Quest for fire.

I want to document some of my recent reading to share my findings with you guys. I’m not going to rewrite the articles that I read so there will be several links at the end.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I was on a quest to find whether there was a fat burn zone. There was some disagreement on the DD forum as to weather this ‘zone’ exists. Some guys point to Tabata and High Intensity Interval Training and say that the end result of exercising in the high end anaerobic zone has an overall effect of burning more fat calories than the traditional aerobic exercise at 70% of Heart rate max . Originally this interested me because I luv when it’s intense (plus I’m fat). It sounded like the best of all worlds. However, the first two weeks I used my heart monitor with the kettlebells, I noticed an unexplainable drop in intensity (expressed as heart rate max) on the next workout day after an especially great day. The trend continued downward for the next two weeks. I was not happy.

The next book that I read after the one that gave me a panic attack about acidosis was another old Heart Rate Monitor book that I picked up used at Amazon. This book’s main focus was using the monitor to work at 70% HRMax. The book was geared to runners, but the theory was interesting. The recommendation was based on the supposition that people over train. The author’s recommendation was to begin training up to, but not exceeding 70% HRMax (totally different from high intensity type training). His recommendation was to do this for six weeks. The long term goal is fast training maintaining a HR of no less than 85% HRMax with the alternating or supplimental workouts remaining under 70% HRMax. There was a lot of antecdotal evidence that the runners were eventually able to run faster at 70% HRMax at the end of the six weeks, they had more energy, and their race times increased. The basis of his theory is essentially one of ‘conservation and restoration.’ I found this extremely interesting. I wasn’t convinced that I was overtraining, but I was confused as to why my ‘tank’ was running dry. Did I need to conserve my energy?

So...I began to read several articles on line. This may be old news for you guys, some of it was for me, but what I found out was that there are three types of muscles: slow twitch, fast twitch and the other fast twitch. I knew that. What I didn’t know was that each type of muscle uses ATP as its fuel, but depending on the type of muscle and intensity of the exercise, a different ‘source’ for creating ATP is used. For immediate energy there is only a few seconds worth of fuel (creatine phosphate - a high energy phosphate compound) stored in the muscle cells. This is used for the faster fast twitch muscles (fight or flight, sprints, etc.). The second ‘source’ is glycogen. Muscle cells first split the glycogen into glucose( a sugar ) and then metabolizes it to make ATP. Glycogen is stored in the muscles, blood stream, and liver. It is converted to ATP via the might mitochondria. The third, and most abundant, source is fat which is also converted to ATP at the lower heart rate ranges.

To me this is the Holy Grail. First, I now knew that there is a fat burn zone. I know this intuitively from when I used to jump rope for 40 to 60 minutes back in college and had 8% BF. (Karate too, but no lifting, or running). Secondly, the idea of conservation and restoration was new to me. It takes 24 to 48 hours to replenish your ATP reserves. If you keep hitting it hard, it’s no wonder your batteries run dry…especially if you're an out of shape, 45 year old, fat slob. This made total sense.

So the benefits of working out at the aerobic zone level are: increased level of oxidizing body fat; restoration of ATP and conservation of glucose for hitting it harder during your anaerobic workouts; and increased mitochondrial density.


Here are some of the great articles I read:


Muscle Fibers - An In Depth Analysis: (Tonic And Phasic Muscles - The Original Name For Fast and Slow Twitch and Why It Still Applies! – and - The Body's Three Energy Systems Used For Movement)

Muscle Fibers - An In Depth Analysis Part 2: (Muscle Fibers Makeup and Purpose)

Muscle Fibers - An In Depth Analysis Part 3: (Mitochondrial Density = An Increase In - Fat Burning, Muscle Mass, & Your Ability To Train)

Direct Comparisons of Fuel use during Low, Moderate, and High Intensity Exercises: (Great article that refutes HIIT as a more effective means to burning fat.)

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The Little Engine That Could

I’ve been pondering the nature of energy. Both Swami and Galan are experts compared to me. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t be curious and seek to satisfy said curiosity.



The reason for my curiosity is first due to a personal observation that some days I seem to work harder for less. This was made clearer when I started using the Heart Rate Monitor. For example: on Monday I had a more energetic workout then on Wednesday. Same workout, basically, but actually I had to put forth more ‘effort’ on Wednesday. Swami would say that’s natural to have ebbs and flows. And he is right, I know that. And the reasons for that are several: adequacy of rest, fitness level, mental focus, hydration level, did you have a candy bar beforehand, is the moon full, and for some….what time of the month is it. Some of these variables can be controlled or mitigated and some cannot.

The second reason was a ‘disagreement’ on the Dragon Door forum about whether there is a fat burning ‘zone.’ One camp maintains that there is a fat burn zone and that lengthy aerobic work does indeed burn fat. The other camp’s point is that even anaerobic work burns fat long term, and points to studies that support that anaerobic exercise when compared to aerobic exercise actually burns more fat long term. After all sprinters are just as fit as marathon runners are.

Since my swings are highly anaerobic and I have lengthy bike rides for endurance and fat burning, I wanted to get to the bottom of the argument.


FAT BURN

The first article I read was by the incredible Clarence Bass: http://cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM

Here’s a couple of excerpts:

In the moderate-intensity group, seven active young male physical education majors exercised on stationary bicycles 5 days per week for 6 weeks at 70% of V02max, 60 minutes each session. V02max was measured before and after the training and every week during the 6 week period. As each subject's V02max improved, exercise intensity was increased to keep them pedaling at 70% of their actual V02max. Maximal accumulated oxygen deficit was also measured, before, at 4 weeks and after the training.

