Russian Cosmonauts, Daily Maximums and Kenny Rogers

Legend has it that the American government spent millions of taxpayer dollars developing the fabled “space pen” after discovering conventional, ink-based writing instruments fail to function properly in the absence of gravity.  Needless to say, this issue took on heightened importance amid the space race in the 1960s.  The legend goes to claim the Russians circumvented this obstacle by simply providing their cosmonauts with pencils.  Though this story is but pure myth, it underscores the importance of simplicity and relying on the optimal tool(s) for completing a task.

The same lesson is applicable to the programming of weightlifting and strength training.  Far too many athletes yearn to follow programs that are entirely inappropriate for their ability levels – cough, Smolov, cough.  Indeed, Smolov and other Russian, percentage-based programs are not appropriate for “beginners” or “intermediates,” as defined loosely by Mark Rippetoe’s “Starting Strength” standards, i.e. those not yet capable of squatting double bodyweight or pressing bodyweight-plus.  The argument for putting an intermediate on Smolov makes as much sense as trying to kill an ant with a trebuchet. 

So what is the alternative for these training populations?  Instead of adhering to percentages, I prescribe daily training maximums, with a wide variety of repetition ranges (3-20, depending on the exercise).  I believe this “looser” philosophy offers the following advantages:

(1) Flexibility.  It stands to reason no one reading this blog is a professional athlete, thus all are juggling multiple responsibilities: work, school, the dreaded “work-and-school” combination, family, social obligations, etc.  The commitments and stress stemming from these obligations impacts training and recovery, almost always for the worse.  Building in the flexibility to account for a weekend business trip or a long night in the office is prudent when thinking long-term.  Otherwise an athlete runs the risk of going too heavy – or even maximum – under less than optimal conditions.

(2) Enthusiasms.  A positive attitude is important for maintaining consistency in the training hall, and without consistency, progress cannot occur.  To upregulate enthusiasm, I recommend taking heavier-than-planned attempts, provided the mind and body are aligned.  Many coaches I have trained under subscribe to a similar philosophy, and that's the magic of training with someone in the flesh, as opposed to over the Internet.  More often than not, the days I expect the least are the days I enjoy the best results – and not necessarily personal records, just better-than-expected.

(3) Kenny Rogers.  Everyone knows the song, “The Gambler,” and its prose carry over to weightlifting and strength training – “You’ve got to know when to hold’em, Know when to fold’em, Known when to walk away, And know when to run.”  There are days when all aspects of training are on-point – asleep before ten, feast on a bevy of nutrient-dense foods, warm-up properly, etc. – but as weight is added to the bar, a problem emerges.  There is no “pop” or “zip” in the lifts; the bar speed is wanting.  It is just a bad day.  When faced with such diabolical luck, have the maturity to stop at 70-80% and the discipline to return the next day.

"Upgrading your software without damaging your hardware."

The title of this post comes courtesy of UFC champion fighter, Conor McGregor (above).

Scientific study confirms that aerobic exercise yields the following positive adaptations in athletes – reduced body fat levels, improved capillary function – the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the heart and skeletal muscle, enhanced fat vs. carbohydrate metabolism and reduced mental health disorders, e.g., attention deficit disorder, depression, stress, anxiety and sleep deprivation.  Thus, all athletes stand to benefit from incorporating some form of conditioning in their training program.

“Conditioning” has taken many forms.  According to the Roman historian Vegetius, the legions were required to complete an eighteen-plus-mile march in less than five hours (mid-summer, in full battle gear).  He also writes of the recruiters proving their swimming abilities in nearby lakes or rivers.  In the more recent 20^th century, boxing trainers used “roadwork” – jogs at a slow, steady pace for 3-5 miles, 3-5 times per week – to condition fighters.  Now, with the explosion of Crossfit, and its philosophy of “increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains,” strength coaches are experimenting with all sorts of new approaches to conditioning.  Irrespective of philosophical differences, the common denominator behind all these approaches should be keeping the athlete healthy.  After all, an injured soldier cannot fight at full capacity, nor can an injured athlete compete at their highest level.

Running is indeed the most potent tool for conditioning the athlete – much like the back squat is for strength training – but faulty mechanisms can wreak havoc on the body, e.g., hamstrings, Achilles and shin splints, among others.  Concerns over how excessive volume might impair strength gains are also valid.  For these reasons, I prefer the C2 rower, airdyne and ski erg for monostructural metabolic conditioning.  All three implements allow for integral programming, which research has shown to be superior to “steady state” efforts.  In practice, the goal of conditioning is to drive the athlete’s heart rate north of 180 beats per minute for an extended period of time through shorter, intense bursts of effort.  The “secret ingredient” to maximizing effectiveness is – drum roll, please – hard work.  If the athlete does not reach beyond their comfort zone, the full benefits will not materialize.

For those unfamiliar with the airdyne, it is a truly brutal piece of conditioning equipment.  Completing 300 calories in less than ten minutes is widely considered an impressive level of conditioning for any athlete, though I would argue anything more than 225-250 is very good and likely more than sufficient.

