OFF SEASON — 12 WEEKS · UNDERCLASSMEN
The block that builds everything else.
The off season is the only stretch of the year where nothing is competing for the athlete’s body. No games, no travel, no taper. It’s twelve uninterrupted weeks, and what happens in them decides what the athlete has to work with for the rest of the year. Most young athletes waste it, either by doing nothing or by doing something far too advanced for where they are.
This is 64 pages of exactly what to do instead. Twelve weeks in four 3-week waves, four days a week, every session written out.
Who it’s for. Underclassmen. The program is built so a first- or second-year athlete can be successful in every session — not buried, not confused, not guessing. The rep schemes and exercise selections are chosen specifically for that athlete, and it works whether they have a little weight room experience or none at all. Any sport; it’s a total body plan that fits in front of any season. Coaches: the rack cards are built to print and hang, so a whole group can run it off the wall.
A total body split, four days a week. Deliberately. Spreading the work across four total body days micro-doses soreness, raises frequency, and builds tissue tolerance faster than hammering one body part and limping for three days.
Every session runs four tiers, top to bottom, as tri sets.
Tier 1 · Power — one or sometimes two total body power exercises in the very first block, while the athlete is fresh. Med ball variations early, progressing to barbell and trap bar versions, plus prep work and ISO holds aimed at the lifts coming later in the session.
Tier 2 · Primary Strength — the main lift of the day, paired with a single-leg or single-arm version of the secondary lift and a core or bodybuilding exercise.
Tier 3 · Secondary Strength / Hypertrophy — the bilateral version of the secondary lift, paired back the other way, plus one more core piece.
Tier 4 · Accessories — a superset of bodybuilding work or a loaded carry. Arms, shoulders, grip and trunk: the tissue that keeps a growing athlete healthy.
Real exercise selection, not filler. Back and front squat, trap bar deadlift, RDL and single-leg RDL, lunges, Bulgarian split squats, Nordic curls and calf raises. Flat and incline bench, bent over rows, pull ups, inverted rows, dumbbell pressing and rowing. Curls, skull crushers, extensions, lateral, front and circle raises, prone I’s and TYWs, and farmer’s, waiter’s, suitcase and Zercher carries.
Two pages for every session. A rack card holding the whole week on one printable page with boxes to write down the weight used — clip it to the rack, fill it in, keep it as a record. Behind it, day pages carrying a coaching note on every single exercise: how it should feel, what to watch, what to do if it’s too light or too heavy. Where a starting percentage appears, it’s a suggestion, not a rule.
Progressions that actually progress. Simple linear rep schemes with total volume climbing week to week and wave to wave. Nothing the athlete has to interpret. Sessions run about 60 minutes.
Why it’s worth owning. Twelve weeks is long enough to change an athlete and short enough to run before a season. This is the block where size, strength and work capacity get built, and it’s written so a fifteen-year-old can walk in on day one, read the page, and train well.
Clickable contents, bookmarked weeks, pages designed to be printed and written on.
This block is weeks 13 to 24 of The Training Year (Underclassmen). Sold on its own for the athlete or coach who only needs the off season.