(It should be noted that 70% is the bottom of the ‘Aerobic Zone.’ and is actually a very slow pace. – Scoundrel)

A second group followed a high-intensity interval program. Seven students, also young and physically active, exercised five days per week using a training program similar to Japanese speed skaters. After a 10-minute warm-up, the subjects did seven to eight sets of 20 seconds at 170% of V02max, with a 10 second rest between each bout. Pedaling speed was 90-rpm and sets were terminated when rpms dropped below 85. When subjects could complete more than 9 sets, exercise intensity was increased by 11 watts. The training protocol was altered one day per week. On that day, the students exercised for 30 minutes at 70% of V02max before doing 4 sets of 20 second intervals at 170% of V02max. This latter session was not continued to exhaustion. Again, V02max and anaerobic capacity was determined before, during and after the training.

Findings: The moderate-intensity endurance training program produced a significant increase in V02max (about 10%), but had no effect on anaerobic capacity. The high-intensity intermittent protocol improved V02max by about 14%; anaerobic capacity increased by a whopping 28%.

But what about the fat burn?

Angelo Tremblay, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the Physical Activities Sciences Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, challenged the common belief among health professionals that low-intensity, long-duration exercise is the best program for fat loss. They compared the impact of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and high-intensity aerobics on fat loss. (Metabolism (1994) Volume 43, pp.814-818)

The Canadian scientists divided 27 inactive, healthy, non-obese adults (13 men, 14 women, 18 to 32 years old) into two groups. They subjected one group to a 20-week endurance training (ET) program of uninterrupted cycling 4 or 5 times a week for 30 to 45 minutes; the intensity level began at 60% of heart rate reserve and progressed to 85%. (For a 30-year-old, this would mean starting at a heart rate of about 136 and progressing to roughly 170 bpm, which is more intense than usually prescribed for weight or fat loss.)

The other group did a 15-week program including mainly high-intensity-interval training (HIIT). Much like the ET group, they began with 30-minute sessions of continuous exercise at 70% of maximum heart rate reserve (remember, they were not accustomed to exercise), but soon progressed to 10 to 15 bouts of short (15 seconds progressing to 30 seconds) or 4 to 5 long (60 seconds progressing to 90 seconds) intervals separated by recovery periods allowing heart rate to return to 120-130 beats per minute. The intensity of the short intervals was initially fixed at 60% of the maximal work output in 10 seconds, and that of the long bouts corresponded to 70% of the individual maximum work output in 90 seconds. Intensity on both was increased 5% every three weeks.

As you might expect, the total energy cost of the ET program was substantially greater than the HIIT program. The researchers calculated that the ET group burned more than twice as many calories while exercising than the HIIT program. But (surprise, surprise) skinfold measurements showed that the HIIT group lost more subcutaneous fat. "Moreover," reported the researchers, "when the difference in the total energy cost of the program was taken into account..., the subcutaneous fat loss was ninefold greater in the HIIT program than in the ET program." In short, the HIIT group got 9 times more fat-loss benefit for every calorie burned exercising.

So…why is that? The bottom line is that compared to moderate-intensity endurance exercise, high- intensity interval exercise causes more calories and fat to be burned subsequent to the workout

OK – takeaway is: high intensity workouts are good. Benefits include increase VO2max and anaerobic capacity as well as long term fat loss. But, I didn’t really get an answer to my question – Is there a fat burn zone? More to come…

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Making his case....

I think it's funny how many people are like "Will they improve my sport?", "Are they really worth the money?", will they do this, will they do that? I was compiling their benefits for my notes and thought everyone else might find it interesting. Most of you will recognize a good bit of this information spread throughout Pavel's writings. These are some incredible benefits for just two movements practiced for only 50-150 minutes per week. I haven't even covered flexibility yet. If anyone can add to this list, feel free.

From: http://forum.dragondoor.com/training/message/499672/

Benefits of the Swing

Easy on high-mileage knees.
Strengthen the legs and hips without overdeveloping them.
Build backs.
Dramatically reduce the odds of back injuries.
Forge a vice grip.
Work the abs.
Develop championship conditioning and burn fat without the dishonor of aerobics.

Easy on High-Mileage Knees

Swings rarely irritate even high-mileage knees. They do not have the flexibility demands of squats, but they develop the same movement patterns and muscles. In fact, they have been found to help bad knees. In developing proper lifting technique, the body develops a dynamic stereotype. You will lift with your hips in your day to day life, unloading your knees. Improper recruitment patterns of the hip is usually the problem with bad knees. Think of it like this. If your hips don't turn out right as you pick something up, your knee gets wrenched. If it turns out too much, your knee gets wrenched. If you hips don't take up a load, you knee gets wrenched. Let's face it, the hips just aren't really good neighbors. But, as demonstrated by physical therapist Gray Cook, through proper recruitment training, such as the swing, you can fix this problem.

Strengthen the legs and hips without overdeveloping them.

Ken Shamrock of UFC fame pulls rather than squats because a fighter has no need for heavier legs. Pulls strengthen the legs and hips without overdeveloping them. Chafing is no fun. And for some comrades, for instance special operators and infantrymen, bloody thighs are simply unacceptable.

Build backs.

As Randall Strossen, PhD, put it, to a man of strength a muscular back is what big arms are to a bodybuilder. The swing will develop your back from top to bottom. You lats prevent the weight from getting away and aid the erectors to keep the spine straight through the lumbodorsal fascia. The midsacpula retractors, the muscles between your shoulder blades, contract to keep your upper back in proper alignment. The neck, traps, and lower back are some of the prime movers in the swing.

Dramatically reduce the odds of back injuries.

-Swings strengthen the glutes.

The late Vladimir Janda, MD, from the Czech Republic observed that people with low back dysfunction often exhibit “gluteal amnesia.” And if not overcome with proper recruitment pattern practice, it is likely to lead to more back problems, since the back has to take over the lifting task of the powerful glutes. The glutes are strongly emphasized in the swing.

