Boris Sheiko's First Book Chapters 1-4

About the author:

Boris Ivanowich Sheiko-is one of the leading and experienced trainers on power lifting, chief

trainer of the male combine team of Russia, merited trainer of the Kazakh SSR for heavy

athletics, merited trainer of the republic of Kazakhstan and merited trainer of Russia on power

lifting, су? International categories.

He worked in power lifting since 1990. Since that time he trained part of the world champions

and three Europe champions. Three of his pupils were awarded the honorary title of “Merited

sports master”, and eight are masters of international sports class. B.I. Sheiko- the first trainer of

repeatedly a world champion A. Sivoconya (Kazakhstan) and double-ply world champions S.

Mora and I. Abramovoy (Russia, republic Башкортостан.

In this book are examined the aspects of preparing sportsmen in power lifting. Here are also

presented various planning of workout process for different groups of sports mastering.

Examples of workout planning of leading sportsmen- world and Europe champions. For practical

trainers in power lifting, teachers in college and colleges of physical culture, sports workers and

judges.

I think that the time has come to stop blindly follow the workout plans of foreign athletes and

insufficiently competent Russian specialists. Moreover right now the Russian School of Power

Lifting is recognized as the leader in the international arena. The proof of that are the wins of

Russian athletes. Thus the women’s combined team over the course of 6 years from 1993 up to

current date does not know equals to itself in world championships. The men’s combined team of

Russia in 1998, 1999 years also became the world champions in team test. I would not mind the

pleasure of citing the list of our sportswomen and sportsmen, which in different years won the

title of world champions:

Women:

Tanokova E. (1991-1994), Rumyantseva N. (1993-1999), Yamskih E. (1995, 1997, 2000),

Korshunova A. (1995-1998), Tesleva S. (1996-2000), Belova O. (1996-1999), Kudinova M.

(1997-2000), Zhguleva M. (1997), Phomina E. (1998), Abramova I. (1999-2000), Payusova N.

(1999), Nelyubova V. (2000), Pusanova T. (2000), Ignatenkova E. (2000), Lugova I. (2000),

Pavlova A. (2000).

Men:

Zhuravlev S. (1992), Pavlov K. (1995, 1996, 1998, 1999), Mor S. (1997, 1998), Guryanov M.

(1997, 1999), Gankov A. (1998), Podtynnay M. (1998, 1999), Tarasenko A. (1999), Suslov N.

(1999).

By the number of medals won, the Russian sportsmen came in leading positions in Europe and

the world. And that is in spite of that the combined teams of Russia started to participate in world

and Europe championships much later than the other countries: members of International

Federation of Power lifting (men- from 1990, women- from 1993).

I am surprised by the fact that the young trainers learn and take on the planning methods for

workouts for bodybuilding, forgetting that heavy athletics are much closer than power lifting.

The main objective of bodybuilding consists of harmonious muscle building and demonstrating

the perfections of the human body. With that the athlete achieves surprising results in muscle

growth with modest showing in the development of strength. But like in heavy athletics, as well

as power lifting, the main objective is the development of the muscle strength without any

noticeable weight gain.

In physiology what is mean by the muscle strength is the maximum на?ение, which is expressed

in grams and kilograms, which they are able ?. According to V.M. Zatsyorscomu, the human

strength can be determined as his ability to overcome the outside resistance. It is distinguished by

two ideas: the absolute force and the relative force.

Absolute force- force that is displayed by a human in an exercise without taking into account the

muscle weight or the whole body weight. For example the greatest bar weight that has been

successfully pressed by an athlete, can be used as an index to find the absolute force of the arm

muscles.

Relative force- human force that is displayed in any exercise (in motion, by extending and

flexing the joint, by hitting, etc.) при?щаяся on 1 kg of body weight.

The strength of muscles depends on many factors. When the rest of the conditions are equal, the

force is proportional to the cross-section of muscles (Weber’s principle). The maximum possible

clonus (contraction) when the rest of the conditions are equal, the ? is proportional to the length

of the muscular fibril (Bernoulli’s principle)./p>

“The strength of the clonus depends on their anatomical structure. Thus, ?цы pinnate structure-

losing in magnitude of the contraction, winning in the strength of contraction, since they have

bigger physiological diameter. The primary ability of most pinnate-structured muscles, is the

development of the muscle effort, muscles with parallel and spindle-shaped fibers have the most

particularly significant change in length, due to which the more expressed movements in

different joints are provided” (Yu. M. Uflyand).

As early as 1901, I. M. Setsenov noted that “… the volition effort, sportsman’s psychical

arrangements, concentration of his attention- are the key factors in future display of his strength

on maximum level. With that the important meaning has the perfection of the neuromuscular

coordination, which is directed for using the potential capability of muscles under maximum

volition effort. The fact is that usually not all of the fibers participate during a clonus. But the

higher the intensity of the stimulation of the muscle, the more fibers participate in its contraction.

The greatest strength can be achieved only when all of the fibers of a muscle participate. In order

to get this ability, workouts in the corresponding direction are needed. The optimal way to do

this is exercises with different burdens and resistances, in which it is necessary to display

maximum and close to them (85%-100%) volition and physical effort.”

