Coach Keen
Yeah, I’m punting on this one… But why not share one of the Boiler Room Gym’s favorite websites with the rest of GMAAC?
For all you GMAAC members who have not heard of the Monkey Bar Gym in Madison, WI, check it all out here:
http://monkeybargym.com/
Amongst all the great information on the site, you will find an outstanding article on improving vertical leap here:
http://monkeybargym.com/vertical-jump-training.html
If, by chance, you are too lazy to even read the article, there is a link to Jon Hinds’ free VJ program in the body of the article:
http://www.monkeybargym.com/images/stories/pdf/Jon_Hinds_Vertical_Jump_Training_Program.pdf
And, finally, while you’re on the site, you might as well download their free August workout templates to save for some rainy, off-season month when you don’t want to put too much thought into your programming and want something follow-along, but solid:
http://monkeybargym.com/images/stories/august_2010.pdf
http://monkeybargym.com/images/stories/august_24.pdf
And heck, why not look at their ‘workouts’ page and peruse some of the videos so you can see what you are doing…
http://monkeybargym.com/monkeybargym-workouts.html
27 August 2010
25 August 2010
Race-Day Reflections
Coach Mohr
I had a solid performance in my qualifier this a.m. I had planned on
doing a more thorough and methodical warm-up than when I would just shot-gun it, like in years past. I came up with a template based on
target cadence and max HR which generates a warm-up for you. I
entered all the data and copied the output onto an 8.5x11 sheet of
paper.... that I left on the dining room table this morning. The funny
thing was that on the paper was also my list of things to pack for the
race. Unfortunately, I didn't include "the list" on the list of things
to bring with me.
That not withstanding, I did have the most solid warm-up I've ever had
prior to a race. Even though the course is a flat (relatively) 1 km
circle, I still brought along my trainer (the rear wheel mount kind) so
I could concentrate on HR and cadence and not worry about cars or
runners or dog walkers or bird watchers (seriously...). I spent 20
minutes working up to around 135 bpm in my 50x19 ring. I then went to
the john and then got back on the bike and started my progressive
interval. It was 2 minutes in 50x17, but in the harder resistance zone
going at 90 rpm (crank cadence). I then rested for 2 minutes and went
up to 100 rpm. Then did the same for 110. My HR's at the end of the
intervals were 140, 155 and 165. I then got the bike off the trainer
and rode the actual race route where I would do more intervals. They
were less strict than I would have prescribed, but it felt right. I
would do a dig at a little faster rpm, but an easier gear just to help
with some potentiation (yeah, I made that up), but also to prime my
lactic acid flushing mechanisms (yeah, I made that up, too).
I wanted to finish my warm-up no more than 5 minutes prior to the start
of my event. That's a tough call to make because no one wants to blow
their wad in their warm-up. I've been fearful of doing that throughout
my running/cycling "career." However, today, I figured I didn't have
much to lose and some more knowledge to put in the vault. When I rolled
up to the line, there had apparently been a snafu with the previous
cyclist's time (he was 3 laps in before everyone realized that no one
was recording his time). So, they were basically looking for someone to
just start whenever they wanted. This worked out great for me, so I
said I'd be ready to go in like 2 minutes.
I took off, and within the first lap, I could tell that the warm-up was
effective. About a minute in to most max effort trials, I feel like my
legs fill up with lead, and I spend the rest of the race fighting
through dead leg syndrome. Today was a little different. The speed with which my fatigue set in was much slower. That has a big psychological
benefit because if you feel like you just got punched in the face within
the 1st lap, then you know that the next 7 laps are gonna be too hard to
continue at your original pace, so you back off. Either way, the guy
who put down the fastest time last year had a commitment today. So, he
did his qualifying run on Thursday and posted an 8-lap time of 12:40. I
knew that was gettable because a month ago I posted 14:11 for a
9-lapper, and I was 95% sure that I went though the traps at the 8-lap
mark at 12:38. Today, I started my watch a little late, but I could see
pretty early that I was making good time. Also, while there was a
little bit of a wind coming out of the North, it seemed to lessen by the
time I had to ride. Also, for alot of other riders, there were lots of
dog walkers and what not on the road to deal with. My ride was pretty
clear from that standpoint. Either way, my 2-lap time was around 3:06,
which was on target, but my 4-lap time was 6:08, which was much faster
than my original plan was for. I think I was at 9:12-ish by the
6-lapper, and my stopwatch had 12:21 as my overall time. The
scorekeeper said I was at 12:25, and I figure he's probably more
accurate than I was. Regardless, for a 5.2 mile race, that's 25.13 mph.
