Parkour Off-Season Training Bible – 2nd Edition

Standard Disclaimer: The following program is designed for athletes. If you train only 1-3 times per week this is going to sound like a lot and might not be for you. Having said that, this could be the perfect template to bring organization to your training, get you out more, and up your overall game.

Two Additional Programs

1 – Explosive Power Block

Once general strength has peaked you can switch your focus to improving jumping power. Strength training alone can have positive effects on jumping power, but workouts focused solely on primary movements and maximal jump exercises will really start to bridge the gap between general strength and parkour performance. In this block we will look at a method that took me years to finally get right!

2 – In-Season Strength Recommendations

You can still lift weights when you are focusing on having the best parkour sessions. In my almost two decades of parkour exploration I have always struggled with finding a balance of parkour performance and general preparation year round. I admittedly did way too much general preparation for a time. As a result my technical, and especially my mental development, didn’t see much progress. In other years I completely scrapped general work and only focused on the mental and technical side of things, but this resulted in decreased power in my jumps. In this section I will break down how to continue working on general preparation without burning yourself out.

NOTES:

Foundation Block Intensity

After running athletes (and myself as always) through the foundation block into a maximal strength block a number of times I found that the loads were too low. So now the loads represented are about 10% higher, with respective rep/sets adjusted.

For all of your primary movements I recommend using the lower end of the percentages given on your first week. Unless of course you have been lifting frequently in the Summer, and your body is acclimatized to heavier weights.

Upper Body Primary Movement

In the foundation phase you will build up two, separate primary upper body movements. You will continue to build up just one of these in the strength block. Upper Body increases in strength tend to happen slower than they do for the lower body. Use the Foundation block to get a head start with more volume (higher sets/reps) with whatever percentage allows it. When you repeat the same set/rep/percentage schemes in the Strength Block you can switch to lower volume recommendations and higher percentage recommendations.

Condensed Strength Block

In my former edition there were two options for the strength block to run for 6 weeks or 11 weeks. The newly added intensity in the Foundation Block will already add 4 weeks of build up, so the strength block will revert to a standard 6 week stage. It is not a guarantee that you will reach or exceed a previous personal best in six weeks. This all depends on what you are doing for the rest of the year. You can also take 12 weeks and do the program twice depending on your goals. If you decide ahead of time to do two strength cycles I recommend doing the first cycle using low percentages and high volume, and the second cycle using high percentages and low volume.

Set Yourself Up for Success

I receive a number of messages from people claiming their first week is too hard. Ninety nine percent of the time this is due to the person using way too much weight on their primary movement. If you are failing lifts on week one it is likely, because you have made a mathematical error or an overestimation of your 1RM. Here are a couple of ways to avoid overdoing it.

Use 90% of a previous 1RM as your 100%. If you have not performed anything close to your previous personal best recently, then it is probably no longer your 100%. Rather than retesting simply take 90% of your previous best and use that new number to calculate all of your other percentages off of.
- Example: If your best squat is 225lbs, but you haven’t lifted anywhere near that much in months, take 90% of 225 and round it as you please = 202.5 or 205lbs. Now Week 1 of the program calls for 70-75%, so you’re lifting somewhere in the range of 145lbs to 155lbs.
Do the lowest possible percentage and the lowest possible volume for your work sets in the first couple of weeks.
- Example: Strength Block Wk 1 = 75-80% for 4 or 5 sets of 5. So you would do 4×5 at 75%. If it’s really easy you can always do a bonus set of 5.

If you are failing reps of your primary movement on the very first week of a ‘block’ you need to restart that block with more attainable weights. If you continue on in the program you will not see any improvements by the end of it.

FOUNDATION BLOCK

The Foundation Block is 3 weeks long, plus one “deload” week. The purpose is to build up work capacity and technique in each movement. The primary lower body movements in this phase are unilateral to emphasize improvements in joint stability before we jump into bilateral lifts where greater outputs will be produced.

Primary Lifts

Primary Lifts will happen in every workout, sometimes after some initial dynamic/elastic drills. At the top of the program you will find a table labeled “Primary Lifts Progression”. This is where you will go to find the sets and repetitions you will do for the primary movement. The first thing you’ll notice is that I do not give a precise number; instead there is a range of repetitions, and an amount of total repetitions to shoot for. This allows the program to be modified for a broader range of people. For example: on week 1 you can do 5-6 reps per set, and 25-30 total reps, so acceptable formulas for reps/sets would be: 5×6, 6×5, or 5×5 (4×6 would also be acceptable even though it is one rep short of the minimum, but that can be our little secret 😉

The percentages on the chart are based off of existing “One Rep Maximum(s)”. You will notice the percentages increase in small increments each week. This is a simple progressive overload method that is tried and true for building strength in all levels of athletes. Notice that the percentages are also often proposed in a range, so you have some flexibility with the intensity you are working at. Feel free to interpret it how you will, but make sure to follow the slow incremental progress as outlined for best results.