Thus, the modern progresses in sports are impossible without maximum and sub maximum

loads. But they give positive effect only if they alternate with medium and low loads, thus

creating conditions for restoring and over restoring the sportsman’s organism after high loads.

Medium loads support efficiency of the sportsman’s organism on a certain level, and low loads

that are done after high and medium, help the restoration, raise with this the efficiency of the

sportsman’s organism on workouts. Organism restoration- is an integral part of the workout

process.

A reminder, that for a low workout load, the work up to 50%-60% is typical for best results, for a

medium workout- up to 70%-80%, for a high workout- up to 90% and for a maximum workout-

over 90%.

If you characterize the load as the number of bar lifts (NBL), so the low load is considered up to

50 lifts, medium from 51-100 lifts, and high over 100 lifts per workout.

Some trainers, trying to achieve higher results from their students at the expense of almost every

day maximum loads, forgetting that presentation of maximum demand towards the central

nervous system during even a couple of weeks, which very fast leads to over training. The nerve

cells cannot save their efficiency for a long time on a level that greatly exceeds the normal one,

since that causes them to overstrain. I. P. Pavlovuy established that every time a demand for

efficiency of nerve cells reaches the limit and ?ся the threat of their overstrain, when inhibition

occurs in nerve cells, it can sharply decrease their efficiency. The nerve cells use this as if to

protect themselves from overstrain and exhaustion.

All of this predetermines the variation of the load, like in weekly, as well as workout cycles.

Training of athletes is built in a form of workout cycles, whose objective is ?остижение of a

high sport result for a certain time-period. Every workout cycle consists of sport development

period ? its stabilization and temporary loss. These cycles are usually called ?ственно

preparatory, emulative and transitive. ?упности these three periods and make up the training

cycle.

The objective of the preparatory period- is to develop a foundation of the sport ? and to provide

its immediate formation. During this period the adaptation of the organism to the training

influence takes place, and reaches a certain level of sportsman’s preparedness. During the

preparatory period the sportsman accomplishes a large volume of training load with ?енным

intensity height.

The duration of the preparatory period depends on the individual properties of the athlete, his

sport form. On average he can ?я from 2 to 4 month. An attempt to solve the objectives in more

condensed ? can lead to their non-fulfillment./p>

The objectives of the emulative period is the achievement of a level of the наи?й sport form and

the realization of it on meets.

The condition of training, which allows the sportsman successfully participate in meets, is

usually called the sport form. Of course ?ение to reach a higher level of sport form during the ?

more responsible meets. This level is simply called ?я sport form. It usually coincides with

higher sports accomplishments.

During this period the volume of the workout load in lowered while increasing the intensity, this

is accomplished by lowering the cycle of lifts ?очных weights and increasing the number of lifts

of maximum weights in со?ательных exercises.

To assess the condition of the sport form, the estimates in separate exercises and in triathlon help

do that. They help determine the initial approach to the bar at future meets.

The length of the meeting period depends on time in which the athlete retains his sport form, and

also from the calendar of meets. The meeting period can last from one to four months.

The objectives of the transitive period consist of, so that the sportsmen can begin the new cycle

with renewed strength. For that, the body has to have active rest. During this period the volume

and the intensity of workout load is declined as is the number of workouts per week. The length

of the transitive period is on average equal to 1 to 4 weeks and depends on extent of tiredness

occurring after intensive workouts and meets, and from individual ability of the athlete’s

organism to restoration.

In this handbook we discuss the particularity of training methods for every group of athletes-

beginners, junior sportsmen, and qualified athletes. Here are given approximate plans for training

for each of these groups of sportsmen, which are not a dogma. I hope that young trainers or

sportsmen will use these plans creatively.

Of course I understand that each trainer had his/her views and opinions and that every trainer

thinks that their methods are the best. But if this methodical manual can help in any way, I would

be glad. I would also be glad if somebody would write to me and share their thoughts in their

own training methods.

I am very grateful to the Judge of the international categories, S. G. Shantarenko for editing and

advices, which helped the book, and also for helping and organizing the production of my book.

All comments and suggestions about the contents if the book, please send to: 644046, Omsk, пр.

Маркса, 35, ОмГУПС, НИС.

Author

1. Methods for planning workouts for beginner sportsmen

(Group of beginner preparation- novices)

During workout exercises with the youth, the group method is used. This method of training is

good, because while learning this technique ?ических (meet) exercises, all the students of the

group repeat the shown exercise one after another. And when a trainer shows to one of the

sportsmen his mistake, the others try not to repeat the same mistake. For some time, the novices

themselves will point out the mistakes to each other. This eases the teaching process and

accelerates the forming of experience.

When teaching novices you should always use the pre-exercises. These are the exercises that are

by coordination are closer to separate parts of the exercise that has been learned, but easier. For

example, sometimes during squats, it takes time to explain how to hold their back and knees, but

it does not work. But once you show them how to do squats on the bench on needed height, the

sportsmen gets the movement. For it to be easier to teach the back curve during bench press we

just put a roller under the waist and after some time, usually a month, sportsman gets used to the

required position of the body during press. The same goes for dead lift. We observed that it

would be easier to teach the right movements, if you put the bar on the terminal blocks (support).

