Imagine you were just 100 feet from the top of a 2000 foot sheer rock wall, and just couldn’t make it any further.
No matter where you looked, there were no hand holds, and it was becoming more and more apparent that your route up the cliff had gotten you as far as it was going to go.
In a sense, this is similar to strength, power, and speed training in experienced athletes. The bridge of the first 80-90% of an athlete’s trainable potential isn’t the hardest thing in the world to achieve. It is the last 10-20% that tends to require a bit more expertise and training know-how to pull off. It takes even more work to allow an athlete to achieve their highest performance at the right time; coaches who train athletes for a living often can’t accomplish this one, even if they do get most of that last bits of performance out of the athlete.
Long term programming concepts
One of the most important, if not the most important concept in “climbing that last 100 feet” to the top of the mountain is based around long term programming concepts.
At the core of long term program success is the series of medium-range programming done exceptionally well, and within the scope of a plan that an athlete has demonstrated aptitude towards in the past.
A problem is that a lot of medium-range programming is done based on what worked in the early or intermediate stages of an athlete’s training, and doesn’t take into account the increased difficultly of adaptation, as well as recovery time from intense stress loading in later training phases.
The most common mesocycle (2-6 week training block) is 3 weeks of hard training with either ascending intensity or volume (typically not both, unless it is an introductory training cycle), and then a deloaded 4th week.
This type of 3/1 setup works well for a large amount of intermediate level athletes (such as a weightroom full of college or high school athletes) seeking moderate development in a variety of abilities (such as a football or basketball player). See the graph below for a representation of what this tends to look like in practice. (The sample deload week is density oriented, but could be cater towards intensity (a test week) as well)
Traditional loading patterns involve 3 weeks of hard training (where performance often decreases towards week 3), followed by a week of decreased volume and intensity to allow for fatigue to subside, and adaptation reserves to recover. The performance drop in week 3 typically recovers in the second half of week 4, or by the start of the next training cycle.
The 3/1 load/deload is a basic, effective template that is used by a lot of great coaches, but relying only on this method can have its shortcomings in the training of more specialized athletes who are zeroing in on taking strength or speed to its maximal level.
With that said, we get to programming myth two, which is:
Myth #2. “Training 3 weeks of a linear progression, then a deload week, is the best method for all athletes seeking speed and power development through the whole training year”
If I have learned anything in the last several years, it is that while the “3 on one off” system is nice, it doesn’t apply the same for everyone, especially advanced and elite athletes. Here is the problem: most athletes will “adapt” to a similar training stimulus after 2 to 2.5 weeks, and then they’ll need to make a training switch (or brief rest) to keep them from draining their adaptation reserves.
Perhaps the most basic case-in-point of this is the rapid switching of exercises that Louie Simmons uses with his champion powerlifters. At the high level, athletes just adapt too fast to particular maximal training loads to make continual progress.
The only time a “3 on, 1 off” works perfectly is with athletes who routinely take 3 weeks to adapt to a particular training load (and they happen to adapt in exactly 3 weeks every time) will do great with a 3 on, 1 off setup.
The problem is that a lot of athletes are already adapting and starting to cash out their CNS reserves during week 3 of the program, and then are already “in the hole” by the time they hit the deload (hence the reason that many athletes don’t recover their fitness level until after the 4th deload week, but at this time, they may be getting another big training load dumped on them at the beginning of the next cycle).
There are several solutions to this problem. Within the 3/1 system itself, smart coaches will have enough of a subtle shift betwen each of the 3/1 cycles that athletes continue to gain each training block (such as giving each successive cycle more of an intensity focus).
Training variability
The big solution, however, is in training variability. With athletes of higher training levels, training must be full of creative undulations based on an athletes tested response to various (speed, strength, density, etc.) training stimuli.
Check out some of Boris Sheiko’s powerlifting programming templates to get a good idea of what I mean by variability. To push an athlete to truly elite levels, a system more advanced and personalized beyond the “3-1” should be considered. See below examples of four different loading schemes over a 4 week period that Sheiko’s powerlifting athletes utilize in their preparatory training periods.
The programs above are a powerful example of just how different effective training can be than the linear 3-week-to-a-deload methodology. As to why these training loads are so variable, Boris Sheiko states that the body adapts very quickly to monotonous training loads. Sheiko also says that variability is one of the most important principles in the construction of the training process, and is important for consistent progress over time.
Counter-intuitive, but true, variability is the key to consistency – in terms of performance gains, that is.
So, the question is: “What are some practical solutions and resolutions to keeping training fresh, while still zeroing in on a narrow performance goal?”
Programming Practical Solutions and Applications
There are plenty of methods that use subtle variability to accomplish big things with athletes.
First off, just like the amount of possible chess moves in the course of a game, an infinite amount of training cycle possibilities exist in the scope of training. The goal is to simplify those possibilities to the point where they can be tracked and refined, based on the athlete’s needs.
