Programming: Always trying to Improve

For the record, I am still in the process of writing my S&C Principles that I mentioned a week or so ago. Last week I finalized the football program (meaning I changed it, again) and got myself organized. I had a football group this week. I'm finally on top of everything and I'll get down to finishing what I started. On to programming... I hate it and love. It depends on my mood. If you're at all like me, your brain needs to be in a certain "mode" to program efficiently and effectively. What I mean is that when I'm doing research and reading a whole bunch of different things my brain goes a million miles per hour. And of course, everything I read seems like the greatest idea, EVER! Yes, I struggle with this. Mainly because i know how to filter information and I know who to read. If I'm in the process of understanding what I'm reading and trying to figure out if I can incorporate it into my program I tend to write a lot of programs. I'm the guy that needs to see it written out on paper. Yeah, I waste a lot of paper. I always go into with a goal. What am I trying to accomplish at this point of the year? Then I look at the "new" information and see if I'm already doing it "my way". If I am I look to see if my way seems better or if it needs an upgrade. Often times, the new information doesn't change my program it just changes the way I set it up, where I put certain movements, how I pair them, etc... The reality is, regardless of the time of year I'm always trying to build strength AND muscle. Obviously during the competitive season this is next to impossible, but at least I'm trying to maintain the strength and muscle they already have. Hopefully, you get the idea. Anyway, in this current process I've been doing a lot of reading about the Tier System (which I ran all winter) and Boyd Epley's stuff. I'm on a Nebraska kick. But his stuff is simple. Increase muscle mass and you'll get EVERYTHING you need. What I came up with is a hybrid mess of something that's pretty damn good if I do say so my damn self. Tier 1: Foundation Lift (Hang Clean/Squat/Bench) Tier 2: Supplemental Lift (Trap Bar/Incline/Push Press) Tier 3: Strength/Hypertrophy Circuit (sets done every minute - 15 total sets done in 14 minutes)

• Press/Clean Pull (floor)/Front Squat
• DB Squat/Dips or Push-ups/DB Incline
• Pull-ups/DB Row/Pull-ups

Tier 4: Posterior Chain/Abs (RDL/GHR/RDL) Tier 5: Neck/Shoulders/Traps Tier 6: Conditioning This is what Football is doing in June. July will look a little different. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do differently. We have 8 weeks this summer so I'm using two 4 week cycles that go like this:

• Week 1: T1 - 80%/T2 - 70%/T3 - 60%
• Week 2: T1 - 85%/T2 - 75%/T3 - 65%
• Week 3: T1 - 75%/T2 - 65%/T3 - 55%
• Week 4: T1 - 90%/T2 - 80%/T3 - 70%

Tier 3 weights aren't exactly the percentage. I have the kids tell me what their number is and I adjust so that their rack can do the circuit without having to change weights. The percentage just gets me in the right ball park. I'm hoping I stumbled onto something here. This set-up has given me an idea for what I'll do in July - a little more single-leg/DB work as we finish up the summer and get ready for camp. Right now, I just want to pack on as much muscle as possible so we can have a great base to work with in July. I'm not straying from the Tier System because I know better than Joe Kenn. I'm veering off because I'm trying to improve on what I'm doing given the time I actually have my hands on the athletes. I haven't worked with these guys in 5 weeks. In the FBS world, I would've had a week without them. So, May would be a very high volume, build muscle kind of set-up. June would be a strength and build muscle set-up. July would be a strength, build muscle and fine tune the little things set-up. In my head this all makes sense. I'm curious how the experiment will play out. At the very least, these kids will pack on muscle. And, building muscle will improve everything that needs to be improved in athletics from a weight room stand point. I'll probably realize that there's absolutely no need to get as fancy as I've gotten. Nothing works better than a barbell moved with good technique and some violent intention. But, I'm enjoying it so I'll keep going. I'm sure a lot of coaches do this... I always enjoy going back and looking at old programs. I look at:

1. What has stayed the same?
2. What has changed?
3. How has it changed (meaning, has it really changed or is it upgraded)?
4. What has been added/subtracted?
5. Am I still covering all of my bases?
6. Which ones got the best results (this is why I keep extensive notes on all of my sheets)

Despite the changes and upgrades, all of my programs are centered around building muscle. So, they all work. Some are just better than others.