Informative resources for program design?

[Pranaman]

Do you have any recommended readings about program design? I'm most interested in avoiding plateaus and really understanding how to utilize varying all the components of training.

Some of the stickies and other links are great and the information in BtGB is great. I'm just looking for even more depth into program design.

Thanks.

[Julekman]

It seems like you search for silver bullet. There are many interesting post for the program design on this site. Just look around. Good luck !

[Gerald Mangona]

Do you have any recommended readings about program design? I'm most interested in avoiding plateaus and really understanding how to utilize varying all the components of training.

The WODs really do a good job of this. Coach didn't really talk about them in the book, but the WODs are on a 28-day cycle making sure to hit all your muscle groups periodically and at different levels of intensity and rep counts. You can scale the WODs down (or up) to your level of ability, but as long as you keep the intensities within the intent of the WOD design, you'll be good.

I'm still a little weak in upper body strength, so I'm working up to 2 sets of 5 rounds of pull-ups, with the goal of eventually getting 10 reps per round. (That would be 100 pull-ups all in all.) I do that a working set prior to starting the WOD. But seriously, the WODs already do what you're looking for, so unless you're looking to really geek out on this stuff so that you can design your own programming, I'd go with what Coach set up.

And if you're really looking to geek out on this stuff, I defer to a more experienced poster.

JM

[Pranaman]

The WODs look great and I really want to start doing them. However, I do want to geek out and for a few reasons. Mainly, I really want to understand the method and the mechanism. Second, really understanding programming will help me integrate the WOD into all of the other work I do.

I've read Poliquin Principals, that eshlow blog post, killroy70, Poliquin articles, and about to tackle Rippetoe's Practical Programming. Any other suggestions?

[Gerald Mangona]

(1) Read every post by Slizzardman

(2) Re-state and organize those posts by topic, deconstructing it to assimilate all the details, then repackaging them in a format that flows smoothly from the simple to the complex.

(3) Submit for his review/future publication.

JM

[AlexX]

Some of the best information on program design and manipulation of frequency, volume and intensity is stuff that has been around for years from olympic weightlifters and powerlifters. There have been countless studies conducted by various countries with a ton of funding so the research is quite good, actually most of periodization models today are based on the studies done in the 60's and 70s.

elitefts.com, t-nation.com - both sites have a lot of articles on program design for strength training.

Further if you research sheiko's training method, west-side method, Bill Starr's heavy medium and light, Marty Gallagher's training, pavel's power to the people cycles, check out various amateur strongman's training logs, Tommy Konnon's training (pretty much the same thing as Bill Starr), you'll have a good idea of how to manipulate different components for your goals when designing a program.

Yes these are weightlifting disciplines and you'll need to adapt/modify certain things to suit gymnastic training goals but strength training is strength training and the principles that get olympic weightlifters and powerlifters stronger are the same ones that make gymnasts stronger. Oh and don't ever rely on just one source when doing research (basic concept but one that people often ignore).

[Blairbob]

Dr Verkoshansky

His website has some of his studies in english and per his will the rest will be disseminated in English.

[Pranaman]

thanks for the hookup BB

[Blairbob]

Gotta thank the Ukrainian former Olympian I'm coaching with now. Learning a lot from this guy, it's mondo awesome. Funny thing is he doesn't know a lot of the American resources on lifting. For instance, Bret Contreras had an informal study on the best glute/ham exercises and he loved it. But I'm feeling pretty damn humbled a lot of the time when he starts talking.

[braindx]

Zatsiorsky's The Science and practice of strength training

Basic periodization and blocking structure is useful as theory around which training cycles are developed. From there more advanced concepts can be learned...

If you wanted free stuff on the internet I would suggest first looking up

1. general adaptation syndrome

2. then move into dual factor theory

3. then look up some of the periodization basics

4. then variations on peridiozation concepts such as undulated periodization, conjugate method, westside (pretty much anything alex said), etc.

5. From there you can examine any of the popular training programs like Bill Starr's intermediate 5x5 and such things and see the structural concepts upon whic they are based and the patterns that underlie the programming

The stuff Alex is more complex concepts (e.g. the 4-5 stuff listed above)... if you understood everything from BtGB then you may be able to understand those concepts straight off the bat. However, it is likely you need to go through the basics (e.g. 1-3) before you approach 4.

edit: I see you're reading practical programming. That should be good enough... go for any of the advanced stuff after that.

[Joshua Naterman]

That's a pretty good order for reading, I like that a lot.

Once you're ready for advanced stuff, read about titin protein regeneration and actin/myosin regeneration. That will help you (meaning anyone who reads the research) understand why training with an emphasis on negatives has to be done relatively infrequently and why concentric only training can be done multiple times per day even without steriods and deliver excellent results.

From there I would try to learn about CNS fatigue.

After that I'd learn a little about whole body vibration and the differences between "rotational" AKA "seesaw" vibration and "tri-planar" vibration.

When you understand all of that really well you should be ready to start learning about electrical stimulation, which is a surprisingly large and diverse area. That's a whole new world and it isn't a very good idea to get into that without understanding everything else first, because e-stim has to be used along with everything else for good results.

I have found that learning about the 5x5 programs, Texas Method, and things like that really isn't as learning WHY they work and why they stop working after a certain point. Trying to understand the science behind "intermediate training methods" like that isn't as helpful as learning 1,2,3 and 4. Intermediate programs are intermediate because they can not work past a certain point of adaptation since they do not fully comply with how the body adapts. Within 4, I think that learning the Westside method AKA conjugate will give the best overall understanding of what is happening. From there I would look at Poliquin's undulating periodization. It is more important to be able to understand the underlying concepts and what the similarities are than to be focused on how these two methods are so different yet still get good to great results.

[Pranaman]

Awesome thank you guys a lot, you just condensed the weeks it would have taken me to separate the wheat from the chaff. Thanks again! Invaluable references.

[Cyaneus]

Thanks Blairbob, Braindx, Slizzardman, Alex. Combining these resources seems like all a person really needs to know. Thanks again.