Mother's Day
Over the weekend my mom, Arabella, and I visited Annapolis for a three-generation Mother’s Day celebration. It was my first Mother’s Day as a mother and was a wonderful way to acknowledge a new aspect to my life. The weather was beautiful, the hotel luxurious, and the family time unforgettable. I haven’t posted a picture of Arabella lately… here she is, standing on her own and inseparable from my sunglasses at 10-months old.
Before I was a mom... I had never been pooped on. - Sarah
On My Mind Grapes
Over the last few months I’ve been battling with some programming that seems easy, but is actually a pretty complex problem to solve: the proper progression and periodization for some of the most talented sprinters and jumpers in the country. It’s like when something is so simple it becomes paralyzing in its complexity!
Let me give you a little background on the team… the George Mason men’s sprinters and jumpers are extremely talented. Extremely. This past weekend they won the outdoor season’s conference title for the second year in a row. And we didn’t just win - the team annihilated the rest of the conference. In fact, the win was so “in the bag” that the 4x400 team didn’t even run the 4x400. Why? Because they didn’t need to. Those guys are focused on the NCAA National Meet and nothing else. Currently, they’ve posted the 9th fastest time in the NATION. There are some other high points with guys ranked nationally, but I think you get the picture.
Outside of great talent, the unique quality about track and field coaches is that they actually understand and apply sound programming for their kids. So, for the first time in the 6 years I’ve been a NCAA D1 strength coach, I’m interacting with coaches on a daily basis who understand some pretty important concepts that most team sport coaches don’t appreciate: how to get individuals to “peak” at the end of a season. (I’m not trashing team sport coaches, they have many other things to worry about: skill, technical aspects, X’s, O’s, etc.)
To ensure my programming efforts are matching those of the coaching staff and athletes, I’ve been doing a lot of research on training and coaching practices for elite level sprinters and jumpers.
Recently, I came upon Charlie Francis’ lecture on “Weights for Speed.” Charlie Francis passed away almost exactly one year ago (May 12, 2010) and was best known as the coach of the first ever athlete to be stripped of an Olympic Gold Medal (Ben Johnson) for doping. Outside of what, in reality, is a tiny blip on the radar of a great career, Charlie Francis has contributed some wonderful information to the sport. I liken him to Mel Siff in the unbelievable volume of precise training information he managed to produce in his lifetime.
Two of Francis’ closely held coaching tables are the Force/Time Curve and something called Vertical Integration.
In the Force/Time Curve (see my beautiful sketch below), Francis has marked up the curve to reinforce his argument for why the Clean exercise is a poor choice for sprinters (especially as they advance in training age). Francis points out that while plyometric jumps and the Clean come very close to the Sprint in terms of the Force/Time Curve the closeness is actually a problem as it's consistent execution/practice actually takes away from sprint performance. He recommends, instead, to focus on General Strength exercises ONLY for the duration of an athlete’s career. Francis points out that a coach and athlete must develop ALL qualities of the Force/Time Curve (including maximum strength, strength-endurance, etc) to make overall progress, i.e., faster sprinting and longer jumping. I agree wholeheartedly.
The Clean uses 85% of the same muscles that is used in an actual sprint, Francis admits that while being counter-intuitive, this is simply too close for comfort. Especially if using the Vertical Integration style of coaching.
What is vertical integration you ask? It is the concept of training session organization by training age. You can see in the picture below that as years pass the speed work takes up increasingly more training time while plyometric training all but disappears. But general weight training remains an important part of the training week and career long constant. Francis states that the Clean does not fit into this model of training because it TOO closely resembles the sprint. So, in Vertical Integration, an athlete would be walking into the weight room after a speed and light plyometric training session, and then would be required to perform a high skill lift that recruits 85% of the same active muscle that has already been fried in the earlier sprint session. Overtime this continued practice will STALL PROGRESS.
Charlie Francis claims that NO sprinter who has ever broken into the 9.7-9.8s 100m dash time has EVER had a Specific Weight Training program. He claims they have ALL been on General Training programs.
So, what’s the moral of this story? Honestly, I’m not sure. As a general rule, I rarely implement the Olympic lifts with any of my teams. George Mason strength finds its roots with Conjugate Sequence System programming based off the power lifts (squat, bench, deadlift). But, I’m not yet ready (nor have I ever been) to write off Olympic lifts entirely. I believe it’s important to keep as many training “tools in the toolbox" and have a thorough understanding of what to use at the proper moment to ensure an athlete continues to progress safely forward at a higher level of performance.
