Program Design | Juggernaut Training Systems

How To PR On The Platform

Chad Wesley Smith — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 14:48:14 +0000

As a lifter, Chad Wesley Smith was renown for putting his best lifts on the day of competition. As a coach, he has helped some of the strongest lifters in the World succeed on the biggest stages, as well as helping lifters of all abilities break PRs where it counts most, on the competition platform. Listen up and learn some valuable tips to improve your ability to peak effectively.

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1. Choose goals for a meet and work backward from the meet, choosing weights that will set you up for the subsequent weights. This is a learned skill that can only come from training and taking ownership of what you are doing and why you are doing it. Stick to the plan. Chasing PRs on strong days in the gym may give you temporary satisfaction and get you some more Instagram likes, but you have to consider it within the context of your entire training plan.

2. Move Your Training from Higher Volume/Lower Intensity/Less Specific to Lower Volume/Higher Intensity/More Specific over the course of a training cycle. Creating a large pool of volume early in the training cycle gives you something to take away from and facilitates more recovery as you progress to heavier weights. If you are training heavy singles on each lift once per week throughout a training cycle, where do you expect the peaking effect to come from?

3. Making lifts – not attempting and missing them – builds your strength and builds your confidence. Strategically selecting training weights that you can make – and make with confidence – is an important part of building momentum into a meet.⠀

4. Whether it’s diet changes, training changes, or routine changes, people love to panic in the days leading up to a meet and try new stuff. DO NOT DO THIS. Trust your plan. Eat the foods you know your body handles well and sleep on your regular schedule. The risk of trying to find some meet-week magic bullet far outweighs the reward. One of the most important pieces of advice is, control what you can control and don’t worry about what you can’t.

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Getting The Most From Off-Season Powerlifting Training

Chad Wesley Smith — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 10:04:54 +0000

Chad Wesley Smith takes you through some of his Bridge Block training on the JuggernautAI App. The Bridge Block, a program Chad first wrote for his own off-season training in 2014 and then brought to many athletes in his book A Thoughtful Pursuit of Strength (2016), serves to avoid adaptive resistance, increase work capacity and create a broader base of fitness either as an introductory block to training or going from one meet training cycle to another.

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How To Design A Bench Press Program

Chad Wesley Smith — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 17:36:53 +0000

Chad Wesley Smith presents a step by step guide of how to design effective bench press training programs by individualizing volume, frequency, exercise selection and progression strategy for each lifters needs.

How To Design A Squat Program

Videos referenced here are:

Principle of Overload

Finding Your MRV

Finding Your Frequency

Undulating Periodization Strategies

Best Exercises to Improve Your Bench

Utilizing Variation for Fatigue Management

Addressing Bench Press Weak Points

Selecting & Progressing Weights

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The post How To Design A Bench Press Program first appeared on Juggernaut Training Systems.

How To Design A Squat Program

Chad Wesley Smith — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 22:13:19 +0000

Chad Wesley Smith presents a step by step guide of how to design effective squat training programs by individualizing volume, frequency, exercise selection and progression strategy for each lifters needs.

Videos referenced here are:

Principle of Overload

Finding Your MRV

Finding Your Frequency

Undulating Periodization Strategies

Best Exercises to Improve Your Squat

Utilizing Variation for Fatigue Management

Selecting & Progressing Weights

The post How To Design A Squat Program first appeared on Juggernaut Training Systems.

Creating An Annual Plan

Chad Wesley Smith — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 15:34:21 +0000

Are you competing multiples times per year? How can you keep your training interesting, keep your body healthy and maximize performance at all meets? Chad Wesley Smith is here to help.

The post Creating An Annual Plan first appeared on Juggernaut Training Systems.

Bench Variations | How, Why and When To Use Them

Chad Wesley Smith — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 15:46:09 +0000

There are tons of different exercise variations out there being touted as a fix to this weak point or the best exercise to improve such and such. Here is a simple guide to help you understand how to do some of these more important variations, why you would perform them and when they’re best to include in your training.

