WS4SB 3 for a not so skinny Athlete

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hey Guys, I’m a 17 year old athlete who plays Basketball, Football (American), and Rugby. My school doesn’t really have a “strength coach” per se and it has just been us players doing whatever routines we find online. I’ve been working out for the past year or so and have seen some strength gains, however I do feel as if I already had a jump start because of my build which makes me naturally strong (6’3", 245lbs). And leads into the main question: will this work for someone who is not skinny and actually trying to lose in order to fight a new position (from LB and DE to RB), I’ve programmed this based of WS4SB3 and the Boostcamp Absolute Athlete program (linked below).

Here’s the schedule:
MONDAY – Max-Effort Upper Body
TUESDAY – Speed Training + Dynamic-Effort Lower Body
WEDNESDAY – Off
THURSDAY – Repetition Upper Body
FRIDAY – Footwork + Max-Effort Lower Body
SATURDAY – Skill Day
SUNDAY – Off

Max-Effort Upper Body:
Bench Press 5x5
OHP 3x8
Chin-ups 3x10
Barbell Rows 3x10
Dips 3x10
Hammer Curls 3x12
Push-ups 2xAMRAP

Speed Training:
10-yard sprints – 10 sprints with 1 minute rest
20-yard sprints – 6 sprints with 2 minutes rest
40-yard sprints – 4 sprints with 4 minutes rest

Dynamic-Effort Lower Body:
Box Jumps 4x6
Kettlebell Swings 3x15
Barbell Bulgarian Split Squats 3x10
Romanian Deadlift 3x8
Hanging Leg Raises 2x10
Broad Jumps 3x5
Battle Ropes 3x30s

Repetition/Hypertrophy Upper Body:
Incline Bench Press 4x12
Superset 1 (3 sets): Lat-Pulldown x10 + Band Pull-Apart x10
DB Shoulder Press 4x8
Superset 2 (3 sets): Zottman Curls x10 + Skullcrushers x10
Reverse Hammer Curls 2xAMRAP

Footwork: Agility Ladder Drills

Max-Effort Lower Body:
Squat 5x5
Trap Bar Deadlift 3x8
Power Cleans 2x8
Split Squats 3x10
Lying Hamstring Curls 3x12
Glute-ham raises 3x10
Jump Rope 3x30s

Skill Day:
1hr30+ of Football drills
1hr30+ of Pick Up Basketball

If anyone could add anything to this or has any comments, they would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

The Absolute Athlete | Workout Programs | Boostcamp App | the-absolute-athlete

2

I can think of another program you could try.

3

Are you trying to cut weight?

I am assuming you are a high school junior or senior … you seem like you have the size and frame to be a good lineman

4

Oh fr? What other program would you suggest

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Yeah one of the main goals for my off season is to cut down. Last off season I cut down 54lbs by mainly cardio and good dieting, completely neglecting the weight lifting aspect because I thought that I would keep my “Fat Strength”. I would like to cut down even more while also growing my strength so that I can overall be more athletic and faster. I only have a few offers for schools and I want to change that before the end of my Senior season next year. I did like playing lineman but I used play other positions such as safety and LB before I gained a lot of weight in my freshman year off season.

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6

Curious what is your current 40 time , Vertical jump and general strength level?

7

I revisited your post…

My advice … do one or the other. DONT Frankenstein them.

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Of course you can run it. It’s just a catchy name, but cutting weight will be mostly dictated by your diet. Typically, I think it’s a bad idea to try to blend two programs; however, in this case, what you threw together looks pretty solid.

:clap:

Couple of considerations here. I’d consider starting with push press. This movement has so much carry over to athletic performance. Also, if you’re looking to cut, you can arrange some of these as supersets to cut down on time in the gym and make your workout a bit more metabolic. So something like:

A1. Push press: 5x3-5
A2: Weighted chinups: 5x3-5
B1. Bench press: 3x6-8
B2. BB rows: 3x8-10
C1. Dips: 3x10-12
C2. Hammer curl: 3x12-15

This seems like ALOT. I’d consider cutting each in half. So 5, 3, and 2 sprints respectively. Quality over quantity here.

I’d always put the explosive work at the top of the workout. That’s when you’re most fresh, and it’s a great tool to activate your nervous system for the strength work after. Trying to do jumps after heavy leg work can be counterproductive. Also, there’s some redundancy with box jumps, broad jump, and KB swings. I think you really only need 2 at most. So something like:

A1. Box jump: 4x4-6
A2: KB swings: 4x8-12 Go for explosive reps here. I highly recommend doing these banded to really active the glutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAe8UTaIRqk
B. Bulgarian split squat: 3x10
C. RDL: 3x8
D1. Leg raise: 3x10-20
D2. Battle ropes: 3x20-30 sec (go for all out sprint)

If you’re up for it you can superset the bulgarians with RDLs. That’ll get you sweating.

Looks great.

