Dr Michael Yessis 1×20 Method
How much strength do you really need?
In sport, what you really need is speed and quickness. In other word, in EVERY SPORT, beside powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting, you want to create POWER not strength.
How can you achieve that? At which intensity should I Train? How much volume should I do? And How can I transfer what I’m doing in the weight room to the field?
To start, it is at medium intensity that you’ll have the best adaptation for strength. It will permit the athlete do developpe throughout is sport without burning himself/herself out or putting himself/herself more at risk for injuries. Moreover, it will help him/her to recover faster from previous training.
Therefore, at medium intensity, you can put a greater volume of work into your training. That mean more repetitions to learn the correct movements for the exercises you’re doing, permitting to avoid compassion pattern. Thus, focusing on a good form strengthen your nervous system by applying the right stimulus that is specific to your sport
Thereafter, medium intensity will help the athlete to recover faster. While working in a range of higher repetition, your body will need more nutriment to sustain that effort. One adaption that occur is in your peripherical circulatory system. More capillaries will develop to bring more nutriment to your muscles. An increase in circulation means that at rest, your body will be able to bring more nutriments to the tired muscles and thus help them recover faster. Moreover, a greater blood flow will provide more nutriments to your tendons and ligaments to get stronger. Tendons and ligaments are initially less irrigated than muscle making them less responsive to training.
Furthermore, to have a strength training program that will help you with your given sport, it will need to fulfill three criteria’s:
-Do your exercises duplicate the same neuromuscular pathways?
-Do your exercises cover the same range of motions?
-Do your exercises mimic the same muscular contraction?
If yes, start training! If no, some change is needed if you want to have a transfer.
The method:
Phase I
Chose 3 to 12 exercises depending of your level of fitness that are SPECEFIC to your sport. With the same weight, build up to 20 repetition. Do the following every other day:
Week 1: 5 to 7 reps
Week 2: 8 to 10 reps
Week 3: 11 to 13 reps
Week 4: 14 to 16 reps
Week 5: 17 to 20 reps
When you can sustain 20 to 22-23 reps, you restart to Week 1 with a higher weight and repeat the cycle. This is just a guideline, if at week 2 you are able to do more than 10 reps, do so. At the beginning of each cycle, you want to add more exercises to your program (up to 20) that will help the athlete either with is technique or to strengthen is weak points.
Rest: No rest between exercises (just the time to switch to the other exercises). This will help your athlete to build up is aerobic capacities and prepare him/her to the next stages of training. You want to repeat this cycle as long as you see gain transfer to the given sport of the athlete When the athlete receives no more benefits from this phase, it is time to change the volume and intensity.
Phase II
Cut out the 5 or 6 exercises that you find the less specific in your program. You can also change some exercise to incorporate jumps (not plyometric). With the selected exercises perform the following every other day:
2 sets of 14 reps
Train for 3 to 6 weeks or until you can do 1 to 2 extra reps for each set of each exercise. Select the weight based on the Maximal repetitions done with the first phase of training and stick to it throughout the cycle.
Rest: No rest between exercises (just the time to switch to the other exercises). This phase will build up the strength needed for the next one.
Phase III
From the exercises that you choose to keep at Phase II, cut out again the less specifics one so that you are left with 9 or 10 exercises. You can also change some exercise to incorporate jumps (not plyometric). With the selected exercises perform the following every other day:
1 set of 8 reps for endurance -> Do the movement at a moderate speed
1 set of 8 reps for strength -> Do the movement faster
1 set of 8 for explosiveness -> Slow on the way down and fast on the way up
Complete each exercise in one regime before to switch to the order. Train for 3 to 6 weeks or until you can do 1 to 2 extra reps for each set of each exercise. Select the weight based on the Maximal repetitions done with the first phase of training and stick to it throughout the cycle.
Rest: No rest between exercises (just the time to switch to the other exercises).
Phase IV
For this stage, you want to choose 2 to 4 exercises maximum that will be done plyometrically. Plyometric is not jumping. Plyometric refers to a fast-eccentric contraction switch to a concentric contraction. This can be done with lower body but also with the upper body. Here a general guideline you can follow:
4-5 repetitions per sets separated by 2 minutes rest period
2-3 sets pers series separated by 4 to 5 minutes rest period
2-3 series in total separated by 8-10 minutes rest period
You want to alternate exercises from upper to lower body between sets and take an active rest between series (walking, jogging, foam rolling, stretching, breathing exercises, etc.) The more you get closers to competitions season, the more you want to lower the number of sets and series. NO strength training should be done in competition season. The reason being that strength development interfere with technique. The ONLY reason to go back in the weight room is IF you see that the strength level of the athlete diminishes.
Reference:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6HUn1r1BTsvXPpslqi88TT