The first week, the bar should by 10 cm higher than the knees. Then when lowering the height of

the terminal blocks, we eventually come to the initial position from the podium. In harmony with

the squats standing on the terminal blocks, the technique is strengthened much easier. /p>

The heavyweights call this exercise the “depth squat”. The sportsman gets up on the terminal

blocks, which are 50-60 cm in height and are 70-80 cm apart. He takes the dumbbells in his

hands and without bending the back does 5-8 depth squads.

Thus the athletes first master one way of carrying out an exercise, then another one.

Very often the youth overestimate their capabilities, they have very high sense of rivalry, on

every workout they try to lift the maximum weight, which can cause trauma. One more

important aspect, it is better to have the youth in a group of the same age or with a difference of

one year (13-14 years or 14-15 years). The trainer should always remember that during the time

that the execution technique of the classical exercises is learned, the important thing is not the

weight of the bar, but the number of the repetitions in an approach.

It is known fact that learning the technique is useful with an apparatus of a medium weight. As

the sportsman masters the exercise and improves his whole physical condition. The weight of the

bar gradually increases. Either strong or weak irritants are not optimal and the most favorable in

forming relative reflexes. Only medium load can successfully strengthen the effective forming of

movement in exercise structure and favor better development of special physical class, which are

essential for lifting the bar with the maximum weight.

At the end of each month there are meets between the novices for best classical exercises

technique. It is not mandatory to do all three exercises and do them in strictly meet order: squats,

bench press, and dead lift. Thus it can also be done in this order: Monday-squats, Friday-bench

press, Monday-dead lift. These meets help the trainer to see the effectiveness of his teaching,

find errors in the technique of carrying out the exercises, which will allow correcting the

teaching methods and including exercise which will help to correct the error. This way, the main

objectives when writing the monthly plans for novices is the teaching technique of classical

exercise, and also improves general and physical training.

I also want to point out the inadmissibility of weight loss for young athletes. Every type of

weight loss reflects negatively on the health of the sportsman, holds back this whole physical

development and stops the growth of the sport results. Therefore it is not acceptable for young

athletes whose physical development is not yet finished, to artificially lose weight, because this

can cause disturbances in the regular activity of the endocrine glands and the cardiovascular

system, it can also negatively influence the youth’s body growth. We think that in the beginning

stage of training the sportsman, it is sufficient for the volume of the assignment to be expressed

in number of bar lifts. Because it is hard to find out the true lifting limit of a novice, the pans are

written in kilograms from minimum weight (X kg). It’s necessary to maintain variation like

during the week, as well as during the monthly cycle.

Approximate distribution of assignments during the weekly cycles of the preparatory

period with three workouts per week

Workout days 1st week 2

nd week 3

rd week 4

th week 5

th week

First Medium High Medium Low High

Second Low Low Low High Medium

Third Medium Medium High Medium High

Because there are three workout days per week, the variations would not be as large as if there

were four or five workout days per week. During the first two weeks, the plans should include

only one of the classical exercises. The other exercises should be either leading or directed at the

development of the general physical training. During the initial phase, the general physical

training exercises will prevail over the special training exercises. But later on with future

increase of work on the technique of classical exercises, leveling off will occur.

Examples of the planning the workouts for sportsman-novices are cited in appendix 1.

2. Methods of planning the workouts for rated sportsman

(Training group)

In plans for rated sportsmen as well as in plans for novices, the capacity of the executed work is

determined by NBL. Yet already we distinguish between NBL in meet exercises from NBL in

general physical and secondary exercises.

With three workout days per week, the exercises are distributed in the following manner:

First day Second day Third day

Squats Press Squats

Press Dead lift Press

We think that squats should be done two times per week. With this, at the beginning of the week

we include in the workouts intense squats with two or three lifts and at the end of the week-

volumetric squats with lifts from four to six times in an approach, or vice versa. Press exercises

are executed with every workout so arm muscles and muscles of the upper shoulder girdle have

time to recover.

Since for rated sportsman you can already determine their maximum results in meet exercises,

the dosage of the load is written in percent from these results. When writing plans for rated

sportsmen this is the best choice because in a group the sportsmen that exercise there have

different ratings and of course with different weight categories. Therefore with the same percent

of the load, all of them will work out with different weights.

Of course, when writing the plan for a group of sportsmen, you cannot anticipate the individual

qualities, therefore it is recommended to give each sportsman additional exercises for either one

or another group of muscles that lag behind.

The main objective for this group of sportsmen is working farther about mastering the technique

of classical exercises and the development of strength. The three-month workout plans cited

below are a single three-month cycle for training for meets. That is, knowing the meet date, we

count back three month and start the training.

The first week of the first month as if draws in to the load: two workouts that are high on NBL of

first and third days and one low workout on the second day with little percent of the load

(maximum 75). During the following weeks, increase the number of weight on the level of 80-85

from the best results of the mandatory warm-up of 50-70 percent of the weight. The main

sportsman’s work will be carried out with 80 percent of the weight and higher.

