As we get closer to the start of the new year, there will no doubt be thousands of people around the globe who are sitting down to re-assess their goals and their training plans for 2018.
My hope is that this article might potentially serve as a guide for some of you to think about how you might set up your next year of training in a way that is logical, productive, and dare I say even fun. The truth is that no single training plan generally works for 12-months at a time without serious manipulation and modification during the year. Adjustments in volume, intensity, and frequency must be made continuously to avoid stagnation and keep progression going. So for those of you who just want to pick one training program and run it all year long on “auto-pilot”, I hate to break it to you, but it usually isn’t that simple.
For those of you on the other side of the spectrum that just want to “wing it” for the next year, well that typically doesn’t work either. Some degree of planning needs to be in place or you’ll wind up spending 2018 as a Chronic Program Hopper without much rhyme or reason as to why you are doing anything.
Most of you are aware of the basic programming models presented in Practical Programming for Strength Training such as The Texas Method, Heavy-Light-Medium Training, and Split Training Routines. There are of course many many other methodologies that work, but we’re going to keep the discussion fairly narrow and I’ll suggest some ways in which to implement all 3 of these programs throughout the year in a way that works.
Keep in mind that my suggestions are coming from a perspective of having implemented all of these routines with 100s of clients in the gym over the course of a decade. I take into account certain “realities” of working with regular people such as summer travel schedules, holiday travel schedules, and people’s physiological and psychological need to vary their training routine over the course of a year.
For those of you who are coaches, personal trainers, or gym owners, this article might be helpful to you as a guide to keep your clients engaged over the course of a year rather than getting burnt out and bored with the same old – same old.
Let’s start with January 1, and where most people will be physically and mentally. Coming off the holiday season many of you or your clients will be starting the year detrained, deconditioned, but motivated to hit the weights hard.
I like to ease my clients back under the barbell with a basic Heavy – Light – Medium program to start the new year. I like the frequency of the program in order to get people dialed back into their form and technique on the basics. I feel like the volume of the programming and the relative “ease” of some of the training days is also appropriate, as we don’t want to start things off with a lot of higher intensity work for people who may have lost some of their base level of conditioning to barbell training program.
What I like to do is spend about 12 weeks or so (could be a bit more or less) starting with moderate volumes and moderate weights and building up with some slight increases in volume and intensity over the course of the 12 week period. This will roughly take you from January thru March.
So let’s look at three 4-week blocks of training to get you or your clients started for the new year. (Only Barbell exercises shown, add in small doses of assistance work at your discretion).
Block 1 (4 Week)
Monday: Heavy Squat 4 x 6, Heavy Bench 4 x 6, Medium Deadlift 3 x 6
Wednesday: Light Squat 2 x 6, Heavy Press 4 x 6, Barbell Rows 4 x 8
Friday: Medium Squat 3 x 6, Medium Bench 3 x 6, Heavy Deadlift 2 x 6
* For heavy days, loads should start around 70-75% of 1RM (or just whatever you can do for the given rep range and increased week to week. Light Days are ~10-20% less than you heavy day, and medium days are 5-10% less than heavy days).
Block 2 (4 Weeks)
Monday: Heavy Squat 5 x 5, Heavy Bench 5 x 5, Stiff Leg Deadlift 4 x 6
Wednesday: Light Squat 3 x 5, Heavy Press 5 x 5, Barbell Rows 5 x 8
Friday: Medium Squat 4 x 5, Close Grip Bench Press 4 x 6, Heavy Deadlift 3 x 5
*Loading will increase slightly into the 75-80% range for most work and increased week to week)
Block 3 (3-4 Weeks)
Monday: Heavy Squat 6 x 4, Heavy Bench 6 x 4, Stiff Leg Deadlift 5 x 4
Wednesday: Light Squat 4 x 4, Heavy Press 6 x 4, Barbell Rows 6 x 6
Friday: Medium Squat 5 x 4, Medium Bench Press 5 x 4, Heavy Deadlifts 4 x 4
*Loading will increase into the 80-85% range and increased week to week
The HLM program usually ends with a pretty giant dose of volume and you may only be able to sustain it for 3 weeks rather than 4. HOWEVER. The key with this program is the volume and not necessarily load. So adjust your weights accordingly so that you can get your sets and reps in for the prescribed volume. If that means increasing your offsets for light/medium days or the use of back off sets for the really high volume days instead of sets across then you should do so. Also, note that I prescribed loads in the 70-85% range, and most of the work probably average out closer to 75-80% so you should not really be “grinding” out every set of every workout.
