Hey Jim,
I am a senior in high school looking to play lacrosse in college, and want to become a better athlete by getting bigger (without sacrificing too much speed and agility) and stronger. Tryouts will be in the fall, so I have 4 1/2 months to train. I was wondering if BBB or Beyond 5/3/1 is more suitable for my goals. Here are my stats:
Height: 5’ 11"
Weight: 150 lbs (68.04 kg)
Bench: 185 lbs (83.91 kg)
Deadlift: 315 lbs (142.88 kg)
Squat: 250 lbs (97.52 kg)
OHP: 115 lbs (52.16 kg) x 3 reps
I have been training with 5/3/1 since the fall and Beyond 5/3/1 since this winter. I have made substantial gains, and finished the second week of 1.3 before my season started in March. my plan was to continue with Beyond 5/3/1 (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it), but I wanted to determine whether or not that was the best option.
Thank you for the help.
I say stick with what you’re doing. BBB would probably be too much rep volume when combined with football. Recovery would likely be an issue. “Beyond” seems like a more well rounded program for your goals.
Whatever you do make sure your eating enough. At 5’11" and 150lbs that is pretty small for any college sport. I played two years of college club hockey(I was a goalie, so I didn’t need to be as big as my teammates) and currently sit at 5’5" 160 and of course Im still tiny. So, gain weight and don’t worry about gaining a little bit of fat, it’ll be useful.
Neither are what I would recommend. In general, I’d recommend 5’s PRO, few if any jokers. Look at the FSL work for some volume work.
The lifting shit is easy since it is basic stuff. You must look at the other areas of training and be able to program them effectively.
Lifting is just one part of the preparation.
While being stronger is important - if you can’t finish a lifting session in 45 minutes as an athlete, you need to stop fucking around with stupid assistance work. Remember to always remember the gas tank analogy and realize EVERYTHING you do drains the tank.
It seems that the whole training world is obsessed with ignoring the 99.9% and focusing on .1% that doesn’t make a difference. Don’t be that guy.
As a former NCAA lacrosse coach I would say that stick skills, one on one play, and being in condition to play a game are the priority. You should be hammering the wall everyday for at least 250-500 reps each hand in various positions, working on dodging and shooting on cage.
Keep the lifting simple. Do 5/3/1 for the main lift, maybe throw in a First Set Last if you are feeling awesome, do some bw back extensions, pull ups, and dips. You could even split the wall ball up as a warm up, and the rest after the lifting.
There is only one thing that matters and thats how you perform on the field. Don’t lose sight of the goal, and that’s playing time!
Condition yourself for a 3hr practice, not a 60min game. Starting spots can be won and lost in the 2nd half of every practice. If your walking on, fight for more reps! When you step to the front of the line for 3v2, or a drill that involves alot of running when everyone else is sucking wind, COACHES TAKE NOTICE! We see who is trying to get less reps cause their tired, and who is hungry for more.
The reason people pay so much attention to all the secondary , auxiliary stuff is because the main lift are so basic. Its like knowing you are going to make birthday cake. You know you want to make it chocolate but , hey its a birthday cake we need to decorate it. So it looks like this:
Choose cake: 2 minutes
Choose how to decorate birthday cake: Make up your FK mind so you can put the cake in the oven if not all your going to have is
frosting.
So start lifting on the basic NOW, hold the frosting. Im sure that when you start the cake you’ll start realizing how to decorate it.
Remember this: conditioning is for practice, not games! Practice is where you win or lose a position. People that advocate conditiong for games forgot about (or never played, which is more likely) this key point.