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I’ve been on your modified Westside program for 6 weeks now and I’m loving the results! I’ve been doing a 3-day split (Heavy upper, heavy lower, rep upper) but I think I’m ready to add another lower body day to my program. My question is should I perform a high rep lower body day as my 2nd leg workout or do you have another suggestion? (I saw somewhere that you recommend sled dragging as a 2nd lower body day but I don’t have access to a sled at this time.)
I can't wait to hear from you coach!
Bo
A: Bo,
Regarding the 2nd lower body day, there's more than one way to "skin the cat." Yes, there have been times when I recommended that athletes perform a sled dragging workout as their 2nd lower body day. BUT, there are MANY other options.
Although I have recommended a high-rep lower body day in conjunction with a max-effort day, experience has taught me that this may not be the best option for most athletes. You see, high-rep leg training is extremely tough to recover from and most of our athletes are too busy with practices, games and other sporting obligations to be fried out from a high rep leg day.
One of the biggest changes that I made to my program this summer was that I started incorporating more jump training to compliment the max-effort lower body day. In the past, if athletes were performing 2 lower body sessions at my facility, one day would be a max-effort day and the other day would be a dynamic day; But the difference in the past was that the main exercise on the dynamic day would be a box squat performed with sub-maximal weights for speed. Although we still perform dynamic box squats with sub-maximal weights, we have recently changed our main exercise on dynamic lower body day to jump variations. The results that I have seen have been nothing short of astounding! (Our main jump exercises have been box jumps, broad jumps, vertical jumps, depth jumps onto a box and box squats into a box jump. We also incorporate a light weighted vest with our more advanced athletes.) As you can see, the jump exercises that we've chosen are not that fancy, but they have worked BIGTIME! The combination of max-effort work in conjunction with jump training has made our athletes stronger, more explosive and more mobile. And I've seen an increase in coordination and balance as well. Basically, the added jump training has been a great recipe for improving overall athleticism in our athletes.
Pictured below is one of my 1st "experiments" with this training split. Mike Guadango is a long-time baseball client of mine who has been very consistent with his training during the past 3 years. Due to the fact that Mike has a tendency to be a big pain in my ass, I'm willing to "roll the dice" when I design his training programs. Exercises that might be deemed as "dangerous" or "extreme" are fair game for this kid. I feel like every strength coach needs one or two of these types of kids in their program so they can experiment with new ideas without worrying too much about the consequences. Anyway, besides being a pain in my ass, I have to say that Mike is extremely dedicated and he is a testament to what can happen when you combine proper training with proper nutrition.
Below you will see a picture of Mike performing a 40" box jump this past August. At the time, this was a big deal and I thought it was pretty impressive for him. (This was the 1st month that we started performing jump training in conjunction with the max-effort days.)
August 2006 - 40" box jump
Now let's fast forward about 5 months…
Below you will see 2 video clips of Mike jumping last week. (Yes, we have gotten pretty high-tech and I will now be incorporating video clips into my ASK JOE column!)
Anyway, this 1st clip is of Mike jumping onto a 50" box while wearing a 10 lb. weighted vest!
This next clip is of Mike performing a 54” inch box jump!
Here is the basic lower body template that we used to achieve these results…
Max-Effort Lower Body Day
Max-Effort Lift(box squat or deadlift variation) – work up to a 1-3 rep max, rotated exercises every 2 weeks
Unilateral lower body movement – 3-4 sets with a moderate weight
Glute-ham raise variation 90% of the time – 3-4 sets
High-rep abdominal circuit
Dynamic-Effort Lower Body Day(usually 4 days after the max-effort day)
Jump variation – 6 – 8 sets of 1-3 jumps
Unilateral lower body movement(with added range of motion) – 3-4 sets working up to a heavy weight
Hip extension movement – 3-4 sets with moderate to heavy weight
Weighted abdominals
*NOTE: Mike also started seeing our nutrition expert, Dr. Tom Bilella, in August when we started this new training program. Since August, Mike’s bodyfat percentage dropped 3%. (He lost 13 lbs. of fat and gained 7 lbs. of lean mass and his bodyweight went from 201 lbs. to 195 lbs.)
