This is the time of year where I usually do a lot of reading.  Everything slows down and I simply have more time to look into things.  When I experiment with new things it's usually in the summer with Football because they are the only team in town.  I would do it with other teams if kids stayed to train for the summer.

In the process of writing summer programs I had a few ideas.  None of these are ground-breaking.  None of these are new.  A few I've probably already talked about.  I'm just throwing ideas out there and you can do with them what you choose.  This is also an exercise for me to see some stuff written out.  In my head it may seem good, but once I see it laid out it may not seem as good.

These are some of the ideas that I'm currently playing with in my head.

1-Traditional Progression

This is just the normal progression I usually follow when every other idea I have isn't "good enough" to replace what I know already works.

It's a 4 Week Cycle and it generally looks like this:

  • Week 1: 75% - Base (intro any new Main or Supplemental Lifts/First week of a new/adjusted Training Max)
  • Week 2: 80% - Load (do more work than last week)
  • Week 3: 70% - Deload (rest from previous 2 weeks and prepare for a heavy/Strength check type of week)
  • Week 4: 85% - Strength Check (PR Sets, Work up to heavy 1-3 RM) "See where we are" kind of week without it being a true test.
  • If you reset Training axes do that and repeat the same percentages for the next cycle.  I don't usually reset TM's.  I just restart the next cycle and add 5% to each week (80%, 85%, 75%, 90%, etc...)  I don't think there's a right or wrong way.

2-Return to Base Progression

This is what I did this spring with my Football and Softball teams.  In my head the idea was to always return to the "light" week - 75% (Base).  It's almost like a Deload every other week preceding or following a "heavy" week.  I thought I could always get back to a 5's Pro (basically 5 sets of 5 reps) week in between each "work up" kind of week.

It's also a 4 Week Cycle and it looks like this:

  • Week 1: 75% (Base - 5's)
  • Week 2: 80% - 3's or 5's, 85% x1-3, 90% x1-3 (usually just a single)
  • Week 3: 75% (Base - 5's)
  • Week 4: 85% - 3's or 5's), 90% x1-3, 95% x1-3 (usually just a single)
  • Reset TM, add 5% or add 10lbs to Squat and Trap Bar and 5lbs to Bench, Press, Hang Clean and Push Press.

3-The "Original" Traditional Progressions

I used this up until about 2 years ago.  I think it's awesome.  It's really simple and I actually have a variation of this that I'm thinking about using this summer.  This is where it came from.

This is a 3 Week Cycle (a la Wendler's 5/3/1) and it has 3 variations:

Option 1

  • Week 1: 70% - 5's
  • Week 2: 75% - 5's
  • Week 3: 80% - 5's
  • Week 4: 75% - 3's (Deload) or 5's
  • Week 5: 80% - 5's
  • Week 6: 85% - 3's or 5's, Strength Check, Test or if you're lucky enough to have 3 more training weeks...
  • Week 7: 80% - 3's (Deload) or 5's
  • Week 8: 85% - 3's or 5's
  • Week 9: 90% - Test

Option 2

The first 2 weeks of each cycle would be flipped, for example:

  • Week 1: 75% - 5's
  • Week 2: 70% - 5's
  • Week 3: 80% - 5's
  • Week 4: 80% - 3's (Deload) or 5's
  • Week 5: 75%
  • Week 6: 85%
  • etc...

Option 3 (didn't love this one, but have used it with success - the previous options were better and the kids felt better at the end of it.)

  • Week 1: 70% - 5's
  • Week 2: 80% - 3's
  • Week 3: 90% - Strength Check using PR Sets capped at 10 reps
  • Week 4: 75% - 5's
  • Week 5: 85% - 3's
  • Week 6: 95% - Strength Check using PR Sets capped at 10 reps
  • Week 7: 80% - 3's or 5's
  • Week 8: 90% - 3's
  • Week 9: 100% (TM) - Test using true PR Sets - no rep limit
  • If I used an 85% TM instead of a 90% TM I think this would've been a better cycle.  It worked.  Guys tested well, but they were definitely more beat up and tired than I would've liked.  We had Spring Break the week after testing so in the beginning I knew they would get a break before Spring Ball started.

4-Varying Heavy Workouts (horrible name - I don't have a good one for it, yet)

The idea behind this set up is having one workout per week Heavy,Moderate and Light.  The goal is to avoid a Heavy week.  I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing.  In my head, it's necessary for the athletes to do so many things during a summer workout - lift, run, sprint, agility...)

I haven't totally hashed this out but it is currently looking like this:

  • Week 1: Hang Clean - 80%/Squat - 70%/Bench - 60%
  • Week 2: Hang Clean - 60%/Squat - 80%/Bench - 70%
  • Week 3: Hang Clean - 70%/Squat - 60%/Bench - 80%
  • Add 5% to these numbers and repeat.

The other slight tweak is to always follow a Heavy Workout with a light one.

  • Week 1: Hang Clean - 80%/Squat - 60%/Bench - 70%
  • Week 2: Hang Clean - 60%/Squat - 70%/Bench - 80%
  • Week 3: Hang Clean - 70%/Squat - 80%/Bench - 60%
  • Whichever Workout is the heaviest of the week is preceded by a Moderate Workout and followed by a Light Workout.  At the end of the day, I don't really think it matters that much.

Another option with this, and this would take a lot of organizing by the coach (us).  Monday is ALWAYS the Heavy day.  Wednesday is ALWAYS the Light day.  Friday is ALWAYS the Moderate day.

  • Week 1: Hang Clean - 80%/Squat - 60%/Bench - 70%
  • Week 2: Bench - 80%/Hang Clean - 60%/Squat - 70%
  • Week 3: Squat - 80%/Bench - 60%/Hang Clean - 70%

Hopefully this might give you some ideas to experiment with as you get ready for training some athletes this summer.  Or, you use yourself as the guinea pig and see what comes of it.  If you try it on yourself, I'd use it for at least 2 cycles.  This could solve your training cycles for close to a year.