Brian March 17th, 2009
On March 13th and 14th myself and two of our personal trainers attended the Hammer Strength clinic in Montclair, N.J. The clinic included presentations on training periodization, nutrition and recovery methods from some of the best strength and conditioning coaches across the country. S&C coaches from Princeton University, Rutgers University, Vanderbilt University, University of Louisville, Boston College, University of Delaware and Notre Dame High School presented. All the coaches had a different take on the development of the athlete, but there were some common threads in their ideas on training. I list some of the most pertinent points below.
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Most athletes and almost all novice trainees are not flexible enough. I am not talking about just the hurdlers stretch here, but something called dynamic flexibility. This is the ability to go through a range of motion (ROM) during a movement without causing injury or using poor mechanics to complete the movement. Inadequate dynamic and static flexibility can lead to injury and will hinder sports and weekend warrior performance. Include mobility drills for the hips, legs and shoulders. A quick internet search will give you tons of ideas.
Watch your volume:
Volume, or volume load, is simply the amount of weight lifted multiplied by the number of sets and reps. Ex.) If you do 3 sets of 10 reps with 200 lbs. your volume load will be 6,000 lbs. That is the amount of weight you have moved during your training session. This is fine if you can handle this amount of volume, but if you find yourself constantly getting little injuries, feeling unduly fatigued or just not making progress you may need to back off the volume a little. Try more sets for fewer reps. This will increase your intensity while lowering the volume, which can me being back on the road to gains.
Take a more holistic approach to your training:
Nothing takes place in a vacuum and your training is no different. You need to look at all the things that can affect your training and progress and assess your current program. Life stresses such as family, work, school and relationships can all take a toll on the body and your training. If there is a lot of work or school stress then you need to back off from training a little to allow the body to adjust. If you keep hammering away you can end up injured, sick or overtrained. An example would be to cut back from training five days per week to 3 days. You could shorten your weight training sessions by combining different days (chest and back) and cutting down the sets. Aerobic type training could be performed after this for a shorter period of time.
The body works as a unit, so train it as one!
This is anathema to bodybuilding, but for building a solid, strong and functional body it is sound advice. Instead of breaking down your training into body parts (Monday-chest, Tuesday-back etc.) try training the entire body in one day. An example would be to do squats, romanian deadlifts and bench press on one day. This can get kind of tricky because you have to start training with percentages, but do some research and set up a basic three day/week training program and you are sure to see great results.
Ok, this has been a small novel. More to come.
In Health,
Brian Ramage