Example Week 3.

Reps Per Set	Total Reps	%1RM
3	9-15	80-85%

The percentage is 80-85, which means you could perform each set at a different weight, or all of them at the same weight. If you decide to perform 4 sets of 3 reps, your workout could look like Work-Up: 45% x 8-10, 55% x 6-8, 65% x 5 Work-Sets: 3×80%, 3×82%, 3×84%, 3×85%, or the work sets could simply be 4x3x80%, 4x3x82% or 4x3x85%. All of the above repetition and percentage schemes are acceptable. What’s most important is that the reps go up smooth.

Accessory Movements

Accessory exercises are performed after your primary lift. These exercises are done to increase strength and muscular hypertrophy. Try to take shorter rest periods between sets for these movements to also increase your work capacity. Make sure if you are taking shorter rest periods to account for this when choosing the weight you will work with.

I have only provided a range for total repetitions. This means there are a lot of different set/rep schemes that could work. As long as the rest periods are kept at a minimum it’s all pretty much the same. If the total repetitions you’re shooting for is 50 you could do 10×5 and feel very focused during each set, because you’re only doing 5 reps each time, or you could do 5×10, or 4×12-13, 3×15-17, etc. Stick to a set rep scheme for 2-3 weeks, and then change it up.

Parkour Skill Work

You still can and should do parkour outside of the prescribed strength and conditioning program. I recommend making a list of singular skills to work on during the off-season. You can also train lines and have haphazard sessions so long as you are monitoring and recording your intensity. You can use “RPE” (Rate of Perceived Exertion) to monitor intensity.

Try to keep most of your training below a 7 or an 8, and do not push the amount of repetitions you do. For example: If you are doing an effortful standing pre keep the reps low, so that the overall effort feels like a 7-8/10. If the standing pre is smaller you can do more reps, but the more you do the more you will increase your perceived exertion unless you are taking a lot of breaks. A good way to keep intensity lower is to do your parkour training after workouts. Even if it’s later in the day you will be noticeably fatigued and less likely to over do it. You can also fit in light parkour training on Off days.

In the schedule for each training block you will find the strength & conditioning schedule, as well as an example of a schedule that incorporates parkour training.

What happens if you overdo it in a session?

Maybe you get really inspired, you feel strong from all of the general strength work, and you set your eyes on a challenge you can’t resist. This challenge takes a number of attempts, and before you know it you’ve blown 15 attempts, nailed the challenge, but clearly this has been a 9 or 10 effort and you’ve outdone yourself. If this is the case you should skip a WORKOUT or at least skip the speed work and the primary movement. You need to recover to get stronger, so it’s counterproductive to do too much. Plus if you’re getting so much better that you are able to achieve new challenges, then the program is doing its job already. As long as you’re not missing workouts all the time everything should be fine.

If you have a really disorganized or stressful week and miss most of your workouts, I would recommend simply repeating the week.

Tempo Workouts, and Deloading

“Off” days are also marked as “Aerobic” and “Recovery” days. You could also do an Aerobic workout earlier in the day before a WORKOUT. Tempo workouts are the best type of aerobic and recovery training for speed/power athletes. I recommend trying to hit 2-3 tempo workouts in a week.

Tempo workouts are meant to be low intensity. Do not get tempo workouts confused with high intensity interval training. You should feel better at the end of the session than you did at the start. If you are breathing so heavy you can’t have a conversation you are working too hard and need to dial back the intensity. Investing in a heart rate monitor can make training in your aerobic zone more precise.

Tempo Sprints

Aim for 8 to 14 total Sprints

Sprint 100 meters at 70% intensity. (Should feel relaxed and easy)
Walk Back.
Add drill or exercise. I like to do all my tempo workouts by performing a drill or exercise at the end of the sprint before walking back. Examples: Push ups, sit up variations, physio exercises, isolation exercises with bands, single leg body-weight movements, etc.

Stationary Tempo

If you can’t get out to sprint you can still do tempo workouts with limited space. Instead of the 100m sprint you can simply do low intensity running-As, or ride a stationary bike for 30 seconds. Follow this up with a drill or exercise of your choosing, and then rest for 30 seconds. Again you’ll be aiming for in between 8-14 total rounds of this.

Deload Week

A *deload week is taken every 3-5 weeks. During the deload week you have two options: 1. Completely take the week off and just do a couple of tempo workouts to help promote blood flow and increase recovery.

