Washington State University Athletics
Strength and Condition Program Overview
The Basics of our training program
Gray (Developmental) – Moderate Volume – Moderate Variety – Strong(er)-Strong(her)
Crimson (Advanced) – Low Volume – High Variety – Strength and Power
We base the phases on the athletes training age (experience). All of our Student-Athletes start on the Green Sheet Program and progress through the Gray Sheet and Crimson Sheet.
Day #1. Dynamic Effort Day
DE: Sub-max loads moved as fast as you can. 60-88% - Pulls x 3-2-1 rep / 45-65% - Deadlift x 1-2 reps – Squat x 2-3 reps – Bench x 2-3 reps / 6 sets – 8 sets – 10 sets – 12 sets. Percentages prescribed are not written in stone; It’s the bar speed that is most important. Everybody has different motor learning skills, and the advanced athlete will activate these more than a rookie or beginner athlete. This is why the more advanced the athlete (lifter), the harder the work. As our team and athletes get stronger and more experienced, they are recruiting more motor units and percentages can come down and still produce the desired results.
Day #2. Body Composition Day (Repeated Effort Day)
RE: Sub-max loads, higher volume of work, greater hypertrophy / work set number of reps depending on load % - 50 reps x 60% - 40 reps x 65% - 30 reps x 70% - 25 reps x 75% / 4-6 sets x 5-8 reps all done at working load / or 3 x65% - 3 x70% - 3 x75% x Max Reps / Sets are stopped when there is a breakdown in technique. This method is very easily manipulated to fit the needs of each athlete and each team and it is also the method that we drop when we start our in-season training.
Day #3. Max Effort Day
ME: Max loads 5RM-4RM-3RM-2RM-1RM 88-100% / Work up to 5-1 rep max on main movement of the day. The one drawback to using this method is that you can’t train with weights above 90 percent for much longer than 1–3 weeks before the nervous system begins to weaken. When this happens, your strength will begin to diminish. This is one of the major reasons why progressive overload training will only work for so long. Knowing that this method is great for the development of strength, you have to find a way around this three-week barrier. The way to overcome it is to switch the exercise used for the maximal effort method every 1–3 weeks, thus allowing the body to recover. This keeps the body fresh, so the method can be used year round.
Day #4. Fun Friday
Competition Day. High variety and very competitive for the athletes and coaches. Every Friday is different and the athletes (and coaches) don’t know what they will be doing until that morning. This day also generated the highest rate of anxiety with our athletes because of the unknown and the competitive nature of the workout.
- Incoming Freshmen Movement Screen
- Performance Testing
- Dynamic Warm Up and Activation Movements
- Concurrent Training Method: The concurrent method links together several different training abilities and simultaneously trains them together all year long. Concurrent periodization focuses on the three basic pathways to gain muscle tension and muscle strength. The abilities that our system is centered around are the Max-Strength Method or Max Effort, Explosive-Effort Method or Dynamic Effort, and the Max Rep-Effort Method. With this philosophy I have been able to organize and manipulate these 3 methods to develop STRONG and EXPLOSIVE athletes from over a dozen different sports.
3 Phase Program Design Goals:
Green (Rookie) – High Volume – Low Variety – Movement pattern based.- Evaluate the athletes, identify any physical limitations that can lead to injuries and work towards fixing those areas of need.
- Increase the athletes overall physical fitness and increase their work capacity (GPP)
- Teach our strength and power movement patterns.
- Teach Regeneration and Recovery Methods.
- Teach the athletes our program design, our terminology and methodology so that they can better understand what we are trying to accomplish with them and their teammates.
Gray (Developmental) – Moderate Volume – Moderate Variety – Strong(er)-Strong(her)
- Work towards perfection on all of our Foundation movements
- Get Strong(er)
- Increase lean body mass and decrease body fat.
- Emphasis importance of our Regeneration and Recovery Methods.
- Increase work capacity and ability to “FINISH” every rep, set, workout, practice and game.
Crimson (Advanced) – Low Volume – High Variety – Strength and Power
- Emphasis on our Explosive Effort method and techniques.
- Improve overall strength levels and lean body mass.
- Stress Regeneration and Recovery.
- Increase the variety of training exercises to keep our upper classmen challenged and making gains.
We base the phases on the athletes training age (experience). All of our Student-Athletes start on the Green Sheet Program and progress through the Gray Sheet and Crimson Sheet.
Outline of Program Design:
Day #1. Dynamic Effort Day
DE: Sub-max loads moved as fast as you can. 60-88% - Pulls x 3-2-1 rep / 45-65% - Deadlift x 1-2 reps – Squat x 2-3 reps – Bench x 2-3 reps / 6 sets – 8 sets – 10 sets – 12 sets. Percentages prescribed are not written in stone; It’s the bar speed that is most important. Everybody has different motor learning skills, and the advanced athlete will activate these more than a rookie or beginner athlete. This is why the more advanced the athlete (lifter), the harder the work. As our team and athletes get stronger and more experienced, they are recruiting more motor units and percentages can come down and still produce the desired results.
Day #2. Body Composition Day (Repeated Effort Day)
RE: Sub-max loads, higher volume of work, greater hypertrophy / work set number of reps depending on load % - 50 reps x 60% - 40 reps x 65% - 30 reps x 70% - 25 reps x 75% / 4-6 sets x 5-8 reps all done at working load / or 3 x65% - 3 x70% - 3 x75% x Max Reps / Sets are stopped when there is a breakdown in technique. This method is very easily manipulated to fit the needs of each athlete and each team and it is also the method that we drop when we start our in-season training.
Day #3. Max Effort Day
ME: Max loads 5RM-4RM-3RM-2RM-1RM 88-100% / Work up to 5-1 rep max on main movement of the day. The one drawback to using this method is that you can’t train with weights above 90 percent for much longer than 1–3 weeks before the nervous system begins to weaken. When this happens, your strength will begin to diminish. This is one of the major reasons why progressive overload training will only work for so long. Knowing that this method is great for the development of strength, you have to find a way around this three-week barrier. The way to overcome it is to switch the exercise used for the maximal effort method every 1–3 weeks, thus allowing the body to recover. This keeps the body fresh, so the method can be used year round.
Day #4. Fun Friday
Competition Day. High variety and very competitive for the athletes and coaches. Every Friday is different and the athletes (and coaches) don’t know what they will be doing until that morning. This day also generated the highest rate of anxiety with our athletes because of the unknown and the competitive nature of the workout.
Bullet Proofing Coug Athletes