When there are 3 to 3Ѕ weeks left until the meet, it is necessary for the rated sportsmen to have a

walkthrough consisting of all three meet exercises. This will help plan the initial approach for

future meets. Some trainers and sportsmen prefer to have the walkthrough nearly a week before

the meet. In our opinion this is explained by uncertainty in one self, a desire to check one’s

ability once more. We think that is not right, since the sportsman will not have time to renew

one’s physical strength, and mainly the nervous system.

The last two weeks before the meet, we “unload” the sportsmen, decrease the volume of the load

by NBL and by the intensity (decrease the percent). We issue that if the sportsman, after 2-2Ѕ

month of workouts does not have the strength to lift a personal record weight, then for last one to

two weeks before the meet, he cannot get stronger, he will only waste the strength and nervous

energy.

During this period of workouts, when the sportsman comes out onto the peak of this sport form,

it is important to hold the sportsman away from his natural wish to lift 90 percent of the weight

and higher. The trainer’s objective is to convince the sportsman to save this craving for lifting

maximum and sub maximum weights until the upcoming meet. Trainer’s skill consists of

bringing out the sportsman to the highest peak of the sport form at the right moment.

Example plan for a three-month preparation for a meet for rated a sportsman is cited in appendix

2.

3. Methods for planning workouts for candidates for master and sport masters.

(The sport perfection group)

Sportsmen of the sport perfection group (candidates for masters and sport masters) workout four

times per week. Exemplary distribution of monthly load in weekly cycles in the preparatory

period is as follows:

Workout days First week Second week Third week Fourth week Fifth week

Monday Medium High High Medium Medium

Wednesday High Medium Low Low High

Friday Medium High High High High

Saturday Low Low Low Low Medium

In contrast to planning workouts for rated sportsmen group (training group) where the volume of

the load is figured out by NBL for a workout, week, month, and year, in the sport perfection

group, this is not enough. It is necessary to know the overall number of lifted kilograms

(tonnage) and the average bar weight, like in each meet exercise as well as the overall for a

workout, week, and a month.

At the capacity of the special load in power lifting, just as in the heavy athletics, the number of

kilograms (tons), that are lifted in the exercise or in an exercise for a workout, week, month,

year, is taken the volume of the workout load in kilograms is found by multiplying the lifted

weight x the number of lifts. For example: 220 kg x 3 times x 5 approaches = 3300 kg. If you

add up all the workout volumes of all the exercises, which are performed in a workout, you get

the overall volume for a workout.

At the end of the 40s, N. I. Luchkin offered to use the sum of the lifted kilograms as a criterion

for evaluating the load in separate heavy athletic exercise. However, the labor intensity of the

workout work is determined not only by the number of bar lifts and the tonnage, but also its

intensity (tension)

Under the intensity of the workout load in power lifting, as in heavy athletics, understand the size

of the medium weight of the bar, which…can be found by dividing the volume of the load in

kilograms by NBL. For example: 3300 kg: 15 lifts= 220 kg.

As early as 1959, L. P. Matveev was the first in heavy athletics to introduce in his works the

average bar weight as a criteria of the intensity, to determine the intensity of the load for the

weightlifters. Later on many specialists on heavy athletics, like N. N. Sacksonov, A. S.

Medvedev, A. N. Vorob’ev, S. P. Bogdadov and everyone else began wildly applying the

average bar weight for expressing the intensity of the workout process. There are two types of

intensity, absolute (in kilograms) and relative (in percent).

Absolute intensity is the average training weight of the bar in kilograms.

Relative intensity is the average training weight of the bar in percent to the maximum

achievement in the corresponding exercise.

The rational distribution of the monthly load by the volume and intensity in weekly cycles has

great significance.

It is known that the volume and intensity are inseparable and, at the same time, and in the known

interrelations, are opposite. Their simultaneous increasing takes place until the known limit.

Further increase of the volume is connected with the delay of the intensity increase, and later on

with its decreasing (during the preparatory period, when the sportsman masters the large loads).

And vice versa, the growth of the intensity beyond the defined magnitude is connected with the

stabilization of the volume and its decreasing later on. This is characteristic for the main period,

especially for the pre-emulative phase. That is why in a long-term workout, first of all the

volume of the load in the pre-emulative phase is stabilized. The analysis of the workouts of the

most powerful weightlifters has shown that the best result is usually achieved when at the highest

volume and intensity, which is close to the optimal load over a year. Therefore, the preparatory

period in this case has considerably less load volume than the main one. This can be considered

quite natural. The volume of the load during the main period almost doesn’t take any time for the

next better result to develop, since the result can be in the most optimal connection with

intensity.

A many-year study in heavy athletics showed, that the sport result and the average workout

weight of well-qualified weightlifters are in high correlated ties: r = 0.904 + or – 0.0309 with a

sufficiently high consistency (p<0.001). The intensity of the workout load in preparatory and

emulative cycles cannot be constant, the load like the NBL ?ем has to vary. In order to increase

the intensity, it is necessary to increase the number of bar lifts weighting 85-90 from the

maximum, decreasing at the same time the number of lifts to 1-3 in an approach, which will

result in decreasing of the overall load. And vice versa, if you decrease the intensity due to

increasing the number of bar lifts weighting 75% at 4 to 6 lifts in an approach, than the overall

volume in kilograms will increase.