I feel that there are 3 easy ways to program beyond the standard 3 on, one off method.
- 2 hard, concentrated weeks, one easy week (for maximal power, or speed gains)
- 4 weeks, alternating between strength and power emphasis weeks. In the course of this, key exercises are subtly alternated within the cycle. (for balanced gains)
- Variations of Tri-phasic methodology (for athletic strength gains)
This article is a bit too short to go into each of these in detail, so I’ll give a quick summary of each method.
Summary: 2 Weeks on, 1 Technical (Popular Track and Field Methodology)
A popular solution to the 3 to 1, is simply to drop a week of loading and go down to 2 to 1 loading to deloading. In the case of the 2 to 1, the “deload” week isn’t just a week off, but a good chance to hit some quality speed work, refine one’s technique, and maintaining fitness levels. In the world of track and field, the coach might just drop the weights on the 3rd week, and focus on speed and event training (such as Ashton Eaton’s coach, Harry Marra. Nelio Moura, one of the best jumps coaches in the world also uses a similar training scheme).
Sample 2 on, 1 easy week. General strength work is greatly reduced in week 3, although dynamic and speed work can be maximal.
Likewise, going 2/1 can be of use, particularly when switching strength training emphasis of the 2 weeks via the triphasic method (2 weeks of eccentric work, 1 off, 2 weeks of isometric work, 1 off, etc.).
Summary: 4 Week Strength/Power Alternating Methodology (4 Week Hybrid)
One of the more exciting training systems I have come up with in the last decade (I’m sure someone else, somewhere has come up with something like this), that I used with great success (hit a 1 step vertical PR at age 30, along with clean and jerk and back squat PR’s all in the same cycle), was the 4 week alternating cycle.
I was actually waiting until my second book (The sequel to Vertical Foundations) comes out to “unveil” this process, but I’ll give you a preview for the time being as another example on how to ward off specific fatigue, while increasing the explosiveness of you or your athletes. Essentially the 4 week hybrid uses weeks (or sub-weeks) of speed and power (and associated lift variants) as variables to create the slight undulation that will keep results rolling in while still “keeping the main thing the main thing”. Check out the graph below for a visual of what this looks like in a 4 week block.
As shown above, strength and power emphases subtly flip-flop from week to week, although the overall direction of the training is fairly linear.
In the above chart, strength is subtly emphasized through set/rep selection as well as key exercises in weeks 1 and 3. Power is the theme of weeks 2 and 4, and this shows up in the volume dedicated to power means. Performing steady work in this type of setup also decreases the need to de-load, as specific fatigue is kept in check well through intelligent use of this type of work.
Variations of Tri-phasic Methodology
If you haven’t checked out “Triphasic Training” by Cal Dietz, I would strongly recommend having it in your library. The core concepts of Triphasic Training are that, instead of always focusing on set/rep variations of regular up/down reps, lifts should be altered to represent the force production patterns of elite athletes. This breaks reps down into focusing on either:
- Eccentric focused reps (either supramaximal or slow)
- Isometric (rapidly absorbing the isometric phase)
- Reactive (rapid down and up)
The beauty of the triphasic program is that the variability between repetition styles keeps the maintenance of systemic undulations in a program a piece of cake; you just need to switch rep style emphasis every 2-3 weeks.
One thing I have found about this type of programming is that, not only does it do a better job of exposing athletes to the types of muscle contractions they actually find in sport play, but it also gets athletes pretty damn strong in a hurry.
I have also found that the triphasic system allows athletes to train longer…much longer, without needing to hit a de-load period due to accumulation of CNS or psychological fatigue (from doing the same thing over… and over… and over).
Conclusion
The thing with all these possibilities is that they can create confusing training situations, so make sure that you can track your progress to understand the benefits of each cycle. As time goes on, we will start to see more and more methods that are able to take the subtle variability needed to make consistent improvements, packaged into simple methodology that the masses can use easily to make constant gains.
Again, I’m not using this article to “hate on” the consistent use of 3/1 cycles, but rather to point out that there is so much untapped periodization out there that can create a better system for athletes.
Despite the millions of program design variations out there, ultimately, it comes down to an athlete’s demonstrated response to various work/recovery ratios over the course of a training year that determines what will work best for them.
As a general rule of thumb, slower twitch, beginner athletes, those in early offseason training months, and those with an indomitable drive to succeed can go with longer cycles, while faster twitch, advanced, “ADD”, and those in the heart of high intensity training will do better with more varied, and shorter training cycles.
I also realize the argument of the stabilization of athletic gains prior to peaking… but that’s another story for another time.
Ultimately experience and good record keeping will let you know what works best.
Now go get it.
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work, and into your life. There are no limits, there are only plateaus, and you must not stay there. You must go beyond them”.
Bruce Lee
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