by Mladen Jovanović
Strength Training Manual
represents my ongoing pursuit in understanding both strength training
and training theory in general, by providing an overview of the
conflicting opinions, but also giving practical, heuristic solutions to
common problems and their reconciliation. The framework for such an
approach is the Agile Periodization, which approaches planning from
uncertainty perspective, iterations, and experimentation while providing
satisficing and robust solutions.
Besides
being very rich in theory, Strength Training Manual is also rich in
forum-for-action solutions, including reference tables, useful
heuristics, and more than 1,900 set and rep schemes provided and
analyzed. It also provides the best practices from other experts
tinkering in this field.
Paperback
edition of the Strength Training Manual comes in two volumes: Volume One
& Two, and Volume Three. Volume One and Two of this manual is an
in-depth look into strength training planning and general training
theory, as well as an introduction to the Agile Periodization framework.
I believe that I haven’t left any stone unturned in Volume One and
Two. But to do that I had to go full circle: I had to go deep into
nitty-gritty details, show issues, assumption, flawed reasoning, and
finally present simple solutions or even different paradigms.
Volume
Three is straighter to the point and represents a collection of all
the useful tables and heuristics from Volume One and Two that you can
use as a starting point when designing your strength training programs.
Volume Three is my original writing intention, but when I started
writing I realized that some things needed a more thorough description
and explanation (and besides, I went off-the-track to explore some
concepts that emerged during the writing process), rather than
do-this-and-not-this perspective.
Volume One and Two covers the following topics:
- The philosophical underpinning of the Agile Periodization
- Exercise classifications and their relationships
- Testing
approaches for establishing 1RM used for percent-based prescription as
well as the novel Estimation through iteration approach
- Prescribing training loads using various methods and their modifications
- A thorough discussion of the training dose concept, as well as dose -> response models
- Anatomy of set and rep schemes and their archetypal variants
- Mladen’s Methodological System of classifying Set and Rep schemes
- Horizontal
and Vertical planning perspectives (This will cut through all the
periodization crap you have been fed over the years)
- Novel planning strategies and concepts such as robustness, microdosing, Don’t break the chain and Markov Chain
- A thorough discussion on what individualization really is (and what it should be)
- Review
and Retrospective practices including updating planning 1RMs between
phases and phase potentiation ideas and critiques (and novel iterative
approach)
- Discussion on predictive and causal modeling in strength training
Strength
Training Manual will give you not only a practical solution to tackle
everyday problems of planning, prescribing, and monitoring strength
training, but also critical thinking skills. You can use these
essential skills of thinking and tools in other types of physical
preparation and training in general.