Opinions on program please

[donnajo]

I am entering the power endurance phase of my training and wanted to get some opinions on the program that I developed. I think it is right on but I could always use others ideas to tweak it. I am training to do an olympic triathlon and just finished my strength phase of off season training. I will do PE for the next 4 weeks and then follow it with maintenance for in season training.


Here is the program:Power Endurance Phase

week 1: 2 sets , 8 reps,
week 2: 3 sets, 10 reps
week 3: 3 sets, 12 reps
week 4: 4 sets, 15 reps

All done circuit style with no rest or as supersets with no rest.

Tempo: concentric: Explosive
eccentric: slow

Weight: 30% of 1 RMax or 10% of Bodyweight

Frequency: 2x a week Full body

Warm up:
1- Medball(M woodchop series on BOSU
2- Ladder Drills: run through, knees up run through, side facing run through,
forward straddle, slaloms

Main set:


Day 1: Pick one of these 3 circuits ( I came up with a few and couldn't decied which one I liked best so I will just rotate them or do 1 set of all circuits)


Circuit A: Leg circuit: speed squat, lunge jumps, power step ups, jump squats
Explosive push ups
MB seated twists
mountain climbers
squat thrusts with vertical jump

Circuit B: MB chest pass or MB push up
MB Squat throw
Box lateral jump
sit up w/ MB throw
Tuck jumps
jump rope or sprints

Circuit C: Incline push up depth jump ( feet on box with hands in between 2 mats, explode up and hands on mat and explode up again and back to hands between mats)
Jump lunges
MB seated twists
mountain climbers
speed squats
SB rollercoaster( vertical on ball so can do a shoulder push up)


Day 2: Done as full circuit or supersets ( no rest cuz goal is power endurance)

Explosive power exercise followed by a functional plyometric exercise

Bb Squat
MB squat throw or jump squats

Hammer Ground Base Jammer 2 arm chest press with hip thrust
Lying MB bench press throw or squat thrust w/ push up

Lat pulldown
SB MB pullover and throw

or instead of lat pulldown or in addition too?

Bb RDL
speed squats

Bb Push Press
SB rollercoaster ( shoulder push up) or MB squat throw


I just noticed that I don't have RDL's in there: Can I add them or is that too much volume? Maybe I could do them instead of pulldowns. What do you all think? I would really like them in there.They are a great explosive hip extension exercise or maybe the squats are enough for that. HMMM!


Well, that's it. What do you all think? Donnajo

[Jean-Paul]

Need to think. Off my first cursory read, your circuit A leg superset seems like an awful lot of leg exercises if you are truly following your 30% of 1RM rule.

Why the bosu ball?

Yeah, an RDL or a glute-ham raise in there somewhere will definitely help build some powerful hammies. Consider dropping one of the gazillion leg exercises you are doing in favor of ham work.

Any reason you are doing slow eccentrics when you are working on developing explosive power?

I noticed no cleans or snatch or push-press... Granted, they may not be part of an endurance focused routine, but they would fit with the theme of the exercises you've lined out so far since you seem to have an interest in explosive speed.

All that said, looks like a fun routine. Welcome to the forum!

[donnajo]

I have a push press in day 2 and I am going to put a RDL in there.

I use just BW on circuit 1, U did that circuit today and it was awesome.

The Bosu is part of the chopper
warm up to challenge core, stability , and balance.I can really feel it on the small stabilizer muscles throughout my lower leg , shin and ankle area. I have to keep my core tight to maintain control while doing chops. Try it sometime.

On the eccentrics that was a mistake. I didn't mean to put that. everything is explosive but with control.

I thought about cleans in there but I just did them in my strength phase that I just finished and was kind of sick of em. Needed a change.

Thanks, I remember you from the trainingjournal forum. donna

[Jean-Paul]

Oops, I missed push press on there. As I said though... "cursory glance". [img]smile.gif[/img]

Welcome to our little corner of the Internet, Donna. You sound like a pretty serious athlete, so you've stumbled into the right place! There're a whole log of trainers who know a WHOLE LOT MORE than I do in here, and hopefully they will chime in. This seems kind of up CB's alley in fact.

Let me know if you want to start a training log. It would be educational for you and the readers in here to follow along.

[donnajo]

I would love to start a log. What do I need to do? By the way, I work as a trainer myself. I designed my own triathlon training program, but am always looking for others opinions. You are always learning in this field. donnajo

[Jean-Paul]

Donna, I authorized your profile to start a training log (in the training log forum). Looking forward to seeing what kind of training you do.

[DKing]

I think that you are seriously ignoring maximal strength.

Doing everything with 30% of you 1 rep max is not really the best way to go about it. By the time you finish the 4 weeks there is a good chance of you being weaker then you plan to maintain that loss of strength in-season.

Also, typically with power exercises the reps are quite a bit lower. Trying explosive exercises for high reps is a great way to lose form. Power is best expressed in lower rep ranges (1-5 reps).

The other big thing I would look at is the increase in both sets and reps as you go. That means that as you are progressing into the weeks you will have to lower intensity in an already low intensity workout.

Like JP said, more hamstring work is a good call. This is something most women and runners need.

Danny

[donnajo]

My goal is power endurance. Not power. I can see lowering reps for the main exercises but as far as the functional plyo exercises it is better to increase reps. The idea is I am training for a triathlon so I need to build strength yes but be able to maintain it over a long period of time. I did the first circuit saturday and intensity was definitely there. It kicked my butt. This workout is definitely not low intensity.If I was strictly training for power I would keep the reps low and go for higher weight. In my opinion I need to be able to maintain strength for a long time, not just in short spurts. I tried to make my routine mimic the sport I am competing in. Circuits with little to no rest.

Good point on losing form over higher reps. Those reps are goals and exercises that I am weaker on I stop when my form gives.

I also just finished a pure strength phase. I was working in the 3-6 rep range for 4 weeks.

My periodization looks like this:

Phase 1 adaptation, stabilization, balance, core work

Phase 2 max strenght transition 8-12

phase 3 max strength 3-6 rep range

phase 4 power endurance

phase 5 maintenance. I was going to do a muscular endurance phase before this but I think my triathlon specific work covers that.

Thanks for the opinions and thoughts. Keep em coming. definitely some good points to help me tweak my program.