Cal Dietz - Triphasic Training

A Systematic Approach To Elite Speed And Explosive Strength Performance

Cal Dietz

&

Ben Peterson

On the eighth day, of the second month, of the twelfth year, of the twenty-first century, I dedicate this book to my family wife Karyn, children Tatum and Brody, Mother, Father, brother Andy, Grandparents and friends that helped me in my journey.

- C. D.

To the three men who gave rise to my fascination with human performance and inspired me to pursue my passion Coach Mac, Coach Lilja, and Coach Nick.

- B. P.

FOREWORD

Triphasic Training is a game changer! It becomes clear how the University of Minnesota Olympic sport programs have achieved such high levels of success after reading this book. I first began communicating with Coach Dietz in 2008. After watching Coach Dietz teach these principles, I came to the realization that his method was sound because it applied complex scientific principles in a practical manner for people to understand. This combination has established a blueprint for success and helped Coach Dietzs athletes accomplish great feats both at the collegiate and professional level. I integrated the Triphasic Method with many collegiate and professional athletes at IMG. The results were outstanding! I will continue to utilize and integrate this very effective method throughout my tenure as a coach in this great profession. Ive often heard that success leaves clues. After reading this book, youll have a blueprint for success and a greater knowledge of the training process. Loren Seagrave always says, Educate people! Train animals! This book will help you understand the Why and not just the How. It's a must have for anyone trying to get better!

Co-authoring a book presented a unique challenge that neither of us expected. The book is a compilation of stories, personal experiences, and knowledge of two individuals. As such, a conventional writing style would have us write the book in a manner that distinguishes which author is contributing to a specific story or anecdote. It would require us to preface sentences with, Cal remembers when... or Ben worked with an athlete who... When we were finished with sections of the book and went back to read what we had written, we found the constant quoting hindered the flow of the book and prevented the reader from making connections between examples that came off as separate story lines.

To solve this perceived flaw to the book, we came up with a simple solution. We wrote the book from the first person view of a third party narrative. Instead of stating which one of us is involved with a story, we say I remember or I worked with. In essence, we created an imaginary person who is the culmination of both of our life experiences, knowledge, and stories. We beg the readers indulgence with this style choice and say that it is in no way meant to deceive or misguide the reader as to the source of information, but rather to improve the consistency and readability of the book. We feel that this allows for one clear voice to present the information and will maximize the usefulness of the material to the reader.

PREFACE

Right off the bat, I want to make a huge confession. I want to tell you what this book is not. This book is not the Holy Grail of training! It isn't the only way to train athletes, nor does it promise to turn every athlete who uses these methods into an All-American. Even with the most advanced training methods, scientific knowledge, and vast array of sports supplements the twenty-first century has to offer, sport coaches, athletic directors, general managers, and parents must realize that in order to win, you must have the best athletes. That means you must recruit the best athletes in college and you must pay for the best athletes in the pros. No method in existence currently used by any strength coach can make up the gap between the genetics of a superior athlete to that of an inferior one.

So what does that mean? Are superior genetics the sole factor in determining success? Without getting into any physiology or neurology, let me explain using a real life example of two hockey players I coached several years ago. We will call them Fred and Walter. Fred and Walter grew up playing hockey together in a small town in northern Minnesota. From the very beginning, they were inseparable. To call them rink rats would have been an understatement. If they werent at the local rink working on their slap shot or playing pick-up games, they were at the rink that Freds dad made every year in the backyard working on stick handling and skating. Both households even had the same ruleif you were watching television, you had to work on your stick handling at the same time. (Both boys had small plastic sticks they practiced with on the floor during commercial breaks. )

Based on the amount of practice and work the two boys invested since the age of six, it shouldn't be any surprise that they were All-State selections in hockey and that both accepted scholarships to play for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (U of M). I remember when Fred and Walter arrived. They were virtually identical. Both stood six feet tall and weighed 175 lbs. During their four-year careers, they both went through the exact same strength and conditioning routine every off-season. Their one rep max (1RM) for the bench and squat were within 15 pounds of each other. They ate the same meals at the training table, lived in the same house, and even dated the same girl (though not at the same time). I will add, and personally attest, that both Fred and Walter gave 100 percent to everything they did surrounding Gopher hockey. They attacked every workout and skated every shift like it was their last. For all intents and purposes, Fred and Walter were the exact same athlete, the only difference being their genetic makeup they had different parents.

Here is where the story takes a drastic turn. During their time at the U of M, Walter continued to excel while Fred seemed to struggle at times on the ice. By their senior season, Walter was a preseason All-American who would eventually go on to play in the NHL. Fred, meanwhile, was an average third line player. Why? How could two essentially identical athletes end up at such different levels?

The answer was genetics. Genetically speaking, Walter had a higher end sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and superior hormonal profile than Fred. The SNS is part of the electrical wiring grid of the body, relaying instructions from the motor cortex to the muscles of an athlete to perform coordinated muscle movementshand eye coordination, force production, balance, and reactive ability to name a few. In addition, the SNS stimulates the endocrine system and hormonal response of the body under stress, controlling the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine (commonly known as adrenaline) and the mobilization of energy substrates through glucogon secretion as well as levels of other hormones associated with athletic performance such as testosterone (muscle building), T3 and T4 (metabolism), insulin-like growth factor-1 (muscle building), and insulin (anabolic recovery). In short, the SNS is the fight or flight response, the most powerful response of the human body. The better the wiring or the quality of the cable used in that wiring, the faster and more efficiently a signal will travel through the grid. Similarly, an athletes hormonal profile dictates his ability to respond to the rigors of competitionstress, performance, and recovery. An athlete who can process and respond to stimuli more quickly as well as orchestrate the bodys hormonal response efficiently will have a decisive advantage over other athletes. In Walters case, both processes were superior.