The more often we train the better results we get right? It sounds good but that belief has been the downfall of many a VJ trainee. I get questions all the time from people asking me, "Kelly if I do these workouts twice as often won't I get results twice as fast? Don't we wish it was that simple. A better phrase is, "The more often we "can" train OPTIMALLY the better.” Most people can't train as often as they want because they don't recover fast enough to benefit from frequent workouts. People are typically limited by their ability to recover from training, not by their ability to put the hours in. If that weren’t the case all anybody would need to do to become great is train 24/7.
Having said that, if all things are equal the more often we can train in an optimal physiological state, the better gains we can potentially make. Think about it: If you train once every 5 days over the course of a year that's 70 workouts. If you train 5 days a week that's 260 workouts over the course of a year. Lots more stimulation over the course of a year and lots more potential gains. For that reason you might look into dedicated high frequency training. The basic tenet behind high frequency training is,
"Train as often as possible while staying as fresh as possible." It IS possible to train every day (or almost every day), as long as you limit the volume and stay fresh.
The problem many people run into is they try to perform workouts designed for lower frequency, while doing volume that requires lower frequency. You can train long or you can train frequently, but you can't do both at the same time. Anytime you train all the frequently you have to make sure your workouts are short and don't create excess fatigue, or you'll burn yourself out. Another PROBLEM with many VJ trainees is they already have inherent problems with recovery for 2 major reasons:
1. They're involved in sports which inherently contribute lots of fatigue with lots of running.
2. A disproportionate number of them are long limbed naturally thin ectomorphs, and many ectomorphs don't tolerate stress well as is. They have a hard time recovering from life itself, much less life itself in addition to hours and hours of training per week.
Having said that, IF you recover well and don't have a whole lot on your plate as far as
extraneous activity (practices, games, running, stress levels, lack of sleep etc.) it is possible to train more often, you just have to take precautions to keep yourself fresh.
Here are some guidelines to consider:
1. Keep your workouts short: A high frequency workout shouldn't take long to complete - 45 minutes tops.
2. Keep the exercise number low: You should have no more than 1 or 2 exercises for each component (speed-strength, strength-speed, strength) and no more than 5 total exercises per workout. You might have one plyometric exercise, one strength-speed exercise like an olympic lift, and one strength training exercise like a squat. Throw in an auxiliary exercise and that's it. A good maxim to follow is the 3 to 5
rule: Three to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps with 3 to 5 exercises 3 to 5 days per week. For exercises like plyos and speed-strength movements like jump squats, you can increase the repetitions above that, but follow the basic 3 to 5 exercise rule.
3. Keep your sets and reps low: The strength component of the workout on a heavy exercise like a squat should typically have no more than 10 total reps per workout if you’re going to hit it more than 3 days per week. That's PER WORKOUT. Typically your reps would be in the 1-3 rep range. This limits volume accumulation so you can hit your nervous system without trashing your muscles.
4. Keep your adrenaline low: If you train very frequently you can't also train very intensively.
Intensiveness refers to how much psychological effort you put into your workout. If you're the type that likes to get all jacked up and yell a lot when you're training, you'll have to put that on hold. High intensiveness workouts are inherently quite draining and can't be repeated all that frequently. If you're going to train frequently you CAN train hard and put a lot into your workouts, you just have to learn where to draw the line as far as workout motivation is concerned. If you get too jacked up every time you train you won't be able to train as often, because that extra arousal prolongs nervous system recovery time. If in doubt lay off stimulants like caffeine, as they can artificially increase intensiveness.
5. Use cycles: Don't try to set PRs each and every workout. Use buffers and cycles. A back-cycle is where you intentionally reduce the weight for a workout or 2. Here is an example of what your top weights on an exercise like a squat might look like:
Workout 1: 100 x 1 Workout 2: 105 x 1 Workout 3: 110 x 1 Workout 4: 105 x 1 Workout 5: 110 x 1 Workout 6: 115 x 1 Workout 7: 110 x 1
See how you took 3 steps forward and 1 step back? That's a backcycle. You can use 1 rep, 2 reps, 3 reps or whatever, but keep that basic idea in mind.
6. Get your recovery in: If you have problems sleeping, high frequency training might not be the best choice for you. If you have problems eating enough to keep weight on, it might not be for you. If you're gonna train often you need to make sure your sleep and calorie intake are in order. You don't need to be on any cutting edge esoteric diet, but if you're the type of guy that looks at a workout and loses 5 lbs you'll probably have a hard time making gains training frequently. Also, if you have a full plate of conditioning/running on your plate, via practices and such, high frequency training might not be a good option for you. There are examples of high frequency workouts in the workout section of this manual but here's a quick example of a very general one:
Depth jump for height from 18 inch box Hang Power clean: work up to max triple
Squat variation: work up to heavy double (no more than 4 sets total) Calf raise: 2 x 15-20
You'd repeat that workout up to 5x per week. Here is an example of a periodized mini-cycle:
Week 1: Work up to heavy triple on power clean and squat, use an 18 inch box for 10 reps of depth jumps
Week 2: Work up to heavy double on power clean and squat, use a 24 inch box for 10 reps of Depth jumps
Week 3: Work up to heavy singles on power clean and squat, use a 30 inch box for 10 reps of depth jumps
Week 4: Cut your frequency in half, perform singles on power clean and squat, but with 10% less weight than previous week. Eliminate depth jumps and replace with running jumps for height.
Week 5: start over with week 1
There are many options available, for example, you could follow the exact format but do your strength work one day and jumping/plyometric work the next. High frequency training can make you very strong very quickly, and very explosive very quickly, but there are also a couple of additional things to consider:
A: High frequency training makes you really good at the particular exercises you're doing and a big portion of your gains can be attributed to that: When you hit an exercise really frequently you really learn to push your inter and intra-muscular coordination to the max and truly "figure out" and grease the groove of a particular exercise. Thus, a substantial percentage of the gains you make can be due to increased coordination and specialization on the particular exercise. That's not a negative thing. In fact, it's one reason you WANT to jump fairly frequently if you're a beginner - the more often you jump the more coordinated you get at it. But, keep in mind if you put 50 pounds on your squat on a high frequency protocol a substantial percentage of that increase may be because you simply got much better at squatting, and not necessarily because your muscles are really that much stronger.
When we strengthen our muscles for the purpose of jumping we really shouldn't care about whether we're doing better on a particular exercise as long as we get stronger generally on most exercises. Baseline general strength is what matters for athletic applications. It's the "meat" strength that can be applied elsewhere versus the "grooved" strength specific to the lift. As an example, say an athlete eliminates squats from his routine and focuses on bulgarian split squats and front squats for 2 months. After 2 months his split squats are up, his front squats are up, AND his VJ is up, but his squat is down. Does that mean he got weaker? No, it just means he lost coordination on the squat. Should he care? I wouldn't. Strength exercises are just tools and barometers we use to gain and monitor strength improvements. It is possible to get stronger overall but weaker on a particular exercise. It's also possible
to get stronger on a particular exercise but not much stronger overall. This isn't something to be overly concerned about just something to keep in mind.
B: High frequency training can amplify movement pathologies: If your technique on a particular exercise is poor, or if you have movement and mobility imbalances that show up on a particular
exercise, hitting that exercise at a frequent rate can make those pathologies worse. So, make sure your form is GOOD if you're going to hit an exercise at high frequency. One of the benefits of high frequency training is it gives you more opportunities to work on your technique.
That about sums it up. Check out the programs section for some more high frequency templates!