Some goodness from Dan John

 

"8. Great weightlifters would readily (one year) make elite/champion kettlebellers and not vice versa "

Igor, I can only address #8 with my experiences, but I have only
found two things in life that "carried over" into other sports: high school
wrestling and the O lifts. Wrestling in high school is one of the rare times in life that it is just you and one other person. If your team gets pinned and pinned, but you win...well, you won.
O lifting is an amazing sport for carryover. I once, on a stupid bet for a twelve pack of beer, raced a ten kilometer run without ANY (zip, zero, nada, nothing, any) running in the past year or two or three (or maybe five years), but I was getting ready for an O meet.
Lots of people...lots...finished well behind me. In fact, this Nazi psycho running chick at the job I had at the time finished behind me, too. O lifting gives your VO2 intake a ride every workout and it carries over into other sports. Moreover, it is much easier to go from a 300 pound snatch for one to 50 one hand kettlebells with a heavish kettlebell, than it is to do 50 one hand snatches with 72 pounds to a single with 300. When I was at Skyline College, one of the geek runners said that "we work harder than you guys (throwers)." First, I challenged him to fight (actually I told him to attempt a bizarre act by himself), then, I thought about it. At the time, I was snatching in the 240's and Clean and Jerking in the low 300's, plus tossing the discus over 170 and the shot over the low 40's. He would do repeats of the 400 in the mid-60's as much of his training. My question: if you switched us for, say, $1,000,000 to the first to repeat the others workout... who do you bet on?
I feel that a power athlete can always build the endurance end up quicker than an endurance athlete can build up the power end. As a personal challenge to yourself, simply get your snatch up to 300 and your clean and jerk up to 385 at your current bodyweight. This should not take long. Then, test your kettlebell endurance and see if you have lost or maintained anything.

Starting Strength Camp - 30 JANUARY 2011

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

ViCore Bench

Well gang, in case you missed it, the fitness entreprenuers of America are finding ways to make you weaker and more prone to injuries during your workout.  Introducing the Bosu ball/bench thingie.  So the goal here is to have you use much lighter weights because you are unstable.  Somehow, light weight has become a good thing and being unstable is preferred.  Guess we need to work our "stabilizers."  News flash: no one that squats 500lbs has weak "stabilizers."  I must have missed the revolution...

Military Max Workout

Here is a great workout for those of use that need both strength and cardio.  This workout establishes a base of strength and volume and phases into a high intensity cardio program.  By the end of 12 weeks, you'll be strong and fast.  Gains like these are impossible on a typical hybrid, circuit, or low intensity workout regimen.

The workout is based around squats, bench presses, deadlifts, and sprints.  During the strength ramps, you will increase your weights and decrease your reps (intensity goes up and volume goes down). One day per week  you will conduct enough cardio to maintain some level of general fitness.  Each 3 week strength ramp is followed by a deload week (week 4/8) in which lighter weights are used for more reps, and more cardio is conducted.

The last 3 weeks are cardio intensive.  The cardio ramp is based around 400 and 800 meter intervals. Each workout begins with a 1/2 mile jog and some will end with one, as well.   Ensure that you decrease your lap time at each workout.  This is an essential point that forces the body to become faster.  While the 2 mile time should be done for time, the 3 mile run should be easy.

Prior to beginning the routine, test your strength and speed to see how effective the program was.

Week 1 (and 5)- Primary lifts are the back squat, bench press, and deadlift.  If you don't know how to properly perform these, spend a month or so learning them first.  This routine requires that you have some training background.  Each primary exercise is performed for 8 sets of 5, which is alot.  This means that the weight you choose should be easy on the first couple of sets, challenging for the middle few sets, and hard for the last couple of sets.  If you miss the last repk or two of the last set, you have picked the weight perfectly.  This is a strength/volume week.  The ancillary exercises should be performed for 3 sets of 8-10 reps with little difficulty.  Focus on form for these.