14 inches in 5 months… Not bad.
Joe D.
BONUS FOOTAGE!!!
Since I'm on the topic of combining max-effort training with jump
training (and I love this video stuff), check out another 'product' of
this system. Below are two clips of Chicago White Sox infielder, Corey
Smith, squatting. As most of you know, Corey has come a long way since
joining the DeFranco Team 4 years ago when he was a skinny bastard!
The 1st video clip shows him box-squatting 455 lbs. + 80 lbs. of chain
during his max-effort lower body workout last week! The 2nd video clip
shows him absolutely destroying 500 lbs. in the box-squat this past
Tuesday! (Not bad for a baseball player.)
I've been following your program since the release of your Super Strength DVD. The results I have seen are amazing. I am 24 and have seen strength gains I only wish I had a few years earlier!!! My only question is, can you over do the West Side Barbell program? Before I was on your program I would hit the weights 5 days a week and I continued that on your program. My schedule consists of a Max Effort Upper Body (Monday) a Max Effort Lower Body (Tuesday) Dynamic Upper Body (Wednesday) Unilateral Lower Body (Thursday) and Repeat Effort Upper body (Friday). Although I love the program and look forward to breaking my personal records everyday I have developed a lot of pain in my hip flexors, shoulders, and groin. I always do a solid 10-15 minutes of stretching before every workout. I am curious to find out if you feel if I am overdoing it for a hockey and soccer player. My objective is to remain lean and explosive as well as develop size and strength. I have done it so far, I just need to know if this is the normal learning curve in the program or am I setting myself up for disaster. My workouts are at 6am before I go to work and I also play in 1-2 hockey games a week and 1-2 soccer games a week.
Thanks for your time and I can't wait to hear your response!!!
Michael
A: Michael,
If you’re performing 5 main lifting sessions per week, you’re not on "my" program. My base program consists of 3-4 strength training sessions per week…that's it! If you’re working hard, you don’t need to strength-train any more than this (especially if you’re playing 2-4 games a week)! Anything more than this and you’re over-doing it! Remember that RECOVERY is the key to strength. Recovery is also one of the most important variables to consider when you design your program…whether it's the recovery time between sets or the recovery time between workouts, you MUST plan your recovery just as you would plan your exercise selection, sets, reps & other training variables.
Here are a couple key notes for you:
3 main upper body sessions is too much! Remember that I originally used the Repetition Upper Body workout to REPLACE the Dynamic Upper Body workout for certain athletes. You can combine them, but doing them separately is too much in conjunction with a max-effort day. For example, you can start your workout with plyometric push-ups (dynamic), then perform 3 sets of high rep dumbbell presses (repetition) and then do some upper back, shoulders and forearms and this can be your 2nd upper body day to compliment your max-effort day.
I'm not sure what you mean by "unilateral lower body." "Unilateral lower body" usually just refers to single leg exercises that are incorporated into your workouts. It should not refer to an entire training day on this program.
If you're one of those people who just feels better if he goes to the gym 5X a week, you should make one of those workouts an easy workout where you just do some extra work on some smaller muscle groups. For example, Wednesday or Saturday would be a good day to go to the gym and do some neck, rotator cuff, calves, biceps, extra stretching, etc. This type of workout won't interfere with your recovery and may actually help your ability to recover if you keep the workout light.
If I were you, I would try this split: MONDAY – Max-Effort Lower Body
TUESDAY – Max-Effort Upper Body
WEDNESDAY – Off or light 'recovery' workout
THURSDAY – Dynamic-Effort Lower Body (see 1st question)
FRIDAY – Dynamic or Repetition Upper Body (or combo of both)
SATURDAY – Off
SUNDAY – Off
By making these changes, you should start to feel “healthier” and the added recovery will get you even stronger!
The results that you have produced with your athletes have been highly publicized – you're obviously in the top tier of coaches nationwide. Here's my question though – although you get paid based on results, have you ever had an athlete come to you that was so advanced that you couldn't do anything with him/her? In other words is part of being a great coach knowing when to say "if it aint broke don’t fix it"? As a young strength coach that’s trying to get where you are at, one of my biggest fears would be screwing up an already great athlete.
