Concurrent Strategies in Strength Training, Part 2

By Mladen Jovanovic

For www.EliteFTS.com

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This is part two of a three-part series.

Waves are very similar to pyramids.

Here’s an example of the wide wave loading protocol:

Set	Reps
Set 1	15 reps
Set 2	10 reps
Set 3	5 reps
Set 4	15 reps
Set 5	10 reps
Set 6	5 reps

Stages or plateau loading are a combination of pyramids and straight sets. Here are a couple of examples:

Set Reps Set 1 15 reps Set 2 15 reps Set 3 10 reps Set 4 10 reps Set 5 5 reps Set 6 5 reps

Set Reps Set 1 10 reps Set 2 10 reps Set 3 10 reps Set 4 3 reps Set 5 3 reps Set 6 3 reps

For more examples regarding loading protocols, I highly recommend reading Christian Thibaudeau’s, Black Book of Training Secrets–Enhanced Edition. Most of these graphs are taken from there. Another interesting book to consider is Joe Kenn’s, Coach’s Strength Training Playbook, which is another awesome read.

My opinion regarding waves, pyramids, and stages is that they are very useful when the load stays within 10 percent of 1RM. In other words, narrow variants are ok. But I think wide variants (those explained) are mostly crap (although a gross amount of liters still use it so I guess they haven’t read Zatsiorsky’s book from 95 or Poliquin’s stuff). It is ok if you utilize reps and loads from two near repetition zones (ME/SE, SE/RE), but if you try to utilize whole repetition continuums, I guess you are confusing your body (whatever that would be). Also, you don’t have appropriate volume within each zone to drain potential adaptational effects compared to narrow variants. I again highly suggest looking at Black Book for great ideas on how to organize narrow variants for different levels of athletes. To conclude, rep schemes (utilizing whole repetition continuums) on a given exercise as a form of concurrent training is a bad choice. Avoid it.

Daily undulating periodization (DUP)

The idea of daily undulating periodization (or what is also called non-linear periodization in some circles) is to basically devote a whole training session toward a given goal (maximal strength, muscular hypertrophy, muscular endurance). Suppose you have two different training sessions—training A and training B.

Training A	Training B
1. Squat 2. Bench press 3. Romanian deadlift 4. Pull-ups	1. Front squat 2. Inclined bench press 3. Lunges 4. Horizontal rowing

Now, you identify different training goals that you want to concurrently (parallel) achieve at the same time. Suppose they are maximal strength, muscular hypertrophy, and muscular endurance. To achieve them, you plan to use ME, SE, and RE methods and loading protocols. Now, you can mix and match and get this kind of training organization:

	Session 1	Session 2	Session 3	Session 4	Session 5	Session 6
Training	A	B	A	B	A	B
Protocol	ME	SE	RE	ME	SE	RE
Reps/Sets	5 X 1–3	4 X 6–8	3 X 10–12	5 X 1–3	4 X 6–8	3 X 10–12

You have six combinations of training sessions combining training A and B and the three different loading protocols ME, SE, and RE. If you do three training sessions per week, you have two weeks to pass the full circle.

This kind of planning allows for week long loading waves (or undulations) that may provide variety and some kind of integrated unloading. There are a couple of studies (which I’m too lazy to find) that show better goal achievement with DUP than with linear (or traditional) periodization. I don’t want to open a huge can of worms discussing the study design and subjects, but I guess this kind of concurrent training organization has its place under the sun for a given individual aiming to achieve specific goals under a specific situation.

Coach Alwyn Cosgrove believes in DUP. I trust Alwyn Cosgrove. So, I guess I find DUP a good tool in your toolbox. Use it when you find it appropriate. To be honest, I haven’t used it yet, not on me, nor on the people I coach. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I will not use it one day. Now, let’s discuss priority lift strategies.

