Workouts & Exercises
Rest One Minute After A Heavy Lift, And The Jump That Follows Gets Stronger
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Movement Trainer (AFT), £375 — the Skeletons and Blocks system in full →
In short: A Contrast Training Block is one of the named blocks inside Movement Trainer's Skeletons and Blocks system: a heavy strength exercise paired with a plyometric one to exploit the post-activation potentiation effect, where a heavy lift primes the nervous system to produce force faster right afterwards. The course's own worked example is five heavy squats, a one-minute rest, five box jumps, then two to three minutes before the whole pair repeats. The rest is deliberately two different lengths for two different jobs: the short rest inside the pair keeps the priming effect alive for the jump, and the longer rest between repeats lets the heavy lift recover before it's asked to prime the nervous system again. Get the order or the timing wrong and the block just becomes two exercises done near each other.
A heavy lift can make the next jump better, not worse
The instinct is that a heavy set leaves a client too fatigued to jump well straight afterwards, so the two get put on separate days. Movement Trainer's Skeletons and Blocks system has a named block built on the opposite idea: a heavy lift, timed right, primes the nervous system to produce force faster on the very next explosive movement. The course calls the mechanism by its name, the post-activation potentiation effect, and gives it its own block: Contrast Training.
What the block says to do
The worked example is specific rather than general. Five heavy squats. A one-minute rest. Five box jumps. Then two to three minutes before the whole pair repeats. Two exercises, and two rest periods of two different lengths sitting either side of them, which is the part that's easy to miss if a trainer reads it as "squats then jumps" and skips straight past the timing.
Why the rest is in two pieces
Each rest is doing a different job. The one-minute rest between the squats and the jumps is short on purpose, because the priming effect the heavy lift creates fades with time, and resting too long just gets a tired client with none of the benefit. The two-to-three-minute rest between repeats of the pair is a different problem: it's there so the heavy lift itself has enough recovery to be heavy again next time, rather than a client grinding out a second best-effort squat on legs that never fully recovered from the first. Get either length wrong and the block collapses into two exercises done near each other, which is not the same block at all.
What a trainer programmes
The exercises stay a trainer's call, built for the client and the goal in front of them, the same way every block in the system is a shape to fill rather than a script to copy. Two things don't change: the order, heavy first and explosive second, never the other way round, because reversing it removes the exact mechanism the block exists for, and the two different rest lengths either side of the pair, which are the actual engineering behind why it works.
What to do next
Movement Trainer (AFT) is £375, and the Skeletons and Blocks system this block belongs to covers the rest of the shapes a trainer needs, alongside building the skeleton around them. The price is on the page, there are no sales calls, and PT Manager opens the moment you sign up.
FASTER Daily News sends you each day's blog links, the latest on new courses and live opportunities, and updates to PT Manager, free for students. Sign up at /newsletter.
You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
Movement Trainer (AFT), £375 — the Skeletons and Blocks system in full: every answer marked by a real tutor, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.
Also worth a look: PT Manager's programme builder, free the day you pass a course.
See what the course covers →What every FASTER student gets
Built around you, not around the course
- A real person marks every answerEvery answer is read and marked by a tutor, with written feedback.
- Marked as you goEach teaching point is marked as you answer it, not at the end of the module.
- Dictate instead of typeA microphone on every written answer: say your answer and it types it for you (Chrome, Edge and Safari).
- Listen to the lessonsVoice-overs on the lessons, and the audio to download.
- Built for the way your brain worksShort lessons, one point at a time, marked as you go, with the choice to listen, read, print or speak your answers.
- Streaks that never punish youYou set how many days a week you want to study. Miss a day and your streak pauses; it is never lost.
- Accessible to WCAG AA, with an AAA optionEvery page measured against the WCAG accessibility standard: no faults at level A or AA, with a skip link, screen-reader labels and pages that hold together zoomed to 400%. A high-contrast option takes it to AAA.
- Keep it plainOne switch turns off the extras, the streaks, the badges, the celebrations and the movement, so the site stays plain and calm. Switch them back on whenever you like.
- Bigger text and wider spacingTwo steps of bigger text, and more room between lines, words and letters, on every page.
- Calmer motionOne switch stops animations and videos that play on their own. It is on already if your phone or computer asks for reduced motion.
- A personal video lessonWhen an answer needs real explaining, your marker records a video that lands in your course.
- A note before you sendBefore you send, the page tells you if your answer copies the lesson word for word, so you can put it in your own words.
- The skeleton and muscle labsTap any bone on the skeleton, and see the muscles light up on the model.
- Print the notesPrint the lessons and go old school.
- Case studies on your phoneBuilt into the site, saved as you go, there on your laptop when you sit down.
- Pin it to your home screenNo App Store and no Google Play. It is just there.
- No resit feesWork sent back is a chance to add more, with no resit fee.
- Return access for lifeQualify once and come back to the content whenever you need it.
- PT Manager from day onePT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
- The FASTER Trainer RegisterA free listing on the Register once you qualify.
