This is a FREE week of one of my 12 week Summer training programs for athletes.  The PDF is set up to showcase the layout, I also can set up both team and individual training on the training app Train Heroic.  Contact me at jakehicks@rxstrengthandfitness.com for pricing and membership options.
 
Looking at the calendar year of an athlete, you can identify 4 distinct phases. Each phase has it's own goals and priorities.
 
+Post Season
+Off Season
+Pre Season
+In Season
 
From a programming standpoint, as a strength coach, each phase dictates the training program. I also break down training into 4 phases that align with the 4 phases above.
 
+Acclimation
+Accumulation
+Intensification
+Realization
 
This phase is all about your body getting used to the demands of resistance training. Post season, which is summer for most, you have likely been lifting less frequent and at lower volumes from the season and it's smart to use an acclimation phase to re introduce exercises that you may not have done throughout the season as well as training volumes that had decreased in season. Think of it as your muscles, nervous system, and even joints learning the movements and building the coordination and stamina and tissue tolerance needed to handle increased workloads. Increased workloads are especially needed if your goal is to gain weight. The off season (fall for most athletes) is the largest building phase, and to simplify the acclimation phase, it's primary goal is to prep you for the off season phase. I like to call it, training to train. Image skipping your summer training and jumping into your off season training in the fall. You will experience a tougher time recovering from workouts, and a slower timeline for adaptation. You only have 12 weeks in each phase, that's not a long time. If you spend 4 weeks in the fall adjusting to your off season training, that only leaves you with 8 weeks to thrive. That's not enough time. Typical training splits I will use in the Summer or Post Season phase would be 4 total body splits organized as the following.
 
Day 1- Lower Push/Upper Pull
Day 2- Upper Push/Lower Pull
Day 3- Upper Pull/ Lower Push
Day 4- Lower Pull/Upper Push
 
Total body splits are the best way to acclimate back into training because it will "spread out the soreness" and deliver smaller doses of stress to each area of the body in more frequent doses. I break this section into a 12 week phase broken down into four 3 week waves. Each wave will contain a different primary exercise which will set us up to train each of them more aggressively in the off season. Examples I would use, remember a wave is 3 weeks long.
 
Wave 1- Back Squat, Bench Press, Bent Over Row, Trap Bar Deadlift
Wave 2- Front Squat, Incline Bench Press, Power Row, Deadlift
Wave 3- Box Squat, Close Grip Bench Press, DB Row, RDL
Wave 4- Paused Front Squat, Paused Bench Press, Pull Ups, Deficit Deadlifts