Priority lifts

I openly admit it. This is my favorite approach to concurrent strength training. I don’t know if anyone called it priority lifts before me or if anyone knows what the hell I’m talking about here, but I’ve called it that somehow. Because we are going to differ between different exercise categories and give them priorities, I hope that calling this method priority lifts was a smart idea. If you think it is not, feel free to contact me and curse me.

According to its importance, each exercise can be classified into a separate group. Depending on the author, there could be different classifications of the exercises. For example, Joe Kenn, in his book, The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook, uses the following classification of exercises:

• Foundation exercises
• Supplemental exercises
• Major assistance exercises
• Secondary assistance exercises

One classification of exercises that I will use here is the classification that Christian Thibaudeau presented in his series of articles entitled, “How to Design a Damn Good Program” published at T-Nation.com. If you haven’t read this series of articles (and actually everything this guy has ever wrote), you are missing a lot because there is more practical information in those couple of pages than in 500 plus pages in a strength training textbook. It is an awesome article and one of my favorites.

Exercise classification by Christian Thibaudeau
Primary exercises	This category includes a small number of multi-joint, multi-muscle, free weight, and preferably multi-plane movements. These movements allow you to use the most weight for each muscle group and place the highest demand on the body and nervous system.
Secondary exercises	This is similar to the above except that the exercises in this category place a slightly lower demand on the body and central nervous system.
Auxiliary exercises	This very broad category includes the isolation movements and most machine exercises. These exercises allow the use of considerably less weight than exercises in the first two categories and so place far less demand on the nervous system.
Remedial exercises	This category contains movements, mostly isolation, whose purpose is to correct problems such as muscle imbalances or very specific weak points. Rotator cuff work, balance, and proprioception drills also fall into this category.

Basically, Joe Kenn and Chris Thibaudeau use the same classification with some minor differences between groups. Most coaches usually reduce exercise classification to core and assistance exercises, which is more practical and easier to use. Again, everything depends on the goal of training and the context and so does the exercise classification that you use. If exercises are tools, their classifications can be different types and organizations of the toolbox. Be flexible with classifications. They are not set in stone.

According to your sport and goal, different exercises may be considered under a given group. For example, Olympic lifters may use the following classifications:

Olympic lifter
Primary exercises	Clean and jerk, snatch, squat, deadlift, press, push press
Secondary exercises	Hang clean, hang snatch, high pulls, front squat
Auxiliary exercises	Romanian deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, bench press, chins, rows, shrugs
Remedial exercises	Rotator cuff, adductors/abductors, calves

This could be an example of exercise classification for a powerlifter:

 

Powerlifter
Primary exercises	Squat, bench press, deadlift
Secondary exercises	Front squat, box squat, sumo deadlift, good morning; Romanian deadlift, wide/narrow grip bench press, military press, floor press, chains, bands, incline/decline bench press
Auxiliary exercises	Pull-through, glute ham raise, lunges, step-ups, rows, chins, Bulgarians, reverse hypers, dumbbell variations and isolational stuff (delts, triceps, biceps, calves)
Remedial exercises	Rotator cuff, shoulder stability work, TKE

           

For an average athlete looking for strength training, the following classification could be used:

Athlete
Primary exercises	Clean, squat, deadlift, bench press
Secondary exercises	Front squat, Romanian deadlifts, lunges, military press, chins, rows, dumbbell variations
Auxilary exercises	Dips, delts, calves, biceps, triceps, grip
Remedial exercises	Shoulder, ankle, and knee pre-habilitation, neck

Please note that different classifications may be used depending on the weak and strong points of the athlete, his level of development, training period, emphasis and other stuff. Those classifications are used to help the coach organize the training system and prioritize things according to the demands of the sport and position. With average athletes, the primary exercise would be those that give the most bang for the buck and have the greatest transfer to the field while other exercises will aim to assist that transfer and provide whole body development and injury prevention.

