YEAR ROUND TRAINING FOR THE MULTIPLE SPORT ATHLETE
“Linear Periodization versus Conjugate Periodization”
Strength training is more common amongst all sports now than it has ever been. In addition most school coaches are trying to encourage their athletes to play as many sports as they can (help with variety of experiences, small schools need athletes to play multiple sports, avoid overuse injuries, and avoid burnout). What this needs to include is a look at how you are training your athletes in the weight room and if it corresponds with your approach to building an overall athletic program and not just a single sport.
Coaches / players of any sport will benefit from increased strength, power, and muscular endurance. And many sports size/muscular hypertrophy. Many times this is a difficult task due to the time needed to develop sport specific skills in addition to balancing the academic and extracurricular activities in private schools – add on the fact that most private schools do not have athletic period and it becomes a large hurdle.
Traditional or linear periodization has micro/macro/meso cycles – with the concept of training that will lead to a single peak performance. Stages/Phases would include a general preparation, hypertrophy, strength, power, transition phase.
Strength training is more common amongst all sports now than it has ever been. In addition most school coaches are trying to encourage their athletes to play as many sports as they can (help with variety of experiences, small schools need athletes to play multiple sports, avoid overuse injuries, and avoid burnout). What this needs to include is a look at how you are training your athletes in the weight room and if it corresponds with your approach to building an overall athletic program and not just a single sport.
Coaches / players of any sport will benefit from increased strength, power, and muscular endurance. And many sports size/muscular hypertrophy. Many times this is a difficult task due to the time needed to develop sport specific skills in addition to balancing the academic and extracurricular activities in private schools – add on the fact that most private schools do not have athletic period and it becomes a large hurdle.
Traditional or linear periodization has micro/macro/meso cycles – with the concept of training that will lead to a single peak performance. Stages/Phases would include a general preparation, hypertrophy, strength, power, transition phase.
An example regarding football:
Nov, Dec, Jan – focus on hypertrophy
Volume = high, intensity low
Feb, Mar, Apr – focus on strength
Volume – low, intensity high
May, June –focus on power
Addition of plyometrics, Olympic lifts..
August – pre-season
Sport specific movements, conditioning
*The only thing worse is having a pre-season that includes weight training – only to stop weight training during the season. This the time where you want to peaking – play-offs you are now at a strength and power point where you began, if not below.
Conjugate training or a Tier system will allow you to continue to develop all the athletic qualities that you want your athletes to posses during the season and the coach that gets them following your season will also want these qualities:
· The max effort addresses strength (using heavy weights)
· The Dynamic and Olympic address power (moving the bar at a fast rate)
· The Repetition method used for supplemental exercises will help address hypertrophy and muscular endurance (reps exceeding 8)
Example of conjugate program:
Monday/Day 1:
5 sets of Max Effort Lower body (example:
4 sets of Olympic movement (example: DB Snatch)
3 sets of dynamic upper body (example: Dynamic Bench Press)
2 sets of band pushdowns for burnout – repetition method
Wednesday/Day 2:
5 sets of Olympic movement (example: Hang Clean)
4 sets of max effort upper body (example: 3 board press)
3 sets of dynamic effort lower body (example: box jumps)
2 sets of 12-15 band good mornings – repetition method
Saturday/Day 3:
5 sets of upper body (example: DB Incline)
4 sets of dynamic lower (example Dynamic Box squat)
3 sets of Olympic (example Hang Snatch Pulls)
2 sets of 15-20 band pull-aparts
OPTION # 2 :
Circuit training or complex training – to serve as hypertrophy, general physical preparedness, recovery work
*may use option 1 or 2 based on how far along in season or how much player played in game*
This is a subject that cannot be covered in a short article, however at the least I hope it forces the reader to evaluate what they are currently doing in regards to training their athletes and continue to always look for the best way. If you have questions or would like to discuss see below:
Suggested Readings:
“The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook” by Joe Kenn
“The West-Side Barbell Book of Methods” by Louie Simmons
For more information/resources go to
coachjburk@sbcglobal.net