For the past year or so I’ve been experimenting with training programmes in an attempt to find one that works for me in terms of my lifestyle (college, work etc) as well as my current goals. Having said this, I don’t believe there’s a perfect programme; I also think you need variation and you should be careful about being robotic and tunnel visioning in one direction. As well as this, I don’t believe that there is a perfect programme for everybody – every individual has their own needs and goals and they have to tailor their programmes to this.
Over this period I’ve learnt a great deal about nutrition, the body, strength training and various other methods of training – mostly due to Joe DeFranco! I’ve spent hours watching his videos and documentaries, reading his articles and blog posts in an attempt to gather as much information as possible. Joe’s programmes and training methods are based around the conjugate method of strength training – a Russian method which combines many methods of training for the development of many different abilities and/or qualities. It is the antithesis to the typical Western Periodisation method of training and is certainly a more logical and effective method of training!
For the past couple of months, I’ve been following Joe’s Westside 3 programme. Although slightly modified, in accordance with his guidelines. Under his programmes I have found tremendous success. Furthermore, under Joe’s articles, videos and documentaries and under my own research, I’ve learnt a number of things about what I’ve been doing wrong in the past and what I should be doing now.
For a long time, the Parkour community held the belief that bodyweight training was the best way to train for Parkour, believing that we are only using our body and that weight lifting wasn’t functional or sport specific. People feared building muscle that wouldn’t ‘work’ how they wanted it to as well as fearing size and bulk. ‘Weights’ was a dirty word in the Parkour community.
With this, many of us performed bodyweight exercises only – I remember many, many, many sessions performing hundreds of repetitions of push ups, pull ups, dips, squats, lunges etc for around 2-3 hours. At the time, it was obvious why I was doing that and not lifting heavy weight! And now? What the hell was I doing?!
“I have a secret for you: No exercise is sport specific! Playing your sport makes the strength that you gain in the weight room sport specific! Don’t get me wrong, certain exercises are more productive than others...”- Joe DeFranco
Train smart – use the ‘training economy’ and choose the best exercises!
Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet. He lifts heavy and is a lot bigger than the majority of Parkour practitioners – don’t see his ‘size’ slowing him down!
Not convinced?
Mike Guadango – one of Joe DeFranco’s baseball athletes. 54” box jump and 50 consecutive pull ups.
What are the best exercises?
Again, this is a case of being an individual and dealing with your own needs and goals, but my recommendations for your main exercises are squats, deadlifts, bench press and weighted pull ups. I’d also recommend push ups, dips, shrugs, split squats, lunges, step ups, DB presses, barbell/DB/inverted rows, rear delt flies, medial delt raises and DB curls for your assistance and accessory work.
So what are my goals?
Parkour is a massive part of my life. It makes me who I am today – it has changed me and my life a lot. It has taught what the human body and the mind can do. It has taught me freedom and what it means to take control of my mind and understand myself. I used to be a conscious kid, quite shy but at the same time quite rebellious – I was in trouble with the police frequently. Now, I don’t care what anybody thinks of me, I know who and what I am, I have confidence and I’m in my final year of A-levels. (As Mike Tyson once said, 'I don't car who I am or who anybody thinks I am').
Under the influence of guys like David Belle and the original French practitioners, I’ve realised that there’s more to Parkour than the side we usually see: the jumps, vaults etc. I’ve realised that Parkour can do such more for me.
I want to be able to look after myself – to escape from someone/something if needs to be using whatever means: fighting, running, jumping and climbing. I want to be able to help and rescue other people should they need it. I want to be as complete as can be. I want to be able to lift a car that is crushing a mother and her child, fight off the attacking grizzly bear, run to safety whilst being able to survive in the wilderness. Extreme maybe, but you get my point.
