Has anybody ever heard of the DAPRE technique? I’m helping out my former high school soccer team with pre-season strength training, and the coach uses the DAPRE technique. He told me that it is used by both the US Men’s National Team (soccer) and the US wresting team. (By the way, I really doubt both of these squads use the same training protocol.)
He sent me a template and it includes ten different exercises. The first set of each exercise is 10 reps at 50% of 1RM, and the second set is 6 reps of 75% of 1RM. Oh yeah, and the template didn’t include any excerises, which allows the athletes to choose their own exercises. (Duh!)
My initial impression is that program is complete garbage. Does anybody else have another opinion on this technique? If it is complete garbage, how do I let him down gently?
Oh yeah, and in my conversation with him yesterday I learned that creatine is very dangerous, so stay away!!
I’ve never heard of it before…but google is my friend. Sounds mostly like it is used in conjunction with physical therapy.
Having said that, the DAPRE formula sounds like it would lead to overtraining in a hurry. No matter the exercises chosen, you are to work up to a 1RM or max weight on every exercise. I interpreted this two ways:
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1RM by the third set, but this wouldn’t allow for the adjustable fourth set.
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work up to a full “working weight” for the third set and depending how many reps the athlete can complete, adjust the weight and repeat the exercise for a fourth set.
Number 2 is more likely, but I believe this WILL lead to overtraining quickly. Depending on where in their training cycle, you might get away with this, but definately not for that many exercises.
If you don’t like it:
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decide why
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come up with a better training template (periodize, position played, strengths and weaknesses etc…)
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present it to the coach, and be prepared to back up your thoughts, both why you wouldn’t use his formula and why you should use yours.
Remember, pointing out something you don’t like/believe in without offering a better solution isn’t any better than following a poor plan.
ps. ask him why creatine is bad, and where is his proof. show your proof why and when it might be good.
Yeah, I googled this too and couldn’t find much about it but the formula. The biggest problem with this program is the logistical aspect of actually carrying it out. With 40+ players trying to train at once, it could turn into a nut house. Plus, these kids are going to have no clue what weight they should actually be lifting, thus making this program entirely ineffective.
I think the best way to approach this would be with a more standard set/rep scheme like 6X5 for exercises like squats, cleans, deads, and bench, supplemented with other compound movements like rows, chins close-grip, etc. This would keep everybody in small groups and focused on the task at hand. The high school just built a new weight room that has 16 power racks, so if I can keep everybody using barbells that would be best.
The reason he doesn’t like creatine is because once one of his players bulked up in the off-season and hyped this supplement to the team. Evidently he came back to practice really slow. It’s a rediculous argument so I think I’ll just avoid the topic all together.
Also, he’s afraid of supplementation because athletes at a rival high school started using steroids and not being very discrete about it. One kid, a sophmore on the basketball team, actually bulked up from 135 to 180 during basketball season. Turns out his dad was a veterinarian and was giving him 'roids. There was a whole to do about it.
I definitely have my work cut out for me. His opinion is pretty much set in stone and won’t be swayed unless the information sounds really sciency. Thanks for the tips.