Week 2 (and 6)- Same primary lifts.  This week we are going heavier, using 3 rep work sets.  You should get all reps on these sets, but the last couple should be hard.  You will need to use more weight for these than you did in week 1.  Perform the ancillary lifts for 5 sets of 5, a little heavier than last week.

Week 3 (and 7)- Same primary lifts.  Heavier again.  This week, perform 5 sets of 3, then perform 3 sets of max doubles (2 reps).  This should be a gut busting effort, and obviously heavier than the prior week.  The 5 sets of 3 are considered somewhat of a "hard" warmup.  Heavy enough to prepare you for the max doubles, but not so heavy that you are exhausted.  Ancillary exercises are performed for 3 sets of 8-10.

Week 4 (and 8)- This is a transition week.  Weights are lighter and performed for 4 sets of 10.  The cardio portion is slightly increased, as well.

17 JAN 2011 - I've added a spreadsheet that allows you to calculate weights based on your 5RM.  Send me an email and I will send it to you...  damon@findingfitwithin.com

Article Review: Use it or Lose it: the Rule of Two, EliteFTS

http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/use-it-or-lose-it-the-rule-of-two/

I'm not sure I can agree with the bulk of this article.  The principle of detraining is indeed a legitimate concern for lifters, but the studies cited here are taken out of context and applied incorrectly.  The author is making false correlations and using data improperly.

First, the chart indicating that Olympic weightlifters lose 20% of their squatting strength in 4 weeks is problematic.  After a 24 week training cycle, most lifters would take 5-10 off prior to a competition in order to achieve > 100% 1RM lifts.  If they lost strength (detrained)  as quickly as the author suggests, this tapering technique would be counterproductive.  I don't have access to the full article, but I'd be interested to see their exact protocols.

Second, the third chart contradicts the first one.  It shows that physically active males actually increase their 1RM after a 2 week layoff and that weight lifters show a ~5% decrease in 1RM after the two week layoff.  Another major problem with this study is that it measures isometric strength, which may not correlate with full range of motion lifting, especially when studying detraining specifically.

Third, the study on VO2max was conducted on individuals that were tested then placed on bed rest.  Is it really necessary to point out that physical performance declines in a bed ridden person?  This, in my opinion, is deliberately misleading the readers.

Last, the article just doesn't pass the common sense test.  Strength is a persistent adaptation.  It requires the body to change the architecture and physiology of numerous systems, and these systems are likely to retain most of the adaptations for a significant length of time.  Most research I've studied shows that strength, once gained, stays for a while.  Again, I have to point out that most lifters take a 5-10 off period prior to competing in order to display maximum strength.  This article seems to convey that taking a week off from training can lead to an immediate decrease in strength.

Adaptation: Period, Persistence, and Prioritization

“The recent surge in the quest for a “well-rounded” and/or “functional” training program (and visible abs) has become the greatest inhibitor to effective training programming. The current trend in “fitness” training involves a complex array of what most perceive as balance of fitness parameters: strength, flexibility, skill specific, and high or low intensity endurance training. Becoming proficient in many skills or modalities is an attractive proposition and has become the fashionable gold standard for flashy, trendy workouts. Often, these techniques are applied haphazardly or in a method that emphasizes variety over consistency and progress. Terms like “muscle confusion” and “broad time and modal domains” are common and many will tell you that these are sound exercise principles. In fact, they are useless techniques that are the opposite of progress and are often gimmicks promoted by greedy
entrepreneurs.”

           
FULL ARTICLE: 
http://startingstrength.com/articles/adaptation_prioritization_wells.pdf

Strength Camp Coming

December 12, 2010
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM 

 

The Program:
Open to the public but specifically designed to teach the basics about building an effective strength program for military, police, fire fighters, and other tactical athletes.  We will discuss basic physiology and biomechanics, strength and conditioning concepts, and programming.  Learn the Starting Strength method pioneered by Mark Rippetoe for the squat, bench press, and deadlift.  Participants will leave with ability to teach the basic lifts and program strength protocols for units/departments.  Limited to 12 attendees.

