HEAVY DUTY HOMEMADE TRAINING EQUIPMENT: THE WORKOUT

Transcription

1 HEAVY DUTY HOMEMADE TRAINING EQUIPMENT: THE WORKOUT By Matthew Ellis Copyright 2013 by Matthew Ellis Ellis Fitness & Coaching, LLC

2 Copyright page COPYRIGHT Copyright 2013 Ellis Fitness & Coaching LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this information may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, distributing, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, Matthew Ellis. The author and publisher disclaim any responsibility for any adverse effects or consequences from the misapplication or injudicious use of the information presented in this text. Inquires should be addressed by e- mail to Ellis Fitness & Coaching LLC, For complete information on all Ellis Fitness & Coaching products and more valuable information available to help you get incredible results in your training, visit TERMS AND CONDITIONS 1. I am aware that Ellis Fitness & Coaching LLC, and its member Matthew Ellis, is not a medical doctor and does not qualify to determine a participant s physical capability to engage in strenuous exercise. 2. Medical clearance from my physician may be required prior to participation in any exercise program and/or engaging in any of the exercises contained within this manual.

3 Primal Athlete Training Center

4 About the Author Matthew Ellis was born in Coventry, Rhode Island. Matt played all of the typical youth sports growing up but basketball was his main concentration. It wasn t until after Matt was cut from the basketball team his freshman year of High School that he discovered the sport that would change his life, Track and Field. When the coach asked him if he wanted to join the track team, Matt explained, I m not that fast of a runner. A shot put was placed in his hand and he never played another game of basketball again. Matt has been involved in the sport of Track and Field for over 20 years. Matt was a competitive high school and collegiate thrower, a track and field equipment salesman, a volunteer throws coach, strength and conditioning coach, a private throws coach, and is the owner of Primal Athlete Training Center in Cranston, RI. As owner of Primal Athlete Training Center, Matt has a unique opportunity to work with high school athletes from a number of different schools and sports. In addition to Track and Field athletes, Matt trains athletes in Football, Hockey, Golf, Basketball, Wrestling, Lacrosse, Baseball, and Volleyball. Because he trains athletes from different sports, of all different ages, with different practice schedules, who play in different seasons, Matt had to develop a fool- proof method of scheduling strength and conditioning programs around team practices, competitions, snow days, and school vacations. This method allows the athlete to train around any issues that might pop up and gain strength during the season and to peak at the right time; the championship games and meets at the end of the season. Matthew is married to the love of his life, his wife Jennifer. Matt and Jen are the parents of two wonderful children. This book is dedicated to Jen and the kids. Their constant love and support motivates Matt everyday and gives him the confidence to produce material like this book to help your athletes.

5 Table of Contents Section I Introduction Page 6 What is this Guide All About? Page 7 Who is this Guide for? Page 9 Layout of the Training Page 10 Scheduling the Training Page 12 Section II Homemade Equipment Workouts Page 13 Week 1 Creating a Foundation Page 14 Week 2 Start Building Page 15 Week 3 Increase Even More Page 16 Week 4 Push Beyond Your Comfort Zone Page 17 Week 5 Deload Page 18 Week 6 Blending Strength and Speed Week 1 Page 19 Week 7 Blending Strength and Speed Week 2 Page 20 Week 8 Blending Strength and Speed Week 3 Page 21 Week 9 Deload Page 22 Week 10 Explosive Movement Training Week 1 Page 23 Week 11 Explosive Movement Training Week 2 Page 24 Week 12 Explosive Movement Training Week 3 Page 25 Week 13 Deload Before the Big Meet Page 26 Conclusion Page 27 Section III Other Resources for Track and Field Training Page 28

