*Powerlifters have to put in extra time and volume on weak muscles in order to help set new records. One of the most common lower body weaknesses is the hamstrings. These women and men are the strongest among us and if their hamstrings are weak, think about how weak your hamstrings probably are. Strong hamstrings help us sprint, jump, change direction and can help keep you off the injured list. Athletes need to blast the muscles on the backside with exercises like deadlifts, single leg deadlifts, back extensions and glute ham raises to develop strong, powerful hamstrings. You cant just squat and clean!

 *A fun and simple way to maintain intensity is to perform sets EMOM style. EMOM stands for every minute on the minute, or something like that. Grab a stopwatch, start it and perform 3-5 reps of an exercise; the amount of time remaining in that minute is your rest, begin your next set at the top of the next minute. You can use EMOMs to train for power by performing 3 reps of a speed deadlift or DB squat jump every minute, you could build muscle by performing 3 reps of a DB bench press every minute for 10 minutes or so and you could improve your conditioning by performing a 10-20 yard sprint every minute for 8-10 minutes. Get creative with it.

 *Speaking of cardio, here is how I would program cardio days when strength training 2 days per week. Lets say you lift on Tuesdays and Thursdays and you want to add in a couple cardio sessions on off days; Monday would be a medium intensity session, Wednesday would be a low intensity session, Friday would be a medium intensity session and Friday would be a high intensity session. A medium intensity session would look like this; work hard for 15 seconds, rest 5 seconds, work hard for 10 seconds, rest 30 seconds. That would represent 1 round and you would complete 8 to 12 total rounds with some rest to break things up.

 How hard should you work? You need to push yourself, if you can carry on a conversation you probably aren’t training too intensely and you could probably complete 8-12 total rounds. If you are really pushing the pace, gasping for air, barely able to keep quality, safe execution, you probably do not need to do more than a total of 4-8 rounds. I like to have my clients perform short sled sprints, shuffles, medball slams, bodyweight exercises like inverted rows, mt. climbers, etc. Don’t be soft. This will be Monday and Friday.

 Wednesday is all about recovering from Tuesday’s workout in time for Thursday’s workout. Go for a walk or a bike ride. Chasing the Ice Cream man down the beach is cool too.

 Saturday would be a speed session. Go to a park or the beach and sprint. Set a distance of 20-50 yards and go hard. This isn’t a jog; you should be trying to set a new record on every sprint you perform. Allow yourself 45 seconds to a minute of rest for 20-30 yard sprints and maybe closer to 1:15-1:30 for 40-50 yard sprints. I love sprinting.

 *Ill say it one more time for the people in the back, there is no such thing as a fast first step! What you see is an explosive athlete rocketing forward like he or she has a jetpack strapped to their feet, what is actually happening is that athlete is capable of putting a tremendous amount of force into the ground at an exceptionally fast rate while understanding how to align his or her body with the line of force production. These factors together make that athletes first step look fast. Lift weights, jump, throw things and learn about the mechanics of hip flexion, arm swing and leg drive in terms of sprinting performance. Your first step will improve.

 *I need to have purpose with everything I do. You should have that same mentality with your own training. It blows my mind how pointless some peoples workouts are in terms of what they are looking to get out of each set. If you see a program where you are to perform 5 sets of 5 reps on a squat, the first 2-3 sets should be “ramp up” sets where you start light and gradually add weight. These aren’t trash sets, you are warming up your body, improving technique and moving the bar with speed to fire up the nervous system. Set 3 is your first heavy set and set 4 should be close to your max for that day. You are building muscle, accumulating volume and gaining strength on these sets. Set 5 is obviously your max for the day.

 If you want to see a change in your body, in your strength levels, you need to know the purpose of each set. Don’t be one of those goofballs who put years in at the gym and don’t look or feel any different than they did on day 1.