My training overview
After my experimentation and research, I’ve finally settled on the way I’m going to structure my training – maybe not permanently, but for a while at least! I will be dividing my training into an off-season phase and an in-season phase – similar to the sporting seasons of the NFL, for example. These phases will both be based around DeFranco programmes and they generally involve, as follows:
•Off-Season: strength building focus, less focus on Parkour with sessions only once a week – usually school term time (some school holidays used as de-load weeks)
•Pre-Season: short period testing final max lifts, sprint times, jump distances/heights etc before the in-season
•In-Season: Parkour training focus, strength maintenance (lower volume and intensity) – will be over the summer months
•Off-Season Finishes: Sunday 6th June
•Pre-Season: Monday 7th June until Sunday 13th June)
•In-Season: Monday 14th June until Sunday 29th August
•Off-Season: Monday 30th August
“Most athletes will work diligently to improve their strength during the off-season, only to lose all their hard-earned gains when they need them most: during the season! ... Athletes need to understand that they can maintain their strength during the season on very little volume - IF they’re doing the right exercises at the proper intensity.”- Joe DeFranco
Here is the training template I used for the last 8 weeks or so of the off-season along with notes and a review of my findings:
Previous Off-Season Template – Joe DeFranco, Westside 3
Monday – Repetition Effort Upper Body
A. Repetition Effort Lift – 3 x max reps (90 seconds rest) in one of the following exercises:
•Pull ups/chin ups (bodyweight or at 50-60% 1RM), push ups, dips, bench press (50-60% 1RM)
B. Pulling/Rear Delt Superset 3-4 x 8-12 in one of the following exercises:
•B1: Pull ups/chin ups or a row variation (horizontal, dumbbell, barbell or T-bar)
•B2: Rear delt flyes, seated dumbbell ‘power cleans’
C. Medial Delts – 4 x 10-12 in one of the following exercises:
•Medial delt raises, L-lateral raise, DB military press
D. Elbow Flexor/Traps Superset- 3 x 8-15 in one of the following exercises:
•Curl variation (dumbbell, barbell, Zottmann), rolling triceps extensions
•Barbell/dumbbell shrugs
E. Grip - 2-3 sets for max time in one of the following exercises:
•Thick bar/heavy dumbbell holds, plate gripping, dead hangs
Tuesday – Jump Training + Max Effort Lower Body
A. Jump Variation – 5-8 x 1-3 jumps in one of the following exercises:
•Broad, vertical, box or hurdle jump (weighted or at bodyweight)
B. Max Effort Lift – work up to a 3-5RM, in one of the following exercises, rotate exercise every 2 weeks
•Box squat or deadlift
C. Unilateral Movement – 3-4 x 6-10 dynamic or with a moderate/heavy weight in one of the following exercises:
•Bulgarian split squat, step up or reverse lunge (regular, dynamic or increased ROM)
D. Posterior Chain – 3-4 x 6-10 in one of the following exercises:
•Glute-ham raise, reverse hyperextension, Glute bridge, Romanian deadlift
E. Weighted Abdominals – 3-4 x 8-12 in one or two exercises
•Weighted swiss ball crunch, weighted sit up, hanging leg/knee raise, weighted side bend
Wednesday – OFF
Thursday – Max Effort Upper Body and MMA
A. Max Effort Lift - work up to 3-5RM in one of the following exercises:
•Pull up variations (overhand/underhand/towel grip), bench press, dips
B. Supplemental Lift – 3-4 x 6-12 in one of the following exercises:
•Pull ups (50-60% 1RM, dynamic/plyometrics), DB bench press, push ups (one armed variations/plyometrics/regular), dips
C. Pulling/Rear Delt Superset 3-4 x 8-12 in one of the following exercises:
•C1: A row variation (horizontal, dumbbell, barbell or T-bar)
•C2: Rear delt flyes, seated dumbbell ‘power cleans’
D. Traps – 3 x 8-15 in one of the following exercises:
•Dumbbell/barbell shrugs
E. Elbow Flexor 3 x 8-12 in one of the following exercises:
•Dumbbell/barbell/zottman/hammer curls
F. Grip – 2-3 x max time OR 3x max reps on a gripper (at MMA) in one of the following exercises:
•Thick bar/heavy dumbbell holds, plate gripping, dead hangs
Friday – OFF
Saturday – Parkour
•1-4 hour Parkour session
•High rep abdominal circuit
Sunday - OFF
Notes and Review for Off-Season (next September)
-DeFranco uses ‘bodybuilding methods’ in accessory lifts as size is necessary to build strength
-I added 25kg to my box squat over the 8 weeks and 5 inches to my broad jump
-I ran out of weight to perform deadlifts to max. weight
-I didn’t feel as though 8 weeks was long enough at all and in future I’ll aim for 12-16 weeks
-Short time + being new to this style of training meant more experimentation than solid training