6 SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM

7 What is this Program All About? Day in and day out, I receive s from coaches and athletes around the world detailing their lack of resources and equipment. Underfunded teams, no money to buy equipment, no weight room for the athletes to lift weights, or weight rooms so overcrowded that there is no way the entire track team can get in there and get in a solid training session. If this sounds like a similar situation to what you have to contend with at your school, you ve come to the right place. This program was created so you can have a bulletproof training system using the equipment you made that will get your athletes stronger, more explosive and powerful, and reaching their peak at the end of the season in time for the championship meets. This guide will explain how to schedule the training working backwards from your big championship goal meet to the beginning of the season. It will be scaled for difficulty so younger athletes can train right alongside your stronger upperclassmen. It will also give ideas where you can use free equipment like heavy rocks, old tires, or rusty old weight plates to add even more variety to the training. This training is meant to be done outside on the track or near the throwing areas. Many schools do not have indoor facilities or weight rooms where they can train. All of the homemade equipment you built from disc 1 can be stored outside along with the other track equipment. Much like medicine ball training and plyometric training, this training should be done in conjunction with your other training scheduled on that particular day. This training is fast and explosive and is meant to build strength and explosive power. It should not take the place of the specific event training or take time away from specific technique work.

8 For a lot of schools and athletes, this is the missing link that will allow proper strength and explosive movement training to translate over to their events. I know how frustrating it can be to have zero resources and zero support. My hope is that this program provides the necessary training an athlete needs to get stronger and peak for the right time of year.

9 Who is this Guide for? This guide has been created specifically for athletes competing during their season. In reality, any athlete from any sport can follow this guide and become stronger, faster, and more powerful. These methods have been used by my athletes for many years and have translated exceptionally well for their sports. With that being said, this guide can be used by the brand new beginner level athlete all the way up to your experienced upperclassmen. Athletes just starting out in the world of strength training and weight lifting need to have a great base, which this program will provide. This program is scalable and will allow the athlete to use heavier objects and more difficult exercises to achieve success. In this program, you will be using very awkward objects, your bodyweight, and some heavy weights. It is imperative that you use proper form demonstrated in disc 2 that came with this training program.

10 Layout of the Training Like all good training plans, there are stages to this program. The first stage of training is an accumulation stage designed to get your body stronger and ready for the explosive work that will be thrown at it. This will be the foundation for the training that is to follow. In Week 1 you will be starting out with some tried and true, compound lifts. Total body big lifts as they are sometimes called. In Week 2 the exercises get a little bit more difficult and heavier. In Weeks 3 and 4, you will be pushed to go heavier and harder than ever before. You may not complete all of the prescribed amount of repetitions. That is perfectly ok. Weeks 3 and 4 are weeks where you will be testing your abilities and hopefully surprising yourself and realizing you are stronger than you think. The second stage (Building Strength and Speed) is where the real meat of this program starts to take shape. You will be combining some pure compound strength exercises with more explosive exercises. Blending strength training and explosive movement training together will allow your body to start producing more power and become faster and more explosive. You will notice a big increase in speed while still noticing a slight increase in strength. The third stage (Explosive Movement Training) is where you focus primarily on moving with weight as quickly as possible. This stage will taper down allowing you to achieve a peak for the end of the season. You will notice a few things about these stages. The first thing that you will notice is that you will use your entire body and many different muscle groups all in the same day. These daily exercises will be set up as a circuit where the athlete will move from one exercise to the other in order without a lot of rest. During a training session, you may be asked to squat, lunge, row, push overhead, and do abdominal exercises. You

11 use your entire body when you compete. You need to make sure you use your entire body to train too. The other thing you may notice about the training is that some of the exercises repeat every few weeks. The classic, tried and true methods keep popping back up. Things like squats, farmers walks, and push ups appear quite often. Your goal here is to break records. If a bodyweight exercise like a push up or suspension strap row appears, try to do more reps than you did the week before. If you used a smaller Bulgarian Sandbag to do a jumping lunge one week, try using the heavier sandbag when the jumping lunge appears later in the program. Breaking records with higher weight or higher reps will ensure you are progressing forward and getting stronger or more explosive. Every day, you will repeat the training circuit 3-4 times. Every exercise has a prescribed amount of reps or distance, except the final circuit. You must only do the amount of reps or distance designated. The key here is to move as fast as possible. If you only have one sandbag and it seems lighter than you would like, be sure to move that sandbag as quickly and explosively as possible. If a circuit calls for 15 pushups and you can routinely do 20-25, make sure the 15 pushups you complete are so explosive you are leaving the ground! Finally, some exercises in the first stage of training do not have a specified amount of reps. This is because you are to do as many reps as possible with that exercise. Why do it this way? Easy. This allows you to push yourself. This allows you to go beyond what you think is possible and break more records. The weight might be heavy. Challenge yourself. Go to exhaustion. If the previous set called for 10 reps and you felt like you could have done a few more, try to get this final set for at least 15 reps. On this last set, try to push beyond your limits and get fired up. Dial the adrenaline level to max capacity.

