This is part three of a three-part series.

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

Because every exercise category can (or should) have its own planning (different loading, progression, and periodization plans for different exercise categories and their usage/rotation in the training system), concurrent training can easily be achieved. For example, powerlifters build explosive strength with dynamic effort (DE) box squats, bench presses, and speed deadlifts with chains and bands; maximal strength with max effort (ME) squats, presses, and deadlifts and their special variations (secondary exercises); and muscular hypertrophy with repetition effort (RE) single leg exercises and dumbbell variations of presses, chins, and rows.

With the average athlete, explosive strength is developed with Olympic lift variations, plyos, and explosive jumps. Maximal strength is developed with ME/SE squats, benches, and deadlifts, and muscular hypertrophy is developed with SE/RE single leg stuff, dumbbell variations, isolation stuff, chins, and rows.

In other words, primary exercises may use ME loading protocols, secondary exercises may use SE loading protocols, and auxiliary and remedial exercises may use RE loading protocols to achieve the 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 “in a whole” (because all loading protocols are present) and may not be considered concurrent depending on which movement pattern or muscle groups we are talking about. For example, in the above mentioned athletes’ situation, the legs would receive explosive strength work, maximal strength work, and muscular hypertrophy work. The situation is similar for upper body “push” muscles, but 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 in a training program, all movement patterns must receive the same treatment (ME, SE, and RE work; not necessarily DE), 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 legs and push muscle groups receive concurrent treatment. The upper body pull muscles are the exception. Is this a bad thing? Certainly NOT! I am 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 underdevelop certain muscle groups. 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 certainly be used with minor modifications), there shouldn’t be much concern about it. It would be very useful to classify exercises for every movement pattern (or muscle group) though in addition to the sports classifications 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 have already provided hypothetical examples of exercise classifications for Olympic lifting, powerlifting, and average athletic training, here is a modified exercise classification based on movement patterns taken from an awesome article by Christian Thibaudeau called, “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 hamstring/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, flies 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, and rhomboids)
Category Sample exercises
Primary Barbell rowing, log row, chest supported rowing, seated rowing
Secondary One arm dumbbell row, corner row, fat man 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 the different distribution 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, the authors of Starting Strength and Practical Programming, both of which are a must for your training library. For more information, please read my review entitled, “What I Have Learned from the book, Practical Programming” published at EliteFTS.com.

Here are two examples aimed at increasing explosive strength (via Olympic lifts and explosive jumping), maximal strength, and muscular hypertrophy. One is based on a whole body split, and the other is based on a lower/upper split. Here’s 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 deadlift 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 DB press SE
D2. Vertical pull Secondary Pull-ups SE
E. Hip dominant Auxiliary Single leg Romanian deadlift 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

And here is the lower/upper split:

Lower body squat—training session A
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
Upper body horizontal—training session B
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
Lower body deadlift—training session C
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
Upper body vertical—training session D
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. For example:

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 1SE: 4 X 2RE: 3 X 5 ME: 5 X 1SE: 4 X 2RE: 3 X 5 ME: 5 X 1SE: 4 X 2RE: 3 X 5 ME: 5 X 1SE: 4 X 2RE: 3 X 5

Different types of weekly progressions can be implemented, with or without the unload period. You can use a modified Poliquin accumulation/intensification scheme for ME and DUP for SE to name a few. You could also use narrow pyramids, waves, stages, or whatever crosses your mind that allows an increase in defined goals concurrently and avoids injury and overtraining. Please note that the mezocycle (usually one month) progressions depend on goals, context, and the level of the athlete so don’t get too creative. Keep it simple stupid.

One may also implement the Starr Texas method into the proposed system. For example, for ME work, you would do primary lifts for a 1 X 5 scheme (ramp up), and for SE work, you would also do primary lifts but for 5 X 5 (sets across). For RE work, you would do secondary/auxiliary exercises with less weight as recovery. This scheme uses intensity/volume/recovery instead of ME/SE/RE, and it is not considered concurrent training. So it isn’t the subject of this article, but I’m still going to present a modified system (just to show that it can be done).

Here is a modified 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 Intensity (1 X 5)
C1. Vertical push Primary Military press Intensity (1 X 5)
C2. Vertical pull Primary Chin-ups Intensity (1 X 5)
D. Hip dominant Secondary Romanian deadlift Recovery
E1. Horizontal push Auxiliary Push-ups Recovery
E2. Horizontal pull Auxiliary Cuban rows Recovery
Whole body—training session B
Movement pattern Category Example Loading protocol
A. Total body Primary Clean DE/ME
B1. Horizontal push Primary Bench press Intensity (1 X 5)
B2. Horizontal pull Primary Barbell row Intensity (1 X 5)
C. Knee dominant Primary Squat Volume (5 X 5)
D1. Vertical push Primary Military press Volume (5 X 5)
D2. Vertical pull Secondary Pull-ups Volume (5 X 5)
E. Hip dominant Auxiliary Single leg Romanian deadlift Recovery
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 Intensity (1 X 5)
C1. Horizontal push Primary Bench press Volume (5 X 5)
C2. Horizontal pull Primary Barbell rowing Volume (5 X 5)
D. Knee dominant Auxiliary Lunges Recovery
E1. Vertical push Auxiliary Dumbbell L-rises Recovery
E2. Vertical pull Auxiliary Pull over Recovery

As I have pointed out earlier, this concurrent solution will work very well for intermediate lifters. Some of the characteristics of intermediate lifters are as follows (taken from my review article entitled, “What I Have Learned from the Book, Practical Programming”).

