Description
Javorek’s Super Challenger Circuit Conditioning Program:
In my long, over forty years of coaching career I learned that athletes and coaches have a great tendency to skip a “step by step” preparatory program that would be appropriate for their level of ability and instead jump to an Olympic champion’s or world record holder’s “miraculous” workouts. I guess those coaches are thinking the reason their athletes are not Olympic champions is because they have been doing the wrong program. The coaches believe is that as soon as they switch, their athlete’s performance will reach world-class levels.
Assuming they have in their hands a world-class elite athlete’s conditioning program, the big question is: are they ready for it? Does it actually make any athletic improvements? Or will doing it just will ruin their dreams?
My answer categorically is that usually the third statement happens and their dreams are ruined.
Once in my coaching career a new young coach came to work at my college and introduced himself, having in his hand two big folders. He was telling me, that these programs are the US Olympic team’s conditioning programs for his sport and he wishes to perform that program with his athletes. Very polite I explained to him the following:
First, is my responsibility to decide on a conditioning program and I will choose what program we will perform. Of course I will discuss it with him in detail, and let him express his concerns and offer suggestions. Also I explained to him, if after a season the program does not work, and then we can make the necessary changes;
Secondly, I tried to explain to him, the Olympic program was actually developed for the “cream“ of US athletes and his team in this moment is at the last place in the conference. None of his athletes are close to being placed even in the Conference’s third team. I tried to explain that performing a program developed for the most talented athletes in this country probably would do more harm than good;
Finally I assured him that we would work together, I would explain to him the whole year preparatory plan, and I would try to satisfy his concerns about certain issues of conditioning. That it is the best for a new program to build up gradually from the base all the way to the top and I am sure that in a short time several of his athletes will be selected in the Conference team.
As a general statement of my philosophy of athletic preparation (and not just in conditioning) is:
Never consider yourself already an Olympic champion, just because you have talent in that respective sport. Rather work hard, following the golden rules of gradualism: from simple to complex and from easy to more difficult.
Try to develop a well-balanced musculature, learning the perfect technique of conditioning exercises (as well as your sport’s skills), in order to prevent and minimize injuries.
Here is my success “secret”: In a yearly or in a four-year cycle of preparation plan, during a period of transition, or in a certain phase of preparatory period, I will introduce some very different conditioning programs, with the main goal of “shocking” the athlete’s’ neuro-muscular system, avoiding the monotonous core of preparation, giving some “color” into the hard conditioning and achieving a very high quality of what I call “active rest.”
With a very carefully planned approach, a coach should decide when his/her team is ready for an extra stimulatory challenge. In my long experience these programs don’t just revitalize an athlete’s total morpho-functional system, but the coach and athletes will enjoy the changes in the daily routine.
I always compare dieting with exercising. With either, to achieve the goal you must be consistent and perseverant. In other words, you must hold steady for a long period of time. Otherwise you just waste your time and energy.
Someone could ask, “then why not to pick the Olympic champion’s program?” You could, if your athletic skills and performances are up to that level. But remember, most of you are not at that level.
I never forget when as a young athlete I was studying different world and Olympic champion’s training methods. But I was selecting only certain exercises from them, what could be beneficial for my specific athletic improvement. I would experiment with them for months and only then was I implementing them in my program (and later in my coaching career in my athlete’s programs).
This program, which I developed, is a three weeks Circuit Type program, which could be repeated several times in a yearly or in a four-year plan of preparation. Please remember what I said before! This program is just for athletes with a high preparation level and even if they are in great athletic shape, when they perform this program first time in their preparation they still need to:
- a) learn the perfect technique of exercises from this program
- b) be able to perform six sets of 12 reps of the first 25 exercises for a period of two to four weeks before the start of this program. Personalized variation $ 50.00 + S&H or No S&H and just $50.00 if is sent as a PDF File version through email as an attachment;
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