Since getting >25 mph for one of my TT's was a goal of mine this year,
I'm pretty pleased with the overall result. I ended up being the
fastest rider (2nd place went to the guy that did 12:40 on Thursday, and
third was the Master's Cat 3 racer that I think was a tick over 13:00).
It's probably as good as I have felt about a competition effort and
result as I've felt in an awful long time.
I'm not sure how much the warm-up help my overall performance, but it
seemed to get my body in a better "race mode" than previous plans. I'll
have it more dialed in for my 9/11 race.
I had a solid performance in my qualifier this a.m. I had planned on
doing a more thorough and methodical warm-up than when I would just shot-gun it, like in years past. I came up with a template based on
target cadence and max HR which generates a warm-up for you. I
entered all the data and copied the output onto an 8.5x11 sheet of
paper.... that I left on the dining room table this morning. The funny
thing was that on the paper was also my list of things to pack for the
race. Unfortunately, I didn't include "the list" on the list of things
to bring with me.
That not withstanding, I did have the most solid warm-up I've ever had
prior to a race. Even though the course is a flat (relatively) 1 km
circle, I still brought along my trainer (the rear wheel mount kind) so
I could concentrate on HR and cadence and not worry about cars or
runners or dog walkers or bird watchers (seriously...). I spent 20
minutes working up to around 135 bpm in my 50x19 ring. I then went to
the john and then got back on the bike and started my progressive
interval. It was 2 minutes in 50x17, but in the harder resistance zone
going at 90 rpm (crank cadence). I then rested for 2 minutes and went
up to 100 rpm. Then did the same for 110. My HR's at the end of the
intervals were 140, 155 and 165. I then got the bike off the trainer
and rode the actual race route where I would do more intervals. They
were less strict than I would have prescribed, but it felt right. I
would do a dig at a little faster rpm, but an easier gear just to help
with some potentiation (yeah, I made that up), but also to prime my
lactic acid flushing mechanisms (yeah, I made that up, too).
I wanted to finish my warm-up no more than 5 minutes prior to the start
of my event. That's a tough call to make because no one wants to blow
their wad in their warm-up. I've been fearful of doing that throughout
my running/cycling "career." However, today, I figured I didn't have
much to lose and some more knowledge to put in the vault. When I rolled
up to the line, there had apparently been a snafu with the previous
cyclist's time (he was 3 laps in before everyone realized that no one
was recording his time). So, they were basically looking for someone to
just start whenever they wanted. This worked out great for me, so I
said I'd be ready to go in like 2 minutes.
I took off, and within the first lap, I could tell that the warm-up was
effective. About a minute in to most max effort trials, I feel like my
legs fill up with lead, and I spend the rest of the race fighting
through dead leg syndrome. Today was a little different. The speed with which my fatigue set in was much slower. That has a big psychological
benefit because if you feel like you just got punched in the face within
the 1st lap, then you know that the next 7 laps are gonna be too hard to
continue at your original pace, so you back off. Either way, the guy
who put down the fastest time last year had a commitment today. So, he
did his qualifying run on Thursday and posted an 8-lap time of 12:40. I
knew that was gettable because a month ago I posted 14:11 for a
9-lapper, and I was 95% sure that I went though the traps at the 8-lap
mark at 12:38. Today, I started my watch a little late, but I could see
pretty early that I was making good time. Also, while there was a
little bit of a wind coming out of the North, it seemed to lessen by the
time I had to ride. Also, for alot of other riders, there were lots of
dog walkers and what not on the road to deal with. My ride was pretty
clear from that standpoint. Either way, my 2-lap time was around 3:06,
which was on target, but my 4-lap time was 6:08, which was much faster
than my original plan was for. I think I was at 9:12-ish by the
6-lapper, and my stopwatch had 12:21 as my overall time. The
scorekeeper said I was at 12:25, and I figure he's probably more
accurate than I was. Regardless, for a 5.2 mile race, that's 25.13 mph.
Since getting >25 mph for one of my TT's was a goal of mine this year,
I'm pretty pleased with the overall result. I ended up being the
fastest rider (2nd place went to the guy that did 12:40 on Thursday, and
third was the Master's Cat 3 racer that I think was a tick over 13:00).
It's probably as good as I have felt about a competition effort and
result as I've felt in an awful long time.
I'm not sure how much the warm-up help my overall performance, but it
seemed to get my body in a better "race mode" than previous plans. I'll
have it more dialed in for my 9/11 race.