And of course, the exact sets and reps can be adjusted for the individual. Most of those adjustments would be in the direction of slightly less volume and not more. This amount of volume should be sufficient for most trainees.
Before starting the next phase of training, I suggest a one week deload (probably last week of March) to rest up a bit. Simply train twice per week with less volume, but keep loading somewhat high around 80-85%, or right around where you ended the HLM program. So if you ended your HLM program squatting 6x4x350, then you might just squat 3 x 3 x 340. This will allow fatigue to dissipate but not encourage a detraining effect. I suggest to only deadlift 1 time during the deload.
April – May: The Texas Method
The extremely high volume HLM program that we ended with sometime in March will dovetail beautifully into a lower volume but higher intensity Texas Method program that will culminate in a “peak” sometime in May, usually before the summer travel months begin. I don’t like to schedule big strength peaks in the summer time because adherence is often compromised for clients who miss gym time June – August. Again, dealing in reality here. As the fatigue from the volume of the HLM program begins to dissipate in April with lower volume training it serves as a catalyst for some nice PRs in the 1-3 rep range that are kinda the hallmark of a Texas Method program.
The Texas Method is rough, but it works well, especially if you time it right in an annual plan. Not as a yearly program, but for short bouts of 8-10 weeks or so, it’s wonderful for peaking strength or prepping for a meet.
We’ll keep a very similar structure to the HLM program, but some of the medium day workouts will transform into Intensity Days for the next several weeks.
I like to plan for about 9 weeks on the Texas Method, with the final week being a combination of deloading and testing.
I prefer a 3-week cycling of both volume and intensity, although you can run a more straightforward approach to the Texas Method as well, such as those presented in PPST3.
Week One:
Monday: Volume Squat 5 x 5-6 (~75%), Volume Bench Press 5 x 5-6 (~75%), Stiff Leg Deadlift 3 x 6
Wednesday: Light Squat 3 x 5 (-10-20%), Press 5 x 5-8, Chins 3-5 x max
Friday: Intensity Squat 1-2 x 3 (~90%), Intensity Bench Press 2-3 x 3 (~90%), Deadlift 1 x 3 (~90%), 1 x 5 (~75-80%)
Week Two:
Monday: Volume Squat 5 x 4-5 (~80%), Volume Bench Press 5 x 4-5 (~80%), Stiff Leg Deadlift 3 x 6
Wednesday: Light Squat 3 x 5 (-10-20%), Press 5 x 5-8, Chins 3-5 x max
Friday: Intensity Squat 1-3 x 2 (~92-93%), Intensity Bench Press 2-4 x 2 (~92-93%), Deadlift 1 x 2 (~92-93%), 1 x 5 (~75-80%)
Week Three:
Monday: Volume Squat 5 x 3-4 (~85%), Volume Bench Press 5 x 3-4 (~85%), Stiff Leg Deadlift 3 x 6
Wednesday: Light Squat 3 x 5 (-10-20%), Press 5 x 5-8, Chins 3-5 x max
Friday: Intensity Squat 3-5 x 1 (~94-96%%), Intensity Bench Press 3-6 x 1 (~94-96%), Deadlift 1 x 1 (~94-96%), 1 x 5 (~75-80%)
Weeks 4-6: You will basically repeat the previous 3 week cycle, but add small amounts of load across the board to both volume and intensity days of each week.
Weeks 7-8: You will basically repeat weeks 4 and 5 of the previous 3 week cycle, but add small amounts of load across the board to both volume and intensity days of each week.
Week Nine:
Tuesday: Volume Squat 3 x 3, Volume Bench 3 x 3 (Repeat loads from previous weeks volume day)
Friday or Saturday: Test 1RMs for the Squat, Bench, and Deadlift in a meet or mock-meet format.
*Note: It is difficult to use %’s with exact precision on a Texas Method based program. Use them as a reference point and weigh them against the numbers you put up during your HLM program. Use those two points of reference to “script” out the numbers you will be using for your volume and intensity days on the 9 week Texas Method program. My suggestion is to avoid making it up as you go along.
In part two we will look at using a split routine for the summer months, another strength peak in the fall, and then look at some simple strategies for training through the holidays.
For some “Done For You” Heavy-Light-Medium and Texas Method programs, I invite you to look at the following programs:
Garage Gym Warrior (Heavy – Light – Medium). Note that the GGW program is slightly different than what I laid out in this article, but the basic premise is the same. The GGW program ends in a testing day, and I would recommend omitting that day prior to beginning the Texas Method.
The KSC Texas Method is very similar to what I laid out in this article, complete with how to properly set up 3-week waves for volume and intensity days.