12 Scheduling the Training This is a 13 week program designed to take your team through a typical 13 week high school season. The 13 th week of training is done the week of the big championship meet your are peaking for. So if your big goal meet this season is the state championship, and the meet is on a Saturday, week 13 will start the Monday before the state championship. Week 12 will start the Monday before that. Week 11 the Monday before that. You will continue counting backwards until you reach week 1. Many states and schools will not have a perfect 13 week season. Things are always getting in the way and making it difficult for coaches to stay on a perfect schedule. Holidays, school vacations, track meets during the middle of the week, and bad weather are a few that come to mind. If things get in the way of staying on a perfect schedule, don t get worried. As long as you are training with the appropriate weekly workouts the correct week of the season, you can skip a workout here or there and not see any major issues. The most important thing to keep in mind as you start to implement this training is to stay on a weekly schedule. If you miss a week of training due to horrible weather or a school vacation, don t push those workouts to the next week. Skip over the missed week and move on to the next week like it never happened. Staying on schedule will guarantee your athletes will be doing the week 13 workouts the week of your big goal meet. This will ensure they peak correctly in their training.

13 SECTION 2 - THE WORKOUTS

14 Week 1 Creating A Foundation Week 1 is the first part of the basic accumulation stage. During this week the exercises are basic but very challenging. This week, athletes will go through the circuit 4 times each. Have athletes start at the station of their choice and move in order to the next station once the exercise is complete. The athlete should try to complete all of the repetitions per exercise. Weight selected should be heavy enough to get all of the reps and leave one or two reps in the tank. On the last round, the athletes should do as many repetitions as possible. If an athlete does the beginner or intermediate level first and they feel like they can move to the intermediate or advanced level on their next try, it is allowed. Day One Sandbag Front Squats 4 12 (As many as Parallette Bar Push Ups 4 12 (As many as Bulgarian Bag Waiters Walks feet (All 4 sets) Day Two Bulgarian Bag Speed Skaters 4 12 per leg (As many as Farmer Bar Overhead Sit Up 4 12 (As many as Suspension Strap Row 4 12 (As many as

15 Week 2 Start Building Now that the athletes have completed the first week of training, they have a better idea of the speed and the tempo that they should be using when doing these workouts. Hopefully they also realize they are a lot stronger than they think with homemade odd objects like these. This week, the basic breakdown of the exercises is the same. On day one there is a squat, a push up, and a walk. On day two there is a lunge, a core strengthening movement, and a row. The exercises are a little more challenging than week 1 but your athletes can handle it. Please tell the athletes that it is ok to go a little heavier than they might think possible. They might end up surprising themselves. Day One Sandbag Overhead Squats 4 10 (As many as Reverse Grip Push Up on the Bulgarian Bag 4 10 (As many as Farmers Handle Ab Wheel 4 10 (As many as Day Two Sandbag Walking Lunges 4 10 per leg (As many as Parallette Bar Walking Push Ups 4 10 (As many as Suspension Strap Rear Delt Flyes 4 10 (As many as

16 Week 3 Increase Even More Week 3 is where the athletes should really start pushing themselves hard during these workouts. Week 3 requires the athletes to use the most difficult movements and to really focus on the task at hand. This is not the time for goofing around or being a quitter. Grit your teeth, push harder than you thought you could, and attack these exercises like you were chasing a new PR! Like the previous weeks, the basic breakdown of the exercises is the same. On day one there is a squat, a push up, and a walk. On day two there is a lunge, a core strengthening movement, and a row. The exercises are a little more challenging than week two but your athletes can handle it. Day One Sandbag Clean Squat Drop 4 8 (As many as possible on set 4) Parallette Bar Push Up with the Bulgarian Bag on the Shoulders 4 8 (As many as possible on set 4) Farmers Walks feet (All 4 sets) Day Two Bulgarian Bag Split Squats 4 8 per leg (As many as Parallette Bar Mountain Climbers 4 8 per leg (As many as Suspension Strap Face Pulls 4 8 (As many as possible on set 4)