Do the same workout schedule, but in each workout do half of the amount of reps/sets you normally would. Avoid impact on your joints (less jumping/landing) and use less weight on the primary movements to “Deload” your spine. You will find lighter weight and fewer rep recommendations for primary movements on deload weeks.

Work-Up Sets

Work-up sets should be done for each primary movement. Work Up sets are a method used to stimulate your nervous system and prepare it to switch on more motor units for each following set. Also think of the work-up sets as more practice to improve your technique of the exercise, and more volume to stimulate muscular adaptation. Using work up sets not only makes lifting heavy weights safer, but you will also be more successful at performing your primary lifts. Here is a standard model you can follow:

45% x 8-10

55% x 6-8

65% x 5

As the weight gets heavier you can add in another Work-up set every 5-10%.

For example: Working weight = 85%x4. Perform above sets followed by 75%x4, 80% x4, etc. Rest between work-up sets should be 1-2 min.

Schedule

Monday – WORKOUT Ai

Tuesday – WORKOUT Bi

Wednesday – Off / Aerobic / Recovery

Thursday – WORKOUT Aii

Friday – WORKOUT Bii

Saturday – Off / Aerobic / Recovery

Sunday – Off / Aerobic / Recovery

Schedule + Parkour Workouts

Notice that most of the parkour drills occur after workouts or on the off days, and the more loosely defined “session” workout occurs on Saturday. By doing your PK skills after the strength & conditioning work you will likely be too fatigued to go too hard. For the same reason you could plan to have a looser and more challenge based session on Saturday at the end of a long week of training. Sunday could then be reserved for recovery.

Monday – WORKOUT Ai / PK Drills

Tuesday – WORKOUT Bi

Wednesday – Aerobic / PK Drills

Thursday – WORKOUT Aii / PK Drills

Friday – WORKOUT Bii

Saturday – Aerobic / PK Session

Sunday – Off / Aerobic / Recovery

NOTE: There is nothing wrong with having a week that starts on a different day. For example your week could be Tuesday to Monday instead of the traditional Monday to Sunday. Do what makes the most sense for your schedule and current commitments.

Primary Lifts Progression

WORKOUT A – Sprints, Jumps, & Upper Body Weights

A. Sprinting Drills: Perform each of these 1-3 times for 20-40 repetitions before your sprints.

A-March
A-Skip
Running-A

B. Sprinting Starts: Pick one of the following variations for a 10m Sprint and Perform 3-5 Sprints with 1 minute rest between them.

Split-step start
Push-Up Start
3 or 4 point start

C. Short Accelerations: Pick one of the following variations for a 20m Sprint and Perform 3-5 Sprints with 1-2 minutes rest between them. Choose a different variation than you did for B.

Split-step start
Push-Up Start
3 or 4 point start

D. Single Leg Bounds (Submaximal) – Perform 3-5 jumps per leg, for 3-4 sets. Rest as needed.

Use a slight hill or plyo boxes (if available) to mix in jumping upwards

E. Upper Body Primary Movement – Pick one “Pressing” movement for Workout Ai, and one Pulling movement for Workout Aii.

Pressing (Ai)

Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Weighted Dips
Military Press

Pulling (Aii)

Weighted Chin-Ups
Weighted Pull-Ups
Barbell Rows

F. One Arm Movement – Pick one “Pulling” movement for Workout Ai, and one “Pressing” movement for Workout Aii. Do 40-60 total reps.

Pulling (Ai)

One Arm DB Row
One Arm Cable or Band Row
One Arm Landmine Row

Pressing (Aii)

DB Incline Press
DB Bench Press
Med Ball “One-Arm” Push-Ups

G. One for the Delts – Pick one of the following for 40-60 total reps.

DB Lateral Raise
L-lateral Raise
Band or Cable Lateral Raise
DB Military Press

H. Elbow Flexors / Extensors Superset – Don’t feel like listing all the possibilities, but pick two exercises and hit 12-20 reps of each for 3 sets.

Bicep Curls
Tricep Extensions

WORKOUT B – Dynos & Lower Body Weights

A. Dynamic Climbing Movement – Pick one of the following and perform 3-5 Reps, for 3-4 Sets.

Dyno
Climb-Up
Cat-Back

B. Single Leg Movement: (see Primary Lifts Progression)

Step-Ups
Bulgarian Split Squats
Reverse Lunge or Walking Lunges
Single Leg Deadlift

C. Secondary Single Leg Movement. Pick one “Post-Chain” movement for Workout Bi, and one “Quadriceps” movement for Workout Bii. Do 30-50 total reps for each leg.