Because exercise categories can (or should?) have their own planning (different loading, progression, and periodization plans for different exercise categories and their usage/rotation in the training system), concurrent training can be easily achieved. For example, a powerlifter would build explosive strength with DE box squats, chains and bands, bench presses, and speed deadlifts. He would build maximal strength with ME squats, presses, and deadlifts and their special variations (secondary exercises), and he would build muscular hypertrophy with SE and RE single-leg exercises and dumbbell variations of presses, some chins, and rows.

With an average athlete, explosive strength would be developed with Olympic lift variations, plyometrics, and explosive jumps, and maximal strength would be developed with ME/SE squats, benches, and deadlifts. Muscular hypetrophy would be developed with SE/RE single leg stuff, dumbbell variations, isolation stuff, chins, and rows.

In other words, primary exercises may use the ME loading protocol. Secondary exercises may use the SE loading protocol, and auxiliary and remedial exercises may use the RE loading protocol to achieve concurrent training approach.

           

Concurrent training with priority lifts
Exercise group	Training goal	Loading protocol
Primary exercises	Explosive strength, maximal strength	DE, ME
Secondary exercises	Maximal strength, muscular hypertrophy	ME, SE
Auxiliary exercises	Muscular hypertrophy, muscular endurance	SE, RE
Remedial exercises	Muscular endurance, anatomic adaptation, pre-habilitation	RE

However, if someone wants to nitpick (and that would be me), this can be considered concurrent training as a whole (because all loading protocols are present). It may not be considered concurrent training depending on which movement pattern or muscle groups we are talking about. For example, in the athlete’s situation mentioned earlier, the legs would receive explosive strength work, maximal strength work, and muscular hypertrophy work. The situation is similar for the upper body “push” muscles, but the upper body “pull” muscles (used for chins and rows) will receive only muscular hypertrophy work. Ring a bell or not?

           

To be considered totally concurrent, all movement patterns must receive the same treatment (ME, SE, and RE work; not necessary for DE) in a training program or it would be only partially concurrent. For this reason, most, if not all, concurrent powerlifting, Olympic lifting, and athletic training programs are partially concurrent because only the legs and push muscle groups receive concurrent treatment (with the exception of upper body pull muscles). Is this a bad thing? Certainly not! I’m just pointing it out, and because most sports revolve around legs and push muscles, this is a fine situation for me. 

However, in bodybuilding, this would under develop certain muscle groups. That’s for sure. And because goals in athletic training, Olympic lifting, and powerlifting are not bodybuilding in nature and because I don’t talk about bodybuilding here (although some ideas can be certainly used with minor modifications), there shouldn’t be much concern about it anyway. Certainly, it would be very usable to classify exercises for every movement pattern (or muscle group) in addition to the sport classification already explained.

This way we could differ between:

• Sport-based or athletic-oriented classification of exercises (according to the greatest transfer to the field or event or the most used muscle groups/movement patterns in sport)
• Movement pattern or muscle group (bodybuilding) based classification of exercises

Because I’ve already given hypothetical examples of the exercise classifications for Olympic lifting, powerlifting, and average athletic training, here is a modified exercise classification based on movement patterns taken from the already mentioned awesome article by Christian Thibaudeau, “How to Design a Damn Good Program.”

Knee dominant pattern (or quads)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Olympic back squat (hip width stance, upright torso), power squat (wide stance, moderate torso lean), front squat
Secondary	Lunge variations, split squat variations, leg press, barbell hack squat, dumbbell squat
Auxiliary	Machine hack squat, step-up variations, leg extension variations, sissy squat
Remedial	Terminal knee extension (with band), band leg extension

Hip dominant pattern (or hams/glutes)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Deadlift, Romanian deadlift, stiff-leg deadlift, sumo deadlift, snatch grip deadlift
Secondary	Good morning variations, glute ham raises, leg press (feet high on pad), single leg Romanian deadlift
Auxiliary	Reverse hyper, pull-through, leg curl variations, cable hip extension, hyperextension
Remedial	X-band walks, Cook lift, Swiss ball leg curl, band leg curl

