I attended the 40th NSCA National Conference in July, held this year at the Paris Hotel and Convention Center in Las Vegas. The location was quite surreal since I currently ply my trade with the Stade François rugby club based in Paris, France. One speaker at the conference had me changing the way I approached a programming situation with a particular subset of players that I currently work with, the Metabolic Group.
Paul Comfort delivered a lecture entitled, "Surfing the Force-Velocity Curve with Weightlifting Derivatives." For me, this was one of the best presentations at the conference, along with Mike McGuigan’s session, "Strength and Power Profiling of Athletes: How Can It Inform Programming?" Bryan Mann also gave a “from the floor” presentation that was, as he always is, thought provoking and directly to the point, titled “The Use of Velocity Drop-Off in Hypertrophy Sets." I would highly impress upon you to get ahold of the DVD’s or the speaker presentation slides to gain a wealth of usable, real-world information.
LISTEN: NSCA's Coaching Podcast — Episode 18 with Ashley Jones
The Metabolic Group I work with is a special group that had not yet made the grade for aerobic field tests that I use to start pre-season training for rugby players. I prioritized circuit style training sessions with the players with strength as a secondary priority. The weeks were designed as such:
- Week 1: Four circuit sessions with accessory strength movements
- Week 2: Three circuits and a full-body strength session
- Week 3: Two circuits and two full-body strength sessions
- Week 4: Break week, for which players have been allocated specific guidelines to follow while they are away from the training base
Block one is what the program looked like prior to the conference.
Metabolic Group (Four Sessions Per Week)
Block One
Session 1 — Monday
Beast Circuit, Six Times:
- Deadlift
- Power Clean from Hang
- Front Squat
- Push Press
- Bent-Over Row
- Romanian Deadlift
- 750-Meter Row or 2-Kilometer Watt Bike
Strength:
- Bench Press superset with Row: 6 x 6 step-load to 6RM
Session 2 — Tuesday
Power Circuit, Five Times:
- Rotational Jammer Right Hammer
- Ground-Based Left Push/Right Pull
- Rotational Jammer Left Hammer Ground-Based Right Push/Left Pull
- Block Clean and Push Press
- Block Snatch
- Band Bench Press
- Hip Thrust
- Band Box Squat
- 500-Meter Concept II Row
Strength:
- Deadlift and Military Press: 6 x 6 step-load to 6RM
Session 3 — Thursday
Strongman Circuit:
- Trap Bar Overhead Walk, Tyre Flip, Kettlebell Windmill
- Prowler Push, Hang Clean and Push Press with Powerbag, Suitcase Deadlift
- Sled Drag, Walking Lunge with Power Bag Overhead, Half Turkish Get-Up
- Farmer’s Walk/Power Ropes/Plate Sit-Up
Session 4 — Friday
Otago Circuit, Eight Times:
- 300-Meter Row (under 60 seconds)
- 10 Full Burpees
- 10 x 36-Kilogram Two-Arm Kettlebell Swings
- 10 x Reverse Lunge
- 10 x 10-Kilogram Medicine Ball Slams (to ground)
Strength:
- Squat and Romanian Deadlift: 6 x 6 step-load to 6RM
Week 2
For the second week, the focus is full body strength and the only change is to Session 3. This time use the six sets of six reps step-load protocol, working to a 6RM with:
- 1 x Lower Body Push
- 1 x Lower Body Pull
- 1 x Upper Body Push
- 1 x Upper Body Pull
Week 3
In the third week perform the full body strength program on Monday and Thursday, taking out the circuits previously on those days. Use different exercises for each of the two sessions and perform five sets of five at 80% of estimated 1RM.
Following the conference it was time to step up and add a new dimension to this group and modify the first block, working through the week from the highest to the lowest neural demands and attempting to stay on the wave of the force-velocity curve.
Block Two is how the program looks based on the conference.
Metabolic Group (Four Sessions Per Week)
Block Two
Monday – Speed Strength
Inspired by Paul Comfort and Bryan Mann. Speed requirements are noted in parenthesis as meters per second (m/s). Speed should be faster than each noted time.
- Trap Bar Jump Shrug — 3 x 5 (1.5 m/s)
- Block Power Clean — 3 x 6 (1.25, 1.15, and 1.05 m/s)
- Band Box Squat — 3 x 3 (1.25, 1.15, and 1.05 m/s) superset with Repeat Long Jumps, Box Jump, Depth Jump — 3 x 3
- Band Bench Press — 3 x 6 (1.25, 1.15, and 1.05 m/s) superset with Medicine Ball Drops, Clap Push-Ups, Rebound Push-Ups — 3 x 6
- Row Option — 50 reps with 10RM
Tuesday – Strength Speed
Inspired by Paul Comfort and Bryan Mann. Speed requirements are noted in parenthesis as meters per second (m/s). Speed should be faster than each noted time.
