5 min read
How to set up templates for a whole season
Save the weeks you run every year as templates, then place a whole phase on any date, for one athlete or a group.
Most seasons look a lot like the last one. The off-season builds, the preseason gets faster, and in-season work stays short so it doesn’t cut into practice. Every year, somebody builds those weeks again.
Templates let you build them once. Here’s how to save the weeks you use every year and put them on the calendar when the season comes around.
What a template holds
A template is a stretch of blocks on numbered days: Day 1, Day 2 and so on. Each block keeps every exercise in it, with the sets, the reps, the loads and any per-set percentages.
It holds no dates and no athletes. That’s what makes it reusable. You pick the date and the athletes when you place it.
Phase names come along. Phase notes don’t, because a note is written for one program and one week.
Plan the season as a set of templates
One huge template is hard to reuse. A few smaller ones are easier to mix and match. Think in phases, with one template for each kind of week:
- An off-season week, or the first four weeks back.
- A preseason week.
- An in-season week with two short lifts.
- A game week.
Name each one so any coach on your staff can find it, and use the description to say when to use it. You can search by either one when you place it.
Save a template from the calendar
Select the blocks
Draw a box across the days you want, or hold Shift and click blocks to pick them one at a time.
Save the selection
Right-click one of the selected blocks and pick Save Selection as Template. For one day, right-click the day’s empty space and pick Save Day as Template.
Name it
Give it a name and, if you like, a description of when to use it.
Check the preview
Hover over a day to see its exercises. Click Edit Template to change a block before you save.
Save it
Click Save Template. Day 1 is the first day you selected.
Or build one from scratch
Templates in the sidebar opens a calendar of numbered days, with no athlete and no dates. Build blocks there the same way you do on the program calendar. It starts with 30 days, and Add More Days adds a week at a time, so a long phase fits.
Click Save, give it a name and a description, and it’s ready. To change one later, search for it at the top, make your changes and save again. You can update the template or save your changes as a new one.
Place a template on the calendar
Pick who it’s for
Open Programming and pick an athlete, or click Multi-Athlete for a group.
Open your templates
Click Insert Template, and Select Template opens. Search by name or description, or click View to see a template day by day.
Pick the template
Click its name. Insert Template now reads Cancel Selection, in case you change your mind.
Aim it
Move the pointer over the calendar. The template’s blocks show on the days where they would land.
Click the first day
Day 1 lands on the day you click, and every other day follows in order.
If a day already has a block of the same category, Coach Reps asks whether to combine the exercises or replace them. And as with any edit, your athletes see none of it until you press Deliver to Athletes.
Use percentages, so one template fits everyone
Write the main lifts as percent of max, not pounds. A template written in pounds gives every athlete the same weight. Written in percentages, it gives each athlete a weight from their own max, so the same template works for a freshman and a senior.
Pounds still make sense for some things, like a med ball or a sled. Pick Custom (lbs) for those.
Name your categories first
A template saves each block under its category’s name. Say the head coach renames Drills to Speed. A template saved before the rename still places Drills blocks, and they show up gray because no category has that name anymore.
So settle your category names before you save the templates you’ll use all year.
Share them with your staff
Templates belong to your whole facility, not to one coach. Every coach on your staff sees the same list in Select Template. A head coach can build the season once, and each coach can place it for their own groups.
The short version
- A template is blocks on numbered days, with every exercise, set and load.
- Save one from the calendar, or build one from scratch under Templates.
- Place it with Insert Template: pick it, aim it, then click the first day.
- Write the main lifts in percent of max, so one template fits every athlete.
- Settle your category names before you save templates for the year.
Keep reading
How to name your blocks for your sport
Rename Prep, Drills, Lifting and Other to fit your sport, pick their colors, and give a stretch of blocks a phase name.
5 min read
How to copy weeks without losing the spacing
Copy one block or a whole week and paste it weeks later. Every day keeps its place, and every set and load comes with it.
5 min read
See it with your own program
Book a demo and we’ll walk you through it with your sport and your roster.