Upper body horizontal push (or pecs)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Bench press
Secondary	Incline bench press, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell incline press, neck press, plate loaded push-ups
Auxiliary	Cable cross-over, flyes variations, pec deck machine, chest press machine
Remedial	Swiss ball push-ups, wobble board push-ups

Upper body vertical pull (or back width, lats, and teres major)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Pull-ups, chin-ups
Secondary	Parallel pull-ups, mixed grip pull-ups, towel pull-ups
Auxiliary	Lat pull-down variations, straight arm lat pull-down, pull-over
Remedial	External/internal shoulder rotation, scap push-up

Upper body vertical push (or shoulders/ delts)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Military press, push press
Secondary	Press behind the neck, log press, seated press, dumbbell press variations, Bradford press
Auxiliary	Machine shoulder press, lateral raise variations, front raise variations, lateral raise machine
Remedial	Cuban press, external shoulder rotation

Upper body horizontal pull (or back thickness—rear delts, traps, rhomboids)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Barbell rowing, log row, chest supported rowing, seated rowing
Secondary	One-arm dumbbell row, corner row, fatman pull-ups, dumbbell chest supported rowing
Auxiliary	High pulley cross-rowing, low pulley cross-row, bent over rear delt raise, machine rear delt, chest-supported incline rear delt raise
Remedial	Chest-supported incline dumbbell shrugs, seated cable shrugs (scapular retraction), traps three raise, YTWL, Cuban row

Elbow flexion (or biceps)
Category	Sample Exercises
Primary	Standing barbell curl, Scott bench barbell curl
Secondary	Hammer curl, seated dumbbell curl variations, Scott bench dumbbell curl, reverse barbell curl (standing or Scott bench), Zottman curl
Auxiliary	Machine curl, cable curl variations, concentration curl
Remedial	Upper arm supination with sledgehammer or Thor's hammer

Elbow extension (or triceps)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Close grip bench press, close-grip decline press, triceps dips
Secondary	Close-grip incline press, reverse-grip bench press, JM press, decline barbell triceps extension, decline dumbbell triceps extension, flat barbell triceps extension, flat dumbbell triceps extension
Auxiliary	Overhead dumbbell triceps extension, overhead bar triceps extension, cable triceps extension variations, triceps extension machines
Remedial	Close grip push-up on Swiss ball, close grip push-up on wobble board

Total body (Olympic Lifts)
Category	Sample exercises
Primary	Clean and jerk, snatch
Secondary	Hang clean, hang snatch, push press, pulls, shrugs
Auxiliary	Jump squats, depth jumps, split squat jumps, step-up jumps
Remedial	Dumbbell clean and snatch variations

Using this movement pattern-based exercise classification, different goals can be achieved via different distributions of loading protocols. I will give an example using Chris Thibaudeau’s classification of loading protocols.

Distribution of loading protocols according to the goal selected
	Relative strength	Absolute strength	Muscular hypertrophy
Primary	Strength	Strength	Functional hypertrophy
Secondary	Strength	Strength; functional hypertrophy	Functional hypertrophy;  total hypertrophy
Auxiliary	Strength; functional hypertrophy	Functional hypertrophy; Total hypertrophy	Total hypertrophy
Remedial	Strength endurance	Strength endurance	Strength endurance

The training sessions for intermediate lifters can be easily designed using the presented information. The attribute, “intermediate” is based on the work of Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore, authors of Starting Strength and Practical Programming. Both books are a must in your training library. For more information, please read my review, “What I Have Learned from Practical Programming” published at EliteFTS.com.

