[mschatz]

You want to be sucessful in your sport? Then you should dedicate as much time as your schedule will allow to become as impressive an athlete as possible. What makes a great athlete? A solid foundation of strength, explosive speed and jumping ability, and the endurance to perform at or near optimal levels throughout the entire match. This is a routine that worked well for me when i was a competitive athlete. The tools to achieve this level of athleticism are the following:

*Heavy compound movements that build functional strength throughout the body, especially in the legs, back and core. This is why Heavy deadlifts and squats should be included as part of any athlete's training regimen

*Fast movements that train the body to operate quickly and explosively. These include the olympic lifts and their variations, plyometrics and sprints at or near full speed. Sprints should include variations such as overspeed drills, hill and/or stadium sprints, etc

*Ballistics training with the use of medicine balls or other tools to train an athlete to function despite the contact that they will experience in competition (basically, training to overcome being gun-shy at contact)

Training schedules will vary based on competition season, the demands of work/family/etc, but below is what i view as more or less ideal to become the fastest, strongest, most explosive athlete that your genetics will allow

First 2 Months - Focus on building a core amount of functional strength. Any of the power-lifting type routines outlined in the stickies will work. The focus should be on movements such as squat and deadlift variations, OH and Bench presses, pull movements such as rows, CHINS, and clean/snatch pulls. While some olympic lifts can and maybe should be used, the focus now is to build a solid base that your speed training will build on. No plyometrics or sprints at this time

Second 2 months - The weight training focus will shift slightly to include more and more explosive lifts. Clean and snatch variations should be the first movements on each lifting day, and strict OH presses can slowly be replaced with push presses and jerks. We will begin to implement sprints into the regimen. These can be introduced with a series of 75-100% sprints with a distance of 20-100 dashes. Ballistics training with med. balls can be introduced at the conclusion of weight or sprint sessions.

Third 2 months - This will introduce the most intense speed training portion of this cycle. Weight lifting can drop to 2 days a week, focusing on several explosive movements while maintaining strength with the continued use of back squats and deadlifts. More emphasis on hang cleans, power cleans/snatches rather than the full clean or snatch. 2-3 days of speed/plyometrics training (no more than 2 days of plyos) Introduce over speed training. For those unfamilar, the simplest way to do this is to find a grassy area that is about 40-50 yds with 20 yds flat, 20 yds slight decline, and 10-20 yds flat. Start sprinting on the first flat area and hit top speed by the time you hit the decline. The decline will force you above your normal top speed by lengthening your strides. Try and maintain this enhanced speed once you hit the second straight away. You can also cycle in sand sprints, or stadium sprints. Plyo drills such as depth jumps, lateral chair jumps, etc should also be used 1-2 days a week. As this speed training, especially the overspeed is very strenuous on the body, you need to make sure to find rest on the weekends and make sure you are eating and getting enough sleep. This should apply throughout the program.

At this 6 month point, you are now quicker, stronger and have raised your vertical and horizontal leaps. You are a stud who can steal anyones woman if you so choose. Use the power for good and wreak havoc on your competition - Cheers