Widegrip Bench

Technique Points

-Move your grip out 2-3” from your competition grip

-If your shoulders will tolerate it, a wider grip and higher touch point will be advantageous

Why To Do It

-To build up pec strength for overcoming weakness off the chest

When To Do It

-This is a great option for Hypertrophy training. While it can be stressful for your shoulders, since the load is lighter it is the best time to use it.

-Utilize this in Strength and Peaking as secondary movements if you are struggling with strength off the chest

Spoto Press

Technique Points

-Lower the bar rapidly, stopping it about 1” off of your chest.

-Have a short pause with the bar hovering off your chest

-Think about the tension through your back and body being used to stop the bar, not just your arms

Why To Do It

-To build up strength in the midrange portion of the bench press

-To improve stability and control over the bar

When To Do It

-This can be used during any phase to address a specific weak point or to avoid adaptive resistance

Board Press

Technique Points

-Focus on maintaining bar over wrist/wrist over elbow stacked position

-Avoid bouncing or heaving the bar off of the board

Why To Do It

-Build up lockout strength and tricep hypertrophy

-Develop confidence and neural force production by using heavier weights

-Workaround shoulder or pec injuries with a shorter ROM

-Rehab pec or shoulder issues through using progressively lower boards

When To Do It

-Hypertrophy. Can be used here to develop tricep size/strength for an improved lockout.

-Strength and Peaking. Build up your lockout strength and expose your body to heavier weights to develop strength and confidence.

Closegrip Bench

Technique Points

-Move your grip in 2-3” from your competition grip

-Focus on tucking your elbows more and touching the bar lower on your chest to maintain bar over wrist over elbow stacked position

Why To Do It

-To build up tricep strength for an improved lockout

-To workaround shoulder/pec issues

When To Do It

-Best suited for Hypertrophy but can be used in any phase to build lockout strength

Feet Up Bench

Technique Points

-Place feet on end of bench, straight out or held in the air (like a crunch position)

-Set your upper back the same way as you would in a normal bench press

Why To Do It

-To build up pec strength for overcoming weakness off the chest by eliminating leg drive

-To increase bench volume by using a variation that limits how heavy you can go

When To Do It

-This is a great option for Hypertrophy training as it tolerates very high volume

-Utilize this in Strength and Peaking as secondary movements if you are struggling with strength off the chest

Incline Bench

Technique Points

-Focus on maintaining bar over wrist/wrist over elbow stacked position

-Touch point will be higher on your chest than a flat bench

Why To Do It

-To build up shoulder strength to overcome midrange weak point

-To avoid adaptive resistance from training too long at the same exercises/planes of movement

When To Do It

-Hypertrophy. This is the ideal time to build up shoulder strength and use an exercise with slightly lower specificity

-Strength. If you are really struggling with a midrange weak point you can continue Incline Bench during strength but we typically prefer Spoto Press for this issue

Low Pin Press/Dead Bench

Technique Points

-Set the pins about 1” below your sticking point, down to ½” off the chest

-Get your normal setup (scaps retracted, foot position, stacked position) as you would in a normal bench -Come to a full stop on the pins for every rep, this is usually best done by perform singles or cluster sets

Why To Do It

-To build up pec strength for overcoming weakness off the chest by eliminating any stretch reflex

-To work around an injury by controlling ROM or removing the eccentric phase, if that is where pain is happening

When To Do It

-This is best suited for Strength Blocks. It doesn’t lend itself particularly well to higher volumes that you’d want for Hypertrophy but could be used there too. This can either be done as its own bench day or after your competition benching to address a specific weak point.

Floor Press

Technique Points

-Set your upper back the same way as you would in a normal bench press

-Focus on pausing your triceps on the floor, not your elbows

-Legs bent or straight is fine, just avoid using leg drive

Why To Do It

-Build up midrange strength

-Workaround pec or shoulder injuries with a shorter ROM

When To Do It

-Hypertrophy or Strength Blocks. This exercise lends itself to high volume, making it a good fit for Hypertrophy or can be used to address a midrange weak point during a Strength Block.

Slingshot Bench

Technique Points

-Ensure that the Slingshot is high enough on arms for proper fit

-Try to maintain as similar technique to your normal bench press as possible, this may be difficult if you bench with a more wide/flared elbow position

Why To Do It

-To overload your neural force production qualities with heavier weights and build confidence.

