Sample Programs: Session Templates - PROGRAMMING: THEORY AND TACTICS - Explosive Calisthenics, Superhuman Power, Maximum Speed and Agility, Plus Combat-Ready Reflexes--Using Bodyweight-Only Methodsp (2015)

Explosive Calisthenics, Superhuman Power, Maximum Speed and Agility, Plus Combat-Ready Reflexes--Using Bodyweight-Only Methods (2015)

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SAMPLE PROGRAMS

SESSION TEMPLATES

In Convict Conditioning, I kept program templates to a minimum. It seems that these days, program templates are all folks want to talk about. Back in my time, all we thought about was training! We were adding reps, improving our techniques, breaking records and learning new skills. We barely noticed that we even had a “program”!

I think handing folks a bunch of programs is a bad idea in the long run; as I explained in the first book, the most important thing an athlete can learn is the art of self-coaching. That begins (and pretty much ends) with your own sweat. You work out, and learn as you go. That attitude might make me sound like some kinda old school troglodyte, but so be it.

FOCUS ON PROGRESSIONS, NOT TEMPLATES

The coaches, experts and athletes who really “got” Convict Conditioning were the folks who understood that the progressions were the key to the whole thing—not the workouts. As long as you grasp the principles of productive training, you can use the progressions in a gazillion different types of programs: for mass, wiry strength, joint functioning, etc. There is nothing magical about a workout template, no matter what goddamn genius invented it. Only the athlete can make the magic, with their concentration, effort, consistency and body wisdom. Focus on getting better, and the program will happen by itself.

The internet is a breeding ground for Millennials who spend all their time talking, writing and asking about training—who never get off their asses. Quit wasting energy looking for a MAGICAL workout, and instead, put all that energy and curiosity into your NEXT workout!

If it’s true that workout templates were not so crucial in Convict Conditioning, then that holds much, much truer for the contents of this book. The majority of the exercises in this book are skill-based progressions—this means that the typical workout-template method of performing a few sets of multiple reps every few days is not going to cut it. Consolidation training—where you work these movements on a more ad hoc, frequent basis—is more efficient. Consolidation training just can’t be shoe-horned into your average fixed workout template—it requires flexibility, intuition, discretion. If you’ve been reading the last few chapters (you did, right?) you’ll understand that what I’m saying is true.

Nevertheless, I can do my best to give you a few pointers. In this chapter I’m going to present some fundamental—and hopefully applicable—approaches to training plans that will fit different goals and objectives.

WARM-UP PROTOCOL!

Be aware: The following program templates only describe “work sets”: the sets you do as the main part of your workout, after warming up.

Warming up is essential before any hard training, but it is even more important when you are performing high-velocity movements. You need to ensure that your muscles are warm and pliable, your joints freshened up, and your reflexes tuned in.

Warming up also gradually lowers neurological inhibition: shifting up through your “power” gears will makes you stronger. That’s why warm-up attempts are so crucial in sports like powerlifting or Olympic weight-lifting—it makes the athletes stronger.

How much you warm up depends on various factors: your condition, your age, the temperature, and so on. A good warm-up protocol might include:

· Joint rolling exercises

· A few minutes of higher-rep exercises to heat the entire body: many of the small space drills in the various chapters would work well for this, as would some animal- type movements (see Bonus Section 2)

· Stretching out any tight areas with tension-flexibility exercises

· A few easy sets of the type of movement you are going to perform for your work sets. This might involve 2-3 sets of steps from lower down the chain you are working on. You still can keep your reps low here, provided you did some higher-rep “heating” work earlier.

CONSOLIDATION TRAINING

You should always perform some kind of warm-up before explosive work—this is even true is you are performing consolidation training throughout the day. Sure, you shouldn’t do prolonged warm-ups, as the multiplied volume through the day might exhaust you: but you can explore joint loosening exercises, plus a few “easy” reps prior to the drill you want to work on.

PURE POWER

DAY 1:

Jump work
Power pushups

3 sets of 2
3 sets of 2

DAY 2:

Off

Repeat

All sets given are work sets. Prior to this, the athlete should warm up thoroughly.

For athletes who are new to explosive work, it doesn’t get simpler than this. Combine the two basic power moves in a single, low volume session. It can even be completed (after a warm up—see previous page) prior to a strength workout, cardio workout, or sports training. As you make progress, begin to up your volume (see page 279).

VARIATIONS:

· The sets and reps given above are just a suggestion. Tinker with your sets and reps according to the Rule of Three and the Rule of Six.

