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

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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.