Off-season training

[eclarkhb]

... I recruited three ladies from the University Rugby Team....

So I decided to take a tip from Alan & recruit some ladies to train with. Unfortunately there's not a big university close to my house, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a "Pole Dancing School" a mere block and a half away. I think I'll stop by today and see if I can recruit some of the athletes to train with. Will let you know how it goes...

[eclarkhb]

11/18/2011

Some Random Thoughts on my Training...


Programming:

So the combination of The Juggernaut Method & 5/3/1 that I've been running for most of 2011 has been working well. I'm planning on testing for some new PRs at the end of December, but here's how I've done so far this year:

Bench: 2x255 -> 1x300 (+ 45 lbs)
Squat: 5x275 -> 1x365 (+ 90 lbs)
Deadlift: 1x405 -> 1x455 (+ 50 lbs)
Strict Press: 2x155 -> 1x195 (+ 40 lbs)
Push Press: 1x195 -> 1x225 (+ 30 lbs)

Not bad progress! I like the flexibility of the program, and the fact that it's really easy for me to substitute a different program (like add50) for bench. Or run the program, except do some type of different progression for deadlift for example. But when I look back on my progress this year, the times when I set big PRs & made the big gains, were when I ran something different for a specific lift.

So I'm wondering if I should consider some different type of programming overall? Maybe I could make bigger gains more often in 2012 if I switched it up a bit. Not sure yet, but it's something to think about. I may run a 12-week experiment starting in January. Otherwise the plan is to run TJM basically as written, starting with a 10s phase in January.

Also, I'll be 40 next year, and I really want to maximize the gains I can make while I'm still able to make relatively easy gains. In a few years it's going to be a lot tougher to add strength.

Conditioning and Additional Work

I haven't been doing much conditioning for the past few months, and I think I'll continue that plan through the winter. I will occasionally include some short runs/jogs just for GPP, but nothing significant.

However, I do really enjoy the sprinting / plyos / jumping work that I've been doing. I plan to continue doing this once or twice a week. I'm not focused on conditioning, just speed & power. I think this work is helping my recovery, my GPP, my overall athleticism & hopefully it has some positive carryover in the weight room & for throwing as well.

Diet

I started tracking what I'm eating, but I'm not really dieting with a goal of losing weight. I'm tracking to make sure I'm getting enough protein. I'm also limiting my carbs some, but trying to eat enough veggies, fruit & meat to keep the calorie intake high enough to maintain or gain weight. It's sort of an experiment, we'll see how it goes through the holidays - I may shitcan the experiment in a few weeks & just go back to eating as much as I can. TBD...

Goals

I have a lot of "hobbies" so sometimes its' tough to prioritize my goals. At a high-level, here's the goals for the next 3-4 months, in order of priority:

1) Get stronger
2) Consistency with Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training
3) Improve Throwing technique for Highland Games

Any thoughts or comments are welcome...

[Alan H]

So I decided to take a tip from Alan & recruit some ladies to train with. Unfortunately there's not a big university close to my house, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a "Pole Dancing School" a mere block and a half away. I think I'll stop by today and see if I can recruit some of the athletes to train with. Will let you know how it goes...

You know, GGGP is a "silent partner" in that business, I hear....

[Alan H]

ecklarkb ... try some incline bench. Most of the throwers guys and also Adriane Blewitt...who ought to know, considering.... tell me that incline crosses over to throwing better than flat bench.

Your squats are big. Not HUGE but big, plenty big enough to throw far. As a very general goal, maybe gun for a 5-8% increase in weights across the board in your lifts and THROW A LOT.

[eclarkhb]

Nice job on the deadlift Alan!!

ecklarkb ... try some incline bench. Most of the throwers guys and also Adriane Blewitt...who ought to know, considering.... tell me that incline crosses over to throwing better than flat bench.

Your squats are big. Not HUGE but big, plenty big enough to throw far. As a very general goal, maybe gun for a 5-8% increase in weights across the board in your lifts and THROW A LOT.

I might try some incline next year, but I really want to bench 315, so I'm going to keep bench as a main lift until I do. I'm soooo close....

Yep, I plan on throwing a lot - as much as I can. I have a park where I can throw less than 100 yards from my house. So there's no excuses, I should be throwing several times a week if I'm healthy. But for the next 4 months, my goal is to get stronger (in terms of 1RM). After that (during season I guess) I plan to tailor the workouts around the throwing.

