TIER SYSTEM TRAINING
Making The Complex Simple
Utilizing a philosophy based on sound fundamental principles to create performance adaptations and reduce injury is always the end goal in building a training plan. To get to your destination, you must have a road map.
Our road map was adopted from Joe Kenn’s Tier System Training Method. This is one of the single most important decisions we have made in the last 26 years for our athletes. This principled plan is, in my opinion, the most effective method for training youth to professional athletes.
The Tier System is a brilliant athletic based training approach made simple by utilizing whole body training sessions with an emphasis on multi-joint movements. These movements are categorized and given a varying emphasis of importance for each session. The movements are separated into 3 categories: total body, lower body and upper body movements.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Multi Joint Lifts — Multi-joint movements are emphasized in which you will typically squat, lunge, push, pull, hinge, rotate and train the posterior chain every training session on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Large multi-joint movements allow the body to work in a synchronized fashion similar to sport movement.
Total Body Training Sessions — The entire body will be trained each session allowing three exposures, or stimulus, of a movement per week as opposed to two exposures a week in a split session. This plan also allows for a better bang for your buck with more exposures in fewer days than a split training session. The benefits of large multi-joint movements allow for better growth hormone and endocrine response.
Athlete-Based Approach — Whole body, multi-joint training sessions emphasize your body performing as a total unit or one piece of fascia working in unison. You do not play sports with your upper body or lower body but with your whole body.
Improved Adaptations and Performance Through Variation — The Tier System allows you to optimize unilateral vs bilateral movements, improve strength & power at different joint angles and balance pressing movements with pulling movements. You may do a form of a movement all three days but can create slight variations of the movement so that adaptations continue to occur. This also may create more interest and diversity as movements are not the same every single day.
Flexibility — The Tier System can be used for youth all the way up to professional athletes as the basis of the program is movements as opposed to body parts and uses conjugate ideas to improve strength, power and hypertrophy. The programmer develops his own unique exercise bank to insert into the “tiers” (lifts categorized for volume and intensity for that day). The ability to choose exercises that you deem more functional to meet the demands of the sport or developmental level you are working with is completely up to you.
Recovery — Ranking the importance of movements and rotating them using Prilepin’s principles creates an optimal program that allows athletes to recover and be prepared for the next session.
Reducing the Likelihood of Injury — The Tier System allows for preparation, activation and emphasizes common areas for injury such as the posterior shoulder, posterior chain, neck and other areas you may deem important.
The Tier System magic is in its simplicity and effectiveness. If you have coached for 30 years or you are a weekend warrior wanting results, the Tier System is for you. To learn more about the Tier System I encourage you to purchase the Coach’s Strength Training Playbook and you can learn more about Joe Kenn at www.bighousepower.com.
