Sometimes I am surprised

Hey everybody!

So, I was thinking about some of the ideas I had about covering my favorite pulling training, and it occurred to me...

Whenever I see something that is really popular all of the sudden, I am often surprised. Well not surprised. I think that I am like "That's nothing to freak out about: we've all been doing that for years."

Then I realize that maybe I don't know what a lot of people are doing. Or what their not doing. Hehe... There's a great article a few months back about Donald Rumsfeld's 'unknown unknowns', and not to get all philosophical on you, but maybe I don't know what you don't know. Maybe you don't know that you don't know it. Whatever the case, there's probably stuff you want to read more about.

So what is it?

PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE: Post your thoughts to comments. I like figuring out how to manage the long term training of athletes that have a WIDE VARIETY of physical demands placed on them. So, I like looking at how to handle the the training load and volume of a grappler who's got to go to BJJ 4 times a week, and Judo twice a week, and he lifts 2-4 times a week and there's no set 'season'. I want to know 'enough' about powerlifting, weightlifting, plyometrics and conditioning such that I can prepare someone like that widely and broadly. I like doing it with KBs, barbells, rings, parallettes, bags, dumbbells, bodies etc.

What do you like? What should we cover more of on RCPC?

Leave your thoughts in comments.

Reverse Band Benchin'

After Klint tempted me to test my max out, and after having had a good day working 185x4, I tried this, in the hopes of having a good size 'average weight' and a little bit of TUT with supramaximal weights.

Dug it.

Reverse Band Benchin' from Full Circle on Vimeo.

Deadliftin in the Garage

Decided to do a little retest of my max DL.

Starting a program built around DL's, Power Snatches and LOTS of Push Pressin'.

Got the Power Snatch up to a wopping 137lbs. Push Press is good at about 150lbs, and now the Deadlift...

Retest DL 1RM from Full Circle on Vimeo.

Conjugate Highlights

Some of my stuff I've been doing from Crossfit Full Circle's WOD

Conjugate Highlights 11-30 from Full Circle on Vimeo.

Conjugate or Concurrent O Lifting

As promised previously, here's where I am getting to with these concepts;

Make the fast faster.
Don't limit to the barbell.
Rotate exercises.

Separate Max and Dynamic Effort via a Binary and Qualitative dichotomy. So, my first big idea was that Dynamic Effort is really all about speed, and the combination of form, speed and weight that is next to impossible to measure outside of lab. Hence, Dynamic methods might be best for those lifts fundamentally 'qualitative' anyways; pulls especially.

For Dynamic workouts, the focus would be pulls, squats and overhead lifts (press, jerk etc). I thought about incorporating two non-competitive lifts in one day as well, such as High Pulls and Strict Presses for instance. However, I think that it would be better to truly work one lift hard, with 8-12 sets of 1-4 reps, and increase the training frequency (5 days a week or more) rather than try to cover too much ground in each workout. This has a lot of potential too as Dynamic workouts tend to be short and sweet, which bodes very well for an athlete's hormonal profile.

For Maximum Effort workouts, one would lean to those lifts that are binary in nature, ie pass/fail. In the snatch, you either complete the lift or you don't. Good examples of max effort day lifts might include:
full lifts
hang variants
power variants
snatch balance
jerks from various starts and finishes
squats, DLs and presses

notice that the overlap here is in pulls, squats and presses again. Ie, an athlete would constantly be working squatting and pulling. That sounds like a surefire way to increase your O lifts.

Like the Westside system, the best application of the supplemental and accessory lifts would be a combination of basics that everyone needs (core strength) and special exercises that would bring up an athlete's weakest links. The latter should be determined by coaches or trusted lifting partners, not yourself!

I'll post examples in a week or two of workouts by the week, to kind of show what I am talking about.

remember when I used to deadlift

This is mostly for my benefit, to re-inspire me to return to my PTTP roots.

This was back last summer. I was weighing about 155lbs.

This is also a good look at 1RM DL'ing. Watch the form regress, but not 'fail' outright.

Deadlift 339lbs

Nice and clean ~90%



Deadlift 359lbs

still looking pretty good. Hips come up a little faster, overall lift is a little slower. I drop the bar right after lock out. It was a double overhand grip. You try 2.3x bodyweight like that sometime! ~95%


Deadlift : 369lbs

My hips come straight up, and I lose some thoracic extension, but my lumbar remains arched. I am a strong 'rdl'er', and that's basically what I did here. Don't recommend it for everyone.
~97%


Deadlift 379lbs

It should be clear that this is a MAX effort. The lift required about 6 seconds to complete from lift off until lock out. I lost ALL thoracic extension. However, my lumbar remained straight (rather than arched). This was absolutely 100% of 1RM. Another 5lbs would have shut me down. At the time, I wished to compete with the PTTP DL team, which required a contest performance of 2.5 x BW. This was about 2.43 for me at the time. I needed additional time to prepare for the RKC certification, so I stopped.

Where to Lift in RVA

Since moving to Richmond, I have been around a little. There are some great places to lift...

but so far my favorite, and the one where I spend the most time, has to be the Weight Room.

Run by Chris Lawyer, the Weight Room, off of Broad and Roseneath, near the intersection of 195/64, is not large. I think it's about 1600 square feet. It doesn't have a lot of fancy equipment. But it has two of the most important things a gym can have; people that can help you improve technically, and trainees that are serious about improving themselves. It sounds stupid, but the right environment is probably more important than any other single factor in serious lifting success. Since beginning training at the Weight Room, I have consistently hit new PR's in everything that I track. Much of this would have happened anywhere I train, but still. I know that much of was as great or as quick as it was due to the positive, supportive and intense environment that I have the luxury of training in a few times a week. Thanks TWR!

PS: Prices for membership vary, but I paid $150 for a six month membership. That's $25 a month, for a gym that has bumpers and tires and stones, amongst other things!