Travis Mash - Programming for the Individual

Travis Mash talks about how he adjusts his athletes’ programs based on the categories they fit in.

Some people are going to fit prilepin’s chart to a T, some people are going to need more than prilepin’s chart says, and some people are going to need to go heavy more often. {...} Some people just need a lower volume program and less is more.

Your job, as a coach, is to figure out where your athletes lie in here. My suggestions would be {to} take prilepin’s chart {...} and {to} do your reps and sets exactly like it says {...} and see if your athlete responds. If they get stronger {...}, are jumping higher or running faster, then you’re probably onto something. However if they’re starting out “middle of the road” and they’re getting beat to a pulp and they’re not getting better {...} you might want to consider “left to center” or a “Bulgarian-ish” program. If you do a “middle of the road” program and the athlete recovers easily, they’re not getting any stronger, and it doesn’t seem to cause any kind of stimulation which would cause the body to adapt, then you probably want to go “hard gainer”. {...}

I wish I could tell you that “for every individual do X”, but for right now, until we are able to test people’s genetics and know exactly what fibers types they’re made of and are able to look at their attachments to see if they’re going to be able to take a beating more than others, until we can do things like that, you have to start somewhere and then make decisions.