- Your certificates in one placeEvery course and its certificate on one page.
- Ask JohnThe Ask John button on every page, and his WhatsApp.
And PT Manager, free
51 tools to run your business, with no monthly fee and no cut of your money
PT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
See all 51 tools
Set-up
- Import clients Bring a whole client list across in one go.
- My quotes Daily lines your clients see — yours, not stock.
- Programme templates The programme shapes you reuse — a session or twelve weeks. Pick one for a client, get your own copy.
- Exercise library Every exercise with FASTER coaching detail.
- Money Products, payments and who owes what.
- Send from your own email Connect your own email service so invites arrive from you, on your domain.
- My brand & client view What your clients see when they walk in — views, header, accent, logo.
- Your enrolment pack What every new client gets the moment you enrol them — your forms, ours, or a mix.
- Products and services What you sell — blocks, packages, memberships and one-offs, with their prices.
- Insurance Your policy on record — provider and expiry. Client features unlock while it is valid.
- My menu Switch any tool on or off — for your menu, your home and your whole account.
- Your website A free website on your own web address, filled from PT Manager. Or just the client sign-in door on your domain.
- Your public page Your verified Trainer Register listing, linking out to your own site and socials.
Business day to day
- Clients Your client list — invite, open a client, manage their space.
- Clubs Group your clients — a board they share, a programme or a monthly price if you want one.
- Challenges A dated push everyone logs against — for everyone you train, or for one club.
- Calendar Sessions, classes, capacity and bookings.
- Reminders The dates your business can't let lapse — insurance and first aid, nagged ahead of time.
- Nudges Who needs a nudge today — opportunities, one tap each.
- Who needs chasing Every conversation about money, in the order to work through them.
- What needs doing Your own list, in your own words — the jobs you keep meaning to get to.
- Till Sell at the desk — cash, card or on their phone — and download the sales sheet.
- What you are making What is coming in every month, what was paid in the last 30 days, and what sells.
Templates and systems
- Forms & interviews PAR-Q, consent, consultations and your own forms.
- Coaching room The coaching tools shelf — wheels, journeys and resources in one place.
- Radar wheels Build a life or performance wheel a client fills in — see change over time.
- Nutrition by FASTER Nutrition sheets and habits without meal-plan pretence.
- Pathways Automated coaching journeys you assign to clients.
- Programmes Start a programme — a session, a month, 12 weeks or a season — and find the ones you have built.
- Games & drills planner Build game-based sessions and drills.
- Sport screens Pick a sport — the shots to film, the analyser, and a ready-made radar of the qualities that matter.
- Movement screen → radar Read joint angles off the analyser — they auto-score and fill a radar wheel.
- Assessment builder Build and run client assessments and re-tests.
- Tag analytics Every tag across your clips, grouped and exportable.
Client
- AI prompts Your reusable prompt library for coaching copy.
- Before & after Side-by-side progress comparisons.
Trainer tools
- Exercise generator Fresh exercise ideas from constraints you set.
- FASTER dice & wheel Spin-and-roll session variety for groups and games.
- Movement demonstrator A 3D model of the FASTER movement patterns — body or skeleton view, prime movers lit up, live joint angles.
- Client video analysis Your media library — client folders and your own. Pick a clip to analyse.
- Movement by FASTER (HMAC) Human movement analysis charts — see how a client moves.
- Live analysis Mount your phone and coach live — skeleton, reps, angles and depth in real time.
- Tell a group One thing, to the right people — and you see exactly who it reaches first.
Media centre
- Video builder Reels, stories and client report videos, in your own branding.
- Image builder Branded posts and cards for your socials, at the right size.
- Shot list builder Every shot with its size, angle, lens, location, people, kit and sound; sorted into shooting order, ticked off on the day, printed or sent as a sheet.
- Storyboard builder Plan a video shot by shot: what the camera sees, what is said, the move and the cut.
- Script writer Write what you will say, with the word count and how long it takes to say.
- Teleprompter Read your script off the screen at your speed, and film yourself behind it.
- Video and image organiser Everything you have made and every source you can pull from.
- Ad builder Make your own ads, coached as you go, in your branding. As many as you like, no fee, no cap.
Frequently asked
Does the one-minute rest have to be exactly a minute?
No, the course gives it as a working number rather than a rule with no room in it — the point is that the rest is short enough to keep the priming effect alive for the jump, not long enough to let it fade.
Why not just do the box jumps first, before the client is tired?
Because the heavy lift is what does the priming. Reversing the order removes the exact mechanism the block is built around, leaving two ordinary exercises done next to each other instead of one that helps the other.
Does Movement Trainer connect to PT Manager?
Yes. Passing Movement Trainer (AFT) opens the full programme builder inside PT Manager, so a block built once, rest lengths and all, can be saved and reused across every client whose goals call for it.
Reading this for your own training? Every trainer on the FASTER register has been assessed by us — search by town or speciality, free.
Find a FASTER trainer →