[GoodGirlGonePlaid]

So I decided to take a tip from Alan & recruit some ladies to train with. Unfortunately there's not a big university close to my house, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a "Pole Dancing School" a mere block and a half away. I think I'll stop by today and see if I can recruit some of the athletes to train with. Will let you know how it goes...

They'd probably be pretty good, actually!

[Alan H]

Deadlift Day

I've been thinking about alternating DL's with Zercher Squats in my routine because of the lower back compression issue. I've been back from this workout for about an hour now, no issues yet. We'll see.

I gave two units of blood two days ago, and was just a little bit dizzy after a set during this workout, so I kept the pace on the slow side with lots of recovery.

This was kind of a biggie...

Stretch Cage...the usual
Station bike warmup ... 4 min
Deadlifts ... 2 x 6 x 185 / 2 x 4 225 / 4 x 275 ...then decided to go for it, see if I could crack the magic number. Answer: I CAN. 2 x 300, and honestly, it was pretty easy.

core 1 ... incline situps; 10 lb plate x 17
caore 2 ... hammer wind ab crushers .. 2 x 8 x 12 lb ball

Zercher squats ... 6 x 135 then decided to keep reps low and see how high I could go. 4 x 160 / 2 x 185 / 2 x 205 and there was a bit more in the tank but that's enough .. In the future I'll do sets at about 165-175 for a while.

Elliptical - easy 8 minutes

I'm kind of stoked to have gotten past the 300 mental threshold in DL's. Every one of those is another 16th of an inch in WOB.

[o1d_dude]

Randy Barnes was a beast.

[Alan H]

Randy Barnes was a beast.

That's for sure, both in raw strength and technique. Another 70's era thrower, Ulf Timmerman had more than one documented 70+ foot STANDING throw. Now, THAT is bluidy strong..

Personally, I'll never be a rotational stones thrower because I simply don't have the time to get it "right". It's an investment question, really.

The payoff is big, if you can put in the work to get the rotational throw figured out. For me, I figure there are eight freakin' events to figure out, and for me to put the time into that one such that I actually started to see the big payoff....don't think it's worth it.

A bad or ho-hum rotational throw won't go as far as a well done standing throw, and the standing throw is SO much easier to get right. A good glide is easier than a rotational stone throw, but again, a so-so glide won't go as far as a standing throw that you really HIT. I could try a shuffle, but honestly, I find that if I just get into the power position in a standing throw, and SLAM it, the thing goes consistantly farther. The one time in 20+ that I really stick a glide, I can beat my best standing throw, but will I do that on Game Day? How much work do I have to put in, to get that extra 6 inches, *consistantly*?

I will work on a simple glide again this winter and see how it goes, but I bet dollars to doughnuts that next year I'll be standing again, and gunning for a 33 foot PR. 33 feet is by no means "great" in the 50-59's but it's respectable.

[eclarkhb]

That's for sure, both in raw strength and technique. Another 70's era thrower, Ulf Timmerman had more than one documented 70+ foot STANDING throw. Now, THAT is bluidy strong..

Personally, I'll never be a rotational stones thrower because I simply don't have the time to get it "right". It's an investment question, really.

The payoff is big, if you can put in the work to get the rotational throw figured out. For me, I figure there are eight freakin' events to figure out, and for me to put the time into that one such that I actually started to see the big payoff....don't think it's worth it.

A bad or ho-hum rotational throw won't go as far as a well done standing throw, and the standing throw is SO much easier to get right. A good glide is easier than a rotational stone throw, but again, a so-so glide won't go as far as a standing throw that you really HIT. I could try a shuffle, but honestly, I find that if I just get into the power position in a standing throw, and SLAM it, the thing goes consistantly farther. The one time in 20+ that I really stick a glide, I can beat my best standing throw, but will I do that on Game Day? How much work do I have to put in, to get that extra 6 inches, *consistantly*?

I will work on a simple glide again this winter and see how it goes, but I bet dollars to doughnuts that next year I'll be standing again, and gunning for a 33 foot PR. 33 feet is by no means "great" in the 50-59's but it's respectable.

Those are all good points. For me, I think I have a bit of a head start on the rotational technique since I used this for shot put in high school. But that was 20 years ago & I'm still a beginner. I go buy a 12-lb shot, because I'd like to see if I can throw it farther today than I could as a senior in high school.

With open stone, my max-effort standing throws are around 33-34', and when I spin I'm getting 36-38'. so I'm getting something from it, but I feel like I should be able to throw it farther if I can nail down the technique.