19 August 2010
Meet Prep
Coach Hansen
Results
After setting the stage with my RAW bench post, I'm sure you are all dying to know how my bench meet went… well, I will tell you: not that great. I did hit my opener of 402. On my second, 424 came halfway up and then stalled. I tried to grind through, and felt something funky going on with my right pec, decided that discretion was the better part of valor at that point, and passed on my third. Given how the pec felt I doubt I would have gotten it anyway, and if the mind doesn’t believe it, then you sure as heck aren't going to get the rep and ‘surprise yourself.’
Warm-ups
We arrived in Dubuque at exactly noon, since this was the latest you could weigh in. Fully dressed, I came in at 398lbs. Heavier than I would like, but I'm addressing that at the moment. We then headed to some weird restaurant to get some food, and based on the cuisine I mainly just tried to stay away from anything ‘off’ that would have given my any issues. Like many others, I get a nervous enough stomach from just competing, let alone what would happen if I ate the mystery-meat breakfast sausage that had been sitting out for 7 hours… so, off to the hotel room to relax for a few hours. We arrived back at the venue around 4:30 pm, as the rules meeting was at 5:15. After shooting the breeze with a few guys, and taking some empty-bar warm-ups on the bench we would be using, I decided to head over to the warm-up area for the rules meeting. It was here that I learned you couldn't use the thumb loops on wrist wraps; not a big deal, but any little change can affect your lifting, and it illustrates the point that you need to know the rules of the federation you are lifting in going in, as sometimes even the smallest ones can make a big difference.
I took my usual warm-ups: bar x10, 135x8 and 6, 225x6, 315x2, and then 365x1. I tried to space these out about 5 minutes apart, but that was a bit difficult as we only had two warm-up benches and lots of lifters. I hit the 365 about one minute before the first lifter went on stage, so the timing was right on as far as I was concerned. I found a chair close to the stairs, and waited for my name to be called. I will admit that I was quite nervous, as this was the first meet I had done in about 3 years, and by far the biggest. We were on a raised stage, in a large auditorium, in front of lots of people; I even had several friends who had come to see me lift and many more back at the gym wanting updates. None of this, based on my recent period of inactivity, helped my nerves.
Impressions
As I said, I was nervous, more so than I usually am, and it definitely affected me. It seemed that I could not get a real tight arch, and the weights just felt ‘off.’ We used the very thin, competition-certified Ivanko kilo plates for the comp lifts, and normal pound weights for the warm-ups. At the Gold’s, where I have been training for this meet, we train with these huge rubber weights that sit way out on the bar. As I said before, even the smallest things can make a big difference, and I think that not only did the odd appearance of the bar play into my nerves, but the fact that the weights were so close to the center of the bar actually made the balance feel a little different, and between mind and matter things were feeling unsteady as I Iowered my opener. In a perfect world I would train with the same (sized, at least) weights I would be using in the competition, and in the future I will be sure my grip location is centered spot on, so that there is no chance of feeling any lateral shakiness due to the more ‘dense’ load-out.
Programming
In the end, would I call this meet a success? Yes. It was my first meet in three years, and I did hit my opener and get on the board. As everyone at GMAAC is always cramming down your throat, the only way to get better at competing is to compete, and I lived to tell the tale. More importantly, having a definite metric to shoot for and a deadline date when the meet would be held, it forced me to put together a few months of good, consistent training. I now also know what to expect at a much bigger, ‘regional,’ meet. When considering that at this time last year I couldn't bench an empty bar without pain, I feel I have come a long way back. When I started training for this meet I was only benching a very shaky 365, and that was without a noticeable pause. So, 402 with a LONG, IPF-legal pause is progress. I definitely need to work more on my shoulders, as well as the upper back and triceps. I am a firm believer that if you fail in the bench press, it is usually one of these smaller, accessory muscles that fails you. Some more paused reps are in order as well.
What Lies Ahead
As stated, I do plan on slimming down a little; how this will affect my power remains to be seen. There is another meet at the same venue on December 3, so right now I think I will compete there to establish another benchmark. Leading up to that meet, special attention will be given to the lats, upper back, triceps and shoulders, and as they get stronger the RAW bench numbers should climb. Continued rehab/prehab on my still-aching, though not injured, shoulders is a must. After I get the details ironed out, I will update my program for the world to critique.
Thanks for reading, and happy competing! We’ll see you on the platform.