17 Week 4 Push Beyond Comfort Zone Up until this point, the exercises have been getting increasingly more demanding week after week. This week the exercises are connected together one after the other to add a new level of difficulty. The exercises this week are much different and the athletes will be asked to connect two seemingly different exercises together. While not difficult at first, the movements are extremely compound and very taxing on the body. Most exercises link together well, like the farmers walk stopping to put down and lift up every 50 feet. Some exercises, like the sandbag overhead sit up, simply take the overhead sit up and use a sandbag instead of a bar. Day One Sandbag Clean and Press Into an Overhead Squat Parallette Bar Walking Beyond the Range Push Up Farmers Walks Stopping to put the bars down and lift up every 50 feet 4 5 (As many as possible on set 4) 4 5 (As many as possible on set 4) feet (All 4 sets) Day Two Bulgarian Bag Split Jumps- Athlete jumps- foot leaves ground every rep 4 5 per leg (As many as Sandbag Overhead Sit Up 4 5 (As many as possible on set 4) Suspension Strap Face Pulls into Bicep Curls 4 5 (As many as possible on set 4)

18 Week 5 The First Deload You may be asking yourself, what is a deload? Is it a week off? Is it where my athletes don t do any training with the homemade equipment? During a deload week, the athletes will still do work. The only difference being the work load and difficulty are much less than previous weeks. This gives the body a chance to recover in preparation for what will be coming in the second half of the season. It also keeps the athlete moving and doing work, albeit much easier than the previous 4 weeks. Day One Bodyweight Squats 3 8 Push Ups 3 8 Sandbag Bear Hug and Walk feet (All 3 sets) Day Two Bodyweight Walking Lunges 3 8 per leg Walking Planks 3 40 seconds per set Farmers Handle Skull Crushers 3 8

19 Week 6 Blending Strength and Speed Now that the first 4 weeks have been completed and the first deload week is over, your athletes will know how much weight they are capable of using and they will be rested enough to be ready to attack the second phase of this program. The second phase of this program starts to incorporate more explosive movements into the foundational strength training learned the first 4 weeks of this training program. By blending the explosive movements in to the program at this point of the season, the athletes will begin to make the shift from pure strength training to moving that newfound strength with much more speed. Day One Sandbag Clean Press and Drop 4 6 (Do not go past 6 on Bulgarian Bag Thrusters 4 6 (Do not go past 6 on Farmers Handle Floor Press 4 12 (All 4 sets) Day Two Bulgarian Bag Jumping Lunges 4 6 per leg (Do not go past 6 on High Plank With Sandbag on Back 4 As long as possible all 4 sets Farmers Handle Bent Over Rows 4 6 per arm (As many as

20 Week 7 Blending Strength and Speed Looking back at the previous 6 weeks, you will notice there has been a gradual taper to this training. You started building a big base the first 4 weeks, improving strength as the weeks went on. Weeks 6, 7, and 8 will gradually take away the pure strength movements and will gradually blend in more explosive movements. This will lead up to the last phase of training where all of the exercises are extremely fast and explosive. It is important to keep in mind the meaning of the term explosive. Explosive movements are done with lighter weight moving extremely quickly for lower reps until speed decreases. For example, pushing a heavy weighted sled up and down a parking lot is not explosive. The weight is too heavy. The movement takes too long. The exercise is slow. Explosive exercises are light, fast, and end before endurance kicks in. Day One Bulgarian Bag Jumping Squats 4 5 (Do not go past 5 on Sandbag Shouldering 4 5 per shoulder (Do not go past 5 on last set) Explosive Push Ups 4 5 (All 4 sets) Day Two Sandbag Clean Squat Drop 4 5 (Do not go past 5 on Farmers Handle Skull Crushers 4 10 (Do not go past 10 on Bulgarian Bag Jumping Lunge 4 5 per leg (All 4 sets)