Thanks in advance for your insight. You always have an interesting perspective on things.
Dominic Tampa, Florida
A: Dominic,
This is very unique question. I guess my answer depends on the situation. For example, I analyze & train pro athletes a little differently than athletes that are TRYING to become pro. What I mean by this is that if an athlete is already in the NFL when he comes to me, I am usually a little more cautious with my exercise selection and I'm more lenient with other aspects of their training.
(This is because I have to assume that something obviously worked for them considering they made it to such a high level of athletics.) Now, this does NOT mean that I’m not trying to get them better, but I just have to weigh the risk/reward of exercises much more cautiously. The reason is because they are already at the highest level of sport and there’s a lot of money involved. With that being said, every pro athlete that I ever trained could be stronger, faster, better conditioned and they could all eat better.
Although I am always trying to improve their performance, there are situations where I follow the philosophy of “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”. For example, I do have some NFL players that may only train with me for 4 weeks after the season ends because they live in different parts of the country, have family obligations, etc. In these cases, I’m not going to try and be a “hero” and do anything drastic that may end up hurting them. Basically, in this profession, you need to become good at “thinking on your feet” and figuring out when to push athletes to the limit and when to back off and not screw them up! This is one of those things that you don’t learn in school or by reading a book, but it’s a big part of our profession and it separates the great coaches from the wannabees.
The philosophy “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” almost NEVER applies to any high school or college athlete that we train. DeFranco’s Training Systems has gotten the reputation as one of the world leaders in athletic performance and we didn’t get that reputation by just aimlessly putting kids through workouts. We are constantly educating & critiquing our athletes’ lifting form, running form and their nutrition. We have a lot of great athletes that walk through our doors that have never been properly coached because their coaches felt that they were already where they need to be. These are the types of athletes that we thrive on getting even better. Anyone can make a poor athlete better, but it takes a true professional to be able to make a great athlete even better!
Here’s an example…Below you will see a video of Notre Dame cornerback, Mike Richardson, performing the 20-yard shuttle in 4.07 seconds. This is a great time for this drill and as you will see, Mike is an extremely explosive athlete. Although this is a great time for this drill, this is a case where I CAN’T just sit back and say, “I don’t wantto screw this kid up. He’s already where he needs to be.” You see, Mike traveled from South Bend, Indiana, to come train with us for Notre Dame’s NFL Pro Day. If we just sat back and said, “Wow, Mike is fast as hell”, we would be doing him a disservice. This is a case where I have to be an anal bastard and critique every detail of his running form. This is because the NFL only takes the best of the best and EVERY aspect of his NFL workout counts. A great 20-yard shuttle might not be good enough; I want NFL scouts’ jaws to drop when they see him run.
So when I watch Mike's 20-yard shuttle, I don't see an explosive athlete that ran a great time, I see the following…
He didn't stay low enough during his 1st 5 yards
He was inefficient coming out of his 1st cut (he wasted steps by moving forward instead of straight out of the cut)
He needs a better forward body lean during the 10-yard sprint phase
He needs to lengthen his strides during the 10-yard sprint phase as well as the final 5 yards. (He's taking too many steps.)
And finally, I see a kid who has the potential to run a 3.9 or a 3.8 in this drill.
Hopefully that example hammered home my point.
My statements about Mike's shuttle run aren't meant to put him down. (He's a phenomenal athlete and he's going to be a great addition to any NFL team that is lucky enough to get him.) But, Mike didn’t come to New Jersey to have me tell him how great he is. He came to New Jersey to learn every little detail on how to perform well in front of NFL scouts. If I didn't critique every little detail, I wouldn't be doing my job.
The key is knowing when to nit-pick every little detail and when to back off and not screw an athlete up.
So as you can see, there is no clear answer to your question. Basically, you must treat every athlete individually. Some athletes will be at a point in their career where they need constant "criticism" & coaching in order to make it to the next level; other athletes may be exactly where they need to be and it's your job not to screw them up; and there may be other athletes that are somewhere in between. As professionals, we must know how to design and manipulate training programs to suit each individual athlete’s needs.
There is no book, seminar or college course that can replace experience.
