Harvesting Strength: Principles of
Harvesting Strength: Principles of
STRENGTH
PRINCIPLES OF
PROGRAMMING
Training with intent
Table of contents
What is “Harvesting Strength”………………………………….......................4
The Big Three (Oh, and The Overhead Press)………………...................5
• Basic Strength……………………………………...............................………15
• Powerlifting………………………………………………................................17
• Strongman…………………………………...............................……………...19
• Bodybuilding …………………………............................…………………..21
Thank You!………………………………………………………...........................…..25
www.harvestingstrength.com
Principles of Programming harvestingstrength.com
One of the biggest struggles I have within the strength community is with the
endless amounts of “programming” established by others for a cheap dollar.
The information presented to you is for only one purpose: to inform and
provide you the correct type of information at no expense. To build strength,
it has to be done correctly through the implementation of various principles
of strength training that have been provided by research and science. Social
media did not create strength programming, but has only become a tool and
platform for others to spread knowledge and wisdom. Although that is the
intention, sometimes we are misled otherwise. When going to battle, it is
not the sharpest swords that always prevail, but rather the sharpest minds.
Knowledge is key…KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
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The purpose of this e-book is to give myself an opportunity to educate others regarding
the basics of strength training through Harvesting Strength. If you see ideas and routines
that sound familiar to you, that is okay. It is not about the tools provided, but how you use
those tools to remove yourself from the stereotypical mindset of a “gym bro” to an iron
legend. The purpose of this information is to educate only. Those who plan to partake in
any exercise routine, including the ones described here, should be cleared by a medical
professional before attempting any physical activity.
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If you are still with me to this point, you are clearly an advocate of strength. Let us get
back to the topic of the big three movements, and oh- let’s add the overhead press.
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The performance of these lifts could help us determine the strengths and deficiencies of
lifters, which can also help enhance the determination of exercise selection for growing
and developing the correct program for the correct lifter.
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First, let us focus on the bar and foot placement. The bar
being placed on the upper back showcases good form, but
the foot placement tells a more complex story. When our
toes point outward, this helps to improve the displacement
of weight and give the lifter a biomechanical advantage
in case they lack development in their glute medius and
minimus. However, if you were to work with a traditional
athlete, it would be best to have the feet facing forward as
this translates to many sports. You never see a linebacker
in a 2-point stance with his toes flared outward as this
would put them at a disadvantage towards filling the gap
and taking on the blocker. One motion to look out for is the
upper body coming forward to develop a hinge before the
descending motion of the squat. One motion to look out for
is the upper body coming forward to develop a hinge before
the descending motion of the squat. Overall, he is standing
erect which highlights good control rather than starting the
lift in a fatiguing position.
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Understand this, though, that with every movement there are two phases, the concentric
phase and the eccentric phase, and opposing muscle groups help with redirecting force.
Whether it’s creating a muscular contraction to generate force (concentric) or creating a
muscular contraction to control the force generated from movement (eccentric), we need
these opposing muscle groups of the hip flexors and hip extensors to work in harmony
towards developing stronger movements with the barbell.
To explain further, the stretching phase of a muscular contraction that is the eccentric
phase is followed by the shortening phase of a muscular contraction that is the concentric
phase. When we lower the barbell during a squat or deadlift, it is important for the active
muscle group to work during the eccentric phase to stretch and tolerate the load of the
bar. While these engaged muscles are being stretched, the opposing muscle groups of our
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extensors (the flexors) begin to tighten to help direct the weight downward and assist the
body.
Another important aspect of the hip flexors is to understand the anatomy and how they
cooperate during movement. The hip flexors
are notorious for being tighter, especially in
the sedentary population. If you think about
it, how much time do you spend standing
versus sitting? If you’re an office employee
working the 9-5 shift, that means your legs
are flexed for a majority of the day. This
translates to your flexors are used to being
shortened which could impede on our ability
to fully extend our hips. If our hip flexors are
too tight, this could also cause the upper
body to create a bad habit with posture,
such as leaning forward, and cause chronic
lower back fatigue and pain. The big thing is
to make sure we understand how to alleviate
this problem through various stretches
and exercises, so we can grow the range of
motion within this part of our anatomy to fully
benefit on various types of hip extension movements.
To oppose the concept of hip flexion, we will now discuss the action of hip extension.
If you’re looking to be any kind of athlete, you need to have strong and effective hip
extension. Having strong hip extension makes sense, but what would consist of “effective”
hip extension? To understand this more, it’s important to understand the anatomy of the
extensors as well as the use of the flexors to provide correct extension of the hips for the
best performance possible.