As mentioned before, you should put explosive work at the top while you’re fresh. Do power cleans first, and preferably fewer than 8 reps. At 8 reps, you’re likely not able to use enough weight to get the desired training stimulus and you risk form breakdown on a highly technical lift. Probably best in the 2-5 rep range for your goals.

The rest is good. If I had to nitpick, I’d suggest just sticking to GHR since it’s redundant with lying leg curl. And instead of leg curls, I’d recommend another core exercise that has performance carryover. Your program currently lacks any rotational core work, so something like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so9zrLwnsng

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My current 40 time as of now is 4.59, but I do have some excess weight on me, so I’m hoping that if I shave it off I can get it even lower. My vert is enough that I can hang on a regulation rim pretty consistently, and I’ve dunked a couple of times, but they’ve always been those “flow state” kind of moments you get when you don’t really think, you just “do”. My general strength is pretty good I’d say. I can compete with linemen pretty taller than me and sometimes stronger than me and have always been one of the strongest in terms of pure brute strength on the teams I play for.

10

Alright thank you. If I apply what you’re saying it’d look a bit like this?

Max-Effort:
A1. Push press: 5x3-5
A2: Weighted chinups: 5x3-5
B1. Bench press: 3x6-8
B2. BB rows: 3x8-10
C1. Dips: 3x10-12
C2. Hammer curl: 3x12-15

Speed:
10-yard sprints – 5 sprints with 1 minute rest
20-yard sprints – 3 sprints with 2 minutes rest
40-yard sprints – 2 sprints with 4 minutes rest

A1. Box jump: 4x4-6
A2: KB swings: 4x8-12
B. Bulgarian split squat: 3x10
C. RDL: 3x8
D1. Leg raise: 3x10-20
D2. Battle ropes: 3x20-30 sec (go for all out sprint)

Repetition/Hypertrophy Upper Body:
Incline Bench Press 4x12
Superset 1 (3 sets): Lat-Pulldown x10 + Band Pull-Apart x10
DB Shoulder Press 4x8
Superset 2 (3 sets): Zottman Curls x10 + Skullcrushers x10
Reverse Hammer Curls 2xAMRAP

Max-Effort Lower:
A. Power Cleans 3x5
B1. Squat 3x6-8
B2. Trap Bar Deadlift 3x6-8
C1. Hip Thrusts 3x10
C2. Split Squats 3x10
D. Landmine Torso Twist 3x10-12

Thank you very much for your advice, it’s definitely helped me out a lot

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Looks good. Except I wouldn’t superset squats and trap bar deadlifts. Those are very demanding movements.

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Just occured to me your biggest issue is going to be time. Football practice should be starting for you in what 6 weeks give or take?

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Because it’s an international school the term times are a little different, so school for me starts in September 16th and ends on July 7th, with practice starting in the penultimate week of august until 16th of september, so I do have some time if I start this routine now

15

Ok … that was my only concern for you.

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Thank you for the concern :pray: Thankfully I already know the drills for both basketball and football I can do

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I’m back again to pick your brain. I’ve merged the two routines into an A/B type routine similar to starting strength or 5x5 and looks something like this:
Workout A
1.Box squat 3x3
2.Bench press 3x5
3.DB shoulder press 3x8
4.Row 5x6-12
5.Shrugs 3x8
6.Kettlebell Swings 3x5-10
7.Core work 3 sets

Workout B
1.Deadlift 3x3
2.Push press 4x3
3.Dips 3x8
4.Chin/pull ups 3x5-12
5.Rear delt flys 3x8
Bulgarian Split Squats 3x5
7.Core work 3 sets

Workout C
Dynamic-Effort Lower Body/Plyos:

  1. Box jump: 4x4-6
    5 x 5 Kneeling into Jumps
    4 x 35 Calf Raises
    3 x 8 Squats into jumps
    4 x 8 Lunges into jumps
    4 x 10 Box Jumps
    2 x 10 Depth Jumps
    2 x Holding squats until failure
    3 x 35m Sprints

Plyos to be done on an off day
Thoughts on this?

18

With all due respect, I put alot of time into modifying your first program and tried to stick within the framework you laid out as well as your well stated goals. My opinion has not changed, and what you’ve laid out here is something drastically different, and has too many things wrong with it for me to take another half hour out of my day to address.

I would not recommend program hopping at this point and give a program a fair shot. If you have specific qualms with the first program I laid out, I’m happy to address those. But I cannot in good faith encourage you to run the new program you laid out.

19

Alright my bad, I can 100% understand where you’re coming from. I guess I was just too excited and started shopping around for more when I already had smth in front of me. Your modified prgram has been working well for me so far and I’ll stick to it for the foreseeable future. :pray:

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Good that’s awesome to hear. You’ve got alot going for you-- good intuition and very clear goals. The last piece of the puzzle that will determine your success is consistency.

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Preciate it man. Here’s my training log just in case you want to check up on from time to time

37’s Log - Becoming a Better Athlete

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