  • They progress from week to week (hit PRs) due to a greater need for recovery.
  • This is why ME work is done only once per week for a movement pattern.
  • They need regular off days during the week or within week load fluctuations (wave-like).
  • The DE/ME/SE/RE rotations within a week provide variety and unload (in some cases). Also, the lower/upper split provides this kind of unload during the week.
  • This doesn’t necessarily mean total unload, but rather unload for a particular movement pattern.
  • They need longer unloads (mostly a week) with a greater reduction in load.
  • Unloading week every 4–6 weeks may be beneficial.

Dave Tate gave the following recommendations in one of his Q&A posts on EliteFTS.com.

Loading protocol Average cycle length Deload
Dynamic work (DE) 3–4 weeks After 1–2 cycles
Max effort work (ME) 1–3 weeks Every 3–6 weeks
Supplemental work “main” (ME/SE) 5–8 weeks Every 8–10 weeks
Supplemental “hypertrophy” work (SE/RE) n/a Every 6–8 weeks
Accessory Work "Prehab" (RE) 8–12 weeks Every 8–12 weeks

The average cycle is the duration of the usage of the specific exercise. After this cycle, the exercise rotates, and the lifter uses another exercise from the movement pattern group.

Please note that those numbers are just estimates, and they will be different for everyone because we all have different recovery needs and training backgrounds. Some abilities may be deloaded while others are pounded. This should be the way it goes for most of the year. Before a meet or when worn down, a full blown deload should take place. A full blown deload involves deloading all abilities.

The art of deloading is a topic in itself, and I guess Eric Cressey did a fine job explaining it in his new manual titled, The Art of the Deload: Special Report, although I haven’t read it yet. You can use a larger number of exercises and their variations. This is why the usage of primary, secondary, auxiliary, and remedial exercises has its place.

For beginners, this is too complex. Beginners can improve at a much faster rate and with less complexity using programs designed for beginners. These programs utilize only the primary lifts with a higher frequency during the week (they can hit PRs every time that they take the bar) and much less volume.

Lucky for me, almost all of my athletes never left the intermediate stage. This is because their other obligations (skill work, speed work, plyometrics, general and specific conditioning) and priorities limited their strength increases compared to those athletes in the iron sports.

Advanced athletes are notorious because of the following characteristics:

  • They can’t develop everything at once. They need to prioritize their training goals, or they will suffer from overtraining and limited progress.
  • The cumulative/delayed training effect of a series of workouts becomes more and more important.
  • Training must be organized into longer periods of time, and those periods progress from higher volume and lower intensity toward lower volume and higher intensity.

I must admit that I haven’t had a chance to work with advanced lifters yet so the text that follows is my opinion based on other’s work (as is most of the text anyway), not my own experience.

I advise you to explore block training (conjugate sequence system). Although it is sequential in its nature (and also criticizes concurrent or mixed training), it is a valid form of training for advanced athletes who utilize cumulative/delayed training effects and training residuals. I suggest reading Vladimir Issurin’s article, “Block Periodization Versus Traditional Training Theory: A Review,” published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. In my opinion, it is far more readable and understandable than most of Verkhoskansky’s stuff.

In the mentioned programs for intermediates, lifters seek to improve everything at once—Olympic lifts, squats, deadlifts, benches, chins, presses, and rows—while also pounding secondary and auxiliary movements for muscle mass. This will work for a decent amount of time (if the week structure is optimally organized based on the athlete’s adaptability and recoverability), but after some time, you will soon find out that you can’t do everything at once. Trying to increase your clean performance will leave you fatigued for squats. Squats will leave you fatigued for presses and so on. This is the time when you need to prioritize your training. You need to focus on a couple of things while maintaining others (unless you utilize block training where you are using training residuals instead of maintaining them). This is the basis for the emphasis method (modified concurrent training)

In my humble opinion, there are three things that may direct prioritization in strength training:

  • Movement pattern: One may decide to pursue Olympic lifts (or the clean, snatch, or jerk), concentrate on improving his bench press, or concentrate on developing his deltoids. In the bodybuilding world, this is called “muscle specialization.”
  • Physical quality: One may decide to pursuit relative strength and maintain his hypertrophy or one may maintain fat levels and strength while aiming for maximal muscular hypertrophy.
  • A combination: One may decide to pursue his speed in the bench press and work on his sticking points while also maintaining strength and hypertrophy in his pectorals and the rest of his body.

Lyle McDonald, a man whom I quoted earlier, in his article, “Periodization for Bodybuilders,” presented loading guidelines for loading and maintaining different strength qualities.