-To add extra volume/stress to your triceps if they are relatively weak compared to your chest/shoulders.

-To workaround injuries/pain in the pec, shoulder or elbow that is alleviated by some assistance in certain ranges of motion

When To Do It

-Hypertrophy. The Slingshot can be used in this phase to add extra/volume stress to your triceps and build up extra lockout strength potential.

-Strength. This is a good time to use the slingshot for a bit of Mechanical Overload training, eg. Do a 5rm raw, then add the slingshot and do a 5rm at 5-10% more

-Peaking. This can be used in a similar way as Strength.

Other Notes

-This is a tool that should probably be used every 2-4 weeks during the course of regular training, it is not for every session or every week, outside of injury workarounds

-Aim for a 5-20% overload above your normal weights, the stronger you are, the lower on that range you’ll be. Using a slingshot to bench 50% more than you can without it is not beneficial enough to warrant the fatigue it would create.

-If you feel the Slingshot disrupts your Bench Technique, all of the benefits of it can be derived from Reverse Band Benching, which won’t disrupt your technique in the same way.

Get totally customized powerlifting programming in a beautifully designed app for Apple and Android with JuggernautAI, find it in the App Store, Google Play Store

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Utilizing Variation for Fatigue Management

Chad Wesley Smith — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 16:12:25 +0000

Managing an athlete’s fatigue is one of the most important principles that guides effective programming. Cleverly utilizing Variation is a way to ensure that you are both satisfying the Principle of Overload and Principle of Fatigue Management without violating the Principle of Specificity. Chad Wesley Smith explains how to use Variation as a Fatigue Management tool.

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The Smartest Exercise Choices for You

Chad Wesley Smith — Fri, 29 May 2020 00:25:26 +0000

Ensuring you are doing exercises to address your unique weak points is critical to ensuring you have effective and efficient training. JuggernautAI Powerlifting chooses exercises for you based on your weak points. JuggernautAI Powerlifting is the smartest program for you and with over 5 quadrillion permutations, creates a program specifically for you for $1 per day.

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Building a Bigger Bench Press

Chad Wesley Smith — Thu, 28 May 2020 01:31:53 +0000

Chad Wesley Smith breaks down key factors to improve your Bench Press from Technique to Exercise Selection and Accessory movements.

Our Bench Technique Pillars series has helped thousands of lifters improve their technique. Check out all 5 parts to make sure you’re nailing all the important aspects.

These are some of our favorite cues to improve technique and performance in the bench press.

Choosing the right exercises to address your specific weak points is critical to having effective and efficient training.

Six-Time National Champion and multiple time American Record holder in the Bench Press Marisa Inda and Coach Chad Wesley Smith take us through a full training session using the JuggernautAI App.

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How To Improve The Squat

Chad Wesley Smith — Wed, 27 May 2020 12:47:14 +0000

Chad Wesley Smith has everything you need from Technique to Exercise Selection and Accessories to improve your squat.

Our Squat Technique Pillars series has helped thousands of lifters improve their training. Check out this comprehensive 5 part series.

When you watch a video of someone training or are at a meet and watch other lifters with their coach, you may hear different cues being yelled but not understand what they’re intended to mean. Here are some of our favorite cues, what they mean and when/why we use them.

Struggling with a specific part of the Squat? We have got you covered! This playlist will give you exercises to address weak points including, out of the hole, relatively weak legs to back, relatively weak back to legs and rounding over.

TeamJTS athlete Carlos Moran made his first ever 2000+ pound total with a 357.5kg/788# Squat, 227.5kg/501# Bench and 325kg/716# Deadlift for 910kg/2006# at 99kg/218# bodyweight. Congrats Carlos!

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Dr. Quinn Henoch of Clinical Athlete takes high level powerlifters, Jake Johns @BigSCBoy and Kevin Torres @Pitbull_Torres, through a series of shoulder movement drills to help improve their ability to achieve a low bar squat position without elbow or shoulder pain.

Are you having trouble shifting to one side during your squat? If this causing you hip or knee pain? Dysfunction in the adductors is a common culprit for this issue. Dr. Quinn Henoch describes some techniques that Chad Wesley Smith has used to address this problem for himself.

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