Scientists have found that when your spine is hyperflexed or very rounded, the lower back muscles just check out and leave all the work of supporting the spine to the ligaments. And ligaments have wavy structures that, when loaded, get the slack pulled out of them. This predisposes them to tearing, leading to chronic pain, osteoarthritic degeneration, and disc herniation.

-Swings stretch the hip flexors.

In Janda’s research, weak glutes were associated with tight hip flexors. The powerful psoas major originates on the vertebrae of the lower back, and inserts into the top of the thigh bone. When it is tight, it pulls on the lumbar spine, or lower back. Again, by strengthening the glutes you reduce your odds of a back injury. This time through a process called reciprocal inhibition. When a muscle contracts, it relaxes the antagonist, or opposing, muscles. Think, the harder you flex your biceps the more the triceps relax. Your body doesn't want to drive with its parking brake on. By increasing the resting tonus of the glutes, you decrease the tightness of your hip flexors.

-Swings develop back extensor endurance.

Those of you with bad backs, and if statistics do not lie, it is every other American, note on your forehead: stretching will relieve the pain, but will not fix you up. Spasms and pain are only symptoms. The real problem is usually weakness. A weak back muscle has to contract hard just to keep you from walking on all fours—spinal erectors are 'anti-gravity muscles'. This tension is difficult to maintain, so the muscle just locks up. Movement and circulation become limited, so it gets even weaker, so it cramps even more to get even weaker to cramp even more... It's a vicious circle.

Trying to fix a bad back with stretching is about as useful as an oil change on the Titanic. Professor Stuart McGill, PhD, the number-one spine biomechanist in the world, concluded that while lower- back strength surprisingly does not appear to reduce the odds of back problems, muscular endurance does (Luoto et. al, 1995). I dare you to find a better developer of the back extensors’ endurance than the high-repetition swing.

-Bracing is superior to hollowing for spinal stability.

When you brace as you lift something, the diaphragm expands to increase intra-abdominal pressure. Within your abdomen, there are many baroreceptors that measure changes in intra-abdominal pressure and adjust muscular tension and blood pressure to support it. This increase in pressure potentiates muscle excitability via the pneumomuscular reflex. This increases your strength as well as supports the lumbar spine.

Think of it like an internal weightlifting belt. The diaphragm is rarely strengthened by conventional training but is heavily emphasized by the breathing patterns used during the swing. Dr. McGill has demonstrated that “bracing” the abdominal wall is essential for protecting the lower back. Through consistent practice, the swing will improve your skill at this by forming a dynamic stereotype as well as strengthening the diaphragm.

-Sensible ballistic loading appears to reduce the odds of ar thritis.

Repetitive ballistic loading of swings and other quick lifts appears to be highly beneficial to your joints—provided you do not overdo it. In Supertraining, Drs. Yuri Verkhoshansky and Mel Siff state: “Joints subjected to heavy impact are relatively free of osteoarthritis in old age and those subjected to much lower loading experience a greater incidence of osteoarthritis and cartilage fibrillation . . . as one progresses up the lower extremity, from the ankle, to the knee, the hip and finally to the lumbar spine, so the extent of fibrillation increases at any given age. It appears that the cartilage of joints subjected to regular impulsive loading with relatively high contact stresses is mechanically much stiffer and better adapted to withstand the exceptional loading of running and jumping than the softer cartilage associated with low loading. Thus, joint cartilage subjected to regular repetitive loading remains healthy and copes very well with impulsive loads, whereas cartilage that is heavily loaded infrequently softens . . . the collagen network loses its cohesion and the cartilage deteriorates.“

Forge a vice grip.

Dr. Fred “Squat” Hatfield stated, “The best grip exercises are always going to be pulling at heavy weights ballistically.” Why train your grip? Firstly, grip is a major weak link in most training. The majority of trainees have a lot of strength, but they lack the grip strength to express it. When your grip is lacking, even a light load can seem heavy.

Secondly, let's try an experiment. Make a fist. A white-knuckle, crush to dust fist. Now, do you feel how your shoulder and biceps flex without you having to tell to. This is Sherrington's Law of Irradiation. Put simply, the nerve signal to flex bleeds off onto the ajoining muscles. What this means for your training is that, by increasing your grip strength, you increase your overall strength. The harder your fist flexes, the harder the ajoining muscles will flex. Increased tension means increased muscle tone.

Work the abs.

“...swings work the abs well,” observed famous powerlifting coach Louie Simmons. You must remember that your abs are utilized in your day-to-day life, not just during crunches. Crunches are a waste of time. Remember that. They do nothing for you and fail to even isolate the abdominals. What?! Oh, my world is shattered! Blasphemy! Remember my example on irradiation. The same happens here. Because your average person's abs are not strong enough to perform a crunch when isolated, the nerve signal to flex bleeds off onto the hip flexors, even though they aren't supposed to be used in the limited movement.

You must remember that forward flexion is not the primary job of the abs. Their actual job is to provide a stable platform for other muscles to pull from. For instance, tensed abdominals balance the pull of the psoas muscles on the spine, maintaining its normal curve. The high-tension breathing pattern along with the secondary part of the swing, abdominal contraction at the apex of the swing, strengthens your core muscles.

Develop championship conditioning and burn fat without the dishonor of aerobics.

According to research conducted at the University of Copenhagnen, swings were found to be at least as effective cardio as running and bicycling. But it was found that, due to the bracing performed during the pull, the swing had rather unique benefits. (Cook et al. 2005) He looked at the carotid arterial compliance and BRS, baroreceptor sensitivity, of two groups. One group had been doing the valsalva maneuver, bracing against resistance, while training their VO2 Max while the other had not.

Arterial compliance is how easily the heart and arteries are stretched. If the aorta is able to expand, it expands and allows the blood to be sent through with minimal resistance. This means that there is not a waste of energy on the part of the heart. Think of it like this. Would you rather try to blow up a balloon or a bottle?

