Workout of the Week #34

Welcome to workout of the week number 34.

This time we have a 6-day mixed method power training.

So how does that look?

If you remember in workout of the week number 17, we already had a mixed method approach and that mixed method approach goes back to Schmidtbleicher and Schlumberger, two German words, and they developed a so-called Schnellkraftmethoden Kombination, another German word, that is probably difficult to pronounce for other people. Anyway it just says that you have three days, one day is dedicated to the maximum effort, one day is dedicated to the ballistic effort, and one day is dedicated to the plyometric effort and in that video I also outlined that the All Blacks follow a similar Approach at times, I don’t think they do it all the time, but when Dr Nic Gil presented that to us he showed this example.

Anyway what’s the training goal?

Number one maximizing power and explosiveness. Let’s have a look at the training variables, so day number one and number two, we work at se 87.5% to 92.5% of the 1RM, day three and four 10% to 30% of the 1RM, and day five and six 0 to 5% of the 1RM.

Our repetitions day one and two, 1 to 3 repetitions, day two and three 3 to 5 repetitions, day five and six 4 to 6. And then our exertion is hard to near maximum on the first two days, and then light to medium on the remaining four training days.

The training effort obviously the maximum effort is a maximum effort, then we have on the ballistic day a ballistic effort, and on the plyometric day, the plyometric effort.

If we look at the exercises, we use a combination of Olympic lifts, squat, push, and pull for the first two days, then jumps and throws for day three four five and six. The exercise order, from most complex to least complex and I explain that a bit more in a minute how we structure the exercises.

Let’s have a look at more training variables, so it’s a 6-day a week program, it’s a station training and it’s essentially a push-pull split, and here we get into the structure. The structure of the session, and structure of the push pull, it’s a TB, LB, UB.

What is that?

TB means total body, so it’s a total body push or total body pull, then LB is lower body push or lower body pull, and the UB is upper body push or upper body pull. Let’s digress, and the definition of a push is moving something away from you, and the definition of a pull is moving something towards you, and this is what you’ll see, when we jump into the program. So a total body push that could be a Push Press or a Jerk from the Olympic lifts, and a total body pull that could be a clean or a power clean, a lower body push, what is that? You move something away from you, that could be a squat variation, a back squat, a front squat whatever it might be. Lower body, pull you pull something towards you, what is that? For example the deadlift. And then the upper body push, you push something away from you, the bench press or the shoulder press, and the upper body pull, you pull something towards you, or you pull yourself towards something, so that could be your rowing variations, or pullup variations.

How does it look?

Let’s look at this program and jump inside.

So here we are, inside of our workout of the week number 34, the six day mixed method power training workout, and if you download that PDF, you get an overview of the training program and you can see the structure.

So workout number one and number two is the maximum effort, one day is pushing one day is pulling. Workout number three and four is the ballistic effort, one day pushing one day pulling. And workout five and six is the plyometric effort, and again one day pushing, one day pulling.

Let’s have a look at the workout number one, the maximum effort push, so as I said total body push is the exercise number one, the push press. Lower body push, that is the back squat, and the upper body push, that is the bench press. Obviously these exercises can be changed, but again it should be a push. So and then you see 1, 2, 3 that means we do the first exercise, do all sets and reps, and then go to the second exercise, do all sets reps and go to the third exercise. The structure you’ll see here, that will remain the same five sets of three at 85% of the 1RM, which equates to an RPE of seven, and the same is true for the other three exercises, but also for workout number two, which is the pulling, so here we also have five sets of three repetitions at 85%, which equates to an RPE of 7. We have the power clean, as a total body pull, we have the deadlift as a lower body pull, and we have the pull up, as an upper body pull. And as I said five sets of three. And if you download the four week periodized program, you will see volume goes down so sets and reps go down, intensity goes up.

If we have a look at the ballistic effort, the push, again biomechanically similar to our push press with the barbell is now the push press with the medicine ball. The biomechanical similar movement to the back squat ballistically is the barbell jump squat and to our bench press the biomechanical similar exercise is the bench throw, and also here we start with higher volumes 5 sets of 3 at 20% 1 RM, 5 sets of 3 at 30% 1 RM, and 5 sets of 3 at 30% again.

And if we go to workout number four; our ballistic effort pull; same structure here; we start with the jump shrugs; then we go to the medicine ball scoop; and then we do the clapping pull-ups. Same here, 5 sets of 3 repetitions at 30% 1 RM, or 20% 1 RM for the medicine ball scoop.

And if we go to the plyometric effort push day, workout number five, we see first exercise medicine ball push, the second exercise counter movement box jumps, the third exercise medicine ball power drop, but hold on a second, some people might say now, who have listened and watched carefully the medicine ball push press is the same as in workout number three, so the ballistic effort and that is exactly where the difference comes in, it’s not always about the exercises, like most people think, it’s more about intensity and volume, so the exercise has in this workout two purposes, and you will see that when you look at workout number six, then it becomes even more crazy. The exercise has two purposes, so one is with a bit of a heavier resistance, which is then the ballistic effort one is with a bit of a lighter resistance, so same exercises but we target different areas of the force velocity curve.

And now we go to workout number six, and I already said now it’s getting crazy, so workout number six, we do medicine ball scoop, followed by medicine ball scoop, followed by medicine ball slam. Here, that’s what I said, the parent exercise of the first medicine ball scoop is the power clean, so you work on percentages of the power clean, the parent exercise of the second medicine more scoop is the deadlift, so you work on percentage of the deadlift. Hence, even though it’s the same exercise for the same sets reps and intensities, you will use a different load.

Only if you are as strong in the power clean, as you are in the deadlift, then you should worry anyway. No let’s be a bit serious, so again the exercise is the same, but we are targeting different areas of the force velocity curve, that is number one, and then also, because it’s based on different percentages then you use different loads for the exercise.

And if you download this program, if you haven’t downloaded any program before, you get a glossary explaining the terms, you can read about myself, you can read what my athletes and former athletes have to say about me, and what my mentees and colleagues former colleagues have to say about me, and then last but certainly not least there is a chance to access the membership.

In the membership, you get the full 4 week periodized program, as well as, considering we are at week 34, you get 33 other programs, but number one, let’s move back and finish off this presentation.

What are the next steps?

Number one, you download that PDF, number two you join the membership, inside the membership you get the full 4-week periodized program plus another 33 4-week periodized training programs focused on different strength qualities, such as maximum strength, power, strength endurance, power endurance, hypertrophy, whatever you wish.

And then last, but certainly not least, you like the video, and you subscribe to the channel.

And here is your last chance on the top left you can grab all workouts for free, you can subscribe and you can watch the previous video if you missed that last chance no problem I see you next week with the next workout.