Sets and Reps?
The four most important lifts for an athlete are the three power lifts plus the clean. The three power lifts are the sq uat, bench press and dead lift. These four lifts will strengthen dramatically the major muscle groups an athlete needs in such sports as football, basketball, track and field, wrestling, baseball, hockey, soccer or any other sport that requires a maximum summation offorce. These four lifts should be attacked with great intensity. Lifts should be charted and the coach should take advantage of the great competitive attitude in nearly all athletes.
I have found motivational charts, when properly used, will stimulate an unbelievable desire to achieve in those four lifts. If you have 10 or 12 lifts, a coach will never come close to getting the same com petitive intensity to achieve. Another unique feature of power weight training is the length and frequency of workouts. A top body builder's routine would be 3-6 hours a day, six days a week. There is no wayan athlete can train like that. A power weight trained athlete can get top maximum results with 3-6 hours or less per week split up with 2-4 workouts per week. week. An athlete can progress much faster with two different and varied squat workouts per week.
Supplementary exercises should also be done with the basic four power lifts. These lifts might include dips, curls, stiff-leg dead lifts, incline presses, power pulls or any other special lift. However, a coach should only chart and record the basic four lifts and the supplementary exercises should be done at the end of the workout. All energy and intensity should be directed towards the basic four lifts.
Each of the four lifts need only be done twice a week. There is no way a man can squat heavy three times a Sorry folks, but there is no magic formula on sets and reps which produce the best results for every individual. However, if you understand that statement,' you have a great chance to succeed. Do Not, I repeat, Do not type up a workout, tape it to the wall, say "Go to it" and leave it there for eight months. Routines need to be changed at least every three ~onths. Generally speaking, you just can't go wrong with 5 sets of 1-5 repetitions. You may use any combination. For example: 5 sets of5 reps or 3 sets of 3 reps and 2' sets of 2 reps; or 5-4-3-2-1 reps.
A burnout set of 10 reps may be used at the end of a workout. If the time to workout is less than an hour, four sets or even three sets may be used. But remember, it takes about eight good workouts just to be able to do 5 good sets. An athlete should begin his training program with 2 sets of 5 reps.
Sets and Reps? seen. One strength coach strongly encouraged his athletes and others to do this routine in pu blications. Also, avoid circuit-type training. By this I mean doing one set of curls, then one set of presses, then something else, etc. You cannot power weight train effectively in this manner. Do all of your squats, then go to another lift. You can do circuittype training with supplementary exercises on another day or after the power workout.
Avoid 3 sets of 10. This program comes from the 1930's. It's kind of halfway between muscle toning and body building. It is not for today's athletes. Avoid like the plague the system of doing only one set with as many reps as you can. It produces probably the worst effect on athletes that I've ever Bench Press Max is 200: 150 x 5, 160 x 4, 170 x 3,180 x 2,190 x 1, 135 x 10 Squat Max is 350: 235 x 5, 265 x 5, 285 x 5, 305 x 3,325 x 2,235 x 10 Dead Lift Max is 450: 355 x 5
From BFS Magazine — November/December 1980. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