Just as important criteria for the load intensity in workouts is the number of bar lifts of maximum

and sub-maximum (from 90-100%) weights in squats, bench press, and dead lift.

With four workouts per week, the distribution of the workouts in a weekly cycle in cited in table

below:

The weekly cycle of exercises during four workouts

Monday Wednesday Friday Saturday

Squats Dead lift Bench press Dead lift

Bench press Bench press Squats Press exercises

Squats Dead lift Bench press Dead lift

OFP Subsidiary exercises OFP Press exercises

I want to caution, that this is approximate distribution, which in practice can have considerable

deflection. When planning in одн? workout the squats or bench press are executed twice, than

the first time ?ражнение is done with 80-85% of weight from the best result ? 2-3 lifts in 5-7

approaches depending on the loads planned. The second time this exercise is done with 70-75%

of maximum weight at 3-5 lifts in an approach. If there are two dead lift exercises per a workout,

then they should be of diverse character and with diverse directions. For example: the first

exercise can be the perfection of lifting the bar from the platform (dead lift while standing on the

supports), and the second exercise- the perfection of the final phase of the dead lift (dead lift

while standing on the terminal blocks). Or another example: the first exercise is dead lift up to

the knees; the second one is the stature dead lift. But in both cases, the press exercises should be

done between the first and second dead lift exercises.

You can hear from some sportsmen, that they dead lift once every ten days. Practice shows that

often exactly those sportsmen have poor dead lift execution technique.

Once per week on Wednesday’s it’s necessary to plan so called “pyramid”, this is when the

sportsman begins the exercise with 50% of maximum weight and reaches 80-85%, increasing the

bar weight by 5-10% in each approach, and then gradually decreasing the weight to 50%. For

example:

Version

1. 50% 8 times•1 approach, 55% 7t•1a, 60% 6t•1a, 65% 5t•1a, 70% 4t•1a, 75% 3t•2a, 80%

2t•2a, 85% 1t•2a, 80% 2t•2a, 75% 3t•2a, 770% 4t•1a, 65% 5t•1a, 60% 6t•1a 55% 7t•1a, 50%

8t•1a (81 lifts)

2. 50% 6t•1a, 60% 6t•1a, 70% 5t•1a, 75% 4t•2a, 80% 3t•2a, 85% 2t•2a, 75% 3t•2a, 70%

5t•1a, 60% 7t•1a, 50% 8t•1a (61 lifts)

3. 50% 7t•1a, 55% 6t•1a, 60% 5t•1a, 65% 4t•1a, 70% 3t•2a, 75% 2t•2a, 80% 1t•3a, 75%

2t•2a, 70% 4t•1a, 65% 6t•1a, 60% 8t•1a, 55% 10t•1a, 50% 12t•1a (79 lifts).

Depending on the training objectives, the “pyramid” varies from 40 to 90 lifts. There are

examples of very big “pyramids”; Alecksei Sivokon’ (Kazakhstan), repeatedly a world

champion, did “pyramids” that were up to 90% and had 120 lifts.

It is not recommended to do the “pyramid” more than one time per week, and it is necessary after

a big “pyramid” to do a medium or a small one. It is undesirable to do a “pyramid” during the

emulative period.

It is necessary to focus the attention on the pectoral muscles. Exercises that develop those

muscles are done right after the second bench press.

The main workout job is done with 80% of maximum weigh with considerable 50-,60-,70% of

the warm-up weight.

Sometimes the sportsman comes to the workout when he is already tired and cannot do the

percent that are on the plan. Then one can lower the bar weight , but still try to do the number of

lifts and approaches that are planned for the day, or keep the planned percent, shorten the number

of lifts in an approach, and add the number of approaches to the planned NBL in given exercise.

Often the sportsmen ask the permission to increase the planned percent, if the meets are far off,

this can be allow if the number of lifts in an approach are kept the same. For example: on пли?

one must squat with 80% of maximum weight with 3 times in 5 approaches. After the second

approach, the sportsman asks permission to add 5%. This can be allowed if the sportsman with

85% of maximum weight can do the remaining 3 approaches with 3 times each, if the sportsman

cannot do even one lift, than after putting the weight, which is equal to ?%, the sportsman will do

everything all over again. This is a severe condition, but it forces the sportsman to realistically

consider his ability. Some refuse at once to add the weight, others add the weight and go all out.

Who would want to do extra work? Although there are some who love to add extra 2-3

approaches.

It is observed that during the time of the estimation, the sportsmen need emotional raise and the

trainer’s objective consists of creating an elevated mood in the workout room, with which the

sportsman feels that he is expected to perform a small “miracle”. And this should develop into a

result that any one did not expect. During the time of the estimation, it is necessary to establish a

little “show” for the whole room, where the main heroes are the ones who do the estimation.

It is useful during this time to videotape all the approaches to the bar on video camera with a

mandatory examination of the tape and commentaries with all the sportsmen present.

In the proposed workout plans in appendix 3, there is a five-month cycle of the preparation,

which includes a four-month preparatory and one month emulative periods.

These plans are a dogma, it is necessary to use them creatively, it is possible to correct them

taking into account own experience and individual class of sportsmen.