Recall that baroreceptor measure changes in intra-abdominal pressure. They regulate muscular tension and blood pressure. BRS is their reactivity to these changes. The greater their sensitivity, the greater their response. With improved response comes a longer, happier, more productive life.

When he analyzed the results, he found that arterial compliance and BRS doubled in these individuals. These two benefits alone make the swing the ideal form of exercise, even without all the other benefits listed. These two will ensure a fail-safe heart.

Benefits of the Get-up

Get-ups fill in the small gaps in your armor left by the swing’s blanket bombing

Build classic torsos and strong arms.
Make the shoulders flexible and resilient.
Fortify the abs and the obliques.

Build classic torsos and strong arms.

Overhead lifting build's a torso along the line of Laurent Delvaux's statue Hercules: broad shoulders with just a hint of pecs, back muscles standing out in bold relief, and wiry arms. Eugene Sandow, George Hackenschmidt, and the other strongmen of yesteryear rarely if ever did light triceps work yet they sported symmetrical and well cut up "horseshoes". These early ironmen believed that the triceps needed very heavy stimulation. Science later caught up with their intuitive discovery. A study by Travill found that the brunt of the triceps work, regardless of the exercise and the loading angle, is performed by the medial head. Only when the resistance gets very heavy do the lazy lateral and longheads kick in.

Make the shoulders flexible and resilient.

The habit of having overly slack muscles of the upper back flicks a few switches in the spinal cord where muscular length and tension are regulated. The muscle starts perceiving your decidedly unmilitary bearing as the norm and becomes unwilling to contract and shorten. Tightening and hyperactivity of the internal rotators of the shoulder (e.g. the pectorals) and the neck extensors (e.g. the posterior cervical group, the upper trapezius, the sterno-cleido- mastoid muscle) results in inhibition of the deep neck flexors, the scapula retractors (e.g. rhomboid, mid and lower trapezius) and the external rotators of the shoulder (e.g. the rotator cuff). This results in a chin forward slumped posture, often accompanied by shoulder elevation.

Over a period of time the abs, the pecs, and the muscles between your ribs shorten and refuse to straighten out. Once you force them too, they test pathetically weak in the stretched position. This dysfunctional postural and movement pattern results in fertile ground for almost all the common musculo-skeletal ailments of the upper body including neck pain, shoulder pain, rotator cuff injury, cervicogenic headache etc. Why does this happen? Look around. Almost everything we do as a society is done in front of us, driving, cooking, writing, cleaning, computer work. Add in a healthy dose of stress (causing upper trapezius hyperactivity) and you have injury-prone shoulders.

Needless to say, neither extreme makes for a functional human being. An effective muscle has no trouble going from a near cramp to great length and can display great strength anywhere in this range. Get-ups facilitate and strengthen the mid and lower trapezius, rhomoboids and rotator cuff. This in turn will inhibit the upper traps and neck extensors, reversing shoulder elevation and chin forward posture. Strengthening the scapular retractors and facilitation of the rotator cuff results in external rotation of the shoulders, pulling the shoulders out of the vulnerable internal rotation position. That is why one of the first things you will begin to see after beginning the Program Minimum is improved upright posture.

Fortify the abs and obliques.

As soon as you start doing heavy get-ups, you will be pleasantly surprised at the powerful effect this drill has on your abs and obliques. While the swing tends to emphasize the abs, the get-up will target the obliques. The obliques are very important to athletes and fitness freaks alike. Strong, well toned obliques make one's waist look trimmer and are critical to performance. The obliques are the muscles underneath the love handles. Like the abs, they run from your rib cage to your pelvis, but at an angle. The external obliques are aligned in the direction your fingers point when you put your hands in your pockets; the internals run perpendicular to them. The obliques perform a number of functions when used in different combinations. They laterally flex the spine, as in a side bend, rotate the spine, or help the abs with forward spine flexion.

Spine stabilization, as in during the get-up, is another important function of your obliques. This will also strengthen the quadrotus lumborum, deep muscles on the sides of the lower spine, important for back health and difficult to develop. The stronger your muscular corset is, the less the wear and tear on your spine. The few people who train their obliques either do broomstick twists and crunches with a twist—worthless because of the minimal muscular tension they generate—or dangerous twisting situps. Torsion, simultaneous bending and twisting of the spine, chews up the intervertebral disks.

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Good Article

HOW TO STOP BEING A CHRONIC UNDER-ACHIEVER AND
REALIZE YOUR FULL PHYSICAL POTENTIAL

Proven, “best practice” methods to take your genetic destiny by the throat and force-feed greatness upon it

Whenever you're faced with complexity, strive to uncover the common characteristics of success. Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Gates are about as different as three people can be, yet under the hood, they're all using a handful of powerful principles to propel them to the top of the business-mogul short-list. Similarly, all high-powered workouts, no matter how different they may seem at surface level, also have commonalities which, when uncovered, can lead you to the same level of success as the World's top performance athletes and physique heroes. I’ve identified seven tactics that have become my personal “Best Practices” for workouts that quickly transform “you” into “Super You.” Whatever your genetic ceiling happens to be, if you integrate these practices into your workouts, you'll reach your own personal upper limit.

