In a previous post (http://wp.me/p1XfMm-aA ) I provided some general thoughts on periodization and how it is structured. When it comes to periodization, I have a few guidelines that I try to follow:
1. Work on strength and power year round: These are important skills for most sports, which means they have to be a constant focus.
2. Speed and agility need to take place in the context of the sport.
3. Remember the periodization is the totality of the athlete’s training: Athletes do more than lift weights. Any periodization program has to account for everything include sports practices.
4. Link the training together: All of the various training modes should complement each other, not compete. This way the effectiveness of training is maximized and the athlete has a chance to recover from training.
In the previous post, I laid out three phases that all periodization models have in common (though all models call these something different). The get in shape phase, the apply fitness to the sport phase, and the specialized training phase. In this post, I provide some sample programs to show how these phases are different.
These programs are for a basketball player and would be appropriate for high school seniors, junior college athletes, or even division I freshmen. Because this is basketball, we want to develop strong, explosive athletes with great sport-specific speed and agility.
Get in Shape Phase:
The table below shows a sample week of training for this phase. The intent is to use Monday as a maximal strength day. We’re early in training so the intensities aren’t very high, yet. That will change as training progresses. Speed and agility training (short duration, maximal effort) is used to complement the strength training. Tuesday is a power day, so Olympic lifts and plyometrics. In addition, the athlete is practicing sport skills on this day. Wednesday is a conditioning day, but this is being used to help recover. Thursday is a lower body hypertrophy training day, speed and agility work that is longer in duration is placed on this day to complement the strength training. Friday is an upper body hypertrophy day, conditioning work and more sports skills are placed on this day so that everything complements.
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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Strength Training |
Back squats, 3×8-12×70-80% Romanian deadlifts, 3×8-12 Bench press, 3×8-12×70-80% Bent-over rows, 3×8-12 Military press, 3×8-12 |
Power clean, 3x3x60-70% Clean pulls, 3×3-6×70-80% Push jerk, 3x3x60-70% |
Off |
Front squats, 3×4-8×65-75% Lunges, 3×12-15 each leg Good mornings, 3×12-15 Reverse hyperextensions, 3×12-15 |
Incline press, 3×12-15 Pull-Ups, 3xMax Dumbbell shoulder press, 3×12-15 Triceps, 3×12-15 Biceps, 3×12-15 |
|
Speed Training |
Technique drills, 10-15 minutes Stride length drills, 3×5 yards Sprints, 3×5-10 yards |
Technique drills, 10-15 minutes Stride frequency drills, 3×20 yards Sprints, 3×30-40 yards |
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Agility |
Start/stop drills, 3-5x Defensive slide drills, 3-5x |
Start/stop drills, 3-5x Agility ladder, 5-10minutes |
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Plyometrics |
Squat jump, 5-10x Standing long jump, 5-10x |
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Conditioning |
Kettlebell / jump rope / heavy rope circuit, 10-15 minutes |
Kettlebell / jump rope / heavy rope circuit, 10-15 minutes |
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Sport Skills |
Stationary ball handling, 5-10 minutes Shooting drills, 10-20 minutes |
Ball handling drills, 10-20 minutes Shooting drills, 10-20 minutes |
Applying the Fitness:
Training begins to become a lot more focused in this phase. Monday is still a maximal strength day, but the weights are much heavier now. Speed and agility training is now focusing on incorporating sport-specific movements and situations. In addition, the athlete is probably having team practices so this has to be accounted for as well. Tuesday is still a power day, so Olympic lifts and plyos are performed here. Wednesday is a recovery day, so only conditioning and practice are done today. Thursday is another maximal strength day, note that speed and agility are still focused on the sport. Friday is another power day, so more Olympic lifts and plyometrics.
