Well I am jumping right in and giving you the good stuff today. The workout that I will link to and share is one that I have used and developed over my 30 year coaching career. It can be traced back to Hall of Fame strength coach, Boyd Epley. Coach Epley was the longtime strength and conditioning coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskers when they were in their heyday. Under Boyd’s tenure, the Cornhuskers racked up several National Championships in a variety of sports. Most modern strength and conditioning programs have their roots in the success Coach Epley had training Nebraska athletes.

I have had great success training athletes in all sports using this program, and with equal success in my beginning strength and conditioning classes. There are two Excel workbooks (templates) that I am sharing, a Mac workbook/ template and a Windows workbook/ template. The only difference between the two is that the Windows workbook has a “button” feature that makes it a little easier to change the max amounts for the four core lifts. I am also sharing a Word document that explains how I use these worksheets. Please feel free to open, save, share, and USE these files! I currently use this program as part of our training regimen at Truman High School, where over 300 students and athletes a day come through our weight room.

If, after opening these files, this program is not making complete sense, hang with me over the next few days – I will be offering some explanation and tips on using this program. In a nutshell, though, the Excel workbooks are a progressive strength-training program, based on percentages (which I “borrowed” from Boyd Epley) of the lifter’s estimated one-rep max on four “core” lifts: Bench Press, Squat, Push Press, and Hang Clean. When I use the term Core Lifts, I am talking about base or important, primary lifts, not referencing the core (abs) of the human body.

All the formulas in the workbooks are set to round the weights to be lifted to the nearest 5 pounds – that being the smallest amount (2.5 lbs on each side of the bar) you can add to an Olympic barbell. There are actually 3 different “cycles” included on each card: a 5 sets of 5 reps cycle (5 x 5), a 3 x 8 cycle, and a 3 x 3 cycle. All of this information is included in the Word document that I am sharing. The workbooks are protected (except the cells where you type in your numbers) so that the formulas will not accidentally get changed. If you want to change anything on the sheet, with the workbook open, go to Tools>>> Protection>>> Unprotect sheet. There is no password.

Enjoy – and keep checking back. In my upcoming posts I will talk more about the lifts and workout cycles, provide links to video of athletes completing the workout, and answer any questions you might have. If you do have questions, please email me – I will respond in a timely manner.

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