A HHHUUUGGGEEE Week 3!!

What a mammoth week, I'm knackered. Here's what went on at the athlete factory.

For the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Program each month waves like this:

Week 1 - a moderate intensity (weight used), moderate volume (sets x reps per exercise) week where we learn the exercises that we'll use for the month. We also work up to a 5 rep max for our max effort lifts.

Week 2 - the intensity increases for each exercise while volume stays the same while working up to a 3 rep max for our max effort lifts.

Week 3 - volume increases for each exercise while again working up to a 3 rep max with the aim to beat the total from week 2.

Week 4 - uses a delaod week with lower intensity and lower volume for almost everything while we recover from the fatigue built up in weeks 1 to 3.

Basically week 3 is the "peak" week of every month and we just finished the 3rd and final day of that week tonight.

Tuesday's Highlights:

• I managed a personal best of 68cms on the single leg box jump

• Nick beating last week's chin up 3 rep max of +17.5kgs with a +20kg effort
• I managed a + 35kgs chin up 3 rep max recorded sideways

• We also did some step ups and hip thrusts:

Thursday Highlights:

• Nick and Lachy both reaching 52.5kgs for a 3 rep max on the bench press
• Bluey reaching 60kgs on a 3 rep max on the bench press
• I managed 92.5kgs for a bench press 3 rep max

Friday Highlights:

• Lachy busting out a 95kg 3 rep max on the trap bar deadlift

• Nick making out a 100kg 3 rep max on the trap bar deadlift

• I managed 135kgs for my 3 rep max for the trap bar deadlift

• Lachy posting a pb for the standing long jump with a 256cm effort
• Nick and Lachy also posted pb's for the 10m sprints with times of 1.75secs and 1.85secs respectively
• We also managed to pile 190kgs on the prowler for a monster heavy ass sled drag:

A great week 3 with plenty of quality baseline numbers set that we look to improve upon a great deal by the start of the 2012 season.

Remember we also have an online version of the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Program so email me at lange_troy@hotmail.com to get your hands on that and join us!!

Week 2 Recap

Just finished up week 2 of the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Training Program.

This week used a weight increase progression for every exercise which made things a little tough but week 3 is where it all happens and is the hardest week where we'l max out on the max effort lifts and increase the volume of the assistance exercises before deloading a little for week 4.

Some of the highlights included;

• Jack reaching a +22.5kgs on the chin up 3 rep max
• Nick reaching a +17.5kgs on the chin up 3 rep max
• Tim on his first night making a 55kg 5 rep max on the bench press
• Lachy making a 47.5kgs 5 rep max on the bench press
• Nick building on last week's trap bar deadlift by 10kgs finishing at 90kgs for a 3 rep max
• Lachy completing a 70kg 5 rep max for the trap bar deadlift, his first ever deadlifting effort in his life

Here's some of the action from this week:

We also have Chris from NSW and Kevin from Ireland doing the in line version of the program. Kevin is actually a Gaelic footballer over there so I'll be keeping you updated on their progress through the off season as well and hopefully they can provide some video too.

I was a little tired for Friday / lower body day after a broken sleep courtesy of a 9 month old and not getting the chance to have a decent pre training meal so I'm really looking forward to tearing the trap bar a new one next Friday.

What are you doing for your off season training?

Week 1 Down!!

Week 1 of the 5 month Aussie Rules Off Season Football Program has been completed.

Lauchy, Nick, Jack and myself have set some pretty good baseline numbers and once they're improved upon, how can't we be better players next year??

Geoff Zach, we're still waiting for you so hopefully you can make it Tuesday.

I go into detail for yesterdays lower body workout which I call the "magic workout."

If you were going to train only 1 day, then this would have to be it.

As normal we started with some myofascial release work with various mobilisation and activation drills.

Next up was some stiffness training with a little bit of this:

and this:

With the nervous system ramped up we move to some plyometrics with some of this action:

Next it was time to hit the iron with some Trap Bar Deadlifts:

After breaking world records on that exercise we moved to some prowler dragging paired with some 10m sprints...here's a 1.8sec hand held timed set from Jack without any technique tips at all...he's an explosive cat as you would have seen from the standing long jump video above:

To finish with we did some extremely humbling glute ham raises paired with some core work:

Nick and Jack had never done these before so I bet their hamstrings are feeling it today. I ate like a beast last night ad have pulled up pretty good.

