Planning the Macrocycle: Tips for the Young Strength Coach

Planning the Macrocycle: Tips for the Young Strength Coach

The idea to write this article came to me while thinking of ways to improve my
interviewing skills. Essentially, my problem was the inability to put my “training
philosophy” into a few short words that a sport coach could interpret. Perhaps the
“philosophy” question is the most common question during an interview. However, I
find it difficult to put what we do into a few short sentences. There are so many
different loading schemes, exercise selections and progressions, and individual and
team needs called upon in certain circumstances that narrowing hours and hours of
planning and hair pulling down to a simple explanation doesn't do our job justice.
Simply stating “I do everything” sounds too much like “I have no idea what I’m doing
so I just put a bunch of random stuff together that’s difficult and hoped for the best.”

It also occurred to me that many interns are subject to creating programs as part of
their curriculum. Clearly, this is an essential aspect of our job, but interns are sensitive.
Their feelings are like that of a guest on Maury after finding out he's the father. One
piece of bad news and their lives are over. While criticism of their programs will help
them in the end, interns are asked to create programs with little to no experience and
limited guidance. This may be unfair to the interns, but this is collegiate athletics with
jobs on the line. Some things take priority.
With the scenarios mentioned above in mind, I thought it might be helpful to illustrate
some of the programming tools I use while mapping out my macrocycles. It should be
stated that this is what has worked for me. There are a ton of other considerations
when programming, which is why Supertraining was written. The purpose of this article
is to help young strength coaches with some basic tips for programming while
referring them to helpful sources along the way.

Creating an annual plan

While I can't recall ever being tested and I don't trust the norms and standards created
by our public education system, I can say with a small beacon of confidence that I'm a
visual learner. This is why I find annual planning schemes very helpful as a starting
point in programming. As with training in general, I like to look at the big picture while
determining how to put my athletes in the best position for competitive success.

I've attached an example of an annual layout I did for collegiate wrestling. General
templates for these can be found in a bunch of books. However, I prefer the example
available in Joe Kenn’s The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook, which is a book that
every strength coach should have. It isn't the exact template in his book, but you
should modify it regardless to suit your style and needs as a coach.

A few notes about the plan—the loading schemes will change throughout the course of
the year. This is inevitable, and it's probably a bad idea to plan that far ahead. However,
I like to determine where I want to be at certain points in the year and work backward
to achieve these intensities. Putting loading schemes in the plan helps. In addition,
clear physiological goals are set for each block of the year. Therefore, when you do
have to make changes, they are easier to make because you understand what the
goals of the mesocycle are and can easily stay on track.

It should be noted that the goals of each block consist of training compatible motor
abilities. It's essential that you don't train incompatible training methods
simultaneously (i.e. lactic and aerobic endurance systems). This results in spinning
your tires and wasting time. To see what I mean, check out the chart from Vladmir
Issurin’s book Block Periodization, which details compatible training modalities.

You may also notice that I use a peaking index created by Tudor Bompa. Each number
corresponds with different levels of readiness, fatigue, muscle soreness, and training
intensity. This is helpful in maintaining perspective for where you need to be at certain
points in the year. Check out an outstanding article explaining the peaking index on
Mladen Jovanovic’s website. In fact, do yourself a favor and read everything that he
has on his blog. It's far more informative than anything I can write.

Finally, each block is three to four weeks long. This depends on the competition
season, uncontrollable events, the coach’s demands, and how many weeks are
available to you. The set/rep schemes (although not entered) are based off of Prilepin’s
chart and fluctuate between high, low, and optimal, depending on the time of year,
goals for each block, and necessary adjustments through observation. Also, the base
intensities can act as a deload week, especially if the primary stimulus is changed. Just
something to keep in mind.
Other considerations

Before moving on, I think it's important to mention the obvious. Your goals in each
block of training are dependent on the demands of the sport. The entire year of
training culminates to being prepared for the competition period. Intelligent
programming doesn't consist of repeating an eight- or twelve-week program over and
over year after year. It sounds painfully obvious, but you’d be surprised. As the great
Charlie Francis said, “If we repeat the same program year after year, our window of
opportunity for improvement becomes less and less.”

I firmly believe that being adequately prepared for competition is dependent on an

understanding of identifying the dominant energy systems of the sport and training
them. Get strong and master the basics in the weight room and get in “sport-specific”
condition. I'm glad I could throw sport-specific in there—the most bastardized concept
in the game.

Most team sports predominately utilize the aerobic and alactic-anaerobic pathways.
Explaining the energy systems is a whole other article. Joel Jamieson of
8weeksout.com recently came out with an outstanding book on energy systems called
Ultimate MMA Conditioning. If you're unfamiliar with this book or Mr. Jamieson’s
website, check it out and get better.

The actual content of the mesocycles is dependent on what you think is best for your
athletes and is beyond the scope of this article. However, I believe it's important to
progress your lifts as well as your warm up. Far too many warm ups consist of running
around a little bit and doing some arm circles. Make this time count for something by
targeting common injury and immobility sites like the shoulder capsule, neck (head),
hips, and knees. No matter how much nutritional information you give your athletes,
they will always live on a steady diet of Pop-Tarts and Red Baron if they eat at all.
Therefore, your recovery methods become paramount, especially if you want to
continue to push during the preparation phases and get stronger during the
competition period.

My final point is train what you intend to improve. If your goal is to improve sprint
mechanics and acceleration, train that. If improving aerobic capacity is your goal, train
it. Don’t just put a bunch of cones and ladders everywhere and call it speed, agility,
and quickness or COD or any other catchy term you found on the Internet. Lumping a
bunch of stuff together and having your athletes work hard is just that—a lump of crap.
Smart training can be difficult and demanding while supporting the improvement of
athletic ability. If an athlete asks what he's trying to accomplish during a training
session, you'd better have an answer for him outside of “hard work.”
The purpose of this article was to help the young strength coach understand a little bit
better how to map out an annual plan. This may have sent some people down a trail of
endless articles and more confusion than anything, but Buddy Morris said it best with
"The more I know, the more I realize what I don’t know” or something to that effect. I
believe it's important to understand that having a plan will put your training goals in
perspective and keep you on track throughout the year.

Having said all this, if you can’t coach the lifts, all the programming knowledge in the
world is useless. So do your athletes a favor—coach ‘em up! If anyone has any
questions or is in need of some help, I would be glad to help as best I can. Email me
with any questions.