· This is an ultra-low volume program for total beginners. As you gain conditioning, build up your sets and reps. Bear in mind, however—always—that explosive training is NOT an endurance sport. Keep your reps crisp, fresh, and turned up to maximum power. When you start to tire, you’re done.

· If this makes you too sore—explosives can be tough—throw in another day of rest.

· A slightly different variation would be to alternate exercises; on Day One, do jumps, Day Two, power pushups with either rest on Day Three, or skip a fixed rest day and instead take a day off whenever you feel a bit stale.

SACRED TRINITY

DAY 1:

Jump work
Kip-up work

6 sets of 2
5-10 mins

DAY 2:

Power pushups
Kip-up work

6 sets of 2
5-10 mins

DAY 3:

Off

Repeat

I advise athletes to gain a good level of proficiency with jumps and power pushups—say, reaching step 6 of both chains—before interspersing skill work from the other chains. When you do begin employing skill work, I suggest that kip-ups are the first chain you explore. Why? Three reasons: first, kip-ups teach great basic agility skills; they involve partial rotation of the body, hip flexing (pulling the knees towards the head) and waist snap. Second, this chain is fairly easy on the body, compared to the others. Thirdly, it’s the easiest of the skill chains—if you can’t do a kip-up, you don’t stand a hope in hell of performing a flip, or even a good muscle-up. This program allows you to continue your power training, while getting lots of kipping practice—six sessions of kipping over eight days. That should help you progress nice and fast. (Note that I don’t give a repetition range for skill work—just a suggested time surfing period. See page 287).

VARIATIONS:

· Less work: for those who need it, an extra rest day can be inserted between each session.

· More work: for workhorses who desire more frequency, skip the rest day and work four days in a row before taking a day off. This may be too much, however.

4-LEAF CLOVER

DAY 1:

Jump work
Kip-up work

6 sets of 2
5-10 mins

DAY 2:

Power pushups
Front flip work

6 sets of 2
5-10 mins

DAY 3:

Off

Repeat

Once athletes have gotten to grips with power work, and are getting the hang of the kip-up—perhaps step 6 or 7—if they wish to begin mastering more of the Explosive Six, then they can start adding new drills into their routines. It’s a good rule of thumb to begin making progress with the front flip chain before the back flip chain, because even though (in my opinion) a well-executed front flip is harder than a good back flip, the earlier stages of the front flip are a bit easier because of the fear factor: many beginners are more intimidated by going head over heels backwards. The above approach has the athlete swap one session of kip-ups—you should be experiencing diminishing returns by now, anyway—and add in some early front flip training.

VARIATIONS:

· There’s always room for flexibility in any good program. If you love the kip-up and want to perform it more often, you can always perform a few single repetitions—say five—of your current kip-up step, prior to the front flip work.

· Those of you who want more practice could take the above suggestion further and perform a 5 minute kip-up session, followed by a 5-10 minute front flip session on both Day One and Day Two. But beware of biting off more than you can chew—overload causes burnout real fast.

“25S”

DAY 1:

Any chain

5 sets of 1 rep
Every 2 hours
(10 hours max)

Repeat, taking days off as necessary.

All sets given are work sets. Prior to this, the athlete should warm up thoroughly

Who says you need to work on all of the Explosive Six? What if you only want to learn one of the skills? (There are reasons you might want to do this—say you are a wrestler and want to master the back handspring as an explosive compliment to your bridging workouts. Or maybe only one chain lights your fire? Whatever.) A good method of doing this is to apply consolidation training in a very specific way—you begin at the beginning of the chain, and start with step 1. You warm up a little and perform five single reps of step 1—five times per day, spread apart by at least two hours. This is 25 reps per day. When you can hit all 25 reps in acceptable form, you move to the next step. Take a day off as and when you need one.

VARIATIONS:

· Why not mix and match? This method would also work if you were trying to improve quickly in two chains—you could just alternate chains each hour. (More than two chains might be too much.)

· This approach is just regimented consolidation training, so there are obviously plenty of ways to tinker with the math, depending on the difficulty of the step you’re working on, your conditioning level, and your available time. Some options are:

— 3 reps every hour (over a 5 hour period) = 15 reps

— 5 reps every hour (over a 5 hour period) = 25 reps

— 3 reps every hour (over a 10 hour period) = 30 reps

— 5 reps every hour (over a 10 hour period) = 50 reps

2-DAY SPLIT

DAY 1:

Jump work
Power pushups
Kip-up work
Back flip work

6 sets of 3
6 sets of 3
5 minutes
10 minutes

DAY 2:

Off

DAY 3:

Jump work
Power pushups
Front flip work
Muscle-up work

6 sets of 3
6 sets of 3
10 minutes
10 minutes

DAY 4:

Off

Repeat

All sets given are work sets. Prior to this, the athlete should warm up thoroughly.