Results
After setting the stage with my RAW bench post, I'm sure you are all dying to know how my bench meet went… well, I will tell you: not that great. I did hit my opener of 402. On my second, 424 came halfway up and then stalled. I tried to grind through, and felt something funky going on with my right pec, decided that discretion was the better part of valor at that point, and passed on my third. Given how the pec felt I doubt I would have gotten it anyway, and if the mind doesn’t believe it, then you sure as heck aren't going to get the rep and ‘surprise yourself.’
Warm-ups
We arrived in Dubuque at exactly noon, since this was the latest you could weigh in. Fully dressed, I came in at 398lbs. Heavier than I would like, but I'm addressing that at the moment. We then headed to some weird restaurant to get some food, and based on the cuisine I mainly just tried to stay away from anything ‘off’ that would have given my any issues. Like many others, I get a nervous enough stomach from just competing, let alone what would happen if I ate the mystery-meat breakfast sausage that had been sitting out for 7 hours… so, off to the hotel room to relax for a few hours. We arrived back at the venue around 4:30 pm, as the rules meeting was at 5:15. After shooting the breeze with a few guys, and taking some empty-bar warm-ups on the bench we would be using, I decided to head over to the warm-up area for the rules meeting. It was here that I learned you couldn't use the thumb loops on wrist wraps; not a big deal, but any little change can affect your lifting, and it illustrates the point that you need to know the rules of the federation you are lifting in going in, as sometimes even the smallest ones can make a big difference.
I took my usual warm-ups: bar x10, 135x8 and 6, 225x6, 315x2, and then 365x1. I tried to space these out about 5 minutes apart, but that was a bit difficult as we only had two warm-up benches and lots of lifters. I hit the 365 about one minute before the first lifter went on stage, so the timing was right on as far as I was concerned. I found a chair close to the stairs, and waited for my name to be called. I will admit that I was quite nervous, as this was the first meet I had done in about 3 years, and by far the biggest. We were on a raised stage, in a large auditorium, in front of lots of people; I even had several friends who had come to see me lift and many more back at the gym wanting updates. None of this, based on my recent period of inactivity, helped my nerves.
Impressions
As I said, I was nervous, more so than I usually am, and it definitely affected me. It seemed that I could not get a real tight arch, and the weights just felt ‘off.’ We used the very thin, competition-certified Ivanko kilo plates for the comp lifts, and normal pound weights for the warm-ups. At the Gold’s, where I have been training for this meet, we train with these huge rubber weights that sit way out on the bar. As I said before, even the smallest things can make a big difference, and I think that not only did the odd appearance of the bar play into my nerves, but the fact that the weights were so close to the center of the bar actually made the balance feel a little different, and between mind and matter things were feeling unsteady as I Iowered my opener. In a perfect world I would train with the same (sized, at least) weights I would be using in the competition, and in the future I will be sure my grip location is centered spot on, so that there is no chance of feeling any lateral shakiness due to the more ‘dense’ load-out.
Programming
In the end, would I call this meet a success? Yes. It was my first meet in three years, and I did hit my opener and get on the board. As everyone at GMAAC is always cramming down your throat, the only way to get better at competing is to compete, and I lived to tell the tale. More importantly, having a definite metric to shoot for and a deadline date when the meet would be held, it forced me to put together a few months of good, consistent training. I now also know what to expect at a much bigger, ‘regional,’ meet. When considering that at this time last year I couldn't bench an empty bar without pain, I feel I have come a long way back. When I started training for this meet I was only benching a very shaky 365, and that was without a noticeable pause. So, 402 with a LONG, IPF-legal pause is progress. I definitely need to work more on my shoulders, as well as the upper back and triceps. I am a firm believer that if you fail in the bench press, it is usually one of these smaller, accessory muscles that fails you. Some more paused reps are in order as well.
What Lies Ahead
As stated, I do plan on slimming down a little; how this will affect my power remains to be seen. There is another meet at the same venue on December 3, so right now I think I will compete there to establish another benchmark. Leading up to that meet, special attention will be given to the lats, upper back, triceps and shoulders, and as they get stronger the RAW bench numbers should climb. Continued rehab/prehab on my still-aching, though not injured, shoulders is a must. After I get the details ironed out, I will update my program for the world to critique.
Thanks for reading, and happy competing! We’ll see you on the platform.
15 August 2010
Just Do It
Those who know us know that here at GMAAC, we *thrive* on competition. Competition, and the success we enjoy, however, is not the 'end.' It is the 'means' by which we keep moving ourselves forward on the journey, which is more important than the destination. Competition, for us, is about accountability. It provides metrics that tell you what you need to do to improve, and it is what gets you up at 0430 to train when you might otherwise sleep in.