If you have any questions on how, why and what we're doing in the program then shoot through a comment or question.

A Look at my Off Season Training Program

Now that I have officially completed the Off Season Program I will give you all a sneak peak into what we'll do.

It is 5 months of progressive programming where the current phase leads into the next one so we use more basic exercises than progress to more complex exercises come early next year.

For the big main lifts we will be using the conjugate method where you use similar lifts to main lifts to strengthen weak points to strengthen it so for bench presses we'll do regular bench presses to set a baseline for month 1, 3 Board Bench Presses for month 2, Close Grip Bench Presses for month 3, Lockouts for month 4 before going back to regular bench presses in month 5.

The conjugate method also refers to the improvement of multiple strength qualities at the same time rather then just getting big in month 1 then getting getting strong and month 2 and losing fat in month 3. All that happens here is that you lose whatever quality you trained for last phase in the next 2 phases, effectively getting no where after 3 months.

So here's how each day looks:

Tuesday / Day 1 - Full Body

Warm Up - Foam Rolling, Joint Mobilisation and Muscle Activation

Nervous System Activation / Stiffness Training- Speed and Quickness Drills

Plyometrics - Single Leg Focus

Max Effort / Repetition Upper Body - Chin Up Focus

Single Leg - Free Weight Exercise

Posterior Chain

Core - Anti Extension Focus

Thursday / Day 2 - Upper Body

Warm Up - Foam Rolling, Joint Mobilisation and Muscle Activation

Nervous System Activation / Stiffness Training- Speed and Quickness Drills

Plyometrics - Single Leg Focus

Max Effort / Repetition Upper Body - Bench Press Focus

Supplementary Bench Press Exercise

Horizontal Pull Exercise

Vertical Push Exercise

Upper / Mid Back Exercise

Core - Anti Rotation Focus

Friday / Day 3 - Lower Body

Warm Up - Foam Rolling, Joint Mobilisation and Muscle Activation

Nervous System Activation / Stiffness Training- Speed and Quickness Drills

Plyometrics - 2 Leg Focus

Max Effort Lower Body - Deadlift Focus

Single Leg - Prowler Exercise

Sprint

Posterior Chain

Core - Anti Extension Focus

Core - Anti Rotation Focus

So that will be the set up fr the next 5 months so let me know if you're interested in either attending the training or the on line program.

Off Season Training Program - Day 1 Recap

2 posts in 1 day!! That is amazing considering my dismal effort at consistently updating this blog.

Tonight was day 1 of the Off Season Training Program, more specifically the Initial Combine Testing Night.

After running through the warm up exercises we'll be using for all 3 days it was time to get down to business.

First up was 10m Sprints

Second on the list was 2 Chin Up tests - 3 rep max then bodyweight x max reps

Next up was Stand Long Jumps

Lastly we did Single Leg Triple Jumps

I did have some longer sprints planned but it's pissing rain tonight so we left them out and might give them a go on the second Combine day.

For more videos go to my youtube page and subscribe to get updates on the program, I intend on taking a lot of videos.

I will also break down some of the videos during the week going into detail on assessing the performance during it and how we'll go about improving it.

Let me know your thoughts and you can join in the fun every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at anytime.

On Line Off Season Training Program is OPEN!!

I've had some requests to do an online version of the Off Season Football Training Program that I'm running in my personal training studio.

So I've tinkered with the program a little so it can be done without any specific equipment such as a prowler that we will be using.

All you need is a barbell, dumbbells, a cable machine, chin up station and a park or football oval.

Remember that this is a 5 month program, not just something to do for a month and the results will show next year, not before Christmas.

The program is 4 gym days plus 1 park day but it could be changed to 3 gym days and 1 park day. Just remember that the more the program is tinkered with, the less of MY program you'll actually be doing so the results may be as great.

The cost of the program will be $75 per month which may be seem excessive but this is a 5 month progressive training program destined to make you better and if done as it is written, there is no way that this can't happen. And bare in mind that I have on line clients who get monthly programs for $140/mth plus my in-studio guys will be paying over double that!

So if you wanna be faster, stronger, bigger and better in 2012, contact me at lange_troy@hotmail.com.