4. Methods for planning workouts for sports masters and sports masters of the

international class

(The highest sports mastery group)

The main objective of the highest sports mastery group is the development of the absolute force

and the improving the technique of the emulative exercises.

If for novices, rated sportsmen, and candidates for sports masters a general workout plan is made

using the exercises and loads, then in the highest sports mastery group, which includes sports

master and sports masters of the international class, each sportsmen has his/her own individual

workout plan, which is composed for a month. In this plan, based on the individual qualities of

the sportsman, the exercises and character of loads is picked up. During the composition of the

individual plans, it is necessary to take into account physical development, state of health and the

extent of overstrain after the previous workout, level of mastering the exercise execution

technique. It is important to have an agreement between the workout process and the calendar

plan of the meets.

The sports club “Irbis” (Ufa) has all the conditions for working out for “lovers”- these are

students, employees, workers, who come to work out at the end of the workday, as well as for a

small group of “professionals”- these are the sportsmen whose main work are workouts. Both

work out by one graphic, 5 times per week approximately with the following distribution of

loads in weekly cycles:

Workout days First week Second week Third week Fourth week

Monday High Medium High high

Tuesday Low Low Low Low

Wednesday Medium High High Medium

Friday High Medium High Medium

Saturday Low Low Low High

The difference is that “lovers” work out once per day and the objectives before them are to win

the title of the champion for the Bashkortostan republic, be a member of the republic combined

team and perform as well as possible in the championship and Russian cup.

The “professionals”, for whom in the sports club “Irbis”, conditions for workouts and restoration

after them are created, work out during the same ? but do 8 workouts per week using the

following outline:

Monday –2 workouts

Tuesday –1 workout

Wednesday –2 workouts

Thursday –day of rest (sauna)

Friday –2 workouts

Saturday –1 workout

And the objectives before them are set higher than others: be a member of the combined team of

Russia and at least take the prize spots in the championships of Europe and the world. Of course,

for them to achieve these objectives, they have to work out a lot. Currently, the results from the

championships of Europe and the world are so high, and the nervous exertion during the tension

in the fight for the prize spots is so great, that the sportsmen with a weak nervous system have

nothing to do there.

It is well known, that the modern achievements cannot be done without using large loads. But

they give effect only if they alternate between small and medium ones, thus creating conditions

for over-recovery of the organism after large loads. Medium loads support the efficiency on a

certain level, and small loads, which are done after large and medium ones, help the recovery,

greatly increase sportsman’s organism efficiency during the workouts.

It is hard not to agree with this. Besides using small, medium, and large loads, I use stressful (sub

maximum) workouts. I plan them once per two weeks and only during the preparatory period.

Many trainers in heavy athletics think that the optimal (main) workout weight is within the range

of 75-85% from the maximum result in an exercise (N. I. Luchkin, A. N. Vorob’ev, A. C.

Medvedev, and others). This also holds true for power lifting.

Analyzing the workout loads of world champions Alecksei Sivoconya, Nadezhda Mir, Sergey

Mor, Maxim Podtynnay and Irene Abramova in a period from 1991 to 1999, I came to a

conclusion that the biggest effect in the strength growth is given by the average monthly load

with the relative intensity, which is on average 70+ or –2% from the maximum results during the

emulative exercises.

Young trainers may think that they can simply work out the sportsman on 70% of maximum

weight and they will add to in results. This is a misleading opinion. Let’s not forget that this

includes warm-up weights as well as the maximum weights. I will cite a couple of version of

training loads in a separate exercise:

Version-

1. 50% 5 times•1 approach, 60% 4t•1a, 70% 3t•2a, 80% 3t•2a, 90% 2t•3a.

(NBL= 27, AV= 1930, RI= 71.5%)

2. 55% 5t•1a, 65% 4t•1a, 75% 3t•2a, 85% 2t•4a. (NBL= 23, AV= 1665, RI=

72.4%)

3. 50% 5t•1a, 60% 4t•1a, 70% 3t•2a, 80% 3t•6a. (NBL= 33, AV= 2350, RI=

71.2%)

4. 50% 5t•1a, 60% 5t•1a, 70% 5t•2a, 75% 4t•4a. (NBL= 36, AV= 2450, RI=

68.1%

5. 50% 6t•1a, 60% 6t•1a, 65% 6t•5a. (NBL= 42, AV= 2610, RI= 62.1%)

Where AV- averaged volume, which is found by multiplying NBL by the weight percentage and

adding up all amounts;

RI – relative intensity in percent, which is found by dividing AV by NBL.

There can a lot of versions like this. Everything depends on the preparatory period, the offered

objectives, and the individual abilities of the sportsman’s organism to recover. I also want to

point out to young trainers one more rule. When counting the overall intensity for the week or

month, sometimes in two weeks the relative intensity in percent is the same, and the absolute

intensity is different. This happens because the bench press is done with less weight, than the

squats and dead lift, although the relative intensity in these exercises can be the equal. Therefore

the increasing or decreasing of the bench press load increases or decreases the overall absolute

intensity while keeping the relative intensity the same.

My workouts seem large to some trainers. But I want to note that for the last 10 years none of my

sportsmen were over trained. And once the result is shown on the meets, already other results do

not get lower than it, only higher. You do not need a large mind to load the sportsman, the main

thing is to recover him after large workouts, so that the over-strain will not set in. the recovery of

the organism is an integral part of the workout process. For young trainers I will cite a couple of

symptoms of over-strain, which are described below.

