The Absolute Athlete

INTRODUCTION

This is a program for those who favour performance above all. When I was young I was always impressed by Olympic gymnastics, their agility and feats of strength. Without a training facility I decided I would teach myself those moves and start strength training to support them. Over 15 years later I am able to perform Olympic level gymnastics moves, hold a world record for the most flips in one minute while simultaneously competing in powerlifting at an international level. Becoming one of the strongest pound-for-pound lifters in the world. I have tried almost all of the standard programs and made many of my own which me and my friends have used. My goal has always and will always be human performance, being able to jump higher, move faster, stretch further, be stronger and be smarter.

This program is a culmination of everything I have learned over the years. Aimed at people who want to improve their general metrics and strength standards. Without doubt some of the most important strength metrics are the powerlifting and Olympic lifting movements, however I also believe there are some important bodyweight metrics as well. A functional program should address these and also aim to improve your balance, coordination, agility, speed and even flexibility. That is what this program seeks to provide. It will lay a solid foundation for any athlete.

Before attempting this program you should have experience with the fundamental powerlifting movements, you can learn these from a number of beginner programs before attempting this one.

SESSION AND PROGRAM STRUCTURE

After performing the warm up routine, each session will start with a main compound lift, building up to a top single rep. This will not necessarily be near maximal but will still be heavy enough so that the skill element is maintained. This is common at an intermediate to advanced level in powerlifting and will keep you primed for eventually testing a max. This will be followed by backdown sets on the main lift of the session to accumulate volume and build strength. Accessories will follow and all be functional, often including bodyweight exercises that may test your balance and coordination. You should finish with the cool down routine which includes stretching.

Each week the top single will increase steadily. Backdown sets will vary in volume and intensity depending on the day. The final week will include some lower volume sessions in order to recover before testing max lifts. The program lasts 6 weeks in total and should be followed by a de-load week. You can repeat the program with new maxes entered after the de-load week to continue to work towards your next milestone goals.

A NOTE ON RPE

For some exercises in this program, you will see an RPE measure, just treat this number as a difficulty score out of 10. As an example, for an RPE 8, choose a weight, number of reps, or time measure that you would consider to be 8/10 difficulty.

PROGRAM SPLIT

Squats and benchpress are performed twice per week with one day focussed on higher intensity, and another day focussed on higher volume work. The volume is performed on the days that allow for the longest rest time before the next session so that you are recovered before performing the exercise again. Deadlifts are performed once per week as these are highly taxing and will also improve as a by-product of the squat work anyway. Powercleans are performed once per week as are weighted dips and chin ups.