Friday 29 June 2012

Football inspired training programme

I’ve recently got hold of a typical American football pre-season workout plan as used by Mike Clark, Texas A&M’s (now ex) strength and conditioning coach. Its aim is adding strength, speed and power to his players.

On the surface it looks like a fantastic programme, but to me there are two major faults if someone like me wanted to use it. Firstly the volume, there’s 4 sessions a week with some exercises containing up to 7 sets. For someone like me, with a day job and other commitments I’d end up running myself into the ground and risk slipping into a state of overtraining.  Secondly there is a lack of arms training. For guys like me who’s after an aesthetic, well balanced body as well as gains in strength and power this is not good. So I’ve made a few amendments and this is what I’m left with…  
Exercise
Sets
Reps
snatch
3
3,3,3
squat
5
10,8,6,3,8
Lateral bound
2
20
Smith machine bench press
5
8,6,5,5,3
1 arm DB row
5
10,8,8,8,8
Treadmill sprints (sprint on a switched off treadmill, using the weight of the belt as resistance)
2-3
60 yards


Exercise
Sets
Reps
Drop clean
1
5
Power clean
5
4,3,3,2,2
Overhead split squat
4
6,6,6,6
Standing dumbbell press
5
10,8,6,6,5
DB shrugs (use straps)
4
8,8,8,8
Speed ladder sprints (run though ladder using various drills, then sprint away for 40 yards)
2-3
40 yards


Exercise
Sets
Reps
snatch
4
3,2,1,1
Walking lunge
4
6,6,4,4
Stiff leg deadlift
4
8,8,6,6
Low incline (fat gripz) DB bench press
4
10,6,6,6
Pull-up
4
10-20
Turn and go drill (back pedal 10 yards, turn and sprint 20 yards)
2-3
30 yards


Exercise
Sets
Reps
Barbell preacher curl
3
8-12
Zottman curl (with fatgripz)
3
8-12
Cable press down
3
8-12
Lying DB skull crusher
3
8-12
TRX rollout
2
60 secs
Cable woodchop
2
10-15


In addition to these 3 power sessions and 1 arms/core session (ego day) a week I will also include 1-2 flexibility or foam rolling sessions at home for added recovery.
All in all it looks like quite an exciting programme and I’m personally looking forward to starting it this coming weekend. My main goal with this programme is to fulfil my goal I made on the gym ‘pledge’ wall and snatch 60KG; my current PB is 50KG.


 With this programme I’m really all about performance results, any changes in my body comp (and I no doubt will see some changes) are just a side effect. I plan to follow it for 4-6 weeks and I’ll keep you posted with how I’m getting on and write a review after it’s complete.

Thursday 14 June 2012

'666' leg training from hell

So here’s my 666 legs workout I performed the other night, it was tough and certainly suits its name – leg training from hell. I felt great throughout the workout, my heart was racing, I was pumped and I was lifting some fairly heavy poundages (by my standard). The following day however was a struggle! Walking up or down any stairs was a challenge and I’m still feeling it now, but like they say “NO PAIN NO GAIN!” Before I show you the workout let me just touch on what 666 training actually is, if you don’t already know.
Its basically 6 sets of 6 reps in 6 minutes. The reason its become one of my favourite training protocols is because it hits a lot of goals in one. For example, you’re working with 6 reps which is the higher end of the strength training rep range and the lower end of hypertrophy training. 6 sets is a substantial amount of volume to place stress on the targeted muscles and give a good training effect. Lastly the pace of the workout gets your heart rate up and keeps it up, giving a cardio element to the session as well. It works really well for most body parts, but I wouldn’t use it for longer than 4-6 weeks.
Now you have a basic understanding behind the 666 protocol here was my leg workout:
exercise
sets
reps
time
Smith machine front squat
6
6
6 mins
Dumbbell Bulgarian split squat
6
6
12 mins (double time as your working uni- laterally)
Seated leg curl
6
6
6 mins
Standing machine calf raise
6
6
6 mins


On a final note here are some tips if you’re brave enough to try out the 666 training protocol:
·         Be a clock hawk – watch the time, don’t let each exercise last longer than 6 minutes. As a guide 45 seconds rest between each set should get it done In time
·         Use the same weight throughout all 6 sets for that particular exercise
·         No more than 2-3 exercises per muscle group

Sunday 3 June 2012

The perfect post-workout shake

So I had a quick brainstorm this morning that I thought I’d share with you about what I think the perfect post workout shake should do/contain. Yes, I understand that there are more things you may want from your post workout shake, but I’ve focused on the things that are the most important to me. There are also a lot of ‘ready made’ post workout shakes out there on the market that you can buy, but if you break down the ingredient profiles of each product I guarantee they will contain some, if not all of these ingredients I came up with on my brainstorm.

If you take one ingredient from each category you will find yourself with a very effective post workout shake that will help you increase your lean muscle mass. An example, and one of my favourites is as follows:
·         Whey isolate (40g)
·         Vitargo (100g)
·         Creatine monohydrate (5g)
·         Glycine (10g)