And they are: decreasing of efficiency, decreasing of swiftness in the strength of muscular

contractions, worsening in the movement coordination, the absence of desire to work out,

flabbiness, movement constraint, apathy, sometimes muscle pain, bad appetite and sleep and etc.

there can a number of disturbances in the sportsman’s psychological activity: shortness of

temper, conflict, the tolerance to friends and to trainer’s criticism, importunacy, anxiety,

depression, and others, there can be a change from the direction of the cardiovascular system, the

neuromuscular apparatus, and the biochemical indexes (blood, urine, and the saliva). Quite often

the sportsmen feel pains and dying down in the heart, the disruption in its work, pains in the

liver. An inadequate reaction on a specific load appears: mostly this reaction is weak, н? the

regular increase of the arterial pressure, the pulse rate, and the gas exchange. But sometimes

these indexes decrease, if this happens the athlete will lose weight. During the execution of the

exercises, the movement amplitude in the joints is more restricted than always, the agonists that

do the main muscle work are badly relaxed. The disturbance in the functioning of the different

organs and the organism system. Workouts with a lot of weights and loads should not be done

during this condition. An attempt to lift the bar with a lot of weight can cause trauma. It is

necessary to immediately lower the workout load (its volume and intensity) and do a number of

activities to recover the sportsman’s organism.

Some trainers do “walkthrough” that is 100% of maximum weight and higher, for their

sportsmen 7-10 days before the meet. I came to a conclusion that for the sportsmen that are on

the level of the combined team of Russia, 2.5-3 weeks before the meet is enough time to lift the

90% of the maximum weight, or the weight that they will start off from on the meet, and that will

be enough. Since 1998, before Europe and world championships I say to sportsmen like C. Mor,

M. Podtynnay, Ph. Muhamat’yanov, and I. Abramova: “Why do you do the ‘walkthrough’? You

already did it, when you performed at the Russian championship (Cup). Right now what you

have to do is lift the weight with which you are going to start”. However it is necessary to do the

“walkthrough” to the “limit” in those exercises that lag behind. For example Irene Abramova and

Maxim Podtynnay’s bench press is the one that lags behind, and Phanil Muhamat’yanov’s dead

lift lag behind, it is in these exercises that they reach up to 100%.

During the emulative period, which last 5-6 weeks, athletes of the highest sports mastering,

switch to one workout per day and from 5 to 4 days per week with approximately the following

mesocycle:

Workout

days

First week Second

week

Third week Fourth

week

Fifth week Sixth week

Monday Large Medium Large Medium Medium Small

Wednesday Medium Large Medium Large Medium warm-up

Friday Large Medium Medium Medium Small Meet

Saturday Small Small Small Small Rest Meet

The last two weeks before the meet, the load in decreased, in volume as well as by the workout

intensity. The trainer’s main objective - do not let the sportsman to over-strain. For this you need

to know with what weekly, monthly, yearly intensity and with what volume does the sportsman

workout. The trainer, at the end of each week, has to go over the entire workout, and if needed

correct the plans for next week.

In 1967, a German scientist Karl, proposed to express the variety of the weights used in

“intensity zones” with a gradation every 20- and 10- of percentage intervals. In 1969 R. A.

Roman in his works recommended calibrating the range of the workout weights every 5-

percentage intervals. The most appropriate interval was the 10% one, which was proposed by A.

V. Chernyak and A. S. Medvedev in 1972. Today, this point of view holds true for most heavy

athletics specialists. I will cite an exemplary counting of the weekly and monthly load (see table

below). Perhaps, somebody will be interested in it.

Let’s examine the order of the NBL counting, volume and intensity (in percent and kilograms)

over a week of workouts. The sportsmen compete in three exercises, which are why we have

three blocks of counting: squats, bench press, and dead lift. Since the most progressive methods

of planning the workouts are in percent from the best sports results, which is very hard to deny,

therefore we will do the workout counting in percent. for it to be easier to do the counting, we

will take one of the blocks, for example squats, over a week, and make 11 zones of intensity

every 5 percent. All the order of the workout counting is done in 5 operations.

The order of counting the weekly and monthly loads by intensity zones.

% zones 1st operation 2

nd operation 3

rd operation 4

th operation 5

th operation

50 20 20-1000 20-1000 20-1000 20-1000

55 10 10-550 10-550 10-550 10-550

60 24 24-1440 24-1440 24-1440 24-1440

65 15 15-975 15-975 15-975 15-975

70 36 36-2520 36-2520 36-2520 36-2520

75 35 35-2625 35-2625 35-2625 35-2625

80 50 50-4000 50-4000 50-4000 50-4000

85 6 6-510 6-510 6-510 6-510

90 3 3-270 3-510 3-510 3-510

95 2 2-190 2-190 2-190 2-190

100 1 1-100 1-100 1-100 1-100

NBL 202 202 202 202 202

In%-In.kg 70.2% 70.2%-119.3 70.2%-119.3

AV-Vkg 14180 14180 14180 14180-24099

1st operation: from the workouts of the previous week, it is necessary to select and distribute the

entire bar lifts in squats into the % intensity zones (see 1st operation). After this, it is seen that

over a week, the sportsman did squats with 50% of maximum weight- 20 lifts, with 60%- 24

lifts, and with 70%- 36 lifts and so forth. After you distribute the entire bar lifts in squats into the

intensity zones, you have to count up the overall NBL (number of bar lifts) for the week. For

that, you have to add up all of the lifts in all the zones and you will get the NBL for the week-

202 (see 1st operation).