- Olympic Option — 3 x 3 (1.00, 0.9, 0.8 m/s)
- Single-Leg Squat Option — 3 x 6 superset with Bench Blasts, Hop Over Mini Hurdles, Borzov Hops — 3 x 6
- Nordics, Hip Thrusts, or Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift — 3 x 6
- Push Press — 3 x 3 (1.00, 0.9, 0.8 m/s)
- Chin-Up Option — 30 reps with 6RM
Thursday – Maximal Strength
- Squat Option
- Deadlift Option
- Upper Body Push Option
- Upper Body Pull Option
- Core Option
For progression of sets and reps:
- Week 1: 5 x 5
- Week 2: 2 x 5, 3 x 3
- Week 3: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Friday – Strength Endurance
- Week 1: Beast Circuit, 45-Second Watt Bike, Core
- Week 2: Power Circuit, Core
- Week 3: Otago Circuit, Core
I prefer loaded core for my players, so they can choose from rollouts, kettlebell windmills, suitcase deadlifts, full body twists, barbell sit-ups, and the half Turkish get-up, with sets and reps being three to five sets of five to ten reps (3-5 x 5-10).
Louie Simmons has written that he uses 75% band and 25% weight and a bar speed of 1.0 to 1.3 meters per second to develop speed-strength. He has also said that to develop strength-speed with powerlifters he uses 50% band and 50% weight. I will vary the speeds of the listed program depending on how I see the player perform, but this will guide me along the way.
In this way, I have attempted to introduce more of the explosive training elements of the training program while still touching on the metabolic elements and also attending to strength. This especially important now that the rugby aspects of the program will start to take priority over the strength and conditioning parts of the programming. I will keep you informed of the progress of the physical preparation throughout the year and I hope that this article has sparked an interest for you to surf different aspects of the force-velocity curve in your own training or programming.
Very insightful! I must admit that the players at my club love and dread your metabolic sessions.
Literally in the last month I started integrating more power and strength lifts into the metabolic lifters programs. A M/W/F split, with M/W looking somewhat like Paul's and Bryan's altered days, and a Friday being a traditional Beastly day followed by some core. Must say the players have adjusted to it really well, getting lots of buy in and still seeing increases in the players aerobic capacity.
Hope you get some great results, keep me posted on any breakthroughs or thoughts!
As always love the articles.
Cheers,
Jono
Questions: In block one why do you program the strength work AFTER the metabolic work?
-Thanks
Regards
Can you please inform me what are the sets and reps progression for the sessions of strenght and speed (Block 2 - Monday/Tuesday)?
Cheers mate!
Monday – Speed Strength
• Trap Bar Jump Shrug
- 3 x 5 (1.5 m/s)
- 4 x 4 (1.4 m/s)
- 5 x 3 (1.3 m/s)
• Block Power Clean
- 3 x 6 (1.25, 1.15, and 1.05 m/s)
- 3 x 5 @ same speeds but incfeased weight
- 3 x 4 as above
• Band Box Squat — 3 x 3 (1.25, 1.15, and 1.05 m/s) superset with Repeat Long Jumps, Box Jump, Depth Jump — 3 x 3
- 3 x 3
- 4 x 3
- 5 x 3 (maintain speeds)
• Band Bench Press — 3 x 6 (1.25, 1.15, and 1.05 m/s) superset with Medicine Ball Drops, Clap Push-Ups, Rebound Push-Ups — 3 x 6
- 3 x 6
- 4 x 5
- 5 x 4 (maintain speeds)
• Row Option
- 50 reps @10RM
- 30 reps @ 6RM
- 40 reps @ 8RM
Tuesday – Strength Speed
• Olympic Option
- 3 x 3 (1.00, 0.9, 0.8 m/s)
- 3 x 4 @ same speeds
- 3 x 5 @ same speeds
• Single-Leg Squat Option — 3 x 6 superset with Bench Blasts, Hop Over Mini Hurdles, Borzov Hops — 3 x 6
- 3 x 6
- 4 x 4
- 3 x 5
• Nordics, Hip Thrusts, or Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
- 3 x 6
- 4 x 6
- 5 x 6
• Push Press
- 3 x 3 (1.00, 0.9, 0.8 m/s)
- 4 x 3 @ same speeds
- 5 x 3 @ same speeds
• Chin-Up Option
- 30 reps with 6RM
- 50 reps @ 10RM
- 40 reps @ 8RM
Thanks for your detailed answer...
