Workout of the Week #65

Welcome to Workout of the Week, number 65. This time we have a four-day-a-week upper-lower contrast loading power workout. Long name. What’s behind that?

If you remember in Workout of the Week number 51, we also had a contrast loading. There it was focused on strength and power development. This time, our goal is to develop power through contrast loading.

As a recap, what is contrast loading? If we think of our force-velocity curve, we combine different ends of the continuum. So if I would be jumping ahead: last time in Workout of the Week number 51, we combined the maximum effort and the plyometric effort. This time, we combine the dynamic effort and the plyometric effort in Workouts One and Two—Sessions One and Two—and the maximum effort and the plyometric effort in Workouts Three and Four—Sessions Three and Four.

The training variables: The intensity—80% to 100% of the one-rep max for the maximum effort, 60% to 70% of the one-rep max for the dynamic effort, and 0 to 10% for the plyometric effort. The rep ranges: 1 to 6. Very simple, straightforward. The exertion: light to near maximum. Yeah, so for the plyometric effort and the dynamic effort, it’s light to medium. And then for the maximum effort, it’s hard to near maximum. So here we have it: maximum effort, dynamic effort, plyometric effort.

When we talk about efforts, if we look at exercises, fairly simple: the maximum effort days and the dynamic effort are based on fundamental movements—squatting, hinging, pushing, and pulling. And for the plyometrics, we do jumps and throws. The exercises are either ordered most complex to least complex or most explosive to less explosive.

The training variables—more training variables: Training frequency: four days a week. It’s a station training, including some complexes. The training split is an upper-lower split.

And how does it look? Here’s our program. We’ll jump right into it.

Here we are inside our four-day upper-lower contrast loading workout. You download that PDF, you get an overview. You can see the structure of the workouts. So Workout One, Workout Two, followed by a rest day. Workout Three, Workout Four, and then followed by two more rest days.

Workout Number One: It’s based on lower body. So we do box squats in a complex, contrasted with a countermovement box jump, and then the deadlift in contrast with the non-countermovement box jump. Yeah, so again here, for our dynamic effort: four sets of four at 60% of the one-rep max. And for the jumps: four sets of two. The same is true for the deadlift: four sets of four at 60% of the one-rep max, and then for the non-countermovement box jump: four sets of two.

If we go to Workout Number Two, again we combine the dynamic effort with a plyometric effort, but this time it’s the upper body. So we do the bench press band-resisted and the bench row band-resisted. And the first complex contrast is the bench press band-resisted with a medicine ball power drop. So very similar biomechanical movement. And then the bench row—the contrast, the second contrast complex—is the bench row band-resisted with the medicine ball slam.

Again, for the dynamic effort: four sets of four at 60% of the one-rep max. And for the plyometric effort: four sets of four at 2%. Yeah, so again, I outlined that in previous videos. It’s a bit more of an art rather than a science, but it’s a very practical, applied concept that works very well.

So 2% of what? Yes. So if we base that biomechanically similar movement, we base it on the bench press. Yeah, so if you bench press a maximum of 100 kilos, then 2% would be a 2-kilo medicine ball. The same is true for the bench row and slam. So for the medicine ball slam, you take 2% of the maximum bench row.

If we move on to Workout Number Three, this time we combine the maximum effort and plyometric effort. Therefore, we do back squats, again combined with countermovement box jumps, and the deadlift with non-countermovement box jumps. Here we do four sets of three at 85% of the one-rep max for the back squat and the deadlift, and then four sets of two for the jump variations.

And if we go to our last workout, similar setup. We do the bench press and the medicine ball power drop, and we do the bench row and the medicine ball slam. So no changes necessarily in exercise, rather than it’s not band-resisted for the bench press and the bench row. So four sets of three at 85% for the maximum effort, and then four sets of four at 2% for the plyometric effort.

This concludes the four workouts. You can download that PDF. You get a glossary of the terms. You can read about myself, what my athletes and former athletes have to say about me, my mentees, my former colleagues. And last but certainly not least, you can subscribe to the membership, where you get the full four-week periodized program. This was the first week. Inside the membership, there’s the full four-week periodized program.

So let’s move back and finish this presentation. What are the next steps?

You download that PDF. Then you join the membership. Inside the membership, as I said, you get the four-week periodized training program. And considering we are at Workout of the Week 65, there are another 64 four-week training programs. So do your math—there will be quite a few weeks you can train. But anyway, it has different training programs focused on strength, focused on developing muscle mass, focused on power, focused on strength endurance—two days a week, three days a week, four days a week, and so on. Anyway, check it out.

You like and subscribe. You like the video, you subscribe to the channel. You can grab all workouts here. You can watch the previous workout. If you haven’t subscribed, here’s your last chance. Otherwise, I’ll see you next week with the next Workout of the Week.