The First “Best Practice”: Get Organized With The AB Split

The physiologic principle of adaptation guarantees that even if you managed to discover a strategy with no downsides, sooner or later that strategy will lose its teeth as your body becomes more and more efficient at handling the challenge it provides. This phenomenon is absolutely inviolate—you'll never find a way around the law of gravity, and you'll never devise the perfect training method. Having said that, I think the A-B Split comes tantalizingly close to perfect. Everyone can use it, almost all of the time, with kick-ass results. That's because the A-B split is a template: it won't lock you out of your favorite exercises, workout frequency, training method, or loading parameters. Instead, it'll just make them better. To start using the A-B Split right now, just follow these three steps:

Step One: Make a list of everything you need or want to do on a regular basis. You can think of this in terms of muscles, motor qualities, exercises, whatever. For the purposes of this article, I'll stick with party-endorsed kettlebell drills. Here's my list, in no particular order:


Snatch
Get Ups
Under The Leg Pass
Windmill
Long Cycle Clean & Jerk
Military Press


Step Two: Split your pile into two groupings: an “A Session” and a “B Session.” Each session should have a unique “theme” or common denominator. In the example below, I’ve distinguished between a “grinding” session and an “explosive” session. Once you’ve identified the salient theme of each session, simply assign each exercise in your pile to one of the two sessions, like this:


“A” Session
(Grinding)
Get Ups
Military Press
Windmill

“B” Session
(Explosive)
Snatch
Long Cycle Clean & Jerk
Under The Leg Pass


Now you’ve got two training sessions that have maximal separation. In other words, each session is maximally dissimilar to the other. This facilitates both recovery and efficiency, and allows you to train with the greatest possible frequency. Bottom line: renewed progress.

Step Three: Assign loading parameters for each session. In otherwords,what type of set/rep/rest interval arrangement do you want to use? This will depend on your training objectives, and for most of you, it'll come down to whether your goals relate mostly to strength/power/speed development, or hypertrophy/body composition. For our purposes here, and as a way of getting started, consider assigning the 3-5Method (as outlined in Power To The People!) to the “Grind” session and ladders to the “Explosive” session. Another advantage of this plan is that you've got a lot of flexibility built right in. Let's say you have a hectic week where you can only train twice. Just stick with the plan, like this:

Day Week One:

Monday: "A" Session "A" Session
Wednesday: No workout "B" Session
Friday: "B" Session "A" Session


Week Two:

Monday: "A" Session
Wednesday: "B" Session
Friday: "A" Session


Of course, it's never ideal to skip a workout, but the A-B approach minimizes the collateral damage if and when it happens.

If you're one of those twisted freaks who insists on training 5-6 days a week, the A-B split will help to minimize the downside of your obsessive-compulsive behavior, because the scheme provides maximum variability, or what I call separation—a key factor in successful recovery. The overachiever's plan looks like this:


Day Week One:
Monday: "A" Session
Tuesday: "B" Session
Wednesday: "A" Session
Thursday: "B" Session
Friday: "A" Session

Week Two:
Monday: "B" Session
Tuesday: "A" Session
Wednesday: No workout
Thursday: "B" Session
Friday: "A" Session
And so on and so forth...


The Second “Best Practice”: Distinguish Between Compulsory And Optional

When most coaches write programs for their clients, it's naturally assumed that every exercise, every set and rep is mandatory. I find this approach is often psychologically daunting. A smarter approach is to "tag" exercises as either compulsory (meaning, it must be completed) or optional. In this context, “compulsory” means: don’t even come to training unless you’re determined to finish your compulsories. The "optional" designation, on the other hand, isn’t simply a license to skip the exercise because you’re late for your weekly back waxing appointment. Instead, on days where your time, energy, focus, and or orthopedic health are truly sub-optimal, the “optimal” classification allows you to make the smart decision and live to fight another day.

The Third “Best Practice”: Live And Die By The Stopwatch

Like water, work tends to expand to whatever container you put it in. What usually takes two hours can often be performed in one hour, IF you place that demand on yourself. When I write programs, I specify a time limit for each exercise, including warm-up sets. Big core movements are allotted between 20 and 30 minutes, and auxiliary exercises receive between 10 and 15 minutes each. Also, the time limit takes precedence over workload- if the program asks for 5x5 in 20 minutes, and you can only do 4 sets, so be it- next time, try to make it to the 5th set.

Some months ago I mentioned this concept to Christian Thibaudeau and he told me that when he was an Olympic lifter under former Canadian National Weightlifting Coach Pierre Roy (who produced a host of weightlifting champions including Olympic silver medalist Jacques Demers) time limits were a significant component of Roy's methods. In each workout, Roy would specify time limits for each exercise on the menu. When the buzzer sounded, you were done with that exercise, even if you didn’t manage to complete the specified number of sets and reps. If you believe (as I do) that success leaves clues…consider yourself clued-in.

The Fourth “Best Practice”: One Thing Leads To Another.

If you can design a workout in such a way where exercise "A" becomes the warm-up for exercise "B," and exercise "B" becomes the warm-up for exercise "C" and so on, you'll have a much leaner, meaner workout. I call this practice "Exercise Stacking" and here are two examples of employing it with kettlebells:

Example One:

1st Exercise: Kettlebell Standing Press
2nd Exercise: Kettlebell Push Press
3rd Exercise: Kettlebell Jerk

Example Two:

1st Exercise: Kettlebell Swing
2nd Exercise: Kettlebell High Pull
3rd Exercise: Kettlebell Snatch

The Fifth “Best Practice”: Practice Selective Ignorance

Pop quiz: what’s the main difference between you and an Olympic athlete? Genetics? Drugs? Coaching? Facilities? Motivation?

Certainly all of these and more factor into the equation, but I’m convinced that the most significant point of difference is consistency.

Here’s a quick tutorial on human nature: When you start a new program, it’s fun initially because it’s NEW. After 3-4 weeks however, it gets old. So you Google something like: “massive size and strength training program,” which leads you to an article featuring a novel way of training, or perhaps some new training device you’ve never heard of. And compared to the hard work you’re doing now, it looks like fun. So you immediately abandon your former program for the new one. And 3-4 weeks from now, you’ll do it again. And again. And again.

The reason you never make any progress is because you never stick with something long enough for it to work. But if you visit the weightlifters (or gymnasts, or fencers, or whatever) at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, do you think they’re using plyos one month, then pilates the next, kettlebells the next, EDT, HITT, HSP, blah, blah, blah. NO! Olympic athletes do (relatively) the same thing for years on end. Obviously, trends gradually shift over the years—all training must have this type of flexibility that allows for the incorporation of better methods as they’re discovered.

