5x5: Canoe Polo (2-3 Days Per Week)

Welcome to your gym program! insert party poppers and fireworks here

Routine Order

This program can be done 2-3 days per week, just alternate between workout A and B.

I've left a version that you can do if you only have one day a week available at the bottom too!

Lift Specific Guides

For video guides, I would recommend these: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp4G6oBUcv8yGQifkb4p_ZOoACPnYslx9

Once you've learned the technique, focus on being as explosive as possible on concentric (the lifty bit) and controlling the weight on the eccentric (the lowering it down bit) and making sure you have a full range of motion!

For Squats, please use spotter bars and test the height of the bars during your warmup sets! They only take a few seconds to put on, and they're very worth it!

For Bench, ensure you can do it with spotter bars or with a human spotter (who knows what they're doing!). If you ask anybody in the gym, I guarentee 90% of them will be friendly and help out, and maybe even give you tips. Also.. retract your shoulder blades!

For Pull Ups, the weight includes your bodyweight, and 5x5 good form pull ups is hard, so you'll almost defintiely start using the assisted pull up machine! For example, if I weigh approximately 70kg and my working weight is using the assisted pull up maching at -10kg, then the working weight is 60kg.

Methodology

The main idea of the program is that you will do 5x5 (5 sets of 5 reps) of the main compound lifts we've been through! Then, on the final set, you will do AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible), which means you get to the point of technical breakdown (i.e. you couldn't do another rep, as hard as you try, without breaking your technique and doing some incorrect form!). Then, based on your performance on that final set, the weight may increase for the next week (yay, progressive overload, yay!)

For the first few weeks, leave a rep or two in the tank whilst you get used to doing the technique right, you'll likely smash through the AMRAP target anyway :)

If you'd like to add any accessory lifts onto the program, you're more than welcome, drop me a message and we can chat about how!

Warm-Ups

For warm ups, these are calculated from your 1RM (1 Rep Max) values, and are just a guideline. If the warmup is asking you to do 18kg, then you can probably just round it up to 20kg so you can use a barbell. Any questions, lmk.

For the 1RM (1 Rep Max) values, they're not too important for this program, and just help estimate the warm-up weights, but they're fun to know and can be super motivating to progress on! We can estimate these during the in person gym sessions, or you can test them yourselves after a few weeks of learning the technique if you like! Just don't test it every week, or you'll be very tired! I tend to test mine every 3-6 months.

Nutrition

Nutrition will depend massively on your personal goals, but in short: Eat lots of whole foods, fibre and veg and aim for 1.6-2.2 g protein per kg bodyweight per day if bulking or maintaining, 2.2-2.5 if you're cutting.

Stalling?

If you reach a point where you have plateaued and fail as many sessions as you succeed, then, yay! You've graduated from this program and are ready for some slightly more intermediate training :)

Some key principles:

Hypertrophy:

A fancy word for putting on muscle mass. This is achieved simply by lifting weights near to (1-2 reps remaining), or to the point of failure (where failure means no longer being able to lift with proper technique). This is generally most easily done at higher rep ranges (anywhere from 5 - 20 reps is fine according to the literature 🤓)

Strength:

Generally measured at lifting more weight on a given lift, and is a function of three things:

• Technique at that given lift
• Hypertrophy
• 'Central Nervous System' (CNS) adaptations, i.e. getting used to physically holding heavy shit

This is best achieved by lifting weights that are close to your one-rep max (1RM), and the highest weight you can lift for one single rep, and no more. Unlike hypertrophy, it doesn't matter how close to failure you are. You'll generally be in the 1-5 rep range for strength and may be between anywhere from 0-5 reps in reserve.

Progressive Overload:

The single most important concept for getting stronger. Progressive Overload is the idea of making each session incrementally harder than the last. If done well, you'll be slowly increasing the weight on the bar without the session getting any harder, because you're getting stronger! (Google 'Milo of Croton' if you want a fun Greek tale that explains this)

Compound Lifts:

Compound Lifts are lifts that use multiple muscles at the same time, and are massively the best bang for your buck for training. The most crucial ones in my opinion (in rough priority order for canoe polo are):

• Pendlay/Barbell Row
• Bench Press
• Deadlift
• Pull/Chin Ups
• Overhead Press
• Squat

Accessories:

These, unlike compound lifts, are exercises that usually focus one one (or maybe a couple) muscles, and can be used as a way to improve a specific muscle (for example, you might do tricep work as an accessory for bench press, as your bench will target your chest a bit more than your triceps). Generally this is done in a higher rep range and is more focused on hypertrophy (8-15 reps)

Resources:

Hypertrophy:

https://www.youtube.com/@JeffNippard https://www.youtube.com/@StefiCohen https://www.youtube.com/@DrMiloWolf

Strength:

https://www.youtube.com/@panagiotistarinidis5004 https://www.youtube.com/@Megsquats https://www.youtube.com/@calgarybarbell

Any questions, please let me know!