The gluteus maximus is the primary muscle of the hips and, more importantly, for hip
extension. Weak glutes mean weak extension- simple as that. But one of the downfalls of
the hip muscles is that they are not as “popular” of a muscle group, which means they get
neglected the most. But for improving your performance with the barbell, having strength
and mobility of the hips is a must. One thing that’s noticeable by most people is if the
hips are weaker, you will start to see the lifter beginning to fall forward, heels raised, and
then with all this leverage towards the front of the body, their spine starts to curve. This
lack of strength in the hips pushes the load elsewhere, and that’s why we begin to see
these deficiencies form. Hip strength and mobility also help with better pelvic placement
as lifters try to engage their hips by tilting their hips backwards to show better form with
their lower back. Now that the importance of hip strength is clear, let’s take a look at a few
exercises that focus on isolating and growing the hips for better success.
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Social media is a powerful tool that can be used for the good,
and the bad. Very bad.
I will be honest- I was not aware of Instagram until 2019...and right now I am typing this
at 2:46pm on October 11th, 2020. Essentially, I have only been around Instagram for one
year! And I will tell you that although it’s a great place to connect and network with others
in this industry, there is a ton of falsified information that exits. You have people working
hard to mass message individuals to share their “secret program” for $9.99, and even
though you’re able to resist that temptation, those novice lifters we discussed originally
are latching on to these programs for their low prices in hopes of becoming the next big
thing! Problem is, though, that within these transactions of programs is that “you get
what you paid for”. Meaning if you paid $9.99 for a program, it’s probably not the highest
quality of programming.
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I know that there are many ways to train, and I believe that in some cases there are
opportunities for “mass programming” to accommodate many lifters. This is the same
practice we see in the traditional strength
and conditioning setting, as collegiate
and professional teams hire a coach and
find ways to accommodate to every lifter
through mass programming. This isn’t
a negative thing, as these coaches find
the best ways and practices to increase
their athlete’s performance! Through
their assessments, these coaches are
considering what is best for all athletes
on a team rather than focusing on one
individual. To find your ultimate strength,
programming needs to be individualized
and tailored to your needs. In this next
section, although this material is not
individualized, it consists of some general
parameters I felt necessary for many lifters
within a certain category (powerlifting,
Strongman, etc.) to grow and develop
into their best self. Let’s take a look at some various samples of programming in strength,
powerlifting, Strongman and bodybuilding…
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BASIC STRENGTH
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Basic Strength
Basic Strength is in reference to the overall
growth and development within all three
major lifts without inclusion of specificity
and individualization of programming.
Essentially, it’s a great starting point for
any lifter looking to make gains in the
traditional barbell movements assessed
for strength and development. The focus
would be the squat, bench, and deadlift
provided the second exercise each day is a
modification of the initial movement, plus
accessories that would benefit targeting
the various muscle groups that day. So,
if you are looking to make a leap in the
gym and have some immediate structure
to your programming, look into basic
strength as the foundation for future
programs inside this e-book. Another
nice feature of this program is that it gets
very close to having balanced volume
per body part, which is great for making sure
you develop that anterior and posterior muscle
groups evenly. That is one of the limiting factors
noticed amongst many individuals who chase
the glory of the iron. They are too consumed in
all the muscle seen by their own eyes, without
including all the muscle groups that they cannot
see daily. This is a principle of strength training
we try to incorporate (anatomical symmetry)
for most programs, but at times, we must
neglect this mindset in order to trigger growth in a different way. That is something you’ll
noticed in the next few sections of sample programming.
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PowerLifting
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Powerlifting
Powerlifting is programming with
the main focus of developing
the squat, bench, and deadlift.
As you can tell, there are
many variations of these three
movements, helping the lifter
build and develop the movement
of the barbell for better success.
We have an emphasis on
immediate strength for sets of
three reps, followed by variations
of these movements to work
on strength deficits such as the
dead squat and dead bench.
Afterward, we proceed to work
with multiple sets of lower
submaximal weight on the squat,
bench, and deadlift to help elicit
dynamic ability and incorporate
components of speed to complement the lifter’s strength sets to strategically create
power. To conclude each training session, we move into various forms of accessories to
help promote continuous development of the musculature. This will develop their lifts
and promote enough volume to compensate for the limited reps done initially during
each session. We want to make sure we have good anatomical symmetry, so the idea is
to also use levels of volume to help build the body evenly. This will eliminate issues of
under-developed physiques that don’t have fully equipped agonist and antagonist muscle
groups. If there is an imbalance, this could hinder their performance and also put the lifter
in safety for not generating strong and smart movement.
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STRONGMAN
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STRONGMAN
With Strongman, the big focus is
working the various components
of Strongman, such as squatting,
pulling and overhead pressing.