To gain a better understanding of the intervals I program, I have included several examples below:

(1) One-minute sprint, one-minute rest, two-minute sprint, two-minute rest, three-minute sprint.  Done.

(2) Ten Rounds – one-minute sprint, one-minute rest.  (To survive, only perform the first 5-7 rounds at 90%).

(3) Two-minute sprint, four-minute rest, two-minute sprint.  Done.

(4) Three-minute effort at 90% negative split (perform the second half faster than the first), six-minute rest, three-minute sprint.

Additionally, here a few other workouts I program on the airdyne: (1) ten-minute effort for maximum calories, (2) 100 calories all out for time – goal is completing three minutes or less and (3) 3 Rounds: 50 calories as fast as possible, three-minute rest.

While not comprehensive, I hope this piece provides helpful information as to how an athlete might improve aerobic fitness, and potentially anaerobic fitness, without subjecting their body to unnecessary risks of injury.

“ . . . big hitter, the Lama . . .”

Mahatma Ghandi could have been a great squatter.  His lower body was "supple leopard-like" as Kelly Starrett would say, and he possessed great mental toughness, remarking famously,

"Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will." Unfortunately, Ghandi's weightlifting career never materialized as he was preoccupied with leading the independence movement in then-British-controlled India.

But the idea of forging an "indomitable spirit" continues to swirl around in my head.  At the time of this writing, my streak of consecutive days squatting stands at thirty, and while progress has been alinear, my numbers are improving.  Last Monday, for example, my heaviest single was ten kilograms below my personal record (still over 90%), but four minutes later I set a personal record in the ten-rep max.  The daily challenge lies not just in squatting the heavy singles, but in performing the requisite back-off sets thereafter.  But when faced with adversity, I remember Ghandi's "indomitable spirit," and dig deep to finish the workout.

The next day, however, a new challenge awaits.  From my stool adjacent to the squat rack, I gaze upwards at the barbell, and whisper, "Hello, old friend. Care to dance?"

"Experts" – or “the keyboard samurai,” as I refer to them – routinely dismiss daily squat programs, pointing out most of athletes following such concepts are aided by performance-enhancing drugs.  In their view, this “revelation” undermines – and invalidates – the daily squat program in its entirety.  I have long disagreed with their conclusion, and rather than hide behind the safety of a computer screen and the anonymity of a username, I experimented.  The results were striking even without a seven-day-per-week commitment.

Cory Gregory of MusclePharm is preaching the gospel over at Bodybuilding.com, and his growing notoriety is well-deserved – the guy has squatted something like 500 days consecutively!  Take a look at his program with an open mind, and challenge your preconceived notions.

By happenstance, I caught an interview with entrepreneur Peter Sage who said, "A ship in a harbor is a safe ship, but that is not what ships are built for."  So true.  More men and women need to venture outside their comfort zone, and discover what Socrates meant by “the beauty and strength of which [their] body is capable.”  Only when faced with consistent adversity can an individual forge Ghandi’s “indomitable spirit” and gain true strength.

Men Embrace "the Strenuous Life"

Far too many in contemporary America equate beards and flannel with "manliness," but alas, a beard and flannel shirt do not a man make.  Though both are well-suited for Paul Bunyan and his fellow lumberjacks, neither have a place in the D.C. summer heat.  And while I'm at it, I implore all these "men" to donate their jeans to their local battered women's shelter.  They don't fit you, after all.

More manly?  I leave it to you to decide.

It is the opinion of the author that manliness necessitates an embracing of challenges, both intellectual and physical.  Callused hands and broken book bindings serve as sources of pride, the scars of battles waged and won.  In the song "Mountain Man," Alabama sings of climbing mountains, skinning cats and swimming rivers, not man-scaping beards and buying flannels at Urban Outfitters. 

It is Theodore Roosevelt, who best exemplifies manliness.  Blessed with possibly a photographic memory, Roosevelt demonstrated throughout his life a tremendous capacity for intellectual study.  While President, he regaled dinner guests with stories of the Hittite Empire or engaged them in discussions of the natural world, often quoting lengthy texts from memory.  But while his bottomless intellectual capacity was evident from an early age, his physical capacities languished behind.  At age eleven, Roosevelt's father admonished him, "Theodore, you have the mind but you have not the body, and without help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should.  You must make your body.  It is hard drudgery to make one's body, but I know you will do it."  And so he did, or as Doris Kearns Goodwin writes, the name Theodore Roosevelt "became the synonym of virile health and vigor."

Over the course of his life, Roosevelt felled trees in the Maine backwoods, rounded up stray cattle in the Dakota Badlands, charged up San Juan Hill leading his Rough Riders and otherwise lived what his father called "the strenuous life."  All the while he toting his library, a book or two clenched under his arm.

Present-day America continues to deviate far from the course Roosevelt charted some hundred years ago.  We, as men, must return to living the strenuous life – challenging ourselves daily to reach new intellectual and physical heights.  It is not enough to squat the bar or skim the pages of "US Weekly," if we are capable of more.  No, the challenges must be formidable.  They must be capable of teaching us the lessons we cannot learn.

Present the mind and body with formidable challenges daily.