Does anyone get the 30 Rock “mind grapes” reference? - Sarah
Mother's Day
Over the weekend my mom, Arabella, and I visited Annapolis for a three-generation Mother’s Day celebration. It was my first Mother’s Day as a mother and was a wonderful way to acknowledge a new aspect to my life. The weather was beautiful, the hotel luxurious, and the family time unforgettable.
I haven’t posted a picture of Arabella lately… here she is, standing on her own and inseparable from my sunglasses at 10-months old.
Before I was a mom... I had never been pooped on. - Sarah
Your Meathead Training Tip of the Day: Slow Tempo Strength Training
Slow tempo strength training involves performing a compound lift (squat, pushup, row, etc.) at a 202 tempo. This means you'll take two seconds to execute the eccentric portion of the movement, and then two seconds on the concentric portion of the lift, too. There will also be no pause at the top or bottom.
So, for a pushup, you'd take two seconds to go down, and then immediately transition into the concentric and take two seconds to go back up. See the video on the right to see what I mean (or, you can view it HERE).
What does it do
- Increases the cross-sectional area (hypertrophy) of the slow twitch fibers.
- Improves oxygen utilization of the working muscles (both fast twitch and slow twitch).
- Improves static strength (think grappling, wrestling, etc.).
How to do it
- Each rep should be roughly 4 seconds in duration, with no pause at the top or bottom of the movement. Teaching someone to go up slowly can be very difficult (especially as they begin to fatigue), so be mindful of this.
- Perform for 40-60 seconds (so about 10-15 repetitions) and your rest period should match the duration of the working set.
- Perform for 3-5 sets, which constitutes a series. Perform 1-3 series per workout, with 5-8 minutes of active rest between series.
- Constant breathing throughout.
When to do it
- At the beginning of a training plan (or at the start of the off-season after you've recovered appropriately).
- During a "mini block" in a training plan in order to maintain the qualities you worked so hard to achieve during the first (larger) block of training.
Slow twitch fiber hypertrophy can be a very controversial topic among strength coaches. After all, why would you want to hypertrophy the slow twitch fibers?!
Well, you can utilize oxygen better for one thing, as the slow twitch fibers have the highest capacity for aerobic energy production. When we oxidize lactate - a byproduct of our glycolytic energy metabolism - roughly 80% of that lactate is metabolized in the slow twitch fibers. The larger our slow twitch fibers are, the more lactate we can oxidize (thus allowing us to generate more ATP to improve aerobic/anaerobic endurance).
And, no, your athletes won't lose explosive power and strength if you include slow tempo strength training. As long as you adjust the volume/intensity appropriately, and continue to include the bread and butter strength/power lifts, you have no need to fear them losing power and speed.
-Steve
40 Bench Press + 40 Push-up Variations
I wanted to get this list out and circulating before the next weekly celebration of National Bench Press Monday (please re-read the that one more time, but this time with a thick layer of sarcasm).
Anyway, I’ve actually got two lists today, the first one is a comprehensive list of bench press variations from Siff’s Supertraining. But, since we don’t do a heck of a lot of “bench pressing” with our SAPT athletes, I thought it made sense to come up with a complimentary list of Push-up variations like we use at SAPT. Enjoy.
40 Bench Press Variations to Spice Up Your Mondays:
- Snatch grip bench press (BB)
- Narrow grip bench press
- Jerk grip bench press
- Hands touching bench press
- Bench Press, starting at rest from chest (different grip spacings)
- Bench Press, with bounce at bottom, very lightly touching chest
- Bench Press, slow down, fast up
- Slow down, slow up Bench Press
- Fast down, fast up Bench Press
- Bench Press to lower part of chest
- Bench Press to mid chest
- Bench Press to clavicles
- Reverse grip Bench Press
- Thumbless grip Bench Press
- Bench Press, elbows close to body, arms rotated laterally (all variations)
- Bench Press, elbows rotated away from body, arms rotated medially (all variations)
- Bench Press, limited range between set points on power rack
- Bench Press, isometric, pressing against bar fixed at selected point
- Bench Press, driving up to stops on power rack, then pressing isometrically
- Bench Press, forced reps wit partner helping at sticking point
- Eccentric only Bench Press (raised by partner)
- Bench Press, continuous reps without rest at top or bottom
- Bench Press, replacing bar on rack between each repetition
- Concentric only Bench Press (lowered by partner)
- Bench Press, feet on bench (all variations)
- Bench Press, from different starting points off of boards
- Bench Press, load release at selected point
- Bench Press, plyometric thrust at given point against light load
- Conventional machine Bench Press (all variations)
- Bench Press, using variable resistance machine
- Bench Press, holding at different stages on way up or down or both
- Dumbbell Bench Press (above variations)
- DB Bench Press, rotating DB’s on the way up and down
- Seated Chest Press machine (all variations)
- Decline Bench Press (all variations)
- Incline Bench Press (all variations)
- Bench Press with firm sponge (foam) on chest
- Bench Press with attached chains or bands
- Oscillating Bench Press, elbows slightly bent
- Bench Press held at given level, partner pushes down with oscillating thrusts
From this list you can actually extract at least 160 total pressing variations. I’m not suggesting these are all “good” variations. But they are all variations!
