John,
I am currently looking at a few of your Power Athlete programs on Train Heroic. I have been looking at Jacked Street, Grindstone and Field Strong and was hoping to get your input on which program would be best for me. I am a police officer in Columbus, Ohio and work a very busy inner city precinct. At least once a week I am chasing someone through yards and over fences and need to remain a little athletic. I wrestled in College and have had a few orthopedic surgeries such as an ACL/Meniscus and both left and right shoulder labrum repairs being the major ones. I am looking to gain some mass do to me losing some over the years while recovering from surgeries as well as remain healthy and athletic so I can stay off of a operating table and active at work. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Christopher
C- Money, I got you covered. And thanks for being specific as to “what are you training for. Normally, I get clandestine requests like, “I want to lean but strong, fast but with great endurance, good looking but not too good looking…” You know, the normal stuff.
In Science and Practice of Strength Training, Zatsiorsky references the end of the beginner window arriving at two paths. One training path focuses on CNS and neural efficiency to increase strength, speed and power. The other requires increasing cross-sectional size of the muscle, as a larger muscle theoretically should support more weight which will translate to increased strength and power.
For the first path, Field Strong is our most demanding program but the one that reaps the most benefits. It requires some time and focus to develop the skill, strength, and ability to execute the program correctly. I place a big premium on perfection of movement and seamless execution of complex tasks. Once you master the movements and build the tensile strength to maintain posture and position, you are ready to start cultivating athleticism and reap the program’s benefits.
Jacked Street is designed for path number two, the weight room warrior looking increase cross sectional muscle size and look good doing it. There is not a lot of cultivating athleticism and change of direction, as the goal is strength, power, and hypertrophy. Many periodize their own training by switching between programs – 6 weeks of JS, 6 weeks of FS, and so on.
Somewhat between the two lies Grindstone, designed for a Fortune 500 CEO with a large workload, a family, and the desire to be the first 40-year-old rookie in the NFL. The program is flexible. It consists of mandatory days, recommended days, and an optional day. The athlete will be pushed as hard as they are able with dedicated strength, plyo, bodybuilding, and conditioning days. I also dedicate a separate day to building an aerobic base as I have seen what that can do for our athletes in real time. We do a ton of upper body hypertrophy work as nothing is more intimidating than walking into the board room filling out your custom made dress shirts.
From the iron slayer to the corporate raider, each program fills a need.
Based on the information you provided, Field Strong would be your program.
However, what have you have been doing recently? You referenced some surgeries and trying to get back into shape, so take it slow.
Don’t let your ego spend what your body can’t afford.
Where would you rate Grindstone vs Johnny Wad? Let’s just say time is not an issue
Go back and read the descriptions.
John, you mentioned that some people with jump on a cycle of jacked street then back to FS. What would be the benefits of this since FieldStrong has a lot of lifting in it already and how can someone determine if jumping on a cycle of JS it’s right for them?
I’m 35, I train to be healthy and capable; to have fun outside the gym doing physical things like hiking, kayaking etc.. In that training I do lean towards a bias in strength and explosiveness vs endurance because I believe having a solid base of strength and a decent engine is better then avg. strength and a large engine.
Do you think do a cycle or two of JS would help my strength gains in FS?
Thank you for taking the time to reply John. I plan on following Bedrock for a few weeks and graduate into Field Strong. Sprinting has been the thing that is not regularly trained and I feel that Bedrock would put me back on the track and prime my legs for Field Strong. Thank you again.
So where does Johnnie WOD fit in? Is there overlap with Grindstone?
No.
Where does Johnnie WOD fit in, particularly in relation to Grindstone?
Go back and read the descriptions. Take a long pause, then read them again.
Pretty simple if you read it.
John
no where in the article do you mention Jonnie WOD. Are we supposed to assume one of the three listed programs are comparable to Jonnie WOD? Its not like Grindstone, but how does JWOD compare to Field Strong or Jacked Street?
It was written before JohnnieWOD came into existence. When this was written CrossFit Football still existed.
Sorry to revive a pretty old thread – I’m going to be finishing Bedrock in the next 4 weeks and am really happy with my numbers after about 16 weeks of following that program. This post got my attention because I think I would like to switch between Field Strong and Jacked Street so my question is should I start with JS or FS after Bedrock? Does it really matter if I’ll be going between the two every six weeks? Thanks!
Sounds like you got a plan in place. Just stick to it and be consistent.
J
Can you still gain Grindstone or is it more maintenance? I’m on Jacked Street but life is limiting my training to 2-3 days per week (48yrs old, kids, work, stuff). Not sure cherry picking 2-3 days from Jacked street is proving that effective. Goals are get strong, stay strong, look good naked…the usual.