My Periodization Strategy for Athletes Part III: The Strength Block

Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

This is part of III discussing my periodization strategies to develop athletes to reduce injuries and optimize performance. If you haven’t read part I and part II yet, you can check it out here and here. So far, we have discussed the work capacity and hypertrophy block so today we get to talk about the strength block! At this point in training, we have established a good base of conditioning, technique, and lean muscle to take our athleticism to the next level. Going forward, we get to unleash the athlete and see their true strength and take it even further. Below is the image you’ve seen before that shows how the blocks stack up.

The strength block is all about force. Developing athletes to produce as much force as possible to sprint and change direction faster, throw harder, tackle harder, and take a hard tackle and stand right back up. Typically, a strength block includes heavy weights above 80% of an athlete 1-rep max, which will challenge the nervous system to send signals to contract the muscles in proper sequence and send the signals faster (we call this rate coding). Because the weights are going to be heavy, the volume will be much lower than we saw in the hypertrophy or work capacity block. To give you an idea, your total work sets will be 25 reps or less to even less than 10 reps, if you are hitting over 90% of your 1-rep max on a movement. Here is a chart to help you find some set and rep schemes based on % of 1-rep max.

Prilipen’s Chart Refined
Intensity	Reps Per Set	Optimal Number of Reps	Total Volume Range
95+	1-2	3	2-4
90	1-2	6	4-10
85	2-4	12	10-20
80	2-4	15	10-20
75	3-6	18	12-24
70	3-6	20	12-24
65	3-6	24	18-30
60	3-6	26	18-30
55	3-6	30	18-30

From left to right you have % of 1-rep max, reps per set, optimal reps, and total rep range. For example, since we are in a strength block, we’ll start at 80% for our working sets. Following the columns, we can use 2-4 reps per set and 15 total reps. We could use 3 reps per set and have 5 total sets to get 15 optimal reps, hence, 5×3 @ 80% of 1-RM. If this is your first time trying to make set and rep schemes for yourself, I’d recommend using the optimal total reps first before looking over the total volume range column. If you have experience and looking to taking your set and rep schemes to the next level:

1.  During the offseason: use the higher end of the total volume range.
   1. i.e. at 80%, we could do 4 sets of 5 reps to get 20 total reps.
2. During the pre-season (4-8 weeks before season begins): use the optimal total reps.
   1. i.e. at 80%, we could do 5 sets of 3 reps to get 15 total reps.
3. During the in-Season: use the lower end of the total volume range.
   1. i.e. at 80%, we could use 5 sets of 2 of reps to get 10 total reps.

Using this chart well ensure that your workouts are optimal and prevent you from burning out as long as you stick to 6-8 total exercises per workout. Keep in mind this chart was created and used for mainly Olympic movements (Snatch, and Clean & Jerk) and can be used for Powerlifting movements (Back Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift), but not your accessory movements. Use it appropriately.

Goals:

1. Stimulate the nervous system to produce as much force as possible that applies to the athlete’s sport.
   • Measured by athletes’ improvements in 1-rep or multiple rep max in the Barbell Back Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press, along with Cleans, Snatches, and Jerks if your team uses the Olympic lifts.
2. Train athletes how to apply high forces in acceleration and change of direction drills.
   •  Measured by improvements in 20yd sprints and change of direction drills (i.e., pro-agility drill or T-drill).
3. Continue to survey athletes to ensure they are eating enough food and sleeping 7-8hrs to promote recovery.
   • Measured by surveys from athletes daily or weekly.

Exercise variance/Specificity to sport: Moderate Variance/ Moderate Specificity

Type of workout examples: 

1. 5/3/1 from Jim Wendler
2. The 3×5 or 5×5 program from Mark Rippetoe and Bill Starr    
3. Triphasic Training from Cal Dietz and Ben Peterson

5/3/1 by Jim Wendler

Jim Wendler’s experience talking about frustrations about complicated programs is something I think many people can relate to. To those who don’t know, Jim Wendler is a powerlifter who has accomplished massive weights including: 1,000lb squat, 675lb bench, and 700lb deadlift. You can check out his philosophy and understanding of how 5/3/1 was created here. The beauty of his program is how simple and effective it is to promote increased strength in the squat, bench, and deadlift. It looks like this:

You train 3-4 days a week with each workout focused on one of the main lifts-squat, bench, deadlift, and military press followed by accessories like chin-ups, lunges, back extensions, rows, etc. One other note is that you use 90% of your 1-rep max as your training max, which ensures that you never miss a lift. After 4 weeks of training, you add 5lbs to your bench and military press and 10lbs to your squat and deadlift. Rinse and repeat every 4 weeks. The table below shows your WORKING sets and does not include warm-up sets, please make sure you properly warm-up before starting your working sets.

