Slavery Isn’t Dead
By DB “Hammer”
For EliteFTS.com



“Tears, trickling down their cheeks, bouncing briefly until they are leached by the iced asphalt below, become one with the path of shame they follow. The air, so sharp, bites at their lungs, stride for stride, with each struggled breath. The release is none better; each forced-exhale delivers a perpetuating rush to this stage, churning their collective gut without abandonment, shivering their successive spines. The somber cast grows heavy and dark, almost shadowing any hint of sun by its’ own account. But it’s not the future that haunts these stone-faced Germans on this day. In fact, they are inhibited by the past of what they haven’t done, not what they take part in or are anticipated to dictate. They are not on this course by will, but they fail to know the contrary. Again lightning crashes, seemingly striking them guilty, even as they starve by their innocence. The date, 13 April 2002, years removed from the documented suffering of my people.” 

This tremendous exert from Hitler’s Shadow clearly reveals that shackles and chains can be put on more than our physical bodies. In sports training, moreover, psychological bounds will limit physical successes. It is then that we must fight for our cognitive freedom, as such slavery may very well put our development in lock down.


Breaking Free: Factorized Arrangement 

I get asked routinely how athletes can break free from the inherent bounds placed on them. There are many solutions to this problem, but the way that I will discuss today involves how to properly apply factorized program arrangement techniques to your training.

The problem involves feeling restricted to train based on a “lower body” day and an “upper body” day, or a relatively similar split. Specifically, even if you are leaning towards a frequency toleration cycle, versus a fatigue toleration cycle, your frequency may not be great enough to reach compatibility with the sport you are training for AND training off of conventional frequency toleration programming may not be practically suitable. Instead of wasting your time by saving the big-bang for the end, I will cut to the chase in telling you that once your capacity of work integer exceeds your frequency scale that you may want to investigate factor-arrangement principles. This will clear up “neural work space” for other training means at the same time that you are able to attack the elements involved with the factor arrangement.

Digging the Path to Freedom

An athlete has been tested to have a working capacity of 22 for 20 meter sprints. That is, he can achieve 22 quality runs (above the allocated percent drop-off margin). For instance, if he is a ‘general’ athlete training on a 4 day scale then he will adopt a 6% fatigue inducement. Still unclear what I mean? Look at it this way; if his best 20 meter time for that day is found to be 3.12 seconds then a 6% drop-off point would be established as 3.31 seconds. With that understanding, the athlete would continue to sprint until he can no longer stay above this cut off time. Rest intervals will be self administered- for the most part- as the athlete will have two training goals in mind: (1) increase his capacity of work for the specific work and (2) increase his best performance for the specified work. The plight to enhance capacity of work will ensure that the athlete is not rushing back to work too soon- which would only produce wasted effort. In keeping with this same example, an increase in capacity of work would mean that the athlete can now run more than 22 sprints above cut off point (drop-off margin). And, of course, an increase in absolute performance means that he can run faster than 3.12 seconds for 20 meters.

In traditional program planning, the athlete would train to his specific drop-off toleration- commensurate with his frequency scale- only one time during his frequency scale. For instance, if he typically trains every 4th day then he would sprint to 6% fatigue once every fourth day- no more, no less. The concentration of work obviously takes away from other work that could be performed on that day. For instance, one soccer player that I work with once sprinted 30 meter runs for 2 hours and 10 minutes (127 sets) before drop-off was achieved. His rest intervals were controlled via the time it took him to walk back to the starting line (about one minute). On the other side of the coin, I had an NBA forward fly to my compound to train- after complaining about poor ability to sustain energy during his games- and he was found to only be able to sprint 13 x 20 meter sprints before his drop-off margin was achieved. Obviously, two extremely different degrees of work capacity between the two athletes, but the point is this; the soccer player’s games only last 2 x 45 minute halves so he doesn’t have the need to induce sprint training for the time frame that his work capacity demanded. In this case, as one example, we would split his sprints throughout the frequency scale so that other training means can be addressed with the new availability of time. And, he can raise his frequency toleration ability- one important element in the mix of increasing adaptability rate(i.e. the rate of development).

West-Side Barbell Methodics Integration

Let’s take another example that is more kosher with the audience of this article and factor arrange it for you. WSB principles demand that a “dynamic effort” day is trained for the bench and squat- this is no secret. But, one alternative you have in your pocket of tricks is to factor arrange your “speed” work, assuming that your capacity of work is tested to be greater than your frequency scale. In taking an athlete who can move 15 sets of “dynamic effort” bench presses before achieving his percent drop-off margin, he has two major options: (1) take all 15 sets each “dynamic effort” training day or (2) factor this work capacity throughout the frequency scale.

Assuming that he trains every four days, a factor arranged program for his bench press would look like this(negating other training constructs):

Monday (scheduled DE bench day):
4 sets x Dynamic Effort Bench
Tuesday:
3 sets x Dynamic Effort Bench
Wednesday:
5 sets x Dynamic Effort Bench
Thursday:
3 sets x Dynamic Effort Bench
Friday (scheduled ME Bench Day):
*Re-start cycle or reserve work until next DE day

Notes: 
Research has revealed that it is best to wave-load your factor arranged volume throughout the week. This is why we don’t take equal-part (perfect factorization) for each training day. This subtle de-loading allows for more work to be managed via the CNS. A simple guide, suggested to me by the great researcher Karl-Heinz Engler, is to use the 60% factor. That is, as you structure wave loading, be sure to dip to about 60% every other day. This simply states that if day one has a work capacity integer of 5 that day two will be regarded with a work capacity integer of about 3. This rule should not be thought of as concrete, but when the opportunity permits it is wise to take advantage. All other circumstances to float proximal this value via your best judgement. 

The Freedom of Results

Want to take your training to the next level? Do you have sporting need or time restricting demand to factor arrange your programming? Is your frequency toleration cycle not getting the jolt that you are striving for? Answering “yes” to anyone of these questions qualifies you as someone who should seriously consider factor arrangement for your next frequency toleration cycle. That is, in all simplicity, the choice of freedom for your sporting career.


Final Remarks

Because an infinite number of circumstances exist regarding factor arrangement planning, I suggest that you send specific inquiries to me personally. Especially if the alternative is to just guess at what you think is suitable. In fact, you should never make an assumption, even if it is implicitly suggested. Always go directly to the source if at all possible to receive specific answers. Sports training has as much intricate detail- a lot of which is popularly overlooked- so making an assumption may just send you off on a tangent path to your goals.


The author, Dietrich Buchenholz, better known as DB Hammer, is now open for internet consultations. Contact him directly at DB@SchnellFitness.com and open up your limits of possibility, starting today!