21 Week 8 Blending Strength and Speed Week 8 is the last week where there is a blend of strength training and explosive movement training. After this week there is a deload and three weeks of pure explosion and speed training. Up to this point, these workouts certainly haven t been exciting in any way, but they have been effective. You must think of this type of training like that rusty old hammer in your garage. There is nothing special about it. It is, however, a great design. It gets the job done. It is reliable. Even though it isn t fancy, the design has stood the test of time and will be around for a long time. These workouts have been basic and powerful. No frills training that will be with your athletes for quite a while. Day One Sandbag Clean, Press, and Drop 5 4 (Do not go past 4 on Explosive Push Up with Bulgarian Bag on Back 5 4 (Do not go past 4 on last set) Suspension Strap Row 5 8 (All 4 sets) Day Two Bulgarian Bag Jumping Squats 5 4 (Do not go past 4 on Farmers Handle Overhead Press 5 4 (Do not go past 4 on Sandbag Loading Over a Bar 5 4 (All 4 sets)

22 Week 9 The Second Deload If all went according to plan, your athletes should be flying through their workouts. The reps should be quick, explosive, and snappy. Your athletes may be coming up to you telling you the weight is too light and that the workouts are too easy. Remember, that is what explosive training is all about. Lighter weights, lower reps, moving the implement as fast as possible. You should also be seeing more explosive movements on the track and in the throws. During this deload week, the athletes will still do work. This is the exact same deload workout that your athletes saw during week 5 and the same workout they will see again in week 13. Just like before, there is a lot of bodyweight training and the exercises are meant to be a change from what they have done the past three weeks. Nothing about this workout is fast, powerful, or explosive. This workout is all about giving their body a different external load, providing a clean slate for the work that will come in the last four weeks of the season. Day One Bodyweight Squats 3 8 Push Ups 3 8 Sandbag Bear Hug and Walk feet (All 3 sets) Day Two Bodyweight Walking Lunges 3 8 per leg Walking Planks 3 40 seconds per set Farmers Handle Skull Crushers 3 8

23 Week 10 Explosive Movement Week 10 is the first week of pure explosive movement training. This is where strength is completely removed from the equation and the focus is purely on moving the implement in front of you as quickly as possible. Week 10 is also where some of the bigger state invitational meets and last chance state qualifying meets happen. You should start to see major increases in speed and power as this part of the training progresses. Week 10 is extremely similar to Week 6. The movements are very similar but the sets and reps are going to be different. Where week 6 had a good blend of strength and explosion, week 10 is purely about explosion and power development. You will only be doing 3 reps per exercise but the reps should stay the same speed the entire time FAST! Day One Sandbag Clean Press and Drop 6 3 (Do not go past 3 on Bulgarian Bag Thrusters 6 3 (Do not go past 3 on Farmers Handle Floor Press 6 3 (All 4 sets) Day Two Bulgarian Bag Jumping Lunges 6 3 per leg (Do not go past 3 on Explosive Push Up with Sandbag on Back 6 3 (Do not go past 3 on Farmers Handle Clean and Press 6 3 (Do not go past 3 on

24 Week 11 Explosive Movement Week 11 is the second week of pure explosive training. Very similar to week 10, the exercises will instead be done for 5 sets of 3 reps. This is a form of tapering often used by Olympic weightlifters. The reps stay the same allowing intensity and volume to stay high. The amount of sets will start to decrease allowing for more rest and recovery as the weeks move on. You may see some repetition of exercises over the 3 weeks explosive phase and there is good reason for this. Your athletes should now have a great understanding of what it means to move quickly. They now know what it means to deliver power into an implement like a sandbag or a Bulgarian bag. Their goal is to move faster every week, not lift a heavier implement or add more difficulty to the exercise. Day One Bulgarian Bag Jumping Squats 5 3 (Do not go past 3 on Sandbag Shouldering 5 3 per shoulder (Do not go past 3 on last set) Explosive Push Ups 5 3 (All 5 sets) Day Two Sandbag Clean Squat Drop 5 3 (Do not go past 3 on Farmers Handle Overhead Sit Up 5 3 (Do not go past 3 on Bulgarian Bag Jumping Lunge 5 3 per leg (All 5 sets)

