This document outlines the 7 steps of designing an effective resistance training program: 1) Needs analysis of the sport and athlete, 2) Exercise selection, 3) Training frequency, 4) Exercise order, 5) Training load and repetitions, 6) Training volume, and 7) Rest periods. It provides details on how to determine appropriate loads, repetitions, sets, exercise selection, and other parameters based on the athlete's abilities and training goals like strength, power, or hypertrophy. The document emphasizes designing a program based on a thorough needs analysis and progressively overloading the musculoskeletal system to continue improving strength over time.

1. 18
C H A P T E R
Resistance Training

2. Chapter Outline
Step 1: Needs analysis
Step 7: Rest periods
Step 2: Exercise selection
Step 3: Training frequency
Step 4: Exercise order
Step 5: Training load and repetitions
Step 6: Volume

3. Step 1: The strength and conditioning
professional’s initial task is to perform a needs
analysis, a two-stage process that includes an
evaluation of the requirements and
characteristics of the sport and an assessment
of the athlete.

4. Evaluation of the Sport
Movement analysis (body and limb movement
patterns and muscular involvement)
Injury analysis (common joint and muscle injury
sites and causative factors)
Physiological analysis (strength, power,
hypertrophy, and muscular endurance priorities)

5. Assessment of the Athlete
Training status including evaluation of injuries and
training background (exercise history)
- Type of training program
- Length of recent regular participation in previous
training programs
- Level of intensity involved in previous training
programs
- Degree of exercise technique experience
Physical testing and evaluation
Primary resistance training goal

6. Step 2: To make an informed exercise
selection the strength and conditioning
professional must understand the types of
resistance training exercises, the movement
analysis of the sport, the athlete’s exercise
technique experience, and the available
equipment and training time.

7. Exercise Type
Core and assistance exercises
- Core exercises recruit one or more large muscle
areas, involve two or more primary joints, and receive
priority when selecting exercise because of the direct
application to the sport.
- Assistance exercises usually recruit smaller muscle
areas, involve only one primary joint, and are
considered less important to improving sport
performance.
Structural and power exercises
- A structural exercise involves muscular stabilization of
posture while performing the lifting movement.
- A power exercise is a structural exercise that is
performed very quickly or explosively.

8. Movement Analysis of the Sport
Sport-specific exercise: The more similar the
training activity is to the actual sport movement, the
greater the likelihood that there will be a positive
transfer to that sport.
Muscle balance: Exercises selected for the specific
demands of the sport should maintain a balance of
muscular strength across joints and between
opposing muscle groups.

9. Other Factors in Exercise Selection
Exercise technique experience: The athlete should
be able to perform the exercise with proper
technique.
Availability of training time per session: If time for a
training session is limited, exercises that are more
time efficient may need to be given priority over
others.
Availability of resistance training equipment: A lack
of certain equipment may necessitate selecting
exercises that are not as sport specific.

10. Step 3: When determining training
frequency, the strength and conditioning
professional should consider the athlete’s
training status, sport season, projected exercise
loads, types of exercises, and other concurrent
training or activities.

11. Training Status
General guideline for a beginning athlete is to
schedule training sessions so there is at least one
rest or recovery day between sessions that stress
the same muscle groups.
More highly resistance-trained athletes can augment
their training by using a split routine in which
different muscle groups are trained on different
days.

12. Other Factors in Training Frequency
Sport season: Practicing the sport skill during the
in-season necessitates a decrease in the time spent
in the weight room.
Other training: If the athlete’s program already
includes aerobic or anaerobic training, sport skill
practice, or any combination of these components,
the frequency of resistance training may need to be
reduced.
Training load and exercise type: Athletes who train
with maximum or near-maximum loads require more
recovery time prior to the next training session.

13. Step 4: Exercise order refers to a sequence
of resistance exercises performed during one
training session. Exercises are usually arranged
so that an athlete’s maximal force capabilities
are available (from a sufficient rest or recovery
period) to complete a set with proper exercise
technique.

