| Lower Body Template | Upper Body Template |
| Warm Up: Dynamic Jumping Jacks Seal Jacks Flings Lounges Manuel Squate Gate Swings Single/Double Leg Glute Raise Mt. Climbers Groiners | Warm Up: Jumping Jacks Seal Jacks Flings Arm Circles Lounges Manuel Squate Gate Swings Single/Double Leg Glute Raise Mt. Climbers Groiners
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| Main Lifts: Squat/Leg Press DB Lounges | Main Lifts: Bench Press (Flat) Dead Lift |
| Assistance Exercises | Assistance Exercises |
| Posterior Chain: Ham Glute Raise Band Leg Curl Ham Iso Leg Curl | Upper Back: Latt Pull Down Hammer Row Pull Ups 1 arm DB Row Band Good Mornings |
| Single Leg: Single Leg Squat Single Leg Wall Sit Single Leg Leg Press | Triceps: DB Triceps Extention Triceps Pull Down |
| Extra Assistance: Squat Jumps Box Step Ups Glut Med walks | Shoulders: DB Shoulder Press/ or Hammer DB or Band Shoulder Raises Incline Biceps for added shoulder work |
| Calves: Calve Raises on Leg Press Single Leg Calf Raises on Ledge | Biceps: DB Hammer Curl Incline DB Curl |
| Hip Mobility: Side to Side Leg Swings Leg Swings Lateral Squats | Grip: Grip Walks
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| Flexibility: Hip Extention Pancake Split Prep…splits not necessary Toe on Heel for Calves | Flexibility: Wrist/forearm stretch Cat Stretch Seal Stretch Toes to Hand stretch Arm Behind Head Arm across body |
Both of these training programs follow a similar method. The first and most important part of any work out is the warm up. There are several reasons why warming up is important. Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of my personal idols, explains in his encyclopedia how, “when you use a muscle the temperature in the area rises and the ability of the muscle to contract forcefully become greater”. He explains how warming up “pumps fresh oxygenated blood to the area, raises the blood pressure, and increases the heart rate”. Warming up does what it says…..warms the muscles up. In addition to the dynamic warm-up, I am a fan of doing a few warm-up sets prior to each individual lift. In the FAUs recent 1RM testing it was clear to see who had properly warmed up and who hadn’t.
Stretching was once performed at the beginning of the workout. Recent studies have shown that stretching does not in fact have much influence on the athlete. I have personally refused to believe that this is the truth. As a gymnast flexibility was pivotal for my progression. I believe that stretching post workout is important for maintaining range of motion with increasing muscle mass. Extra stretching techniques are often implemented to increase flexibility. I have also learned that stretching prior to lifting weakens the muscles and lowers ones lifts.
Since the multi-joint exercises require the most motor unit recruitment, they should always go first in ones workouts. These exercises also tend to be the heavier lifts. You would not want these lifts to be compromised by weakening the muscles prior to the lift. The assistance and other exercises done, focus on isolation of individual muscles. These muscles may be used in the main lift. It is common protocol in the weight room to move from large to small muscle groups.
If 50 Baseball Players were in the gym at one time, it would be challenging to get the workout done in the allotted time. Given 90 minutes, I feel that I could warm the team up together. I could conduct the dynamic warm-up outside if needed. Since there are two major lifts on each workout day, I would split the team into 2 groups. This would be much easier on the Lower body day than in the Upper body day. The 2 main lifts on the upper body day both require the racks. This makes splitting the exercises up much more difficult. During the upper body day, there would be 6 people on each rack. I might possibly put the pitchers on the hammer chest press to save their shoulders and possibly free up more rack space. There is also the chance that some of the athletes will be injured and will require an entirely different workout. I feel that all in all this would be fairly easy and would go off without a hitch. I might also have some athletes do leg press rather than the squat.
If I was faced with 2 athletic teams, both working lower body, I would have to think quick on my feet. The way I went about the workout would be whether or not the teams recently competed, and which team has the soonest competition coming up. There are only 14 athletes on the Men’s Basketball team, but there are 31 on the cross country team. I would probably put the basketball team on the racks and put the cross country team doing a circuit. If they were both going to do the lower body routine that I designed, it could easily be managed by keeping the groups separate. I think that time would be managed well by putting the cross country through a circuit followed by some legs conditioning. These situations can both be handled well by being creative and resourceful.
