Posted on July 26, 2016 by Jenny Cromack

What do personal trainers do for their training? Well the answer is as varied as each individual. As I personal trainer I, obviously, love working out! I enjoy training centred around powerful movements, cleans, snatches etc. So what does a week of my training look like?

I tend to complete 4 sessions per week, 3 if it’s a very busy week with personal training clients, 5 if I’ve got some extra time (although this happens less and less nowadays). A brief overview centres around developing max force capabilities during two sessions, and the other two sessions involves using light loads to develop speed or explosive properties.

 

Day 1 – Power

During the first day of the training week (my training week begins on a Sunday) when I’m fresh I’ll complete some variation of power movement, these could be either a clean or snatch variation. I’ll often work up-to a max load for 2 reps over 6-8 sets. If training is going well I’ll follow a 4 week cycle for this day, week 1= easy, week 2= medium, week 3= hard, week 4= this could kill me. The key to the snatch and clean is technical efficiency, despite what many believe the flexibility requirements to achieve such a movement are very high. My warm up when I’m snatching can take in excess of 20 minutes.

Day 2 – Max Force

The second day, if all goes well is following a rest day (normally a Tuesday). This day is all about lifting as heavy as possible. I follow the same 4 week cycle however I’ll adjust my reps to meet the load requirement for each week.

• Week 1 = 4 x 6-8 (Easy 65-75% 1RM)
• Week 2= 5 x 5 (Medium 82.5-87.5 % 1RM)
• Week 3= 5x 3 (Hard  85-92.5%)
• Week 4= 6 x 2 (Very Hard 90%-97.5%)

During this day I’ll always start with a squat variation (front, back or overhead). Followed by a heavy pull, commonly a weighted pull up. Finishing on some variation of pressing exercise and hip hinge variation.

Day 3 – Speed/ Strength

The third day of the training week is normally a speed orientated session. This varies from week to week, and can include combinations of complexes such as a strength exercise (squat) combined with an explosive exercise (box jump), or variations of the clean and snatch, such as drop snatches, or high pulls with light loads.

Day 4 – Power

The fourth day is a similar session to day 1, however I’ll normally use a clean variation as I’m tired and sore from the week. The snatch requires faster movement, and although the load is lighter it requires a fresher body. I’ll do more work overhead, often using a push press, jerk or Sott’s press variation.