Lyle McDonald’s loading guidelines
Type Training load Maintaining load
Strength training 6–10 sets 2–3 sets
Intensive bodybuilding 2–8 sets 1–2 sets
Extensive bodybuilding 3–6 sets 1–2 sets
Really extensive 1–2 sets 1 set

Certainly this depends on many factors such as the level of the lifter, the number of exercises per movement pattern/muscle group, and so on. But you get the point. Thanks Lyle.

Implementing this idea would be pretty easy. For example, a lifter may use a couple of training blocks (note the similarity with block training; don’t let me confuse you because this is not block training per se, although there are some similar points) to develop muscular endurance, muscular hypertrophy, and maximal strength.

Emphasis method
Block #1 Block #2 Block #3
Emphasis Muscular endurance (RE) Muscular hypertrophy (SE) Maximal strength (ME)
Maintenance Muscular hypertrophy (SE) Maximal strength (ME) Muscular hypertrophy (SE)
Maintenance Maximal strength (ME) Muscular endurance (RE) Muscular endurance (RE)
Loading recommendations ME: 2–3 sets of 1 rep over 90% 1RMSE: 1–2 setsRE: 3–6 sets ME: 2–3 sets of 1 rep over 90% 1RMSE: 2–8 setsRE: 1–2 sets ME: 6–10 setsSE: 1–2 setsRE: 1–2 sets

Weekly progressions can be utilized for the ME/SE/RE loading protocols for each training block and easily implemented into either the whole body split or lower/upper body split examples that I gave earlier. This would allow advanced lifters to concentrate on a given physical quality while maintaining others without overtraining and limited progress.

Another solution for a powerlifter would be to devise special blocks toward improving the squat, deadlift, and bench press.

Example for advanced powerlifter
Block #1 Block #1 Block #2 Block #3
General bulking Squat Bench press Deadlift
Increasing whole body muscle mass and GPP; maintaining ME qualities in bench, squat, and deadlift with maintenance loads Aimed at increasing ME, SE, and RE in squat; maintaining strength in bench and deadlift; maintaining muscle mass and GPP Aimed at increasing ME, SE, and RE in bench press; maintaining strength in squat and deadlift; maintaining muscle mass and GPP Aimed at increasing ME, SE, and RE in deadlift; maintaining strength in squat and bench press; maintaining muscle mass and GPP

It’s pretty easy for me to get creative with this emphasis switch, utilizing training loads and maintenance loads. However, once again, I must repeat, I haven’t done this yet! Take my words with caution.

Another solution that can be utilized with advanced lifters is based on a volume/intensity interaction. Accumulation phases (where the aim is to accumulate training volume and elicit cumulative/delayed training effect) may be rotated with intensification phases (where the aim is to express the delayed training effects and utilize maximal training intensity with lowered volume). This is similar to the volume/recovery/intensity solution from the Starr/Texas method for intermediate athletes, although with intermediates we are talking about workouts and here we are talking about weeks and even months. The more advanced the lifter, the longer the durations of the phases.

Accumulation/Intensification with no emphasis
Strength quality Phase 1accumulation Phase 2intensification Phase 3accumulation Phase 4intensification
ME 6 X 3 1 X 3 8 X 1 1 X 1
SE 5 X 7 1 X 7 5 X 5 1 X 5
RE 4 X 12 1 X 12 3 X 10 1 X 10

I guess this may kill someone so we could rotate between accumulation/intensification for a particular strength quality.

Accumulation/intensification with no emphasis
Strength quality Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4
ME Accumulation6 X 3 Intensification1 X 3 Accumulation8 X 1 Intensification1 X 1
SE Intensification1 X 7 Accumulation5 X 7 Intensification1 X 5 Accumulation5 X 5
RE Accumulation4 X 12 Intensification1 X 12 Accumulation3 X 10 Intensification1 X 10

Advanced athletes may use 1–2 week phases while the most advanced athletes may use longer phases up to 4–6 weeks to accumulate and express strength potential. In addition, the classical linear scheme (higher volume/low intensity to low volume/high intensity) may be used in the ME block. This is just an example.

Linear scheme in ME block
Quality Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
ME 7 X 5 6 X 4 5 X 3 4 X 2
SE 3 X 6–8 3 X 6–8 2 X 6–8 2 X 6–8
RE 2 X 10–15 2 X 10–15 1 X 10–15 1 X 10–15

Various other schemes may be developed for advanced athletes utilizing the three mentioned requirements. For more valuable information, I suggest checking out Mark Rippetoe’s book, Practical Programming. I fulfilled my need to “spare my wisdom,” although I haven’t tried this advanced stuff yet. I love to have pre-planned plans of action if I find myself in that situation. Maybe I won’t use it as written here, but I guess it is ok to have some starting opinions and solutions from which you build on depending on the situation and experience.

As Mark pointed out in his book, the programming of strength training for advanced athletes is so complex that it must be approached individually without any generalizations. To be honest, talking about programming for advanced athletes is way out of my league. I deal with a bunch of kids who can’t even squat well.

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