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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|
Strength Training |
Back squats, 3×4-8×80-90% Partial deadlifts, 3×4-8 Incline press, 3×4-8×80-90% One-arm dumbbell rows, 3×4-8 each side Military press, 3×4-8 |
Power clean + split jerk, 3×3+2×70-80% Dumbbell split clean, 3×3-6 each leg Clean pulls, 3×3-6×80-90% |
Off |
Front squats, 3×2-4×80-90% Good mornings, 3×4-8 Dumbbell bench press, 3×4-8 Weighted pull-ups, 3×4-8 Dumbbell shoulder press, 3×4-8 |
Power snatch, 3×3-4×60-70% Dumbbell power snatch, 3×3-4 on each arm Snatch pulls, 3×3-6×70-80% |
|
Speed Training |
Technique drills, 10-15 minutes Stride length drills, 3×5 yards Sprints while dribbling basketball, 3×5 yards each hand Vertical jump, triple threat, sprint 10 yards, 5x |
Technique drills, 10-15 minutes Stride frequency drills, 3×20 yards Sprints, 3×30-40 yards |
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Agility |
Triple threat, jab step, crossover, sprint 5 yards, 5x V cuts, catch ball, dribble to basket, 5x |
Agility ladder, 5-10 minutes Defensive slide, turn and chase offensive player down, 5x Box out offensive player, sprint to basket, 5x |
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Plyometrics |
Box jumps, 10x |
Hurdle hops, 3×10 yards |
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Conditioning |
Kettlebell / jump rope / heavy rope circuit, 15-20 minutes |
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Sport Skills |
Sports practice: Individual skills Offensive moves Defensive moves |
Stationary ball handling, 15-20 minutes Shooting drills, 20-30 minutes |
Sports practice: Individual skills Team offense Team defense |
Ball handling drills, 10-20 minutes Shooting drills, 40-50 minutes |
Sports practice: Individual skills Scrimmage |
Specialized training:
This is where things get tricky because the athlete is competing in this phase. In this phase, we are really focused on basketball. The athlete is traveling, competing, and practices are on another level. This means less time to do other types of training. As a result, to maximize time, training modes are combined. For example, strength training and plyometrics are combined. Speed and agility is combined, etc. For this example, there are games on Tuesday and Friday. Saturday is used as a complete recovery day. So that it doesn’t interfere with the games, Wednesday and Sunday are the strength training days. Note that speed and agility are also performed on these days. Unless it is an issue, we’re using games and scrimmages to maintain conditioning.
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Mon |
Tues |
Wed |
Thurs |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
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Strength Training / Plyometrics |
Snatch grip deadlift + Snatch pulls, 3x 3-6 + 3-6×80-90% Front squats + squat jumps, 3×3-6×80-90% + 10 jumps Dumbbell bench press + Clapping push-ups, 3×4-8+10 push-ups Bent-over rows + Medicine ball throws, 3×4-8 + 10 throws |
Off |
Romanian deadlifts + power cleans, 3×4-8 + 3-6×70-80% Back squats + box jumps, 3×3-6×80-90% + 5 jumps Bench press + Medicine ball throws, 3×3-6×80-90% + 10 throws Weighted pull-ups, 3×4-8
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Speed Training / Agility |
Triple threat, jab step, crossover, sprint 5 yards, 5x V cuts, catch ball, dribble to basket, 5x |
Off |
Defensive slide, turn and chase offensive player down, 5x Box out offensive player, sprint to basket, 5x |
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Sport Skills |
Sports practice: Individual skills Team offense Team defense |
Game |
Sports practice: Individual skills Team offense Team defense Scrimmage |
Sports practice: Individual skills Team offense Team defense
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Game |
Off |
Sports practice: Individual skills Scrimmage |
2 thoughts on “Periodization: Applying the Concepts”
Why not a Mon-Wed-Fri routine?…..Monday is still heavy with Cleans/Back Squats/Bench/Glute Ham and Inverted Rows……Make Wednesday Auxilliary day with DB or KB Snatches/Step ups/ Arm Curl and Overhead press or Push Press and Friday mainly single limb day with Box Jumps/ Lunges/DB Press/DB Row…then on Tuesday/Thursday the Athlete can focus on Sport Specific Drills….
That works certainly. But my preference is not to combine slow strength with Olympic lifts with high volume training. I like to keep each separate. Plus, keep in perspective that basketball players practice basketball every day, not 2x per week. Point is you have to factor that in!
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