The philosophy portion of the lecture now over, it can't be denied that despite the fact competition is a training tool for us, we like to do our fair share of winning. The reason that this seems to inspire comment from others is that we win in a wide variety of sports, many of which don't have a lot of overlap when it comes to skills or necessary attributes. We have had a GMAAC coach medal in his LWC meet and place top-10 in a 900+ participant duathlon in the same season. This year we had a GMAAC coach win gold at tournaments/meets in boxing, kettlebell sport, and armwrestling.
How do we do it? We 'just do it,' that's how... You have heard us say before that SPECIFICITY is KING. This applies on all levels. That is, when there is a boxing tournament coming up you need to do more boxing. When you are skewing your training for boxing, you need to do more actual boxing. Huh? This is only to say that you need to spar as much as possible, and when you can't do that you should at least hit a double-end bag or do some quality mitt work. Standing in one place hitting a heavy bag, or jogging, just don't cut the mustard. Make your training specific, and therefore efficient.
Similarly, when it comes to armwrestling we try to get to the table. When you are NOT on the table, however, don't follow the madding crown and sit on the end of the bench to do wrist curls, or use hammer preacher curls as the base of your routine; set up some bands and simulate pulling, and do some heavy ISOs using your body weight where you are hanging from a suspension system with your arm in an AW pulling position. Check out some Devon Larratt videos on YouTube and do an ISO "curl-hook" leaning over an incline bench...
The point here is that when training for sports, even our strength and conditioning work is sports-specific, and is programmed based on the actual sport needs, and not some ex-bodybuilder's (or even worse, physical therapist's) 'strength and conditioning template.'
John Brzenk said it best in a response to a guy assailing him about how Brzenk could possibly be such a dominant armwrestler when he doesn't train that heavy, doesn't deadlift at all, and didn't even know what the farmer's walk was. Brzenk replied to this line of criticism as follows: "If you want to be great at basketball, play basketball; if you want to be great at tennis, go play a lot of tennis; if you want to be a great armwrestler you need to get to the table, a lot. So, I don't know how much I can or could bench, because I take the majority of my 'max lifts' at the armwrestling table."
Seems self-evident, but, when you get down to brass tacks, there are few coaches and athletes who couldn't use at least a little more specific, *targeted*, training. If you *have* a sport, *focus* on that sport. Until next time...
The philosophy portion of the lecture now over, it can't be denied that despite the fact competition is a training tool for us, we like to do our fair share of winning. The reason that this seems to inspire comment from others is that we win in a wide variety of sports, many of which don't have a lot of overlap when it comes to skills or necessary attributes. We have had a GMAAC coach medal in his LWC meet and place top-10 in a 900+ participant duathlon in the same season. This year we had a GMAAC coach win gold at tournaments/meets in boxing, kettlebell sport, and armwrestling.
How do we do it? We 'just do it,' that's how... You have heard us say before that SPECIFICITY is KING. This applies on all levels. That is, when there is a boxing tournament coming up you need to do more boxing. When you are skewing your training for boxing, you need to do more actual boxing. Huh? This is only to say that you need to spar as much as possible, and when you can't do that you should at least hit a double-end bag or do some quality mitt work. Standing in one place hitting a heavy bag, or jogging, just don't cut the mustard. Make your training specific, and therefore efficient.
Similarly, when it comes to armwrestling we try to get to the table. When you are NOT on the table, however, don't follow the madding crown and sit on the end of the bench to do wrist curls, or use hammer preacher curls as the base of your routine; set up some bands and simulate pulling, and do some heavy ISOs using your body weight where you are hanging from a suspension system with your arm in an AW pulling position. Check out some Devon Larratt videos on YouTube and do an ISO "curl-hook" leaning over an incline bench...
The point here is that when training for sports, even our strength and conditioning work is sports-specific, and is programmed based on the actual sport needs, and not some ex-bodybuilder's (or even worse, physical therapist's) 'strength and conditioning template.'
John Brzenk said it best in a response to a guy assailing him about how Brzenk could possibly be such a dominant armwrestler when he doesn't train that heavy, doesn't deadlift at all, and didn't even know what the farmer's walk was. Brzenk replied to this line of criticism as follows: "If you want to be great at basketball, play basketball; if you want to be great at tennis, go play a lot of tennis; if you want to be a great armwrestler you need to get to the table, a lot. So, I don't know how much I can or could bench, because I take the majority of my 'max lifts' at the armwrestling table."
Seems self-evident, but, when you get down to brass tacks, there are few coaches and athletes who couldn't use at least a little more specific, *targeted*, training. If you *have* a sport, *focus* on that sport. Until next time...
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