Smart athletes learn to pick their battles: if you try to do everything, if you switch gears every month, you end up accomplishing nothing. Specialization is the key to progress. And the only way you can specialize is to be "OK" with ignoring a lot of exercises, training methods, and so on, no matter how promising they may seem. If you think of yourself as a professional, or at least aspire to a professional training ethic, you must adopt selective ignorance as your way of life.

The Sixth “Best Practice”: Treat Yourself To Free Exercise Time

This is the exception to the previous point. If we just accept the fact that the grass looks greener on the other side, we can admit that whatever you're not doing always looks really attractive. For example, if you're a Girevik, and you do nothing but kettlebell work for 4 months, before long you'll read an article about, say, strongman training, and you'll be tempted to “have an affair.” Which isn't very smart if you've already invested a lot of time and effort pursuing KB-related goals. Or, you might be an Olympic lifter—and like anything else, O lifting can become a grind after a while (it's a sign that you're training hard actually). So then you buy some Westside Barbell DVDs and all of the sudden, your Olympic lifting goals are in jeopardy.

Here's how to stay monogamous: Once a week, at the end of one of your workouts, build in a 15-minute "free exercise" period. Assuming you still have time and energy after you've completed the compulsory part of your workout, use this time to do whatever you like- tire flips, sprints, plyos, whatever strikes you as fun at the moment. This allows you to "get it out of your system" and will help you stay on track with your training. It's almost like having an occasional "cheat meal" to help you keep your diet on track.


The Seventh “Best Practice”: A Wider Net Catches More Fish


As you work through the process of creating and refining your goals, don't limit yourself to a single definition of success. For example, a lot of guys might find themselves frustrated with a woman who embarks upon a weight-loss campaign, only to quit after several weeks, despite having succeeded by all rational measures: she looks better, her bodyfat percentage has dropped, her clothes are loose, her energy has increased, and her blood lipids have improved. Yet, because her weight has remained the same, she considers herself a failure.

Despite this, most guys do them same thing: they limit themselves to a single definition of success (often relating to lean-mass gain or maximum strength improvements), while ignoring numerous other factors that are not only important by themselves, the also contribute to the original goal.

So if your goal is to bench 405 or to weigh 260 at less than 10% bodyfat, stay with that goal, but also consider casting a wider net: also measure indicators such as joint pain, technical proficiency, or maybe even competitive success (as measured by a national ranking in weightlifting or powerlifting for example).

When you establish and track multiple indicators—multiple definitions of success really- you stand a far better chance of succeeding. Take the time right now to establish 3-5 "Functional Indicators" for yourself.

Only you can decide the most appropriate benchmarks to track, but I’ll provide a few personal examples to spur your imagination: As a competing weightlifter, every month I keep track of how many times I snatch 90% or above, as well as how many times I clean & jerk 90% or more. My underlying assumption is that when I reach a certain threshold, a new PR should be forthcoming. I also track my best performances on assistance lifts (back squat, front squat, overhead squat, Zots press, push press, etc), again with the implicit assumption that new PRs in any of these lifts will “bleed over” into my competitive exercises.

As an experienced masters’ level lifter, new PRs in the two competition lifts are few and far between, but I’m able to sustain my progress and motivation by tracking my performances on a range of indicators. PRs are important—rig up your training so that you have a maximum number of opportunities

Charles Staley, Dragon Door’s Fall 2007 “Hard Style” Magazine/Catalogue

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Is There a Best Strength or Weight Training Program?

Scoundrel passed this article along...
From The Roads We Choose, Chapter 6, Vozmi v Sputniki Silu, Moscow, 1990 (translated by Dr M Yessis, Fitness & Sports Review Intern Oct 1992)

Athletes and bodybuilders are always asking what is the best program to develop strength or muscle mass, or a combination of both? Even magazine articles and books relate to the program that a particular athlete or bodybuilder uses.

In reality, however, there is no one best program. According to Plekhov, it is impossible to have one best set of exercises or exercise program because there is an optimal exercise program for each "season" or specific purpose.

For example, think of your wardrobe - you have a coat, a rain coat, a jacket, a light coat, and a heavy coat. Which is best? The answer, of course, is that there is no universal attire for every kind of weather or for every season of the year.

Thus, it should not be surprising that there is no universal set of exercises that is equally effective for big and small, thick and thin, sanguine and melancholic, young and old, strong and weak. The main point for each athlete who trains independently to remember is that the diversity of systems, schools, and exercise complexes exists not because authors disagree. Rather, the diversity arises because training means need to be developed, and training methods applied, on an accurate and flexible individualized basis.

Also, the need for individualization arises from the individual differences in people, including age, genetics, gender, and so on. Analysis of worldclass athletes shows that their progress and development is quite diverse. For example, there are world champions who have never had a change in weight class. In essence, they significantly increase their strength with virtually no change in muscular mass. Their entire improvement was due to qualitative rather than quantitative changes. Thus, this is one course that training can take.

On the other hand, there are athletes who go through several weight classes as their muscle mass increases. Sometimes, this is one-directional upward movement in the same way that height and weight increase with age; in other cases, athletes have competed successfully in two or more weight classes, gaining and losing weight in the processes. We call them the wandering champions. Two of the best examples are Tommy Kono (USA) and David Rigert (USSR).

Cases are known in which the change in an athlete's bodyweight took on fantastic proportions, as much as 100 kg up or down. We recall the sensational experiment that Bruce Randall did on himself in the mid 1950's, when he shrunk his waist from 158 cm to 82 cm in three years and won the 1959 Mr. Universe title.

Naturally, strength increases markedly during workouts such as this. The widely circulated stories about the physical feebleness of bodybuilders who are supposedly exhausted underneath waves of pumped up, inflated muscles are pablum for the gullible.