14. Four Methods of Ordering Resistance
Exercises
Power, other core, then assistance exercises
- Multi-joint exercises and then single-joint exercises or
large muscle areas and then small muscle areas
- Preexhaustion (fatiguing a large muscle group as a
result of a single-joint exercise being performed prior to
a multi-joint exercise that involves the same muscle)
Supersets (two exercises that stress two opposing
muscles or muscle areas) and compound sets
(sequentially performing two different exercises for
the same muscle group)
Upper- and lower-body exercises (alternated)
 “Push” and “pull” exercises (alternated)

15. Step 5: Load, most simplistically referred to
as the amount of weight assigned to an exercise
set, is often described as the most critical
aspect of a resistance training program.
Repetitions, the number of times an exercise
can be performed, is inversely related to the
load lifted; the heavier the load, the fewer the
number of repetitions that can be performed.

16. Relationship Between Load
and Repetitions
a one-repetition maximum (1RM), the greatest
amount of weight that can be lifted with proper
technique for only one repetition, or
a repetition maximum (RM), the most weight lifted
for a specified number of repetitions.
Load is described as either a certain percentage
of

17. 1RM and Multiple-RM Testing Options
Determine the athlete’s actual 1RM (directly tested).
Determine the athlete’s multiple-RM based on the
number of repetitions planned for that exercise (the
goal repetitions).
Determine the athlete’s estimated 1RM from a
multiple-RM test.

18. Summary of Testing and Assigning Training
Loads and Repetitions
See Essentials of
Strength Training
and Conditioning
Second Edition for
tables and figures.

19. RM Continuum
Repetition ranges for power are not consistent with the % 1RM-repetition relationship. (See
p. 412 in text.)

20. Variation of the Training Load
Heavy day loads are designed to be full repetition
maximums, the greatest resistance that can be
successfully lifted for the goal number of
repetitions.
The loads for the other training days are
intentionally reduced to provide recovery after the
heavy day, while still maintaining sufficient training
frequency and volume.

21. Progression of the Training Load
Timing load increases: If the athlete can perform
two or more repetitions over her assigned repetition
goal in the last set in two consecutive workouts for a
certain exercise, weight should be added to that
exercise for the next training session.
Quantity of load increases: Variations in training
status, volume loads, and exercises influence the
appropriate load increases; to contend with this
variability, relative load increases of 2.5-10% can be
used.

22. Step 6: Volume describes the total amount
of weight lifted in a training session, and a set is
a group of repetitions sequentially performed
before the athlete stops to rest. Volume is
calculated by multiplying the number of sets by
the number of repetitions times the weight lifted
per repetition.

23. Multiple Versus Single Sets
Single-set training may be appropriate for untrained
individuals or during the first several months of
training, but higher volumes are necessary to
promote further gains in strength.
An athlete who performs multiple sets from the
initiation of his resistance training program will
increase muscular strength faster than from single-
set training.
The musculoskeletal system will adapt to the
stimulus of one set to failure and require the added
stimulus of multiple sets to bring about continued
strength gains.

24. Table 18.11 Volume Assignments Based on the
Training Goal
Training goal Goal Sets
repetitions
Strength 6 2-6
Power: single-effort event 1-2 3-5
Power: multiple-effort event 3-5 3-5
Hypertrophy 6-12 3-6
Muscular endurance 12 2-3
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25. Step 7: The length of the rest period
between sets and exercises is highly dependent
on the goal of training, the relative load lifted,
and the athlete’s training status (if the athlete is
not in good physical condition, rest periods
initially may need to be longer than typically
assigned).

26. Table 18.12 Rest Period Length Assignments
Based on the Training Goal
Training goal Rest period length
Strength 2-5 min
Power: single-effort event 2-5 min
Power: multiple-effort event 2-5 min
Hypertrophy 30 s-1.5 min
Muscular endurance 30 s<_