2nd

operation: you have to multiply the NBL in each zone by the %. For example:

50%•20=1000, 55%•10=550, 60%•24=1440, 70%•36=2520, 75%•35=2625 and so forth. After

you multiply all of the lifts in all the zones, you have to add up all of the got sums, which will

give you the averaged volume (AV) = 14180 (see the 2nd

operation).

3rd

operation: right here you have to divide the AV (averaged volume) by NBL, and you will get

the intensity in percent. For example: 14180:202=70.2% (see 3rd

operation).

4th

operation: after the average weight is found- 70.2%, we multiply ? by the best result in

squats, for example: 70.2%•170kg=119.3 kg we get the average intensity in kilograms in a

certain exercise (see 4th

operation).

5th

operation: the average weight in kg (119.2) is multiplied by NBL for the week (202); we get

the workout volume in kg. For example: 119.3•202=24099 (see 5th

operation).

After we analyzed the sportsman’s workout we see, that over a week he did in squats 202 lifts

with an intensity of 70.2% (from the best result- 170kg), which equals the average weight of

119.3kg. With a volume of 24099kg.

The counting in bench press and dead lift should be done with exact same order.

The procedure and the order of the overall counting for all of the exercises are the same as for

the individual one (see the table below)

The final counting for all the exercises

1st operation 2

nd operation 3

rd operation 4

th operation 5

th operation

NBL 414 414 414 414 414

In%-Av.

weight kg

70.5%- 70.5%- 70.5%-103.2

AV-Vkg 29187 29187- 29187-427247 29187-427247

Tilt (NBL) 125

Other (NBL) 340

Overall NBL 879

Number of

workouts

8

1st operation: we will add up all the NBL of all the exercises (for example: squats-202+ bench

press-120+ dead lift-192) we get 414 lifts for the week

2nd

operation: when we add up the AV (averaged volume) in all three blocks (exercises), we get

the overall averaged volume for a week- 29187 (see 2nd

operation).

3rd

operation: when we divide AV by NBL, for example: 29187:414=70.5% we get the intensity

in percent.

4th

operation: we add up the Vkg (volume in kilograms) in all three blocks (exercises), we get

the overall volume in kg for the week, for example: 427247 (see 4th

operation).

5th

operation: the overall volume in kilograms- Vkg we divide by the number of lifts and get the

overall averaged intensity in kilograms for the week, for example 427247:414=103.2kg.

We separately count up the tilt NBL (standing up, sitting down, over the “saw-horse”,? the

training apparatus, and so forth).

All the bar lifts that are lower than 50% from the best result (warm-up), the same way all the

exercises on swapping, press from behind the head, press while sitting at an angle, beam push-

ups, floor push-ups, leg press, training apparatus squats, chest muscle exercises, triceps, delta,

press, and others, are written in other column.

In the column “Overall NBL”, NBL in the emulative exercises + NBL in tilts + NBL from the

“other” column is introduced. For example 414+125+340=879 (see 5th

operation).

We see that the sportsman did 879 lifts with 8 workouts per week.

For an example we cited 11 percentage zones , every 5%. This was done to simplify the

explanation of how to do the counting. Actually, I do the counting in 6 zones.

1st zone –50%

2nd

zone –51-60%

3rd

zone –61-70%

4th

zone –71-80%

5th

zone –81-90%

6th

zone –91-100%

these counts should best be done every week at the end of the week. This will allow us to see

with what number of lifts was the sportsman’s volume in kilograms ( tonnage) done and with

what intensity he worked out. After counting up the last week, it is necessary to do a comparative

analysis, what did the sportsman from what was planned , and what he did not do. And you have

to find an objective reason why the athlete did not do the plan. Hence it is needed to do some

corrections for further weeks. Trainer has to always remember, that the sportsman is a live

human with his own weakness and ambitions, and not some metal robot that doesn’t have any

interruptions. Earlier we here at sports club “Irbis”, which is the backbone of the combined team

of the Bashkortostan republic, only provided and did an analysis for the previous workouts, right

now we came to a conclusion, that it is not enough, we also have to provide a future scheduled

week. It will give us a chance to plan not only the NBL but also its volume, and workout

intensity , which will help us to prevent over-strain. Of course this will mean more work for the

trainer but only then can the trainer intuitively, and scientifically prevent sportsman’s over-strain

and bring the sportsman to the peak of his sports condition in a required time.

For an example in the appendix 4,5 there are cited some workout plans of specific sportsmen.

Again I warn against blindly coping workout plans of any champions. Because there are no same

people, and the sportsmen of the highest class, have to have individual approaches, therefore and

an individual plan, which is right only for him.

Exemplary six-week plan of workouts for the novice group.