Post-Chain Movement (Bi)

Swiss Ball Glute Bridge + Legs Curl + Single Leg Eccentric
Swiss Ball Single Leg Glute Bridge + Leg Curl
DB Single Leg Deadlift

Quadriceps Movement (Bii)

DB Reverse Lunge
DB Bulgarian Split Squats
DB Step Ups

D. Weighted Abdominal Movement – Pick one and hit 30-40 total reps.

Leg Raises
Ab Wheel
Weighted Sit-Ups

E. Gastrocnemius / Calves Movement – Pick one and hit 40-60 total reps.

Single Leg Calf Raises
Weighted Calf Raises
Weighted Seated Calf Raises

Finding 1RM for Single Leg Movements.

If you already have a PB for your squat you can simply divide it by two and use that as your single leg strength maximum. This should make most of the recommended percentages feel super easy. Example: Squat PB of 345lbs / 2 = 172.5 lbs

(I know for a fact my Bulgarian Split Squat is significantly more than half of my squat, but I don’t have a reliable way of calculating it.)

Perform a 5RM on your first workout, and use this equation to calculate your 1RM.

Example: 5x185lbs [ Weight(185) x Reps(5) x 0.0333 ] + Weight(185) = 215lbs 1RM.

Calculating for Weighted Pull/Chin-Ups

This one only gets weird if you’re not very strong. If you have a weighted pull with at least half of your body weight attached to you, you should not have a problem calculating how much weight to use for every workout.

BW + 1RM Weight = 1RM

Example: 150lbs BW + 90lbs = 240lbs “Combined 1RM”

If the program calls for a 70% effort, you would take 70% of your combined 1RM, and minus your body weight to give you the amount to be lifted. (240 x 0.7) – 150 = 18lbs added weight.

As I said this can get weird if you’re not very strong yet, because you could end up with an added weight that is a negative number. If this is the case, you can either use barbell rows to get consistent incremental increases, or perform body weight pulls for the recommended repetitions until the program reaches a point where the percentages call for you to add weight.

STRENGTH BLOCK

In the foundation block we focused on unilateral movements for the lower body. After completing 3-4 weeks of unilateral lower body movements your ankles and hips should be more stable and rigid to take on heavier loads and harder take offs. The single arm and single leg method should also help address any side to side weaknesses.

In the next block you will focus on improving maximal strength in one lower body movement and one upper body movement. Upper body gains tend to take longer, which is why the foundation block gives an extra 4 week boost into the upper body movement of your choosing.

Squats vs Box Squats

As mentioned above the next block will focus on improving maximal strength in one lower body movement and one upper body movement. I recommend choosing a squat variation for the lower body movement over a deadlift variation. Deadlifts can be great, but maximal lifts performed by novice to intermediate lifters often become more of a slow back extension and less of a knee/back extension working together. If you happen to have a deadlift set up you really like that gives you a good leg drive, then by all means use it above squatting.

I also recommend Box Squats over Squats for “most” parkour athletes.

The box squat is performed by setting up a box or bench of a specific height, so that when you squat on it you are in a parallel-squat (when the crease of the hip is parallel to the top of the knee) or higher. You can test a box height by squatting down to it with an empty bar on your shoulders and seeing if you can control your squat all the way down without suddenly dropping an inch or two on to the box. Unlike a traditional back squat you should avoid having your knees track forward. focus on pushing your hips back as you squat down.

Once you have found the correct box height for you, you can perform the same movement by pushing your hips back as you squat down to the box. Do not relax on the box. You want to pause, but keep tension. Explode upwards to finish the squat.

The benefits to performing box squats over traditional back squats are as follows:

More posterior chain recruitment. The box squat encourages you to sit back and load your glutes/hamstrings more than a traditional back squat, which can favour a knees further over toes positions.
Consistent range of motion. Most novice to intermediate lifters cannot maintain the same level of squat depth when they reach maximum loads. The box squat allows you to be able to hit the same range of motion every time.
The box squat is easier to learn. Squat depth and achieving maximal/optimal depth can be tricky for a lot of athletes. Butt-winking and quarter squatting is often on full display. Box squats take a lot of the work out of learning a new skill.
Static overcoming dynamic strength. Box squats do not use a stretch reflex like a traditional squat. Athletes already perform a lot of fast lengthening and shortening of muscles when jumping. Box squats can help develop explosive power that doesn’t rely on that same elasticity. Both qualities are important for overall speed and power output, but if an athlete is already performing a lot of sprinting and jumping they are already getting a lot of elastic/reactive work done.

Of course, you can choose to improve your squat during this block if you are comfortable with the exercise and enjoy the benefits of it.