I know that with traditional
Strongman, you need all types
of equipment to help participate
in the traditional events of
carrying, loading, grip, and much
more. For the purpose of this
text, we are looking at ways to
train for your Strongman events
without the access of traditional
equipment and practicing
our ability to squat, pull and,
overhead press by incorporating
equipment you typically see in
most facilities. Although in this
program we cannot provide the
authentic style of Strongman
training, our goal is to utilize the
concepts of strength training and
try to tailor more movements
that would translate to the sport of Strongman. Compared to the powerlifting program,
this program works heavy sets of three reps on the squat, bench, deadlift, and push
press. We also see the second movement being a modification of this motion but using
a rep scheme of three sets of three reps. Because each day starts heavy, the prescribed
percentage of speed work lowers to 75%, but to make this clear, these are suggested
percentages to use. I am not the biggest fan of percentages because I feel when you
become a more dynamic lifter, that could augment the percentages you use within certain
programs. You could have an athlete easily press 405lbs with speed, but then if you were
to ask them to perform higher rep counts, they might not have the muscular endurance
to withhold the amount of weight that would be prescribed based on other percentages.
They might be an explosive athlete but not have the endurance to take on a heavier
volume of such weights. They could have muscular explosiveness to do one great rep,
but then afterwards, their efforts might be shot to hell. Just keep this information handy
because percentages could or could not be the easiest to prescribe in your program if you
feel you’re a part of this statistic.
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BODYBUILDING
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BodyBuilding
Bodybuilding, in my eyes, has to be one of the
tougher areas to program as an advocate for
strength. Earlier, we talked about the concept
of anatomical symmetry and how our goal is
to help stimulate the muscles through various
types of loading and volume. However, at
times, it’s hard to stay true and honest with
the rep count to mathematically keep all the
muscle groups even. As you can see, each day
you will find a single set of 100 reps and, even
if this sounds overwhelming or psychotic, it’s
necessary to put the lifter in a situation into
which they need to perform a ton of reps and
become fatigued from the vicious amount of
volume prescribed. The goal is for when the
lifter hits these sets, they limit themselves
to the amount of breaks they need. If they
do take a break, though, it can only last 10
seconds. What’s happening is you are creating a
metabolic trigger to getting the body to release
higher levels of GH through highly rigorous and
fatiguing sets. Each day starts with a heavier
movement, and exercise selection along with
exercise order makes the workout flow and build upon itself through every set completed.
This mindset becomes the catalyst for creating the best scenario possible for the lifter
to get the best growth, development, and opportunity to grow and build their body’s
physique as best as possible.
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One of the most intense lifters I know is a man named Steve Coyne. He is one of the
baddest dudes in the game who’s been hoisting the heavy iron in the southwest region of
North America, currently residing on the coast of Florida. One thing I know about Steve is
that for the longest time, this man has had a tempo that can’t be matched. Steve believes
in lifting with aggression, passion, and a high level of urgency. One of my favorite things
I’ve discussed with Steve is all the “excuses” people make when they miss lifts or don’t
perform at the level they “believe” they can…
Example Scenario:
Lifter B: Oh, I can bench basically 400lbs, I just always seem to miss the lockout.
Lifter B: Well, I basically bench 400lbs! Just need good sleep, and sometimes, I hate the
benches at some gyms.
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Are you this type of person? Well, if you are, please stop. Quit making excuses and quit
talking about best case scenario after you received a sports massage and had 10 hours of
sleep along with a hearty breakfast. Be urgent, embrace the always ready mentality, and
quit the front: LIFT THE WEIGHT!
So, how do we do this? How do we lift aggressively? A lot of it has to do with the habits
you have with the iron…
Do you show up to the gym with your friends and hang out for three hours?
Do you show up to the gym with no preparation and just wanna have fun?
Being aggressive doesn’t have to be complicated - it needs to be fun! If you follow these
parameters of coming to the gym focused, prepared and limiting your distractions, it’s
much easier to tap into this mindset and be ready to exceed your normal performance
with the iron.
If you still aren’t sure what all this means, follow this strength-ism below:
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Thank You!
When starting Harvesting Strength,
it was merely an idea to help support
my family in an effort to pay some of
the medical bills for the birth of my
daughter. I kept playing with the idea
of business names, but immediately
I felt Harvesting Strength resonated
with my life at that moment. I had to
harvest the strength to help support
my family while at the same time
becoming a father to a little girl and
not knowing what that would be
like, and if I would be able to handle
it. I am thankful for my wife Ashley,
my son Dayton, and my daughter
Winter; they were the reason for me
embarking on this journey. What
started as a mere side project to
fund bills grew into a program that
has reached out to several lifters
from not just the United States, but
around the world from countries
such as Brazil, Canada, South Korea,
and much more. I hope to continue
this journey of growing a business
and a reputation as authentic,
honest, and full of integrity. I am not
interested in creating a portfolio of lavish filters or heavy loaded lifting for acceptance on
social platforms. I am interested in providing truthful and informative information to help
lifters gain knowledge, strength, and wisdom- one barbell at a time. Feel free to check
more content and information on my website, and keep banging that heavy iron!
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PRINCIPLES OF
PROGRAMMING
Training with intent
HARVESTING
STRENGTH