Week 9 - My Quads Are On Fire - Thrower Preseason Training

Wow!

This week really ups the intensity of the preseason workouts.

Week 9 is the start of the intensification phase of this training cycle. In previous weeks, you've probably heard me use the word "intensity" to mean the amount of weight on the bar. This week, I talk about upping the intensity in the weight room.

What does that mean? Basically I am looking for you and your athletes to push the pace, get more aggressive, get angry at the bar, and move some weight.

To give you an idea (and do some math homework), this week I am asking you to do 80% of the heaviest weight you have ever done in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. For many of you, that heaviest weight was done during week 8 when you found your 2 rep max.

Let's say, for example (and easy math) that your 2 rep max was 300 pounds in the squat. So that is 600 pounds total over the 2 reps. Now let's say the set before that was 270 for 2 reps. That's a total of 540 pounds for that set. And maybe the set before that was 240 for 2 reps. 480 total pounds for that set. So in total your three heaviest sets all had a total volume (sets x reps x weight) of 1620 pounds.

This week, you are going to take 80% of that top weight of 300 pounds and do 5 sets of 3 reps.

That's .80 x 300 which equals 240 pounds.

240 pounds x 3 reps x 5 sets equals 3600 pounds.

That's almost 2000 pounds more that last week's total volume in your top sets.

That is a lot more intensity needed to get the work done.

Here is the week 9 video that explains all of this:

A big difference is going to be the deadlift.

With deadlift, doing more than one rep per set at a top weight is pretty taxing to the lower back. Even with perfect form the low back gets a little beat up. The lowering phase (the eccentric portion where you lower the bar) is where a lot of that wear and tear happens.

For this reason, deadlift is 6 sets of 1. So you are still doing 6 total reps of 80% but it is split up so your body can take the work without risking too much fatigue or injury this close to the start of the season.

That's about it from here. I hope you are all enjoying the workouts and seeing the benefits. Only 4 weeks until testing week and only 4 and a half weeks until the start of the indoor season.

As always...THROW FAR!!

Coach Matt Ellis