready to work

Strength/Skill/Accessories- These parts will typically be in the order of highest skill and highest intensity to lowest skill and lowest intensity. A proper order will manage the fatigue to not inhibit the performance the main focus of that day.      

WOD- This is our conditioning, the focus and intent changes each day

Cool Down- Where we make mobility improvements and prevent injuries

These are general guidelines that are not set in stone. If you want to change things up, there should be intent behind the change to reach the desired goal of the workout. Each individual day should fit into the bigger picture as a part of the week, month, and year of the training plan. 

Warm Up Protocol

A warm up is when we get our bodies ready to perform. Our muscles need to be ready to work before we start training. This can be done in phases to reduce risks of injury and have a high quality workout. A warm up should have a specific focus to what the workout consists of. A proper warm up can be broken down into the following steps:

Step One: Static Stretching/Foam Roll/Lacrosse Ball. This is when we prepare ourselves to move. We should pick one specific area to focus on and spend just a few minutes preparing that area to work.

Step Two: Start the dynamic process with corrective exercises such as shoulder rotation drills, cossack squats, glute bridges, band pull-aparts and scap pull-ups. 

Step Three: To prepare for the lifts to come in the workout, focus on the movement patterns you will perform that day. This may include slow tempo squats, box jumps, or pull-ups depending on the intent of the workout.

These steps should each be performed at the start of the workout before any training for about 2min each. A proper warm up protocol can reduce the risks of injuries and prepare your body mentally and physically for the training session.

Appropriate or Inappropriate

Training is not good or bad. It is either appropriate or inappropriate. This will be defined in the goal of the athlete and the intent of their current phase of their training program. The athlete will adapt to any training stimulus presented, therefore every part of a plan must have an intent. There isn’t a right or wrong when it comes to choices in a program, but there may be options that are more appropriate. For example, if the goal for the athlete is to run a 10K race there will be movement selection, training volume, and training frequency that are appropriate or not. A 5k run as a workout has many places in their plan where it can be appropriate, but the morning of the 10k race would be inappropriate. As another example a powerlifter trying to squat, bench, and deadlift as much as possible. A 5k run as a workout as part of their plan will have much fewer places where it is appropriate but it still might have a place. As an example, appropriate far out from a meet in their general phase with the goal of increasing work capacity and GPP and inappropriate as they get close to the meet.  

Adaptations

Why does training work? Our bodies adapt to help us survive. It doesn’t know we are going to the gym. It thinks these are the tasks needed to survive. Adaptations take time and happen gradually. These adaptations can be physical (building muscle, losing fat, muscle elasticity) or neural (improved form, better recruitment of muscle). To make these adaptations our body will use the limited resources it has to make the change. Adaptation happens during the recovery process.  When our body can’t adapt fast enough to keep up there will be an injury. When we try to have our body adapt to too many things at once we will see a minimal amount of progress. After a long enough period of focused training stimulus towards a desired adaptation our body will stop adapting. This is because our body knows we will survive the presented stimulus. In order to continue to make positive adaptations we will either need to increase the stimulus or switch focus to allow our body to resensitize to that training stimulus. Our training needs to be structured to elicit the desired adaptation response and progress at a rate that our body will allow.  

Bodybuilding for Sports

Notice when you take a look at athletes of a particular sport many will have a similar build. This is because it is likely the ideal build for the sport. To a degree we should keep this in mind when working on becoming better at a particular sport. We do this mostly through nutrition, but there are other bodybuilding principles that can be applied for sport performance. First is the obvious of building more muscle to have more potential strength. Having more strength is never a bad thing unless we are spending too much of our training time towards strength and not enough towards aspects that will have greater carry over to the sport. After that general base is built up, bodybuilding in the way of targeting specific muscles can be helpful for preventing injuries. Building more muscle will make that area of the body more stable and more durable to handle the rigors of sport. Choosing the body parts to target will depend on the sport. Swimmers and baseball players will have a much greater focus on building the shoulders and rotator cuff than a soccer player. With an average of 7 miles run per game a soccer player will need durable hamstrings and calves. For football and hockey athletes that are going to be taking hits it is a good idea to build muscle to protect every joint. Although bodybuilding is traditionally focused on aesthetics, it has a place within a program designed for sport performance.   