For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger, at a bodyweight of 112 kg, bench pressed 250 kg and squatted with 260 kg. Franco Columbo, who trained for powerlifting alongside bodybuilding, bench pressed 215 kg, squatted with 250 kg, and deadlifted 330 kg at a bodyweight of 85 kg. These performances are awe inspiring, especially if you keep in mind that they are a by-product rather than a direct goal of training.

There is published material about Yuri Kutenko, who lifted 72 pound kettlebell 1000 times in one hour; and about America's Jack Lalanne, who has performed hundreds of nonstop pull-ups and push-ups. And finally, kettlebell lifting has been growing in popularity in our country for a long time.

All of this can be considered yet another course that training is taking:
strength + endurance. It is impossible to encompass the universe.
Accordingly, it is impossible to illustrate all of the courses that strength development can take.

Strength and its Development

It would be pointless to promote strength development to a person reading this. However, once again the question arises: what road should one choose to become strong? It seems like a simple question. The answer is elementarily simple and even suggests itself: "To be strong, you need to take up weight lifting." But weight lifting proper is only part of the truth.

First, the so-called "age barrier" in weight lifting has been lowered.
Eighteen-year-old athletes, rather than having just begun training, are setting world records. This trend may be effective for those of world-class caliber, but it sharply curtails the mass-scale base of the sport. Most experts feel that strength training should start at the age of 13-14.

Thus, age and norms are the first limitation. Now for the second. Let's say that the desire to become strong started at an early age, but that genetics has ordained your constitution to be unsuitable for weight lifting.
Coaches embarrassingly turn their eyes away and recommend you try out for volleyball, but your friends and contemporaries naively and unwisely push you to try out for weightlifting.

Now for a third case. You are 15 years old and you have a powerful physique, reminiscent of a mighty oak, not a spindly twig. Does this mean you should go in for weight lifting? Yes, of course , if you live in a city. But what if you live in a remote settlement?

What if your heart is really into another sport, but you have a legitimate desire to become stronger by using present and available athletic exercises?
What if injury or disease temporarily or permanently makes weight lifting pursuits difficult or impossible? What if? ... if ... ?

Let us try to look at this problem from another angle. The highest manifestations of strength in competitive weight lifting are tied to the traditional Olympic lifts, the snatch and jerk. But the snatch and jerk are striking and effective exercises that have a critical training lack, they fail to develop all muscles proportionally.

And, in the atmosphere of big-time sports, it is considered to be a waste of time to spend time and energy on other exercises. The result: a weightlifter possesses less than harmonious muscle development. Weight lifting works mostly the extensors of the back, hip, thigh, shin and foot. Consequently, we see an unsymmetrical body build: relatively thin arms, underdeveloped chest muscles, with bulky leg and back muscles.

Furthermore, the snatch and jerk are technically complex lifts. When we watch outstanding weightlifters perform, we admire their blend of Herculean strength and razor-sharp technique. But this technique does not apply to daily life; moreover, it requires a lot of time and energy. It is an absolute necessity for weightlifters to master technique; for people who simply want to become strong, it is superfluous.

We have already talked about an interesting development that has come out of weightlifting; freely translated, it is "powerlifting." The maximum displays of strength in this discipline occur in the powerlifting triathlon: the bench press, squat, and deadlift.

The utter simplicity of these movements is clearly their virtue if the goal is to develop maximal strength. The three powerlifts are representative; that is, they develop the main muscle masses of the body. An athlete can build up a significant training load without excessively depleting his nervous system, which is of no small importance.

Example: the world record in the jerk is more than 260 kg. A powerful athlete produces a colossal lift such as this with a flurry of strength, after which he throws the barbell down and heads for the winner's stand, accompanied by the applause of the fans. Another sport that involves lifting weights takes on an entirely different appearance. The heavyweight-class winner of the first USSR championship in Kettlebell lifting jerked two 72pound kettlebells 100 times in a row! Which athlete is stronger?

"The weightlifter," we answer. "He lifted more weight, therefore he is stronger. The kettlebell lifter could lift his 144 pounds from morning till night. He still would not be able to duplicate the one lift performed by the weightlifter!"

This assertion is absolutely true. However, it is no more true than the opposite, that is, the weightlifter would not be able to repeat the kettlebell lifter's exercise. This simple discussion concerns different sports, and the question, "Which athlete is stronger?" does not make sense in this context. Powerlifts measure absolute strength; high-repetition kettlebell lifting measures strength endurance.

Strength is needed in swimming, skiing, shooting, tennis, jumping, acrobatics, rowing and cycling. Each of these sports requires strength, not in an isolated, absolute sense, but specialized strength that is specific to the sport. Strength has specific characteristics in every type of sport. This is one of the reasons why the generalists (as opposed to specialists) that used to exist have become all but extinct in big-time sports.

At the dawn of the sports movement, athletes were much more given to what we call "multiple profiles" than they are today. For example, weightlifters wrestled; they lifted barbells, kettlebells, rounded solid dumbbells and metal stones; they participated in tug of war; and they were not averse to boxing or exhibiting some unique strength act that involved horses, horseshoes, chains, rails, beams, or other suitable items.

Indeed, weightlifters in general were not afraid to invade either closely related or quite unrelated types of sports. Weighing 120 kilograms did not stop the eminent wrestler Ivan Zaikin from taking part in cycling races. He was also a pioneer of Soviet aviation.

The winner of the weightlifting competition in the first modem Olympic Games (Athens, 1896), L. Elliot, won the one-arm kettlebell lifting with 71 kg, took fourth place in wrestling and fifth place in gymnastics (rope-climbing for speed). V. Jensen, who took first place in the two-arm barbell press
(111.5 kg), also took second place in revolver shooting, third place in military rifle shooting, and fourth place in gymnastics. Medalist S. Versis took third place in the barbell press, third in the discus throw, and sixth in the shot put.

The term ‘track and field athlete’, at that time, meant a runner (at any distance), a jumper (long jump, high jump, and sometimes in the long jump and high jump together, that is, there were competitions in which the total of the two jumps was counted). In addition, track and field athletes threw everything they could get their hands on, from sledgehammers, weights on chains, and logs to grenades, including all of the modern implements. Other sports were also popular with these athletes.

But there was an early trend toward more and more specialization in sports.
All-round athletes G Lurich and George Hackenschmidt, who set many records in the Iron Game and who sparkled on the wrestling mat, competed as wrestlers only during the second half of their athletic careers, even though they did not stop training with weights.

The unbeatable Ivan Poddubny never really demonstrated his capabilities in weightlifting. Supposedly, the stern Ukrainian Hercules preferred to keep his ability secret. However, his ability was great, as was evidenced by the only case in which he violated his rules. Ivan, at a not so young an age, put on an exhibition of his musculature and at the same time performed a 130 kg bicep curl from the floor.

At the dawn of the sports movement, athletes were much more given to what we call "multiple profiles" than they are today.

The eminent weightlifter, Stanislav Eliseev, a many-time world record holder and one of the first people in the Soviet Union to set records in the one-movement, nonstop clean, and also Peter Krylov, who is remembered as the "king of weights", competed on the wrestling mat, but did not amass many wrestling laurels.

At the same time, Krylov soundly defeated the well-known wrestler Stanislav Zbyshko Ziganevich in an athletic duel with dumbbells and barbells, even though he did not yield to him in height and weight, and even though he was incomparably weaker as a wrestler.

Time passed, and the so-called "combination of professions", which had earlier been the order of the day, became an oddity. Today it would be hard to imagine a weightlifter or wrestler, no matter how powerful, who could come close to the performances of the multi-combatants.

In the 1950's and 1960's, certain throwers, as a result of many years of weight training, turned in some fairly high performances in Olympic weightlifting (for example, discus thrower V. Lyakhov reached the Master of Sport level in the heavyweight class); however, they failed to show up at any of the notable weight lifting competitions.

Yuri Vlasov and Leonid Zhabotinsky, champions of the Olympiads of Rome, Tokyo, and Mexico, felt nostalgically about the track-and- field aspect of their background: both began as throwers and both were predicted to have brilliant careers, but for both of them this beginning remains a mere episode in their long and renowned athletic careers. Weightlifting, shot putting, and discus throwing have become "jealous"; the levels of performance have become so high that cross-over champions are a relic of the past.

Gary Gubner, a gifted American athlete, was perhaps the last person (in the early 1960's) who tried, at a world-class level, to wage a battle on two fronts, track and field and weightlifting. His attempt, though valiant, was not crowned with success. "Pure" throwers pushed Gubner out of first place, and Soviet super heavyweights Vlasov and Zhabotinsky solidly locked up the first two places in weightlifting, so much so that Gubner was scarcely noticed.

R. Bruch, a bearded, eccentric shotputter and discus thrower from Sweden who set world discus-throwing records, once appeared in his country's team handball championship, inspiring fear in goalies with his common-like shots clear the field and scaring field players with the powerful swiftness of his huge 125 kilogram body, which was coated with an armor of muscles.

So what happened? Nothing, really. Bruch did not transform himself into a handball player. The era of "dualist" has long past. Today, the level of sports competition requires that athletes develop specialized physical qualities.

Journalists, in describing the athletic career of the eminent weightlifter Vasily Alexeev, recall his youthful fascination with volleyball. We believe it when they write about Alexeev's swift jumps, his unreturnably powerful spikes, his impenetrable blocks. However, it is indeed hard to imagine two-time Olympic Champion Alexeev, at the full blossom of his sports talent, playing on a big-league volleyball team.

Sport is a model of life. As with life itself, sport is a realm of lost opportunities. Every gain is accompanied by losses. By definition, the roads we choose in one direction are also the roads that lead away from another direction. Choose your path ... and then once you have chosen your path, go for it!

[For anyone who may be interested in reading many more Russian articles like this one, contact Dr Yessis for back issues of the highly informative Soviet Sports Review: dryessis@dryessis.com ]

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Hey Aunt Bea…

Opie done growd up.

Swami has been giving me a tough time about over doing it. OK, I’ve been a slacker. But now I’ve seen the light. Halleluiah Amen. Actually I’m just motivated and looking forward to figuring out where this is going and how Svetlana fits into the picture. Swami and I probably have the same type of history: working out in the weight room to get ready for high school football. Most of what we know came from education and math majors who were frustrated athletes themselves.

But this is 2007! Things have changed while I wasn’t looking.

One of the new theories is called ‘Active Recovery.’ I thought that it was obvious that a light workout the day after an intense workout day would be helpful in getting the blood flowing, loosening up the muscles, flushing out the lactic acid, and bringing necessary nutrients to the muscle. I always took this for granted, thinking it was common sense.

It turns out that ‘Active Recovery’ can also mean a low intensity exercise after the intense portion of the workout. This will also keep the muscle oxygenated and reduce the levels of lactic acid in the muscles. This additional workout does not effect performance and may increase a persons ability to relax after a workout. (I wonder if this would allow a person who works out later in the day to keep from being too jazzed too late – impacting sleep cycles?)

A third form of ‘Active Recovery’ is when a low intensity exercise like slow sprints, light rope skipping, or riding a bicycle, is done between sets or circuits. In my reading, it appears that this does not fatigue the muscle but actually enhances performance by keeping the muscles oxygenated.

Here are three of the Articles that I’ve read:

Sportsmedicine

ABCBodybuilding

Mahler RKC

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End of Week 5, Part 2

Big Boys: End of Week 5
Romanian Deadlift with too much back...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZA_QDy9cY

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