If you had not followed along with this series you can follow along with:
Blog #3
Blog #2
Blog #1
I write this after presenting at and MC'ing the NSCA Iowa State event this past weekend where I presented on the Power Complex. During the event and after my presentation coaches were asking about how to implement different drills in the power complex - one coach even wanted to use the Power Complex to teach the clean. He was thinking instead of doing only the RDL (for the hang clean version of the power complex) that he would do this over 3 days:
Day 1: hang clean pull
Day 2: RDL
Day 3: high pull - to catch drill
In this way he can over load the hip with the RDL and clean pull - and then teach the transition into the front squat catch on day 3. This makes a ton of sense to me, and I told him to go for it. He will keep the weighted jump and the altitude landing from the power complex and will pair it with the above movements.
That right there is how the power complex should work - it complements the clean, not competes. I have been very vocal at my presentations about this. I was wrong before when I said get rid of the clean. That was too far - they work together, and like that coach showed me, it can be a great teaching tool
But Why Would You Still Say Clean?
This was another question I got from a coach. My answer was straight forward in a few ways:
1. When the athletes can do it properly
2. If the sport coach wants them to do it
3. The athletes want to do it
You do not want it to "become a thing" that you do not clean. That is a distraction. You do not want a distraction. One day can be power complex - the next can be cleans. You can get sport coach and athlete buy in by doing that. The clean (bar starts on the floor, and you receive the bar below 90 degrees in the squat) is a great mobility drill too. So adding it in for that reason makes a ton of sense to me.
All in all - if I had to pick I would still take the power complex.
Why?
We still work with team sport athletes.
No one cares how much Mahomes cleans. Same with Wemby, Messi, Judge, or McDavid - they are the best in their sport because of what they do on the field, court, or rink. So, keep the main thing the main thing and develop their general qualities in the weight room.
Other Qualities to Develop for Athletes
I have taken onto the saying from Coach Bobby Stroupe about most "traditional" training work as the cupcake and the "other" stuff as the sprinkles. This is similar to what I said in this blog calling the "other" stuff the frosting on the cake. No one likes to eat just cake without frosting - and in the same vein no one likes to eat just frosting without cake.
I was lucky to learn about how to use these "other" movements from Coach Mike Chatman at Towson in 2018 and since them have been using them in my practice. You should too. Why? Because if you are baking a cake, you want frosting on it. Or to use a carpentry example, if you are building a house you want to have a nail gun, saw, power drill, screwdriver, etc...
Rather than spending all your time on teaching cleans and perfecting them (with a population that does not have to clean in their competition) you can get great training adaptation with the Power Complex.
**Side Note - I know some people say it is not rocket science to teach a clean - and they are not wrong, but lets also admit those coaches aren't showing their worst "cleaner" when they show videos on social media. They only show their best athlete**
With all the extra time you can use more warm up and working sets on the main strength block. You can also use the time on the field/court during the warm up/movement prep - or add into conditioning and accessory work. Either way - spending more time on any of those situations will yield better ROI for your athletes than by more time cleaning. This is my 2 cents and I am biased, but that does not mean I am wrong.
So what are these movements I should be doing you are asking?
That is what this blog dove into.
Since then, I have learned a few more and have messed around with some (as should you - keep learning, we are never finished products).
Here is one of my favorites and it is the common lunge matrix with a reach matrix added.
Remember, the matrix and reaches comes from the Gray Institute, and the common lunge came from Cal Dietz at Minnesota. By performing these lunges with the reaches across and same side of the body you will hit your hamstrings in a totally different way you usually do. Adding this movement into your sprints, heavy lunges, jumps, cleans, rdl, glute-ham-gastroc raise, etc...will help build a robust athlete. Especially when you are getting better with the movement and going in and out of the movement faster/using a heavier ViPR.
I have had people ask if they can use KB, plates, or DB for these movements and the answer is 100% yes. You just will not get the same effect as the ViPR. Case in point today. I was doing rotational Squat to 45 degree rotational press with the 32kg ViPR this am. The movement this am was NOTHING as fast as the video above. That video was with a 10kg - I can throw that around - but the 32kg today was for strength. It feels heavier than a 32kg kettlebell we have at the weight room. Could I do it? yes, would it be as good? No - just like a swing with a DB isn't as good as a KB. They are different tools for a reason - so if you can - get DB, KB, and ViPR.
Where Can I Put These Movements?
Great question - and I have answered this before. You can easily add them to your A and B block with the "meat and potatoes" of your training session. From my podcast with Dr. Kelly Starrett of The Ready State we talked about warm ups being too long and almost a "flex" by the S&C coach. He was the one who pointed it out - and it confirmed something that my former colleague Kyle "Motto" Hashimoto said about the best warm up for something is low level of it. They are both right. So as Kelly was saying, if you are doing cleans or squats first - start doing some light weight, or barbell reps of the movement. As you go - feel what is tight/not feeling good and then perform movements to make that area feel better.