-I know which exercises I favour for next off-season
-I will be adding more dynamic/plyometrics methods to my supplemental workouts – will also be combining repetition days with a dynamic day, e.g.:
A) 2x max reps (push ups, dips, bench press, pull ups, inverted rows)
B) 3x6-10 plyometrics/dynamic movement (push ups, pull ups, dips etc)
Here is my in-season template:
In-Season Template – Joe Defranco’s Westside 3, In-Season
-Workout 1
A. ME upper body lift – 5RM/3RM
• Pull ups/chin ups, bench press, dips
B. Unilateral lower body – 3 sets of 8, working up to a heavy weight
• Bulgarian split squats, step ups, reverse lunges
C. Supplemental – 2 sets of 8-15
• Pull ups (50/60% or dynamic), DB/bench press (50/60%), dips, push ups
D1. Row variation – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
• Inverted rows, dumbbell rows, barbell rows
D2. Barbell/DB Shrugs – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
E. High rep abdominal circuit – perform 3-4 exercises and go through circuit 2x
-Workout 2
A. Box squats:
Week 1 = 60% of 1RM for 6 sets of 2 w/ 1 minute rest between sets
Week 2 = 70% 1RM for 5 sets of 2 w/ 1 minute rest between sets
Week 3 = Work up to 3 singles w/ 80-85% of 1RM, 2-3 minutes rest between sets
-3 week mini cycles, increase percentages dependent on how you feel
B. Supplemental – 3 sets of 6-15
• Pull ups (bodyweight, 50/60% of 1RM or dynamic), inverted rows, bench press (50-60% of 1RM), dips, push ups
C1. Rear delt/Upper back - 3 sets of 8-12
• Rear delt flyes, seated DB power cleans
C2. Elbow Flexor – 3 sets of 8-12
• Dumbbell/barbell/Zottmann curls, triceps extensions
D. DB Lateral Raises - 2-3 sets of 12-15
E. Posterior Chain – 2-3 sets of 8-15
• 45-degree back raises, reverse hyperextensions, Glute bridges, DB swings, RDLs
F. Weighted abdominals–2-3 sets of 10-20
Hanging leg raises, weighted spread eagle sit ups, frog kicks, weighted side bends
-Sprinting/Speed Training
A. General Warm-up / Movement skills (5-15 minutes) –increase your core temperature by performing basic movement skills and calisthenics. (Example: bodyweight squats, jumping jacks, skipping, back pedalling, etc...)
B. Ground-based mobility (5-15 minutes) – Once you’ve broken a sweat and your muscles are warm, perform ground-based mobility drills for 5-15 minutes. (Sample mobility drills include: roll-overs into V-sits, fire hydrant circles, mountain climbers, groiners, etc…)
C. Frequency drills (2-3 minutes) – conclude warm-up with 1 or 2 drills that excite the central nervous system before beginning the speed training portion of the workout. These drills should only last 5-10 seconds, 2-3 sets for each. (Example: low pogo jumps, wideouts, ankling, etc.)
D. Speed training – full recovery between sprints, example session:
• 10-yard sprints – 10 sprints with 1 minute rest
• 20-yard sprints – 6 sprints with 2 minutes rest
• 40-yard sprints – 4 sprints with 4 minutes rest
An example week:
Monday – sprinting (AM) and workout 1(PM)
Tuesday – light Parkour
Wednesday – light Parkour
Thursday – Parkour (AM), workout 2 (PM)
Friday – grappling/MMA
Saturday – Parkour
Sunday – light Parkour
In both the in-season and off-season, I perform this flexibility and recovery routine 6 days a week using a foam roller and tennis ball.
1. IT Band – below hip roll down to mid-outer thigh then start at mid-outer thigh roll down to knee – 10-15x each
2. Abductors - below the crease of your hip to your mid-inner thigh then starting at your mid-inner thigh and rolling down to the inside of your knee
3. Glute/Piriformis Myofacial release w/ static stretch
4. Rollovers into “V” sits – Perform 10 reps
5. Fire hydrant circles – 10 forward circles/10 backward circles each leg
6. Mountain climbers – 20 reps
7. Groiners –10 reps. Hold last rep for 10 seconds - push knees out while dropping butt down.
8. Static hip flexor stretch – Perform 3 sets of 10 seconds each leg. Perform all 3 sets on one leg before moving onto the other leg.
I am very excited for the in-season! Lots of Parkour training, freedom and progression!
Any questions, just ask... I realise it may seem complicated!
The field of strength training is so complex, it would be impossible to write down every aspect and every variation – my advice would be to just get on the internet, sift through the crap and read the good information. My favourites: www.defrancostraining.com and www.elitefts.com. Enjoy!
“So next time someone tells you weight training is just for bodybuilders, think again. A proper strength-training program just may be the final piece of your training “puzzle” to success!”
-Joe
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