I will give two examples aimed at increasing explosive strength (via Olympic lifts and explosive jumping), maximal strength, and muscular hypertrophy. One is based on the whole body split and the other is based on a lower/upper split. Here is the example of the whole body split:

Whole body: Training session A
	Movement Pattern	Category	Example	Loading protocol
A.	Total body	Auxiliary	Step-up jumps	DE
B.	Knee dominant	Primary	Squat	ME
C1.	Vertical push	Primary	Military press	ME
C2.	Vertical pull	Primary	Chin-ups	ME
D.	Hip dominant	Secondary	Romanian deadlifts	SE
E1.	Horizontal push	Auxiliary	Push-ups	RE
E2.	Horizontal pull	Auxiliary	Cuban row	RE

Whole body: Training session B
	Movement pattern	Category	Example	Loading protocol
A.	Total body	Primary	Clean	DE/ME
B1.	Horizontal push	Primary	Bench press	ME
B2.	Horizontal pull	Primary	Barbell row	ME
C.	Knee dominant	Secondary	Front squat	SE
D1.	Vertical push	Secondary	Dumbbell press	SE
D2.	Vertical pull	Secondary	Pull-ups	SE
E.	Hip dominant	Auxiliary	Single leg Romanian deadlifts	RE

Whole body: Training session C
	Movement pattern	Category	Example	Loading protocol
A.	Total body	Secondary	Hang clean	DE/SE technique
B.	Hip dominant	Primary	Deadlift	ME
C1.	Horizontal push	Secondary	Dumbbell bench press	SE
C2.	Horizontal pull	Secondary	Seated rowing	SE
D.	Knee dominant	Auxiliary	Lunges	RE
E1.	Vertical push	Auxiliary	Dumbbell l-rises	RE
E2.	Vertical pull	Auxiliary	Pull-over	RE

Here is the lower/upper split:

Training A: Lower body squat
	Movement pattern	Category	Example	Loading protocol
A.	Total body	Primary	Clean	DE/ME
B.	Knee dominant	Primary	Squat	ME
C.	Hip dominant	Secondary	Romanian deadlift	SE
D.	Knee dominant	Auxiliary	Lunges	RE
E.	Abs and pre-habilitation stuff			RE

Training B: Upper body horizontal
	Movement pattern	Category	Example	Loading protocol
A1.	Horizontal push	Primary	Bench press	ME
A2.	Horizontal pull	Primary	Barbell row	ME
B1.	Vertical push	Secondary	Dumbbell press	SE
B2.	Vertical pull	Secondary	Pull-ups	SE
C1.	Horizontal push	Auxiliary	Push-ups	RE
C2.	Horizontal pull	Auxiliary	Cuban row	RE

Training C: Lower body deadlift
	Movement pattern	Category	Example	Loading protocol
A.	Total body	Secondary	Hang clean	DE/SE technique
B.	Hip dominant	Primary	Deadlift	ME
C.	Knee dominant	Secondary	Front squat	SE
D.	Hip dominant	Auxiliary	Single leg Romanian deadlift	RE
E.	Abs and pre-habilitation stuff			RE

Training D: Upper body vertical
	Movement pattern	Category	Example	Loading protocol
A1.	Vertical push	Primary	Military press	ME
A2.	Vertical pull	Primary	Chin-ups	ME
B1.	Horizontal push	Secondary	Dumbbell bench press	SE
B2.	Horizontal pull	Secondary	Seated rowing	SE
C1.	Vertical push	Auxiliary	L-rises	RE
C2.	Vertical pull	Auxiliary	Pull-over	RE

Once we arranged the training sessions, we can plan progressions for loading protocols.

Weekly progressions for loading protocols
Loading protocol	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4 unload
ME	5 X 3	3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1	6 X 1	4 X 1, 10% weight
SE	4 X 6	5 X 5	5 X 5	3 X 5, 10% weight
RE	3 X 12	3 X 10	3 X 8	2 X 10
Olympic lifts	ME: 5 X 1 SE: 4 X 2 RE: 3 X 5	ME: 5 X 1 SE: 4 X 2 RE: 3 X 5	ME: 5 X1 SE: 4 X 2 RE: 3 X 5	ME: 5 X 1 SE: 4 X 2 RE: 3 X 5

Stay tuned for part three!!

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