For example - during your barbell warm up of 6 reps on hang power clean your feel your hip flexor is tight - then use this movement to open up your hips. From there, keep the ViPR and do this movement after to open up your hips in a more dynamic method. You can do 3-4 sets of each movement with your warm up sets of hang power clean - and then you are ready to go with your work sets of hang power clean. Now your body is ready to go, and you didn't waste time in your elaborate warm up.
I know some coaches love long movement prep/warm ups - and if you do - do you - I am biased and want to get to work - I think your athletes feel the same way, but I digress.
Then as you go into the B block you can go right to move explosive and dynamic movements to pair with your main movement. It does not matter if your main movement is upper or lower body - you can use these movements with them. Unless you work with the highest level 0.01% athletes - we can get away with doing some upper body lifting (bench) and paired with Halo to Rotational Lunge movement that will probably help open up the thoracic spine and help with shoulder health. Or you can use any of these movements - the choice is yours, you know your athletes and what they need (if you need help with this and are a member - put the question in the forum and we will answer).
Putting these type of movements in the C, and D block means you will be doing them as their own exercise - good. Load them UP! Take this movement here which is called a runners hinge or runners SL RDL. In the movement I am using a 32kg ViPR PRO. That is 70 pounds of awkward weight. Like Coach Dom Walker said in his Cheeky Mid Weeky - LOAD these movements up. That is what strength coach Todd Wright does with these ViPR movements - he loads them HEAVY! And look how strong and robust all his NBA and Basketball guys are.
How to Load These Movements and Rep Range?
"But Justin what if I do not have these heavy ViPRs?" Solid question. We did not have them at Towson for a while until the whole S&C staff knew we wanted them. We started with education and knew how we would put them into training (that is what the first 3 blogs plus the first half of this blog did for you) then all of us on staff got our sport coaches to pitch in to make the purchase of ViPRs happen. We were able to do this before with sport coaches helping to get trap bars, safety squat bars, shoulder saver bench press, timing systems, etc...so you might want to do that as well (again, members go to the forum to ask questions on specifics). We then got 5 of the 6kg, 5 of the 12 kg, and 5 of the 20 kg. This worked for our whole department - we talked as a whole S&C staff to collaborate - now you do the same.
Once you have them at your organization you can increase weight after 2-3 weeks of the same weight with more reps added. As the reps are added I suggest you do another Gray Institute move of tweakology and change at least 1 thing with each rep. Lets say you have 4 sets of 8 on the forward deceleration lunge, make sure each rep you take a step at a different length. Do one short length, one medium, one long, then go toe in, toe out, toe straight. By using those tweaks you hit the body at different angles and send new information to the body to build up tissue tolerance to. How to progress over time:
6kg ViPR PRO
4 sets of 6
4 sets of 8
4 sets of 10
12kg ViPR PRO
4 sets of 6
4 sets of 8
4 sets of 10
20kg ViPR PRO
4 sets of 6
4 sets of 8
4 sets of 10
If you have the just one weight of the ViPR PRO then you can go to our days of COVID and add in tempo with your athletes! Remember those days when you were writing training programs for athletes to lift at home because gyms were forced to close and schools shut down. Good times haha! Well it did make you good at programming how to get stronger with a backpack and some books. That's what we did at Towson. So here is how you can progress with one weight ViPR:
6kg ViPR PRO
4 sets of 5 with 3 second eccentric
4 sets of 6 with 3 second eccentric
4 sets of 8 with 3 second eccentric
4 sets of 5 with 3 second isometric
4 sets of 6 with 3 second isometric
4 sets of 8 with 3 second isometric
4 sets of 8 concentric only
4 sets of 10 concentric only
4 sets of 12 concentric only
4 sets of 5 with 1.5 rep scheme
4 sets of 6 with 1.5 rep scheme
4 sets of 8 with 1.5 rep scheme
4 sets of 5 with dynamic reversal rep scheme
4 sets of 6 with dynamic reversal rep scheme
4 sets of 8 with dynamic reversal rep scheme
That is 15 weeks of programming (an semester for those working in college or high school) to use with athletes. And at the end of those 15 weeks they will be looking SNAPPY with those 8 reps of dynamic reversal!
Wrapping It Up
Make sure YOU and your staff are training. Wherever you work and at whatever level you are at make sure you are getting after it. Your version of getting after it will look different than someone else, just make sure you are training and pushing yourself to get better. Not only will it make you a better coach and be able to demo better - you will feel better, and your athletes will see you training and you have buy in. You do not need to be the strongest or fastest. You just need to know what it feels like to strain or to pick things up in weird positions. So go get after it and help make your athletes lives better by writing them the best training plan possible. You should think what you write is the best - if you don't think what you're doing is the best, why are you doing it? Shouldn't you do what is best? Remember, if you are a SCN member go hit up the members only forum to get tips to write the best program possible.