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky . . . try to take over the world!"

Pull, squat and press everyday?  Narf!

I was warming up the other day at the gym when one of the Crossfit trainers sauntered over and asked, "What you working on today, Rich?"  I responded, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky . . . try to take over the world!"  A look of confusion raced across his face.  I elaborated, "Pulls, squats and presses [this particular workout called for power cleans, back squats, clean pulls and bench presses].”

My training philosophy is simple – squats, the Olympic lifts and presses, listed in order of importance.  Repetitions remain in the 1-5 range, though once or twice per week, higher repetitions (10+) are used as back-off sets in the squat.  And high-repetition squatting has its place – it promotes hypertrophy, advances cardiovascular conditioning and serves as a "tonic," to quote Dan John – but such work is not a substitute for heavier weights.  Deviations from the basics, e.g. back squats, front squats, the Olympic lifts and overhead presses, and lower repetitions come at a price, for all athletes must be strong.

Each of my workouts begin with either an Olympic lift or a jumping variation, with early morning training sessions being the sole exception.  In such instances, I overhead squat or front squat first.  Changing the order as such affords my body extra time to warm up, especially the ligaments, tendons and connective tissue.  I adopted this recommendation from Jon Broz.  But assuming a normal workout structure, I then perform my strength work – squats, press and pulling variations of the Olympic lifts.  Alternating between squatting and pressing movements is a good way to increase “training density” and keep the heart rate elevated, an important benefit for someone who often neglects conditioning.

The "magic" of this program lies in the simplicity and the consistency.  Stick to the basics, and add one, maybe two, assistance lifts afterwards.  This should not take more than ten to fifteen minutes. Glute ham raises or reverse hyperextensions, coupled with abdominal, e.g. strict toes to bar or evil wheels, are my first choice. Pull-ups or any other type of rowing movement, especially Pendlay rows, are good, too.

Whetstone

The Boy Scouts preach a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one, specifically because the former pulls and tears skin, should a hand slip.  This carries a multitude of consequences, not the least of which is an increased risk of injection.  Thus, a scout uses a whetstone to keep his gear in top shape.  The same lesson is applicable to athletes – injury is best avoided by keeping general physical preparedness in the "sharpened state.”  For this reason, prolonged, absolute breaks in training – defined herein as more than four days – are not recommended.

Before going further, the word "training" necessitates a more precise definition.  For starters, "training" is the process of directed physical stress, which results in an adaptation that satisfies a performance goal” (Rippetoe, Mark, “Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training,” 3^rd Edition).  Indeed, “training” is no a prolonged Rocky pre-fight montage.  Case in point, scheduled "deloads" or "resets" are part of any well-written training program, as are weeks geared more towards flexibility or bodyweight-based exercises.

To keep my own general physical preparedness in the sharpened state, I train whenever travelling.  I enjoy meeting new people, exchanging ideas, learning about their lives and visiting their facilities.  During these periods, I prioritize strength and mobility work, as the requisite equipment is often accessible.  YMCAs and commercial gyms are chalked full of squat racks, dumbells and pullup bars.  Advanced planning allows me to carry my weightlifting shoes, lacrosse balls and voodoo floss bands, making me more or less self-sufficient.  In the event a gym is not accessible, I run hills, practice handstands and tumbling and work mobility.  Not the best, but I stay sharp and conditioned.  Swimming and calisthenics are two other options that suffice in a pinch.

Offense is indeed the best defense when it comes to injury prevention.

The Importance of Goal-setting, Plus My Goals for 2015

My present condition finds me heading south on an Amtrak train bound for Washington, D.C. with the same thought running through my mind over and over again: What do I hope to accomplish in the coming year personally, professionally and athletically?

As the previous sentence suggests, goal-setting remains an important part of my life, a lasting relic of my athletic career past.  "Back in the day" as a competitive swimmer, I wrote my goal times on an index card prior to the start of each off-season.  My goals were specific listing: (1) the event; (2) the time, calculated down to the tenth of a second and (3) the 50-yard splits needed to achieve each cumulative time.  Once finalized, the index card was slid inconspicuously under my alarm clock.  However, the exercise was complete only after I hung a calendar counting down the days to the next year's championship meet.  I never shared my goals with anyone outside my immediate coaching staff.

What I hope to achieve by sharing this example is that goal-setting constitutes more than merely scribbling numbers on a piece of paper.  When carried out with purpose, the goals set the tone mentally and provide direction for the next block of training.  Annual or semi-annual goals are important for any athlete, but so too are longer, multi-year goals, especially for adolescents or developing athletes.  Specificity is key, as is honesty.

I prefer quantitative goals because they lend themselves better to statistical analysis and progress tracking.  In the sport of weightlifting, for example, an athlete might reach the conclusion that improving "denominator" strength, i.e. their squatting and pulling numbers, will result in a higher competition total.  But instead of writing, "Improve front squat and clean pull", an athlete should note, "Front squat 'x', Clean Pull 'y'”, etc.

Goals must exciting, because as the training becomes increasingly difficult – and it always does – it is these dreams that help the athlete push through the Dark Times.