 

Schedule:

9:00 - 9:30 Registration and Warm-up  

9:30 - 10:30   Introduction; Basic Physiology/Biomechanics  

10:30 - 11:30   The Squat  

11:30 - 12:30   The Bench Press  

12:30 - 1:00   Lunch  

1:00 - 2:00  The Deadlift  

2:00 - 3:00  Programming  

3:00 - 4:00  Q&A

Cost:  $125

Payable through the Starting Strength website:  http://www.startingstrength.com/

Must be paid prior to attending seminar.

Location:  Maximus Fitness and Wellness, Leavenworth, KS

Coached by MAJ Damon Wells

Is the APFT relevant any more?

There is a very interesting article in this month's NSCA Tactical Strength and Conditioning Report.

Click here to read the article.


From the article...

"The United States Army is planning to

overhaul the 30-year-old Army Physical

Fitness Test (APFT) in the near future.

The consensus seems to be that soldiers

agree more. There were many soldiers

that responded to a recent Army Times

request for opinions on how and

what they would like to see changed on

the current APFT. The responses showed

that soldiers want to see a combination

of task-specifi c movements implemented

into the new combat-relevant physical

fitness test. The survey completed by

Army Times suggests that soldiers want

to add pull-ups and crunches, eliminate

sit-ups, and also implement shuttle runs

or a road march. They also suggest that

they would like to work out in combat

gear instead of PT uniforms."

Movember

http://us.movember.com/

Push-ups: Latest from the Army Times

There is an article in the 1 November 2010 issue of the Army Times titled "The Perfect Push-up." 

Subtitled under the title:  Build your power, Max your reps.  Now that sounds serious!

Army Times Push-up article   <<<<< READ THE ARTICLE

Having worked with a significant number of people, myself included, on push-up improvement, I must say that I am disappointed in the article.  First, the author, Jon Anderson, does a poor job of convincing the readers that each service has a different version of the push-up.  When you boil it all down, they are the same.  He points out that Soldiers can now do push-ups on their fists and may not wear glasses.  Gosh, that's important. 

The biggest difference between the services is that the Marines don't use the push-up in their fitness assessment.   They use the pull up instead.  How many Soldiers would fail if the Army implemented that?  I guess the Marines can afford to be more selective.

I won't dignify the quotes concerning form by Greg Glassman, the founder of Crossfit, as I believe he is the last person we should ask for advice on correct form.

Why is the push-up such a mystery?  I don't believe that it is.  Are we so fat, flimsy and out of shape that the push-up has become an enigma of an exercise?

What's the magic quick fix?

The article offers a "Fact and Fiction" section which is both sad and amusing.

The first one addresses supplementation and push-up improvement and it couldn't be more misleading.  The author claims that creatine won't help push-ups but whey protein and leucine will.  This is a pure example of misinterpreting studies to support a stance.  Creatine is one of the few proven supplements on the market.  The study he cites measured improvements in push-ups after one week of creatine supplementation and found no benefit.  REALLY?  The whey and leucine study was conducted for 8 weeks.  Fair to compare the two?  I don't think so. Plus, it is likely that the whey alone was enough to elicit improvements.  The supplemented group improved their push-ups by an additional 5 (average), while the placebo group increased theirs by about 3.  Not that much difference, is it?  Also, neither group had any increase in crunches or chin ups, which makes me question their conclusion of "increased upper body strength."  Keep in mind that the main difference between the creatine study and the whey study is the length of time (1 week vs. 8 weeks), not the supplement used.

Let's promote gimmicks...

The "Fact and Fiction" section continues an embarrassing trend by advocated things like "push-up pulses" and my personal favorite, "The Perfect Push-up" trainer, developed by a FORMER NAVY SEAL!!!  I'm ashamed.