Conditioning Split

The purpose of a training split is to consolidate stressors and allow for recovery within the week. Most people are familiar with the traditional “bro split” of chest on one day and back and biceps the next. Splitting up body parts or movement patterns to have a designated day of the week to allow for recovery makes sense. Oftentimes this training principle is neglected for conditioning work. Our bodies' different energy systems need time to recover after training. People recognize that benching everyday is not a great program but it is equivalent to 30min incline walk on a treadmill everyday. Yet many people train that same energy system everyday. To maximize results in both strength and conditioning, a well thought out training split is necessary. For simplicity we can break down conditioning into different time domains. We included a chart we use for aerobic conditioning above. The shorter the duration the higher the intensity should be. The longer the duration the low intensity it will need to be. As well as rotating through different time domains, it is a good idea to pair conditioning with lifting. This might look like short sprint intervals on a heavy lifting day or a long bike after a high volume bodybuilding style workout.    

Strength Vs Aesthetic

The movements we use in training are tools for us to use to achieve the dose training to elicit the adaptation desired. The main adaptations we seek can be performance based or aesthetic based. 

Performance Based Adaptation

Cardiovascular / respiratory endurance – The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.

Stamina – The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.

Strength – The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.

Flexibility – The ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.

Power – The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.

Speed – The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.

Coordination – The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.

Agility – The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.

Balance – The ability to control the placement of the body’s center of gravity in relation to its support base.

Accuracy – The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

Aesthetic Based Adaptation

Muscle Gain

We gain muscle through resistance training in the target areas we desire. This is done mainly through time under tension.    

Size - sarcoplasmic hypertrophy

Density - myofibril hypertrophy

Fat Loss

The goal with fat loss is to have a change in Body composition. Most of this is done through diet, but our training should compliment the diet. We will retain muscle though resistance training and help to burn more fat though a proper conditioning program.

Accessories for Powerlifting

When designing a powerlifting program the basic structure of each workout will go:

Warm Up

Main Lifts

Variations

Accessories

We decide what variations to do based on the weakness in the lift. Then we decide the accessories based on the muscles responsible for the weakness in the lift. Example of this might be deadlift then block pulls if the athlete struggles at lock out then accessories focused on glutes. Or if they are weak at lockout because of back rounding the accessories might include planks. This structure makes it easy to blend powerlifting and bodybuilding together commonly called powerbuilding. Far out from competition there will be more general training with a higher percentage of volume dedicated towards accessory work. As competition gets closer the accessory work will become more specific and decrease in volume.   

Accessories for Weightlifting

In the sport of weightlifting the goal is to take a weight from the ground and put it overhead. It’s done in one motion as a snatch or two movements as a clean and jerk. In training to increase our total between snatch and clean and jerk our main lifts will obviously be the snatch and clean and jerk. All other lifts we do in training will be considered accessories. This includes squats, presses, any type of pull, and any movement that is not a snatch or clean and jerk. All forms of snatch and clean and jerk that are not the classic lifts we consider to be variations. Think hang snatch and power clean. We treat these as separate from accessory movements for defining purposes in program design. Accessories in weightlifting will have the goal of increasing general strength, positional strength, or increasing power. General strength accessories include dumbbell bench press, deadlifts, pull ups, ect. The goal of these is to increase the athlete’s base level of strength. Positional strength accessories will be lifts that mimic a portion of the lift and reinforces stability in these positions. Examples are front squat, press from split, snatch deadlift. Positional strength accessories may also include mobility drills that are specific to the lifts. Power based accessories will include jumps, throws and pulls. Far out from competition the athlete will have more general training with a higher percentage of volume dedicated towards accessory work. As competition gets closer the accessory work will become more specific and decrease in volume.  

Mobility Progression

For mobility work, think of it as on a spectrum and depending on how mobile you are will determine what is appropriate for you. The spectrum starts with flexibility to gain range of motion and moves to stability work through the range of motion. 

One end would be basic stretching and the other end would be the classic lifts. The progression we use goes:

Foam Roll 

Static Stretch 

Dynamic Stretch 

Movement Drill 

Stability Work 

Positional Drill 

Positional Strength 

Main lift

Start basic then progress over time to more advanced mobility work as mobility improves. You may slide back and forth in this progression and use multiple in the same day but on average you should be progressing through it with increased mobility. 

An Example for better shoulder mobility in the snatch might be:

Lax ball sub scap

Box t spine extension

Pass through

Wall angles 

Bottoms up kB press

Sotts press

Overhead squat

Snatch

Movement Cost Spectrum

The biggest factor we need to account for when designing a program is fatigue management. The best way to do this is by managing our training volume. We have a minimum amount of volume that is required to make progress (MEV) and we have a maximum amount of volume we can handle and still recover (MRV). We must budget to have the volume fatigue cost between MEV and MRV. Every exercise we do has a cost but not all exercises have the same cost. The heavier, further range of compound movements will have a higher cost than the more accessory type movements. This means our compound movements will be more effective in hitting our MEV with less work but easier to over train with them. The accessory work will target the specific areas we want to make progress and help add to our volume to hit the sweet spot between MEV and MRV. With only accessory movements the cost might not be high enough to hit our MEV to make progress. Both compound lifts and accessory movements are necessary in a program to control volume and make progress.

Anatomy

Everyone is built differently with different proportions. This will change the look of your technique. This does not mean that you are necessarily wrong if your movement looks different. For this reason, it is important to refer to the fundamentals of movement and the intention of a joint as part of a system. This is important to understand and recognize in dealing with athletes of different proportions. The most common example will be Short Limb Vs Long Limb athletes. A short limb athlete will have a much more upright position in a squat; while long limb athlete may fold forward. 

Our body is a complicated system that uses everything to perform a task. We can not 100% isolate a muscle such that only one muscle operates at a time. A better term than isolation will be target. Rather than thinking of an exercise in terms of body parts we view it as a movement. We look to see if each part of the system is operating properly. Movements can have a main mover which is often thought of as the body part an exercise works. This can give us a priority of where to look first. Just like in assessment, we look for the biggest return on investment first. 

Recovery Methods

A well developed program will take into account the necessity of recovery for the athlete. Recovery is the method in which we manage fatigue generated through training. During the process of recovery is when we make the adaptations promoted by training. There are different methods of recovery that each serve a different purpose.

Training within your MRV

Our first priority to aid in recovery is to stay within our max recoverable volume. Adjusting an athlete’s training volume will have the most powerful effect on their ability to recover.

Passive Recovery

Sleep, relaxation and stress management are the most powerful effectors of recovery. Even these however cannot make up for overtraining.

Nutrition

Consuming enough calories and the appropriate amount of macros is an important part of an effective recovery plan but cannot make up for failing to tend to the modalities below in the pyramid.

Active Recovery

Deloads, active rest phases, and light sessions are critical components of a well structured training program. They are not as powerful as passive recovery for reducing fatigue.

Therapeutic

Social support and therapy bolster recovery but should not be used in lieu of modalities that are lower on the pyramid.

Supplemental

Compressive garments and thermal treatments have relatively small effect sizes and resulting recovery comes at the cost of adaptation, so they are only useful in select situations.

The methods lower on the pyramid are the highest in priority and must first be addressed before moving onto methods at the top of the pyramid. The methods at the top are an option but should be the last resort.

Core to Extremity

“All the muscles of the core work as a unit to provide stability both with and without movement. All motions are generated from the core and translated to the extremities”. 

Core to extremity refers to the link that connects your upper body to your lower body. It is important for the core to be tight and secure to allow the full transfer of force through your body. If the core is loose there will be a leak of power and a reduction in the potential force that can be placed upon an object. 

When determining efficiency of core to extremity we look first at spinal position. Ideally, we look for the spine to be maintained in a neutral position throughout a movement. Sometimes this is not yet possible but that does not necessarily mean the movement is unsafe or untrainable. More important than perfect spinal position is that there is no change in spinal position throughout the movement, especially while under load. This creates a shearing force on the spine. 

Shoulder Health

Shoulder aches and pains are one of the most common issues amongst athletes. The shoulder joint is extremely mobile and pain can develop over time with repetitive movements and routine. The rotator cuff is a collection of tendons joined together outside of the shoulder joint and work to keep the joint stable, which makes it susceptible to injuries such as impingement, tendinitis, and tears.

Shoulder pain may be caused by a lack of range of motion or a lack of stability. If you have been stretching and have not seen improvement, focus on strengthening and stabilizing the smaller muscles around the shoulder joint. To strengthen, focus on internal or external rotation exercises. To work on stability, focus on movements such as bottoms up kettlebell press or farmer’s carry. A frequency of 1-2 times per week should be sufficient to see progress. 

Periodization

Every good long-term training program is built into phases to elicit a focused physical adaptation. A training phase can have any focus, but it should have a focus. An overall general goal. Common phases are hypertrophy, strength, or peaking. Each phase will build on the last. In hypertrophy we build more muscle mass. In strength we learn how to use the gained muscle mass to express strength. In peaking we learn how to use our new strength to specialize in specific movements. For a non strength sport athlete their phases will operate in the same function but may be referred to as general physical preparedness phase, intensification phase, or sport specific phase. The main difference is the benchmarks used to measure their performance will be specific to the demands of their sport. This periodization will allow for the athlete to make an improvement to an aspect of their “game” while maintaining their ability in other attributes. 

Conditioning For...

Conditioning is the act of bringing something to the desired state of use. In terms of strength and conditioning it is bringing our bodies to the ideal state to be able to perform based on an athlete’s desired goals. There is a wide variety of different potential athletic goals therefore there are many types of conditioning. Conditioning and cardio are often used interchangeably but they are not the same. An athlete may be incapable of running for a few minutes but still be highly conditioned towards their desired performance goals. 

Conditioning is essential for an athlete to reach their goal. If they are not in the proper state to be able to perform they will not achieve their goal and may become injured by overreaching. The first affect we’ll see as a result of an athlete’s conditioning will be their work capacity. Work Capacity is the ability to perform work. An athlete with a low work capacity will not be able to perform their entire workout as a result of fatigue. For this reason some form of conditioning work will be performed with every athlete. 

Adjusting for Travel

Traveling for work or vacation can greatly affect training and nutrition protocols. However, it is possible to travel and stay on track with proper planning. 

Depending on the location of the travel and accomodations, most hotels and resorts have a gym or nearby local gyms to drop in. Researching the gym options at your next destination will take out any guesswork about what you may be able to do. If the hotel gym is stacked with equipment you can stick to your training regiment and make any adjustments if you need to. If the hotel gym is very minimal (one treadmill, a few sets of dumbbells only) or non-existent, you have some options depending on your schedule. You can prepare with “hotel friendly” no-equipment workouts or find a nearby gym to drop in each morning before meetings or activities start. We recommend training first thing in the morning so you don’t get caught up later in the day and miss the gym.

Nutrition while traveling can be tricky. Whether the hotel is all inclusive or you are totally on your own for food, each presents its own challenges. One option is to order from a meal prep company near the hotel and have it delivered to your room. This would be the best case scenario. You can also stop in the local grocery store on your first day of the trip and stock up on basics to last a few days. What you do not want to happen is completely rely on eating outside or worse overeating at the buffet each day. It is important to focus on consuming protein and vegetables FIRST before enjoying anything else. If you fill up on those first it may prevent overeating later on. Another strategy is fasting if you are not able to order food or grocery shop. Assuming the outside meals/buffet foods are high calorie, you can restrict your feeding window to a few hours and consume 1-3 meals instead of 4-6. 

Regardless of the intent of your travel, it is possible to stay on top of your training and nutrition if you plan ahead and do your research for gyms and meal services in the area. It is important to enjoy your traveling but you do not want to set yourself back.