40 Push-up Variations to Spice Up Your Entire Week:
- Snatch grip Push-up (very wide hand placement)
- Narrow grip Push-up
- Jerk grip Push-up
- Hands touching Push-up
- Push-up, starting at rest from floor (different grip spacings)
- Push-up, with bounce off back & triceps at end of motion
- Push-up, slow down, fast up
- Slow down, slow up Push-up
- Fast down, fast up Push-up
- Push-up to very low part of chest (hands placed low)
- Push-up to mid chest
- Push-up to clavicles
- Push-up to sandbag or low box walkover
- Push-up with one hand on medicine ball
- Push-up, elbows close to body, arms rotated laterally (all variations)
- Push-up, elbows rotated away from body, arms rotated medially (all variations)
- Push-up with both hands on medicine ball
- Push-up, isometric, holding position at selected point
- Push-up, driving up to stop from partner, then pressing isometrically
- Push-up, forced reps wit partner helping at sticking point
- Eccentric only Push-up (SAPT uses these all the time)
- Push-up, continuous reps without rest at top or bottom (Steve just wrote a post about this)
- Push-up, resting briefly between each repetition (most likely with weight on back)
- Concentric only Push-up (start from laying on floor)
- Push-up, feet on bench (all variations)
- Push-up, from different starting points off of boards or sandbags
- Push-up with crawl variation between clusters of repetitions
- Push-up, plyometric thrust (clap variations, usually)
- Depletion Push-up, 3 sets max push-ups each followed by :90 rest
- Push-up, using chains laid over back
- Push-up, holding at different stages on way up or down or both
- Single arm Push-up (above variations)
- DB Bench Press, rotating DB’s on the way up and down
- Staggered hand position Push-up
- Hands elevated Push-up (all variations & can be weighted)
- Depth drop Push-up
- Push-up, plyometric effort to land on low sandbag or box
- Push-up with attached bands
- Oscillating Push-up, elbows slightly bent
- Push-up held at given level, partner pushes down with oscillating thrust
- Sarah
Sarah
Q & A: Sugar and Recovery
Q. Okay steve got a good one for you here. Im watching sunday night baseball and they are talking about how Ryan Howard dropped weight and is watching his sugar intake claiming it helps him recover from games faster. Is there any truth to this or is announcer bubkis?
A. The CliffsNotes answer to this question is "Yes, it should help him recover faster." However, the extent to which it will help him depends on many factors.
What does the REST of his recovery protocol look like??? Is he sleeping enough, training properly, keeping other (negative) stress factors at bay, and his sympathetic nervous system in check? (You'll see sympathetic overtraining in athletes who perform excessive amounts of strength training and compete in explosive power/anerobic dominant exercises - such as playing baseball - without giving their bodies a chance to recover).
What type of sugar did Howard cut out (ex. processed sugars, or sugars found in whole foods ex. fruits)?
What was his body composition before he began cutting out sugar from his diet? Ex. did he have a significant amount of fat mass on him, or was he already relatively lean?
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that (hopefully) Ryan Howard cut out processed sugar from his diet. This alone will help anyone feel and perform better. Also, if he cut out processed sugar, I'm going to guess that he is now replacing that refined sugar with real, whole foods. So - instead of his daily sugar intake coming from cookies, bagels, and muffins - most of the sugar/starches/carbohydrates he intakes is now (hopefully) coming from whole foods like vegetables, berries, oats, legumes, potatoes, etc.
This shift in nutritional intake alone will help him recover by sending high-quality nutrients into his bloodstream to help repair damaged muscle tissue, restore cellular enzymes and substrates (essential to his performance as an athlete), rejuvenate the nervous system, and assist in a HOST of other favorable changes conducive to recovery.
If Howard did need to lose some weight, then this will undoubtedly improve his insulin sensitivity. Basically this means that his body will be able to shuttle glucose from the bloodstream into cells (primarily muscle and liver) more efficiently and effectively. This will be stored as glycogen, which a critical energy source for anerobic activities (ex. baseball).
The bottom line is ANYONE will benefit from replacing intake of refined/processed sugars (read: garbage) with foods of higher nutrient density. Whether you're an athlete or not, this will help you feel better, think more clearly, and perform better - whether you're a professional baseball player or a corporate CEO.
-Steve
