Continuing your education of strength and conditioning is vital to long term improvement. As you learn more you will undoubtedly come across new techniques and strategies to implement a more effective or efficient program. But for every new detail you try to glean you may miss out on something important.

It may, in fact, be the similarities between everything you read that REALLY makes the difference. Call i the Big Rocks, call it the Pareto Principle, but whatever you do keep it simple. Try not to get caught up in the 20% of things that aren’t the bigger things and focus on delivering the best 80% you can.

So what is the 80%? Well if you run 1 hour sessions you are looking at 80% of 60 minutes you will have 48 minutes to commit to the essentials.

Here’s what I might do with that time:

• 8 minutes of a Dynamic Warm Up
• 30-40 minutes of Resistance Training
• 0-15 minutes of Energy Systems Training

And the extra 12 minutes, the 20%? Probably a little bit of recovery/regeneration doing some stretching/foam rolling, pre-hab exercises (which can also be active rest during the Resistance Training portion of the workout), and maybe a few extra mobility drills or plyometrics depending on the needs of the client.

So what about 30 minutes of strength training, what can you really get done? ALOT. Let’s assume we have a general athlete looking to increase strength and decrease risk of injury. Already in your mind you should have some idea of the important things they need to do such as posterior chain work, single leg strength, increase upper body strength. Here is one example of something I might use:

1a. O-lift/Max Effort work 4×3, 60s rest (4 sets @ roughly 15 sec per set + 4 total minutes rest = 5 minutes)
1b. Anti-rotation exercise 3×30″, 60s rest (3 sets @ 30″ x 2 sides + 4 minutes rest = 7 minutes)
(Running total: 12 min)

2a. Horizontal Pull – 3×8, 60s rest (3 sets @ generously 30s per set + 3 minutes rest = 4.5 minutes*3=13.5)
2b. Hip dominant/Posterior chain
2c. Horizontal Push
(Running total: 25.5 minutes)

3a. Horizontal Pull 2×10, 0 rest (2 sets @ ~45s per set = 1.5 minutes)
3b. Accessory/Isolation/Corrective 2×10, 60s rest (2 sets @ ~45s per set + 2 minutes rest = 3.5)
(Running total: 30.5 minutes)

In actuality this will run longer than 30.5 minutes. Unless you or the athlete in question makes smooth transition between each group of exercise (e.g. loading/unloading during rest periods). What you should also consider is any buffer period needed for single leg work (essentially 2 for 1). The division of time will obviously depend on the needs of the athlete at a given time (e.g. less energy systems work in the post-season and off-season).

–
Ryan
e: ryan@peak-fast.com
www.peak-fast.com