Eventually athletes dedicated to building maximum explosive power, speed and agility will want to work with all six explosive chains in this book. While it’s not impossible to work with all six chains in a single session—Olympic gymnasts may work on a dozen movements each session—I think for most athletes this would be overkill, causing physical burnout and mental logjam. In most cases you’re better off splitting the six chains over two sessions and really focusing on three exercises per time.

VARIATIONS:

· This approach is still compatible with consolidation training. You can apply this program while still inserting mini-sessions of a particular chain throughout the day (see “25s”, previous page). That variation works very well if you are “stuck” on a particular step, which requires extra practice.

THE MUSCLEMAN

Jump work
Power pushup

(5-10 mins)
(5-10 mins)

before legs/squat
before chest low-speed pushups

Kip-up work

(5-10 mins)

before midsection/leg raises

Front flip work

(5-10 mins)

before shoulders/handstand PUs

Back flip work

(5-10 mins)

before back/low back/bridging

Muscle-up work

(5-10 mins)

before lats/upperback/pullups

All sets given are work sets. Prior to this, the athlete should warm up thoroughly.

I suspect that most readers of this book will not only be interested with developing explosive power—most will already be training in strength or bodybuilding. A great way to integrate explosives into a pre-existing routine is to begin your body-part training with some explosives work, and then follow with your regular strength/bodybuilding exercises. Beginning with moderate-volume explosives—far from exhausting you before your strength/bodybuilding sets—will actually increase your strength during your regular workouts, due to “charging” your nervous system (neural innervation). Many old-time strongmen did jumps before heavy squats, for just this reason. Adding explosives into an already vigorous training schedule can be pretty demanding, so make sure you ease into it—a new chain here, an extra set there. Most strength athletes/bodybuilders use “split routines” designed to target limited body areas each session, to increase recovery: lobbing in explosives, which typically work the entire body, can throw a wrench into that careful planning. The only solution is to go carefully, and if your progress is slowing up, or if you are feeling fatigued/aches and pains, slow up. Remember, you can always insert extra rest days or just skip some explosives mini-sessions now and again.

JOHNNY KUNG FU

DAY 1:

Jump work
Kip-up work
Back flip work
Front flip work

6 sets of 3
5 minutes
10 minutes
10 minutes

DAY 2:

Power pushups
Muscle-up work

6 sets of 3
10 minutes

DAY 3:

Off

Repeat

All sets given are work sets. Prior to this, the athlete should warm up thoroughly.

This is a more advanced approach for an experienced explosives athlete working with all six chains of the Explosive Six. There’s higher frequency here, as well as a little more specialization to allow for that frequency—Day One contains jumping skills (jumps, kip-ups, flips) Day Two is more upper-body power (power pushups, muscle-ups).

VARIATIONS:

· This would work great for an athlete who has already reached the Master Steps—specialist work (from the Going Beyond section of each chapter) could be incorporated after the Training listed above. (It would also work as is, as a maintenance program for a guy or gal who has reached all the Master Steps and is focusing on other qualities).

· As ever, if you start getting stale in your movements, add a random rest day. Despite the specialization, there’s always plenty of overlap when working with explosives. Some athletes might do better with a day off after each session, if adding impromptu off days isn’t enough.

LIGHTS OUT!

I can understand why an intelligent person would want to use an intelligent training program. I get it. But please don’t waste any time (like so many seem to) looking for a perfect or magical training program. The magic comes from the athlete; it’s their effort, their instincts, their consistency and dedication. The program is secondary, always. As Bruce Lee said, training is not really an objective pursuit: it’s subjective. Its main motor is the human mind, the spirit. These are delicate, mercurial things, which need to be accommodated. If you want longevity in this game, you need to remember this; be creative, and kind to yourself. Be free, be flexible. Every 6-8 weeks, change something in your program. Keep it fun, interesting. The great Bill Pearl always used to say that there was no one workout that would look after an athlete their whole lives: the man was right.

All great programs are not really “routines” but approaches; you can mix the variables—sets, reps, exercise order, frequency—to suit your life, your instincts or needs. Maybe you work out in a commercial gym, or you need (or wish) to follow a conventional 7-day plan. Great—just add to or cut a day from the programs in this book. Folks often talk to me about the programs in my previous books like they were Holy Scripture. Boy—do they give me too much credit! And worse, they don’t give enough to themselves. Take charge. Trust yourself. Give yourself permission to just train to the beat of your own drum. You’ll do fine, kid.