I play flanker (6) in Portugal...
In terms of strenght planification for the next season here in Portugal, do you recomend a Phase of Hypertrophy off-season and then the rest of the season hitting only on the strenght and Power or also hypertrophy in season? Usually i do 8weeks of hypertrophy off-season and then, in season i go for strenght@85% 1RM for 3 weeks/3times a week making some major lifts (Push/pull and olympic lifts) doing some overload and clusters method and after i go for the power phase@60/70% 1RM focusing only on the speed and technic for 2 weeks/3 Times a week also.... after thé power i give 1 régénération week and return to strenght phase beggining with 5x5 protocol...My morfological measures are 1.88m and 101kg...
Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
Strength (4 sessions per week)
Full Body Strength
1 x Squat or Single Leg exercise
1 x Hamstring/Lower Back
1 x Upper Body Push super set with 1 x Upper Body Pull
Week Sets x Reps @%
1 6 x 6 @ 75%
2 6 x 4 @ 85%
3 6 x 5 @ 80%
4 Down Load – 2 x 8 @ 60%
1 x Power
Choose one (1) exercise from each category:
(1a) Power Snatch or Power Clean or Trap Bar Jump Shrug or Rack Pulls
(1b) week 1: Long Jump
week 2: Repeat Hurdle Jumps
week 3: Box Jump ups
(2a) ¼ Explosive Squat or Band Box Squat or Step Up
(2b) week 1: Bench Blasts
week 2: Repeat Hurdle Hops
week 3: Borzov Hops
(3a) Push Press or Band Bench or Split Jerk
(3b) week 1: MB Drops
week 2: Clap Push ups
week 3: Plyo Rebounds
Week Power Type Velocity
1 – 4 x 6 Speed Strength 1.0 – 1.3 m/sec
2 – 5 x 5 Strength Speed 0.75 – 1.9 m/sec
3 – 6 x 4 Accelerative Strength 0.5 – 0.75 m/sec
4 - 2 x 6 Down Load No Monitoring
1 x Upper Body Strength
1 x Primary Upper Body Push
1 x Primary Upper Body Pull
1 x Secondary Upper Push super set 1 x Secondary Upper Body Pull
Week Sets x Reps @%
1 6 x 6 @ 75%
2 6 x 4 @ 85%
3 6 x 5 @ 80%
4 Down Load – 2 x 8 @ 60%
1 x Lower Body Strength
1 x Squat
1 x Single Leg exercise
1 x Hamstring/Lower Back
1 x Hamstring
Week Sets x Reps @%
1 6 x 6 @ 75%
2 6 x 4 @ 85%
3 6 x 5 @ 80%
4 Down Load – 2 x 8 @ 60%
With the following as top ups after the main program, just selecting one option each time:
Size Options
Triple Angle Drop DB Bench Press (45/30/15 degrees incline bench) 6 x 5/5/5 s/s Mechanical Advantage Pulling Complex (bent over row/yates row/shrug) 6 x 5/5/5
Bradford Military Combo 5 x 10 s/s Mechanical Advantage Chin up Complex (Pronated wide grip/neutral grip/supinated grip shoulder width) 5 sets x 5/5/5
Multi Press Complex (same weight throughout; 5 sets x 5 reps on each)
- Seated Muscle Snatch
- Snatch grip Press Behind Neck (seated)
- Clean grip Press Behind Neck (seated)
- Savickas Military Press (seated on floor with legs straight out)
- Bradford Press (standing)
- Push Press (standing)
1 & ½ Trap Bar Shoulder Press 5 x 10 s/s TRX Horizontal Rows 5 x max
Cuban Press s/s OH Shrug 3 x 12
3 Way Shoulder Raise (DB Lateral raise/Plate Front Raise/DB T Raise 3 x 12 s/s Renegade Row 3 x 10 each side
I hope that assists, best wishes, ashley
I love reading your articles, you go into great detail as to what you do with your players. Would you be up for coming on my podcast to discuss further? Many thanks for everything you do.
Rob
Going back over your content and having a read - with the beastley, why change the watt bike to 45 sec rather than do the 3 mins or 750M etc as have previously utilised?
for more high intense output? rather than steady state?
cheers,
JD