1.

An initial list of questions you would ask the client

2. Which assessments you would initially run
3. A loose outline of a single microcycle/training week
4. At least 1 paragraph (300 words) on special athlete considerations for progression and any
potential issues you would be concerned about
5. A sample long term calendar outlook - how would you structure from now until the athlete's 1st
event

Jerry Jones:
Strong as fuck, 700 squat, 635lb Sumo pull 6 conventional 400 bench.
Fucked lower back 2x4 herniations and a fractured l5.
Torn pec since college10 years ago? Still gives him jip I reckon.
We need to reinforce the lower back.
Dealing with the pecIm not quite sure.
Front squats and high bar squats could save his spine a little.
1.

Rate the discomfort or pain (if you still feel it) from your previous injuries /10 and
what causes the most pain for each respectively.
Rate the stress of your daily life /10
Are you willing to lose bodyweight? If so, how much?
Can you swim?
Do you do any prehab or protective work for your core?
What are your competitive plans for the next coming 12 months? How much do
you want to compete, at what level, specific numbers?
Roughly, what does your nutrition look like, Total calories cleanliness /10?
Rough example of a days eating?
Are you enhanced, If so, for how long, how much do you take of what per-day/per
week etc.
2. assessments;

Bodyfat: Ideally a DXA scan, of course may not be very feasible, Skinfold
callipers may be inaccurate on someone his size, this is to just give tangible
evidence to show the athlete that he can
80% backsquat x3
80% deadlift by 3.

80% bench x5
Side angle for both, I just want to look at what happens to his back under
loading.
15 minute swim TT (if he can swim)
30 minute bike TT
3.
Monday:
Conventional rack pull 4x8@60%.
Reverse hyper (strict) 5x8.
Yoga ball planking: accumulate 5 minutes:
Sideplank accumulate 2 minutes each side.
Bird-dog Accumulate 30 seconds each side.
Conditioning.
For time
20 kettlebell swings.
Row 500m.
X3
Tuesday: OFF
Wedensday:
Power jerk. 3 rm.
Overhead press 80% x3 75% 4x3
Single arm Dumbell chest press 4x10
Conditioning:
15 minutes z2 swim.
Thurs:
Frontsquat boxsquat 2RM then 95%x2 90% 2x2 80% 3x2
Dumbbell row 7x5 heavy
Dumbell lunges 4x100m
Conditioning:
30 mins easy bike.
Fri: OFF.
Saturday:
Some kind of low intensity, but relatively high volume strongman event practice.

Sun: of
3.
The main consideration/concern for me with this athlete is his training age,
coupled with his injury collection. Gerry is a veteran strength athlete and carries
the scars that comes with the title. The main issue that arises with this however,
is hes made evident that hes had recurring (and fairly serious) back injuries
over the past couple of years and the sports he chooses to involve himself in
require a massive amount of back strength, as well as specific work capacity with
respect to pulling, carrying, dragging etc. This means Gerrys training should be
structured in a fashion that is very conscious of this fact, but his training age of
15 years and the fact his numbers are quite large, means progression on his lifts
may require a level of work that his injures may not necessarily allow him to
handle. In no way think Gerry is a Lost cause but I think his programming is
going to require very specific and careful consideration because his level of
training may require a high work load, that his chronic injuries may not be able
to support unless planned properly.
Something I would put to Gerry is considering dropping down in a weight class
(Down to around 300lb). At 63 and 360lb, it is safe to assume that he may be
carrying a little bit too much excess baggage. While he does mention improving
his physique as sub goal and not being a piece of crap his main goal. I think he
would achieve both of these goals to a real extent by dropping the weight, the
less baggage he has to carry as well, would apply alleviation to his back pain and
potentially reduce his risk of re-injury. In the case of this athlete, this may seem
as a loss of progress as he loses weight of the bar, But I feel it would increase
his longevity and health as an athlete and he may also potentially see better
competitive performances in a lower weight class anyway, So in this sense
altering the athletes composition may be a consideration for progression.
The athlete also mentions Motivation when discussing conditioning. It should
make sense that most of the conditioning this athlete needs (at least at the
beginning) is low intensity base building work, Which is also not generally the
most interesting or fun, this may make the already potentially difficult aspect of
getting this athlete to remain consistent with his conditioning slightly harder.
Something to address this issue would be have the athlete perform (some) of
their conditioning as crossfit-style metcons, nothing overly intense or dramatic,
but it would break up the monotony of conditioning for Gerry, make it feel
relatable to his strongman training and his scores could potentially also be used
as benchmarks for progression
5.
Long term calendar outlook.
Id structure this athletes training in a fairly classical periodization sense
diving it into three relatively repeatable phases, prep, work, compete with
conditioning and injury management/prevention as the main focus. Work phase,
building relative degrees of strength across the board, while maintaining
conditioning and compete with the athlete focus on increasing very specific
strengths and skill development.

