I think we accomplished what we needed to. It was a pretty high volume lifting cycle with moderate running volume. We lifted and ran 3 days a week on the same day. I'm seeing the things that I want to see:

  1. Guys are putting on some muscle
  2. No soft tissue injuries
  3. Guys look fresh when they come in

Cycle 1 Template

  1. Run
  2. Main Lift (done by itself or paired with Neck Work)
  3. Supplemental Lift paired with Pull-ups
  4. Circuit – 3-5 Rounds
    • Lower Opposite
    • Upper Push
    • Upper Pull
  5. Neck (if not done with Main Lift), Shoulder Health, Abs
  6. Done Monday/Wednesday/Friday

Cycle 2 Template

The plan was to continue the same template.  That has since changed.  With the addition of a Running Day (now we’re doing something 5 days a week) I could see it take its toll.  The adjustment is:

Monday/Friday

  1. Run (with the exception of Wednesday)
  2. Main Lift (done by itself or paired with neck
  3. Supplemental Circuit (Lower Body lift is a “big one”)
    • Lower (opposite)
    • Upper Push
    • Upper Pull
  4. Power Zone/Posterior Chain, Abs, Upper Pull
  5. Neck (if not done with Main Lift), Shoulder Health, Fun stuff

Wednesday

  1. Squat paired with Depth Jumps
  2. Same as above
  3. Single-leg (unsupported), Abs
  4. Neck, Shoulder Health, Fun stuff

Tuesday/Thursday

Agility Drills – 30 minutes or so

Main Lift Progression (I may have already posted this, but it’s worth reposting)

Cycle 1

Week 1

  •                 Monday – Hang Clean: 80% (heavy weight) – basically found a number to work with
  •                 Wednesday – Squat: 70% (moderate weight/volume)
  •                 Friday – Bench: 60% (light weight/speed work/volume)

Week 2

  •                 Monday – Hang Clean: 60% (light weight/speed/technique/volume)
  •                 Wednesday – Squat: 80% x5, 85% x3, 90% x1 (heavy weight)
  •                 Friday – Bench: 70% (moderate weight/volume)

Week 3

  •                 Monday – Hang Clean: 70% (moderate weight/volume)
  •                 Wednesday – Squat: 60% (light weight/speed/technique/volume)
  •                 Friday – Bench: 80% (heavy weight)

Cycle 2

                Add 5% to all percentages and repeat

Circuits

I haven’t been running the circuits “every minute on the minute”.  Instead, I’ve given them times.  It takes 14 minutes to do 5 Rounds of a 3 exercise circuit, for instance.  I’ll tell them, “You have 14 minutes to do as many rounds as possible.”  I won’t do this when the groups are larger and with as many new guys as we’re expecting.  This will naturally cut down on overall weight room volume, as well.  Most guys, especially the Skill and Big Skill kids were getting 7 or 8 rounds in 14 minutes.  As the running volume increases the weight room volume will naturally decrease with the completely controlled circuits.  This will save their legs.

If their legs start getting banged up my other possible option that I’m planning for is to bookend the week with lower body assistance work (namely Single-leg) and leave Wednesday for “heavy” Squat and RDL’s only (no running, as mentioned earlier).  I’m starting to ramble…

We will finish Week 5 on Friday.  Things seem to be going smoothly.

I made the change because I have a 90 minute workout time set aside.  I want it to get down to about 70-75 minutes total.  That way I have time if I need it.  The Cycle 1 workouts were taking damn near 90 minutes.  I found that I was rushing guys through things and we were “checking the boxes” instead of getting in good, focused work.  I’d rather do a few things well than a bunch of things mediocre.

Next week we’re supposed to get an influx of guys.  We push for them to stay for June and July, but because we’re not a scholarship school, we can’t force them.  So, we push very hard for guys to be here in July.  One month is better than nothing and you can get a lot done in one month.  With the increase in numbers I’ll simplify even more.  Especially since about 40% of the guys will be new to the program.

We’ll see how it all plays out.