The reality...

So, what is the real way to improve push-up performance, you ask?  As with any exercise, it boils down to two components: metabolic substrate and motor pattern.  One must master the "rep range" required for the push-up.  You cannot expect to train in the 8-12 rep range and be able to perform 80 reps on command.  One must also practice the motor pattern to make it as efficient as possible.  Naturally, this is limited to performing the exercise CORRECTLY.  This, my friends, is what you learn in basic training.  Not by reading the Army Times.  The bottom line?  Practice, performance, training, etc. 

They forgot the most important thing...

There is, however, one more critical topic that must be addressed.  It is, of course, strength.  If one can perform 60 push-ups at a body weight of 150lbs, that is the equivalent of pushing around 80lbs per rep.  Depending on the individual's biomechanics, a little over half of one's body weight is pushed per rep.  Let's assume this individual's maximum one rep bench press is 200lbs.  This means that he is pushing 40% of his 1RM (one rep max) 60 times.  Now let's take 12-16 weeks, add 10lbs of body weight and increase his 1RM bench press to 275lbs.  Now at a body weight of 160lbs, he is pushing 85lbs per rep.  This is 31% of his 1RM and should be significantly easier.  See the logic?  Stronger is better, even at a higher body weight.  The same theory goes for any exercise, a stronger person exerts less effort per stroke than the same, but weaker, person.

I have trouble believing their are people that do not understand HOW to do the push-up.  I think people have a hard time physically executing the exercise and find ways to avoid it. Thus, they never get better.  These are the folks that are unable to correctly perform the exercise on the APFT.  It is easy to get the impression that they don't understand the "intricacies" of the push-up or that they are unfairly disadvantaged with long arms or some other excuse.  Let's pay particular attention to this demographic.  Get them stronger, make them practice more, and avoid gimmicks that promise a "perfect push-up."

http://roissy.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/americas-future-soldiers-are-unfit-for-duty/

America’s Future Soldiers Are Unfit For Duty

October 25, 2010 by Chateau

Regular readers know how I occasionally write about what I see is the decline, and soon to be fall, of the once-glorious American Empire. I consider it an honor and a duty — well, really, an amusing hobby — to chronicle the trendlines, the cultural and economic indicators, and the elite and underclass degeneracy and subversion that portend a relatively rapid diminishment of American power in the world. It’s breathtaking! I suggest you try it.
The facts point to an America in her death rattle, (or more accurately, her comatose wastage), but it’s not just the cold facts; the finger in the wind test reveals the coming storm as well. Step back for a moment to see the big picture and muse how amazing it is that you happen to be living through the final days of your nation’s greatness, and how rare that is in the sweep of history. You are the perceptive Roman plebe watching with a mix of disgust, confusion, sorrow and awe as what your forefathers built around you crumbles to dust in your lifetime, except instead of dragging along at a leisurely 320 years for the rot to fully metastasize, you get to experience it at the historically breakneck pace of 50 to 60 years. Yay, instant communications and advanced propaganda techniques!
In that spirit, here is an email from a reader stationed at the first input of America’s defensive capability. Reading this, I’m getting that scene from Wall-E in my head, where the grotesquely fat humans are wheeled around and serviced by robots.
Reader “LT” emails:

I am an officer in the US Army.  I commissioned as a Military Police Officer in June 2009, and am attending Officer Basic Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
As any prior service person knows, whenever you report for training the first week is all in processing paper work and briefings: health screenings, ethics classes, class overview, etc.  Lots of high ranking individuals will come into class and talk to you about all sorts of the usual.
During our first week, we had a “full-bird” Colonel (our Brigade Commander) come into our class to talk about junior officer professional development.  He began to talk about why physical fitness is so important as an officer and as a Soldier in the Army.
Now, OBVIOUSLY physical fitness is important, and as any West Point, OCS, Direct Commission, or ROTC officer can tell you, it is expected of an officer to be one of the top (if not THE top) physical fitness test scorers in their unit.  Suffice to say, most officers are in excellent physical shape, far above the normal American.  (The Army physical fitness test standards can be found through a simple google search.)
This is where it gets interesting: Fort Leonard Wood is one of the largest basic training facilities in the US.  Every year, thousands of enlisted trainees fresh out of high school come to Fort Leonard Wood for “boot camp.”  Here, their individuality is abolished and they are taught to work as a team and a unit.
This Colonel was telling us that these trainees (who are not officers) were suffering CATASTROPHIC physical injuries while at basic training.  We are talking serious injuries: stress fractures of the feet, shins, and knees; as well as hip fractures, hip dislocations, and minor heart attacks.
THESE ARE 18 YEAR OLD KIDS!
The Colonel went on to explain the theory behind this spike in injuries in recent years has to do with the current generation’s sedentary lifestyle.  The injuries that these trainees were sustaining were injuries that a normal, active adult would not be at risk for until the mid 40′s and 50′s, if not beyond.  But here, 18 year old kids were being sent-home and out processed from serving their country for dislocating hips while running around a track.
It’s easy to point the finger at really fat people and say, “Goddamn, that is disgusting.”  But when it comes to an “average” looking high school kid not even look twice.  But to those readers who have children, take a good look at their diet and how much activity they are getting outside.  Just because they aren’t “fat” and LOOK fine doesn’t mean they aren’t at risk for injury.  Several hundred thousand years ago, they wouldn’t survive a day.
Good news: the Army here at Fort Leonard Wood as all but eliminated these injuries by re-thinking how we get new Soldiers into shape.  Our new physical fitness regime includes elements of yoga (for stretching), football (for grass drills), and track and field (for short bursts of speed).  Readers who are interested should look it up on the Army Physical Fitness School’s website.
Yes, fat people are easy to spot and ostracize.  But those of us who can still fit into size 32 jeans aren’t off the hook.  When even the Army wakes up and pays attention to health and fitness beyond the usual lip service; I think the rest of the nation should follow suit.
~LT

The US Army’s Physical Fitness Standards are here. The Army considers a score of 60 in each event the minimum required to become a soldier. If you are a 30 year old man, can you do:

• 39 pushups?
• 45 situps?
• a 17 minute 2-mile run?

Guess what. Most of the 18 year old enlisted men can’t do anything close to that. They are breaking their hips like old grandmas.
Every time I post one of these telling indicators of American decline, some leftie or libertard pipes up about iPods. “Oh, but look at the cheap LCD TVs and iPods we have now!” Yes, I’m sure the Roman populace was pleased with its bread and circuses before the barbarians trampled the gates. While we’re at it, here’s another example of vibrant and diverse bread and circuses for the entertainment of the masses: Beheaded animals littering Miami streets.
There is not likely a single politician alive today who understands the full scope and nature of America’s unraveling, or is willing to tackle it head on. Good people sense it, but cannot adequately articulate their concerns. Others know the reasons, but for cowardice or denial won’t speak their minds. Still others are out-and-out traitors to the historical American enterprise.
Since I am a giving man of bounteous heart, here is my fourteen point plan for saving America:

1. A wall at the southern border. If Israel and China can do it, so can we.
2. An immigration moratorium for 20 years. Immigration halts coincide with a resurgence of American economic vitality.
3. An end to birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens. If this means rescinding the 14th Amendment, so be it.
4. A flat tax, or a VAT coupled with the abolishment of the income tax. The tax is too damn high! And too subversively complex.
5. A repeal of Obamacare. It’s hurting, not helping.
6. An end to all affirmative action and quotas.
7. An end to all foreign military engagements that are not directly tied to the defense of American interests. There will be no more neocon wars for the spread of democracy, which democracy most of the world’s ingrates don’t want or can’t handle, anyhow.
8. An end to Social Security and Medicare in their current incarnations. If we were a homogeneous Northern Euro country, these programs might stand a chance of succeeding over the long term. But entitlement programs do not work in a radically diverse society filled with population groups of differing health, economic, and conscientiousness profiles. SS alone creates a huge disincentive to save.
9. An end to all government pension plans. Your tax dollars are going to support the lavish retirement plans of government workers.
10. A restriction on public employees of their voting rights. Conflict of interest, ftw. Allow them to vote only every other election cycle.
11. An end to no-fault divorce and welfare in any form, including food stamps, for single mothers. You want to kill a successful modern society? Kill the nuclear family. The rest will follow.
12. An end to credentialism. The scourge of suckup credentialist glorification is producing a new elite of cognitive and cultural übermen at philosophical odds with the mass of Americans not invited to their coke and prep course parties. They will soon be a new subrace of humans if present trends continue (I’m not kidding). They do not have the majority Americans’ interests at heart. The New Eloi are testament to the resiliency of the eugenic drive in each and every human, regardless of social sanctions or legal prohibitions against active pursuit of such. While I am not anti-eugenic, (I’m closer to anti-dysgenic than pro-eugenic), the rapid formulation of a supersmart and supercapable minority elite perfectly tailored to exploit a modern information economy to their advantage while the masses fall further behind, is a recipe for oligarchy, a disappearing middle class, and revolution. Ending abject credentialism (or at least mitigating it) will be tough, but it can be done. Start by allowing companies to directly test prospective employees on their abilities to do the job they are applying for. This will take the pressure off employers to weight college degrees so heavily. Next step is to gut the enormous endowments of our elite universities. Ending federal student loan programs and government funding is a start. Ending tenure would go a way toward excavating these wretched leftwing gargoyles from humanities departments. I’d also pass a law requiring strip clubs and Hooters on every Ivy League campus so that the future hedge funders and doctors can see what they would be missing if they settled for marrying the closest proximity fellow Ivy chick they could find.
13. End all federal agriculture subsidies. A big (heh) reason for the obesity plague is the confluence of government largesse (double heh) with industrial farming shoving sugars, HFCS, and cheap refined grains front and center on our nation’s supermarket shelves. Simply removing these market interferences would help propel a Paleo-style diet onto more people’s dinner plates.
14. An end to all government-mandated sexual harassment and diversity programs. Really, they’re mobile reeducation camps designed to sap the fighting spirit of America’s white men. They are insidious.

I wonder if there is one point in the above fourteen that Obama would find agreeable? Sez it all. Does anyone seriously doubt that this plan would restore America to greatness? And if you don’t doubt it…
then what’s stopping you?

First Post

Greetings!  Since this is my first post, introductions are in order. 

I am MAJ Damon Wells, a Field Artillery officer currently attending the Army's Command and General Staff College.  I won't go too deep here; if you want more info, I'll be happy to respond.

My primary interest for this blog is to open topics for discussion, comments, feedback, etc. from military service members with relevant combat experience.  While any responses and topics are welcome, my main interest is to get discussion going pertaining to athleticism and strength applied during tactical operations.  The end state is to have a resource for myself and peers (and anyone else) to draw on for specific training modalities for the Soldiers, Marine, Sailor, Airmen, etc.

My first topic is easy and has already been written by a friend of mine (nice!).  In "Why does the Army want me weak?", MAJ Ryan Long address some common fallacies that are perpetuated throughout the armed services.  Mainly, that we have to run frequently to get "in shape" for combat operations.  Ryan does a great job of documenting his progress on a pure strength (very little cardio) routine in preparation for a powerlifting contest, followed by a "crash" 30 day preparation for the APFT.  The end result was that he achieved one of the highest scores in his career with minimal training.

We've discussed this before, and we both have opinions, but I'd like to get some more in-depth feedback about others' experience pertaining to PT, strength, and the obsession in the military with excess cardio.