Length: Initially with this athlete due this situation, Id like to see this around
30% of the training macrocycle.
Main movements: accessory work, midline strengthening exercises, low intensity,
no impact conditioning (swimming, rowing, cycling)
This phase would be initiated at the beginning of the athletes prep, provided the
athlete had ample time to prepare for the competition. If I began to coach this
athlete today, this would be the type of phase I would have him work in, for
hopefully a decent amount of time (3-4 months). With the focus on this phase
being on, Strengthening his midline and core in preparation for heavy lifting, as
well as base building work and dropping bodyweight.
His lifting would have a lot of variance and be mostly built around moderate
intensity and higher volume, to build a bit of a work capacity base, as well as
hopefully build some muscle around necessary areas. We would be looking to
simply maintain barbell strength and work around non-specific accessory work. A
lot of reverse hyper, bodybuilding etc, with the bare focus on squat, bench,
deadlift. His strongman Saturdays would remain relatively light and be focused
on technique and practicing events for extended times with lower loads, to help
focus on a conditioning base.
As were expecting the athlete to be in Poor shape and still carrying what I
would consider relatively considerable excess bodyweight with respect to
attaining optimal back/day-to-day lifestyle health for his sport. His conditioning
would be 3 times per week, alternating between swimming, rowing, cycling and
easy aerobic metcons, all of which would vary between time intervals of 15-30
minutes. The key factors I would make for his conditioning (at the beginning of
the phase at least) is that it is 1. Varied; to maintain athlete motivation and
interest, as well as exposing him to diferent forms of conditioning, we may find
something he finds he enjoys or likes, which could help provide more structured
conditioning in the future, and 2. Low impact/non-impeding on his injuries, Given
his history of back issues and his bodyweight, things like running may not be a
good idea for this athlete, at this time.
Work phase: 35-40% of the training macro cycle.
The emphasis of this phase would be to build general strength in the athlete,
while maintaining good body health. I would program Gerrys lifts to be similar
enough to the Westside template, so on his intensity based lifting days, have him
work up to some kind of working max on a lift variant and then do drop down
dynamic work. The main reason for this is to protect his back, I would use
variance as a tool to ensure that hes only putting true heavy stress on his back
once or twice a week, that is well spaced and in diferent areas. So in a week
where Gerry performs something like a heavy rack pull, his squat variant may
still be heavy, but will place minimum loading on his back, like a full depth front
squat or high box squat. These variants wouldnt necessarily have to be
random and could be planned around his lift specific weaknesses. I just think
this is a good way of helping him achieve the work and intensity necessary to get
stronger, while also maintaining his back health. Accessory lift frequency may
stay around the same, but with lower volume and his back prehab work, would
be much the same, sitting the program still, but at a lower more maintenance
focused frequency. Diferences would occur whether the athlete was training for

a strongman, or powerlifting meet. If the athlete is training for a strongman

competition, there may be event like accessory work, maybe not highly
specific, but applying a similar stimulus, for example after squatting, the athlete
may do lunge repeats over extended distances or work intervals or log press
intervals as accessories for benching or shoulder work. In this case, base
conditioning may see a slight reduction in frequency, but it would depend on how
the athlete feels.
Overall Conditioning would remain roughly the same. Hopefully at this point in
the cycle the athlete may have bought the deal of conditioning a little bit more
and can handle being prescribed 15-20 minute swims or 30 minute bike rides.
The structure of strongman events would remain roughly the same in this phase
too, mostly higher in volume and lower intensity, based more around being
conditioning/practice than being sport specific strength work.
Specific phase: 30-20% of the training macrocycle
This phase would work similarly to the work phase in terms of strength building
(Variance in exercise intensity, etc) but with a higher focus on being sport
specific, this means the athlete may be performing the competition movements
more often (probably once every other week for squat and deadlift and every
week for bench in the case of a powerlifting meet) and more sport specific
accessory work, conditioning would be at a bare minimum (twice a week, low
intensity, 30 mins or so) overall the training structure for this phase would look
very similar to the work phase, just with a decreased emphasis on accessory
work and an increase in sport specific exercise practice and intensity.