I have never been one to live by the recommendations that clever people put on a piece of paper after studying other people for a length of time. Science is a great asset, but an abstraction of life and far from perfect when humans replace numbers and predictable outcomes. Any strength coach will tell you strength begins to subside after about 1 week off from training. However, I am not one to conform or follow the herd and have demonstrated time and again how physiologically and psychologically refreshing the odd week or two off from training can be. The last 3 times I did this I actually came back and achieved several personal bests in strength and power based activities. It is also important not to underestimate the effect that allowing a full recovery of minor injuries and niggles can have on the general feeling of well-being and freshness to "get at it". After all, there is no such thing as a healthy athlete - think about this one! Routine is good, but everything in moderation - even moderation!
Anyway, with my rest period over - this was not self inflicted rest but acute bronchitis with antibiotics and an emergency Doctor trip so it will qualify as time off - I had my first session for nearly 2 weeks. Not that the rest was planned based on 3 competitions over the next 2 months and events that will require a lot of work for improvement. If lucky, I can possibly get back to where I was in 4 weeks for the first one and maybe peak for the last 2.
Something I have missed is my martial arts training as I have my foundations firmly in that area. So I decided that even though it was a weightlifting session session followed by kettlebells I would use a traditional Taekwondo warm up of bodyweight exercises, kicking drills, raising kick actions and some dynamic stretching. However, the principle of specificity and dynamic correspondence would surely say that this was all wrong and like a boxer swimming 10 lengths to prepare for his fight. Honestly, I do enjoy the fitness industry and the many people I have met and trained and many good friends that I have been blessed to meet from all areas of fitness, education and business. What does grind me down is the abundance of sheep that are not afraid to think for themselves, but do not even realise thinking was an option. Fervent adherents to the next guru, snake oil and shiny new exercise tool that appears and constantly making enemies with the one-upmanship so prevalent in an industry of many chiefs and few Indians. Everyone is no.1 one or at least has an expert as a Facebook "friend" and so excellence is qualified through association. Once again, I do love working in this industry and am seldom one to moan and grumble. Even less seldom to engage in the trivial activities that appear to be daily life for trainers desperate to climb the ladder using other people's heads as their hoist up to success. So how did it feel? Well, it was actually the best warm up I have ever done for a weightlifting session. I was fresh, springy, alert and not fatigued and more importantly, the raising kicks provided more than adequate stretching and activation of the whole lower posterior chain while maintaining sufficient explosive power. One key thing here is to realise the difference between doing something because you think it is right and doing something because you know it will have a desired outcome - and it worked for me; an individual and not a randomised control statistic that got buried with a mass of other participants that have never trained frequently for more than 2 weeks.
The workout post warm up was working up to a 60kg snatch for 10 good consecutive reps as I knew heavier and harder would impact future sessions with increased recovery time. Then followed 3 sets of front squats with the same weight from power cleans and deadlifts with strict form. The session ended with 100 x 16k snatches alternating every 10 reps for a nice finisher. Thoroughly enjoyable session and looking forward to the competitions!
I guess the take-home message here is what I hear other people tell me about many experts in the field - think for yourself, dare to be different and never stop questioning.....
No comments:
Post a Comment