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
Set 1	65% x 5	70% x 3	75% x 5	40% x 5
Set 2	75% x 5	80% x 3	85% x 3	50% x 5
Set 3	85% x 5+	90% x 3+	95% x 1+	60% x 5

The only thing to keep in mind is that this program is specifically designed for power lifters rather than athletes, but the concepts can be applied to teach athletes how to produce a lot of force and can be easily programed and taught due to it’s simplicity. However, this program works great for In-Season training as well because of how low the training volume is. If you want to learn more, you can purchase the book here: https://www.jimwendler.com/collections/books-programs

Starting Strength 3×5/5×5 by Mark Rippetoe:

If you’re more of a novice or someone that likes to keep things simple, using Mark Rippetoe’s 3×5 or 5×5 (inspired by powerlifter Bill Starr) Starting Strength program is a great option. As the name suggests, you perform 3 or 5 sets of 5 reps using the back squat, bench press, and the deadlift increasing weight every set till you hit your 3^rd or 5^th set. You would do this work out 3 days a week, typically on Mon/Wed/Fri. Pure novice lifters would do a workout like this:

Day 1: Working up to your max weight on the last sets of each exercise.

Squat 3×5

Bench Press 3×5

Deadlift 1×5

Repeat for both Day 2 and Day 3.

The goal is to be able to add 5-10lbs every workout till you plateau and more complex methods are needed. After the pure novice stage, you can move up in volume to the 5×5 rep scheme. At this point, I split the bench press and deadlift to days 2 and 3 instead of doing them all on the same day to avoid excessive fatigue. After they complete their main movement, I follow it with accessory movements like RDLs, split-squats, lunges, shoulder exercises, back extensions, chin-ups and rows to work on weaknesses.  The 5×5 rep scheme is my tried-and-true method to get athletes stronger using 70-85% of 1-RM. Which looks like this:

Day 1: Back Squat	Day 2: Bench Press	Day 3: Deadlift
Week 1: 1×5 @ 55% 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75%	Week 1: 1×5 @ 55% 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75%	Week 1: 1×5 @ 55% 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75%
Week 2: 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 80%	Week 2: 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 80%	Week 2: 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 80%
Week 3: 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 80% 1×5 @ 85%	Week 3: 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 80% 1×5 @ 85%	Week 3: 1×5 @ 65% 1×5 @ 70% 1×5 @ 75% 1×5 @ 80% 1×5 @ 85%
Week 4: (De-Load) 1×5 @ 55% 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65%	Week 4: (De-Load) 1×5 @ 55% 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65%	Week 4: (De-Load) 1×5 @ 55% 1×5 @ 60% 1×5 @ 65%

Triphasic Training Program by Cal Dietz and Ben Peterson

Triphasic Training from Cal Dietz and Ben Peterson was one of my favorite strength and conditioning books I’ve read. The authors were able to break down every detail of how they train athletes and get results. If you wish to check out the book, you can purchase it here: http://triphasictraining.com/ Essentially, during the strength block, the authors broke it down into 3 phases: eccentric, isometric and concentric, with each phase lasting 2-3 weeks. During the eccentric block, you would perform your main movements by spending 3-6 seconds on the eccentric part of the movement (the downward part of the exercise) then forcefully raise the bar back up as fast as you can. For example, taking 6 seconds to reach the bottom of your squat or bench press then exploding back up. During the isometric block, you would forcefully pull the bar down to the bottom position of the exercise (bottom of the squat for example) and hold it there for 2-6 seconds before exploding back up. Finally, during the concentric block, you perform the movement as normal, but by moving the bar as fast as possible with each rep and either taking 2-3 seconds before starting the next rep or continually performing each rep with no rest between reps. Here’s an example:

	Day 1: Back Squat	Day 2: Bench Press	Day 3: RDL
Week 1	5×4 @ 70% w/ 6 second Eccentric	5×4 @ 70% w/ 6 second Eccentric	5×4 @ 70% w/ 6 second Eccentric
Week 2	4×3 @ 75% w/ 6 second Eccentric	4×3 @ 75% w/ 6 second Eccentric	4×3 @ 75% w/ 6 second Eccentric
Week 3	5×2 @ 80% w/ 3 second Isometric	5×2 @ 80% w/ 3 second Isometric	5×2 @ 80% w/ 3 second Isometric
Week 4	4×1 @ 85% w/ 3 second Isometric	4×1 @ 85% w/ 3 second Isometric	4×1 @ 85% w/ 3 second Isometric
Week 5 (Speed)	5×2 @ 75% at full speed	5×2 @ 75% at full speed	5×2 @ 75% at full speed
Week 6 (Heavy)	3×1 @ 90% at full speed	3×1 @ 90% at full speed	3×1 @ 90% at full speed

The triphasic book is complex and I only gave a glimpse of what the book is about and how to use it, so I highly recommend you purchase the book to get a full understanding of the concepts.

Final Thoughts:

I hope this gives you an idea of some methods you can apply or further research on to use for yourself or your athletes to have a successful strength block. After 4-8 weeks of strength training, we move on to the Power block! Feel free to contact me with any questions or if you’re interested in me writing a program for you or your athletes. Good luck and get strong!