25 Week 12 Explosive Movement Week 12 can be confused as the last week of real work in this program. While this is the last week of focusing on pure explosive movements, the season is not over yet. Hopefully you have seen a big increase in power and explosiveness the past 3 weeks and this week is where the program starts to be realized. Don t forget about the week 13 deload. This is where all of the energy is stored back up and your athletes will hit their peak for the championship goal meet. Every exercise listed below your athletes have been performing all season. There is nothing new that will be a challenge. Everything must be done with as much power and force as possible to get the best results. There is one less set than last week, giving even more rest and recovery to your athletes as the season tapers down to an end. Day One Sandbag Clean, Press, and Drop 4 3 (Do not go past 3 on Explosive Push Up with Bulgarian Bag on Back 4 3 (Do not go past 3 on last set) Suspension Strap Row 4 5 (All 4 sets) Day Two Bulgarian Bag Jumping Squats 4 3 per leg (Do not go past 3 on Farmers Handle Overhead Press 4 3 (Do not go past 3 on Sandbag Loading Over a Bar 4 3 (All 4 sets)

26 Week 13 The Final Deload You ve made it. This is championship week. This is the final week leading up to that big meet you have been planning on peaking at for the past 13 weeks. It may be your state championship, your division championship, or a regional championship. Your athletes are starting to get nervous, the butterflies are there, and the anticipation for that big meet is higher than ever. This is where a lot of coaches and athletes start to make bad judgments about their training leading up to a championship. Some coaches give too much time off. The workouts are too easy. Some coaches push athletes too hard. They kill them early in the week trying to simulate what the meet on Saturday will be like. Your training needs to be steady and should hopefully follow the gradual taper you set in motion back on week 1. This week is your last deload. No pressure, no explosion, no power. Just walking through the motions getting the exercises done at the athlete s own pace. They ve done it before and should be ready for it again. Only this time they know what they are deloading for. The championship meet at the end of the week! Day One Bodyweight Squats 3 8 Push Ups 3 8 Sandbag Bear Hug and Walk feet (All 3 sets) Day Two Bodyweight Walking Lunges 3 8 per leg Walking Planks 3 40 seconds per set Farmers Handle Skull Crushers 3 8

27 Conclusion Now that the season is winding down, you may go back and want to tweak or adjust some things to allow this training to fit around your practice schedule. You may have found out that you need to make a few more sandbags or Bulgarian bags this off- season. You may also take some of the training and try to incorporate it into a traditional weight training program in your high school or college weight room. I encourage you to make adjustments and to make this training your own. Customize this as you will. Please make sure, if you do make changes, to keep the original spirit of the training in place. Explosive movements at the end to halp your athletes peak. A great blend of explosive movements and strength based movements in the middle to provide strength increases and introduce some of the faster, more ballistic training. And a few weeks at the beginning of the season to build a great foundation of strength that will be with your athletes for the weeks to follow. I remember sitting down with the legendary powerlifting coach and owner of Westside Barbell, Louie Simmons. We were talking about programming and I moved way too quickly into specific exercises and specialty training. He asked me a question: Mathematically, how tall is a pyramid. Patting myself on the back, I told him a pyramid can only be as tall as its base. He smiled, leaned over the table, and said, Then why the heck are you talking about specialty exercises when you have no base of training. As coaches, we fall into the trap of using small specialty exercises before general movements. Start big, taper, and peak just like a pyramid. As long as your program follows those rules, you ll be successful.

28 Other Resources for Track and Field Training Like all good coaches, I hope you continue your education so you can provide the best information to your athletes. Here are some great resources for you to check out. Complete Track and Field: Primal Athlete Training Center: Primal YouTube Channel: Primal Facebook Page: PrimalATC on Twitter: