9 week beginner program

8/10/2019 9 Week Beginner Program

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Copyright 2010 by Dickie White. All Rights Reserved. Page 1

9 WEEK BEGINNER PROGRAM

By: Dickie White


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Limits of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:

This manual is designed to provide information in regards to the subject matter covered. It is provided

with the understanding that the author is not rendering medical advice or other medical/health services.

You must consult your physician prior to starting any exercise program or if you have any medicalcondition or injury that contraindicates physical activity. These exercises and programs are designed for

healthy individuals and the content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis,

or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something

you have read.

The author shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss

or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this E-

book. Dont lift heavy weights if you are alone, inexperienced, injured, or fatigued. If you experience any

lightheadedness, dizziness, or shortness of breath while exercising, stop and consult a physician.

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this E-book does not imply endorsement

by the author.

Copyright Notices:

This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. All

rights reserved. Copyright 2010 by Dickie White. Any unauthorized transfer, use, sharing,

reproduction, sale, or distribution of these materials by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise

is prohibited. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, without the expressed

written consent of the author.

Published under Copyright Laws of the Library of Congress of The United States of America, by:

Dickie White

2 Tracy St.

Binghamton, NY 13905

[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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This is the first 9-week program I used with Tamdan The Barn Cat McCrory to build a solid

lifting base on him after his UFC 101 split decision loss. Over the course of this 9-week program Tamdan

made some big gains. Here are his initial numbers from when he started:

Box Squat- 165 lbs for 5 reps

Deadlift from Pins- 275 lbs for 5 reps

Bench Press- 165 lbs for 5 reps

Weighted Chinup- 40 lbs for 4 reps

Log Clean- 171 lbs for 3 reps

Clean- 205 lbs for 2 reps

Here are his numbers after the 9-week Base Building Program:

Box Squat- 345 pounds for 1 rep

Deadlift- 455 pounds for 1 repBench Press- 250 pounds for 1 rep

Weighted Chinup- 85 pounds for 2 reps

Log Clean- 241 pounds for 1 rep

Clean- 230 pounds for 1 rep (done in Week 6)

Through hard work and dedication, you too can achieve these kinds of results. Keep in mind

that during this training, Tamdan only did 1-2 MMA-specific workouts a week to allow his body to

optimally recover. Below is the exact 9-week program he used to earn these results, and after the

program is his weekly training log that I kept on how he performed, what changed with the program,

what to expect, etc.


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Week 1

Day 1 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5

a. SSB Box Squat (4x5)

a. DB Side Bend (4x10)

b. #3 Pin Pull (4x5)

b. GHR Situp (4x10)

c. Split Squat (3x10)

c. GHR (3x6, assisted)


a. Bench Press (5x5)

a. Weighted Chinup (5x5)

b. DB Bench (3x10)

b. Chest Supported Row (3x10)

c. Single Arm DB Overhead (3x10)

c. DB Upright Row (3x12)


a. Med Ball b/w Leg Toss (4x4)

a. Sledge Hammer (4x4)

b. Log Clean (4x3)

b. Ab Wheel (4x10)

c. DB Push Press (4x3)

c. GHR (4x5)

Tire Flip (4x8)

Sandbag Shouldering (3x3ea)

Week 1 maxes for Tamdan were as follows:

Squat- 165 for 5 reps

#3 Pin Pull- 275 for 5 reps

Bench Press- 165 for 5 reps

Chinup- 40 for 4 reps

Log Clean- 171 for 3 reps


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Week 2





b. GHR Situp (4x10)


c. GHR (4x6)




b. DB Bench (4x10)


c. Single Arm DB Overhead (4x10)





b. Log Clean (4x3)

b. Ab Wheel (4x10)


c. GHR (4x8)

Tire Flip (4x10)

Sandbag Shouldering (3x3ea)




Bench Press- 175 for 5 reps, 180 for 4 reps




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Week 3





b. GHR Situp (5x10)


c. GHR (5x8)




b. DB Bench (5x10)


c. Reverse Fly (4x15)





b. Log Clean (5x2)

b. Ab Wheel (4x10)


c. GHR (4x8)

d. Tire Flip (4x12)

d. Band Pullapart (4x15)

e. Rope Pulldown (3x12)

e. Stone (3x5)


Squat- 235 for 5 reps, 255 for 3 reps






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Week 4


a. Rev Band SSB Box Squat (5x3)


b. Trap Bar Deadlift (5x5)

b. Decline Situp (4x10)

c. Lunge (4x8)

c. GHR (4x10)


a. Rev Band Bench Press (5x5)

a. Neutral Grip Chinup (5x5)

b. 45-Deg DB Incline Bench (4x10)

b. Cable Row (4x12)

c. Seated DB Overhead (4x10)

c. DB Shrug (4x12)

d. DB Curl (4x8)

d. Band Pressdown (4x12)


a. Med Ball Overhead Slam (4x5)

a. Grappler Rotations (4x6)

b. Clean (5x2)

b. Ab Wheel (4x8)

c. Log Push Press (4x2)

c. GHR (4x10)

d. Tire Flip (4x2)


e. Blast Strap Pushup (3x15)


Rev Band Squat- 275 for 3 reps

Trap Bar Deadlift- 360 for 5 reps

Rev Band Bench Press- 200 for 5 reps

Neutral Chinup- 55 for 4 reps

Clean- 210 for 2 reps


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Week 5






c. Lunge (5x8)

c. GHR (5x12)





b. Cable Row (4x12)


c. DB Shrug (4x12)

d. DB Curl (4x8)





b. Clean (5x2)

b. Ab Wheel (4x8)


c. GHR (4x12)

d. Tire Flip (3x2)


e. Stone (2x3)




Rev Band Bench Press- 210 for 5 reps, 225 for 3 reps


Clean- 215 for 2 reps, 220 for 1

rep


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Week 6






c. Lunge (5x6)

c. GHR (5x8)





b. Cable Row (3x12)


c. DB Shrug (3x12)

d. DB Curl (3x10)





b. Clean (5x2)

b. Ab Wheel (4x8)


c. Band GHR (4x8)

Stone (3x3)




Rev Band Bench Press- 230 for 3 reps


Clean- 220 for 2 reps, 230 for 1

rep


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Week 7




b. Deadlift (5x2)

b. Hanging Leg Raise (4x12)

c. Walking Lunge (5x6)

c. 45-Deg Back Extension (5x10)




b. DB Bench (4x8)



c. Preacher Curl (3x10)

c. Rope Pressdown (3x10)


a. Box Squat Jump (4x5)

a. Band Arm Spin (4x5)

b. Log Clean (5x2)

b. Decline Ab Wheel (4x8)


c. Band GHR (4x8)

d. Man Exercise (4x5)

d. Gi Chinup (4x10)

e. Perfect Pushup (4x12)



Deadlift- 400 for 2 reps





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Week 8




b. Deadlift (5x2)







b. DB Bench (4x6)



c. Preacher Curl (3x10)

c. Rope Pressdown (3x10)




b. Log Clean (5x2)



c. Band GHR (4x8)

d. Man Exercise (3x5)

d. Gi Chinup (3x10)

e. Perfect Pushup (3x12)



Deadlift- 410 for 2 reps

Bench Press- 245 for 1 rep




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Week 9




b. Deadlift (5x1)







b. DB Bench (3x6)





b. Log Clean (5x1)



c. Band GHR (4x8)


Squat- 345 for 1 rep

Deadlift- 455 for 1 rep

Bench Press- 250 for 1 rep




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TRAINING LOGWeek 2

Tamdans weights jumped so much from Week 1 to this weekit is important that you DO NOT

get discouraged because squatting 130% and deadlifting 120% more than what you did the week before

is not common whatsoever. However, you should expect to make weekly jumps if you are just starting

with lifting on this program for at least the first 6-8 weeks.

Also, a quick note on the frequency of the Glute Ham Raise in the program. Quite frankly,

Tamdan was terrible at these. He was as bad as anyone Id ever seen. In fact, I have many high school

athletes who perform multiple sets of 10 reps with weight behind their heads. In contrast, during

Tamdans second week of training he was so proud of himself for performing 6 unassisted reps that he

told my wife about it as soon as he saw her at the gym. Once he started to perform them easily later on

in the program I started to phase them out and replace them with other exercises.

So basically what this means is that if youre terrible at an exercise it means that you should

probably do it a lot, especially when its an exercise thats indicative of how strong your hamstrings and

glutes are, two very important muscles in combat sports like wrestling and MMA.

Week 3

Tamdan had a few ups and downs this week. He had trouble with the #3 pin pull due to grip

problems and his shoulders were really bothering him when he benched, dumbbell benched, and did

single arm overhead presses. In order to keep him healthy and pain free we made a few adjustments on

the fly.

First, we decided to keep the bench at a weight that didnt bother his shoulders. Although he

didnt end up setting any new records today, it ended up being the right move as youll see in later


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weeks. We also kept the weight light enough so he didnt experience pain with the dumbbell bench and

dropped the overhead press all together. I replaced the overhead press with a reverse fly on the pec

dec/reverse fly machine. Furthermore, we added in some pec stretching to his home routine in an

effort to help lessen the anterior rotation of his shoulders, which I felt was one of the big factors

contributing to his shoulder pain. So if youre not experiencing any pain performing the lifts then keep

pushing the weight and dont swap them out of the program.

On the positive side though, his other lifts were up and more in line with the percentage

increases I thought we would see him experiencing (ie 5-10lb increases every week for the first 6-8

weeks due primarily to neurological adaptation to the program commonly experienced by novice lifters).

Week 4

Im a big believer in switching things up every 3ish weeks to prevent accommodation to the

program; so thats what we did starting in week 4. First let me clarify 3ish. With beginner lifters

(Tamdan is undoubtedly classified as a beginner as his experience with strength training was essentially

limited to 10 to 12 week blocks of conditioning focused circuits prior to an upcoming fight) I usually

change things every 3 weeks. As the lifter progresses and I begin to notice that the third week of each

wave isnt producing any heavier lifts, we will switch toa 2 week wave as the third week basically

becomes a waste of time seeing as how little to no progress is made that week. Similarly, if you dont

have a lot of options/alternatives at your gym and think you can squeeze a fourth week out and still

make progress, do so but keep an eye on it to make sure progress is made and youre not just spinning

your wheels.

Alright, with that said, lets move on with the discussion on changes made to the program, how

Tamdan performed, what you can expect, etc. The first change I like to make to the squat and bench is

to add small reverse bands; nothing that is going to give the l ifter the ability to handle more than 5-10%


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over their max, but something that will enable them to support and lift a few more pounds than theyre

used to. This is a great way to make a change in the lift to prevent a plateau and is also a great way to

build confidence with heavier weights.

I switched the lower body pulling movement from a #3 pin pull to a trap bar deadlift in order to

get Tamdan used to pulling off the floor. I always start with a pin pull because it cuts down on the range

of motion. Ive found that when I start a beginner lifter with deadlifts off the floor we end up spending

more time making adjustments to get them in the proper position than the lifter actually spends lifting.

So to minimize the learning curve I start from pins, then move to the trap bar which helps to eliminate

the difficulties of pulling with a straight bar off the floor by placing the weight in line with your body.

The split squat was switched out in exchange for a lunge (which is the next step in the single leg

progression I use with fighters) and the glute ham raise stayed because he was still making progress with

these.

I made similar changes in the upper body day just switching a few angles here and there to keep

things different enough where he would continue to make progress. I decided to put him on a 45-

degree incline for the dumbbell bench to see how his shoulders would respond and I reintroduced the

overhead press only put him in a seated position without a back support. By having him press two

dumbbells it would keep him from jamming up with the side he was pressing with and putting him in a

seated position without a back support would eliminate his ability to create leverage by leaning back to

press up the weight. This actually worked out very well as it forced him to lift the weight with strict

technique and prevented him from using leverage to lift too heavy of a weight which, in turn, kept his

shoulders virtually pain free (except for a little tightness here and there) throughout this 3 week wave.

On the Day 3 we made a few small tweaks here and there. We changed the core lift from the

log clean to the traditional Olympic clean. Tamdan had been doing these on and off for a while and

really expressed to me his belief in the positive training effect they had on his performance. He ended


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up setting an all-time personal record the first day getting back to them. His best prior was 205 for 2

reps and he did 210 for 2 reps the first day.

Personally, I think this was a big turning point for our relationship as a coach and athlete. Dont

get me wrong, he was excited that he was progressing in the other lifts, but for him to set a record in a

power exercise after 3 weeks of a primarily strength and base building program really got him believing

in just what he could become with continued adherence to the program.

The other big change we made was to the tire. The tire he had been flipping for the first 3

weeks was about 450lbs. The one he flipped this week and next was about 750lbs. Obviously I wanted

to get some more volume in seeing as how the focus of the first 8-10 weeks was going to be higher

volume. But with the weather going from nice to absolute crap as it so quickly does during the fall in

Central New York, I wanted to get in a few heavy flips before our time until spring was gone.

Week 5

Although he didnt hit any crazy new maxes and there were no changes made with his program

this week, I would have to say that it was the first solid week of training Tamdan has had so far. He was

pain free other than general tightness from lifting and all his core lifts were up from Week 4.

This week we started to bring the volume down on his core lifts to begin to build off of his 5 rep

base to hone in on some single rep maxes scheduled in Week 8 and/or 9. I wanted to avoid the

common mispractice (or what I would consider to be a mispractice) of maxing Tamdan out during the

first week. I feel as though this is a cop out by strength coaches and trainers to show their clients how

much stronger they got over a certain time period. Do I think maxing/testing is important? Yes, but if

youre good at your job youll get the person stronger. Even though I didnt max him during the first

week, I did work Tamdan up to a challenging set to gauge where he was at from the start.


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Instead, what I like to do, especially with someone I would consider to be a beginner lifter, is I

start them with 5 rep maxes for about 4 weeks and then work down to triples and doubles the next 2-4

weeks before taking singles. Your client will tell you if theyre getting stronger based on how they feel

they are performing and youll be able to see it as the weights theyre lifting go up. You dont need to

waste training sessions taking maxes on them the first couple days just so you can say I put 20% on my

clients bench in 4 weeks! Its a waste of time and completely irresponsible considering you dont know

how the person is going to react under a heavy weight whether theyre a beginner or advanced lifter.

Anyway, enough with my rant. Thats basically how and why I structure the core lifts the way I

do and how I choose to progress them over the course of a base building program.

Week 6

This was another fairly consistent week of lifting but a few major breakthroughs were made. On

the lower body day Tamdan was finally able to move on to weighted glute ham raises after 5 weeks of

assisted and then bodyweight variations. In the grand scheme of things this is a minor achievement, but

none the less we were both happy that he was able to graduate to weight in such a short amount of

time. Just goes to show you- even if you absolutely suck at something (and believe me, Tamdan was as

bad as anyone Id seen), if you work hard at it you can improve.

We also started to cut down on the reps of the accessory movements to continue to focus on his

strength development while keeping the overall volume relatively high. For example the lunges

dropped from 5x8 to 5x6. The 5x6 was kept for 2 weeks before cutting it down even more during the

last 2 weeks of the 9 week base building portion of the program. This type of decrease is pretty

consistent throughout the last weeks of this program.

This is also the first week he decided to stop using chewing tobacco. He lifted fine on Monday,

but when Wednesday rolled around he was dealing with some major headaches as a result of


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withdrawal. Although he wasnt feeling the best, he was still able to hit a 5lb record in both the reverse

band bench and neutral grip chinup. To reward him for his efforts even though he obviously wasnt

feeling his best I cut down on the sets in all of the accessory lifts that followed. We also didnt try to lift

anything heavier than he had done the week before, which is something I almost always would have had

him do.

He came back strong on Day 3 almost cleaning 230lbs for 2 reps. Lifting it as easily as he did for

the first rep was still impressive considering that 6 weeks before his all-time best was 205lbs. To cut

down a little so he could recharge for next week and also be a little fresher for a seminar the next day, I

decided to drop some of the higher rep upper body work that we had been doing the last few weeks at

the end of the workout.

Week 7

Week 7 marked the return to the original core lifts for 3 weeks in an effort to set some single

rep maxes before the end of the 9 week base program. Except for a few changes here and there to the

accessory lifts (walking lunge instead of split squat, 45-degree back extension instead of ghr, etc) the

program returned to its original form only with lower reps which were used in an effort to prime his

body for taking some one or two rep maxes. And as you can see from his maxes from Weeks 1-3 and

what he was lifting in Week 7, you can bet we were both very excited although not very surprised based

on what he was lifting with the reverse band setups.

Tamdans squat went from 255lbs for 3 reps in Week 3 to 305lbs for 2 reps in Week 7. Although

we switched from a #3 pin pull to a traditional deadlift off the floor, it still went from 355lbs for 3 reps to

400lbs for 2 reps even though he was moving the bar an extra six inches! His best bench of 180lbs for 4

reps from Week 2 looked like childs play as he was warming up to hit his 225lbs for 2 reps. Keep in

mind that his best bench all time prior to training with me was 190lbs. His weighted chinup and log


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clean were up a fair amount as well. With the weather getting colder we switched a few things around

on Day 3.

Instead of using the sledge hammer and throwing a med ball to prep him for his power focused

lifts, we had to do box squat jumps and band arm spins. The tire was also officially retired for the

season unless we got a miraculous heat wave and since he had done stones for the last couple weeks

and we wanted to keep his forearms from getting really scratched up, I introduced him to the Man

Exercise. The Man Exercise is an exercise I saw on YouTube one day and thought that it was quite simply

one of the manliest exercises I had ever seen. Ever since then I have been using it on and off with all of

my fighters and wrestlers.

Week 8

Nothing super unexpected happened on Day 1 of this week. Good old consistent gains, but

other than that nothing crazy. I cut down the volume on his walking lunge and 45-degree back

extension from 5 sets to 3 sets in an effort to prepare him for some max singles the following week and

also to start giving his body a little bit of a break from the higher volume.

His weight was hovering around 213 (up from around 200 when he started) this week and when

we set out on this program the goal was to get him to about 215 or thereabouts. We wanted to keep

him from getting too big and basically growing him to a point where he struggled just as much to make

185 as he did 170. So we thought that if he added about 15 pounds, he could then diet down and lean

out a bit to get back down to around 205 with a bunch of extra strength and muscle. Staying around 20

pounds over would give him the mobility to take a fight as early as 8-10 weeks out if needed and still

allow him the time to lose about 10 pounds during the camp and the last 10 the day of weighins.

Before his fight with John Howard at UFC 101 Tamdan was over 30 pounds overweight 7 weeks

out. Part of this was due to him not getting on the Thunderhorse and getting his diet locked down soon


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enough, but he was also thickening up as he matured and he knew it would definitely be his last time at

170 either way. So anyway, the volume dropped both because I wanted to get him primed for some

singles during the last week of the base building portion of the program and also because he was

starting to reach the upper limits of what we sought out to accomplish in regards to weight gain.

Alright, now that thats out of the way, on to Day 2. This was probably the biggest day of the

week in regards to records set. His shoulders felt great and his lifting showed it. His bench went from

an already impressive 225 for 2 to a 245 and his chinup skyrocketed from a 65 for 3 to an 80 for 3. We

kept the volume higher on this day just because a lot of the accessory work hes done on Day 2 has been

completely dependent on how his shoulders were feeling. As a result there were a few times earlier in

the program when we had to cut things down a little due to pain/discomfort during a lot of the

accessory work. Therefore, I thought seizing the day and taking full advantage of the situation was the

right thing to do. Thatsreally one of the core ideas that I use when training wrestlers and fighters, and

anyone for that matter.

What Ive found over the years is that no matter how much you plan and work towards a certain

day to hit a certain lift, some days you just dont have it and you have no other choice but to back off or

face injury trying to force yourself to do something your body just cant handle that day. Then there are

other days when you plan to have a light workout and you end up feeling great and doing a lot more

than you anticipated. The moral of the story is plan the best you can but take advantage of good days

and back off on bad days and readjust your overall plan accordingly.

Day 3 was pretty solid even though he was up until after 2am the night before talking to his

business partner about things. He got through the log clean and dumbbell push press well but then

really hit a wall once we got to the final triset. He pushed through it and we kept everything

manageable from a weight perspective and got him out of the gym with another good lift under his belt.


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Week 9

This week started off with a bang on Day 1 and quieted down on Days 2 and 3. He hit a huge

345 box squat after hitting only a 315 for a double the week before. He also pulled a big 455 after only

hitting a 410 for a double the week before. He had some left in the deadlift gas tank too; at least 15

pounds. But we figured before we started pulling the 7thand 8thsingle that maybe we should be happy

and go into the upcoming weeks confident about a 500 by the end of the year (he did the 455 deadlift

on October 19, so we had about two and a half months, something we were both very confident he

could do assuming he stayed healthy).

We kept the weights moderate on the abs during the squats and deadlifts and only did two sets

of lunges and 45-degree back extensions to further rest his body before getting back after it next week.

Ive gotta tell you, after the first day of this week I was pumped to see what he was going to do the

other two days, but by the time they came and went neither of us were as happy as we thought wed

be.

The night before his Day 2 workout he sparred with one of his teammates who was preparing

for a fight and as a result his shoulders were bothering him during the workout. None the less he

muscled through a 250 bench, a good milestone and a great way to cap off the 9 week base building

portion of the program. Considering his all time best was a 190, we were both pretty happy once we

took a minute to look back at how far he had come in just 9 weeks. His chinup was also up 5 pounds,

but down a rep. Again, we were both happy when looking back at where he started but at the same

time wanted more.

He finished up the 9 week base building program with a 241 pound log clean. We took a shot at

251 as opposed to only going up to 246 and he unfortunately missed 251. Normally I would have moved

him up to 246 to give him a better chance at furthering his record for the day, but the 241 flew up and

we both felt 251 would be the weight to go with next. Either way he finished out the program


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significantly stronger than he was 9 weeks earlier and the best part was that for the first time in his life

he was anxious to start the next block of training and keep chipping away at his end of the year goals.

9 Week Base Building Summary

Week 1 Maxes:

Box Squat- 165 pounds for 5 reps

#3 Pin Pull- 275 pounds for 5 reps

Bench Press- 165 pounds for 5 reps


Log Clean- 171 pounds for 3 reps

Week 9 Maxes:

Box Squat- 345 pounds for 1 rep

Deadlift- 455 pounds for 1 rep

Bench Press- 250 pounds for 1 rep


Log Clean- 241 pounds for 1 rep

9 week beginner program

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