Off-Season Strength Training

In an effort to provide you with some specific strength training benefits, I have developed the following. As always, adjust as necessary to meet your fitness level and time constraints.

The following is a program of building strength during your off-season. The design is to build pure strength with expected muscle mass and weight gain. If you are concerned about gaining weight, I recommend the use of Resistance and Endurance only for building strength without significant muscle mass gains. Runners fit in this category.

This protocol will yield the best results if you place the pads as shown in the pad placement book for your primary muscle group. Secondary groups can be combined with pad placement I describe in the Compex Tips article. For example, for cycling, I use the pads as shown for Quads. I combine glutes and hamstrings with the large pad combination and I have had great results this way. Just be advised that your best muscle fiber recruitment comes with the combination of 2 small pads and 1 large pad as the pad placement guide illustrates.

You can adjust the program as necessary. For instance, if you don’t sprint in your competitions, you might skip the Explosive Strength cycle and just continue the Strength program for an additional 4 weeks. Whenever possible, I highly recommend you run the Active Recovery immediately following each session. I often stop the cool down about 5 minutes into it and select the Active Recovery while the pads are still in place.

Depending on your event and specialty, you can either continue Compex Strength training up to your taper week or switch to another program after 6-8 weeks of this Strength protocol. For endurance cycling, I have found it very effective to switch to the Endurance program after my off season strength training. The Compex Endurance program is one of the hardest workouts you will ever do when you get to higher intensities. You can use the Endurance throughout the season right up to your taper for your most important events. Experiment with this to find what works best for you and share your results on our Blog please.

This program will consist of:

Resistance – 4 weeks – This is a muscle adaptation phase

Strength – 8 weeks – For building pure strength and muscle mass

Explosive Strength – 4 weeks – To develop sprint strength

BLUE = Increases in Intensity (mA)

RED = Increases in Level

Adaptation Phase

Resistance – Week 1

Resistance – Week 2

Resistance – Week 3

Resistance – Week 4

Strength Building Phase

Strength – Week 1

Strength – Week 2

Strength – Week 3

Strength – Week 4

Strength – Week 5

Strength – Week 6

Strength – Week 7

Strength – Week 8

Sprint Strength Phase

Explosive Strength – Week 1

Explosive Strength – Week 2

Explosive Strength – Week 3

Explosive Strength – Week 4