[FONT="]After almost 40 years in the fitness and sports performance areas, it is still the simple things that elude most people in their quest for results. Intensity is and always will be the key for those who have a training age from which to cope with the severity of workouts that will garner the best results.[/FONT]
[FONT="]I have just finished reading Justin Langer’s motivational book, “Seeing the Sunrise," which I highly recommend. For those outside of the cricket playing nations of the world, Justin Langer played 105 tests for Australia as an opening batsmen. He was known for his grittiness, work ethic, and powers of concentration, scoring over 7,500 runs and 23 centuries for his country during a glory period for Australian cricket.[FONT="] I re-jigged one of his phrases, after what I was doing wrong for my lower body:[/FONT][/FONT]
[h=2]THRIVING SURVIVING RETIRING[/h][FONT="]I was barely surviving doing modified traditional lower body lifting, having arthritis in both knees. So I have started doing medley conditioning with implements on our indoor track, over a distance of 30 meters, simply using three or four movements and selecting (where possible) those that allow for the maintenance of a negative shin angle, for 20-30 minutes, catching breath at the end of each lap and trying to do as many laps as possible in that time frame. So today was Prowler® push high handles, sled walking, and sled bear crawling. The next workout will be the tire flip device, five muscle snatches, and overhead and farmer’s walks. Not only was there no knee pain during or after the training session, but a few extra bonuses as well: the work had me breathing like an asthmatic warthog and the lactate burn through the quads and glutes was a masochistic enlightenment. Rather than having to retire the lower body, it is now a case of thriving.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Call it what you wish—MetCon, EPOC training, BHW, anaerobic weight training, strongman circuits—the results will be the same. When you lift appropriate loads with a minimum of recovery you will produce an overload that will affect your metabolic conditioning levels and allow for specific conditioning to handle high levels of lactate and also the repeat efforts that are the hallmark of successful athletes in combat sports.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Below is a program I wrote some time ago, but is as relevant now as it was then. It is slanted to the Olympic lifts; if you are training with a partner then I would use an I-Go-You-Go session where you finish your set and I start mine with a minimum of rest between each, or just start each set with a one minute only break and attempt to bring this down to 30 seconds over time.[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT="]So the complete program if you are ready for it looks like this:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Your exercise selection will depend on your background, training levels, and equipment variation availability. Of course you can select any of the variations for the Olympic versions, either the power version of each or the starting position.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Something to take note of: BHW, is an acronym taken from a lecture by Steve Nance, former Wallaby strength & conditioning coach, and stands for Bloody Hard Work.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In keeping with the theme of the title of this article, I was asked recently to do a six-month size and strength block for a young man. Each program is a three-week loading cycle with the fourth week being a download and just two full body workout performed at 60 to 70 percent of estimated training max for four sets of six to eight reps. I include it here to show what works over time.[/FONT]
[FONT="]By the way, the young man gained a solid 10 kilograms over this time. BHW works.[/FONT]
[h=2]6-Month Size & Strength Program[/h][h=2]Program 1[/h][FONT="][FONT="]Sets/Reps
[/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]I have just finished reading Justin Langer’s motivational book, “Seeing the Sunrise," which I highly recommend. For those outside of the cricket playing nations of the world, Justin Langer played 105 tests for Australia as an opening batsmen. He was known for his grittiness, work ethic, and powers of concentration, scoring over 7,500 runs and 23 centuries for his country during a glory period for Australian cricket.[FONT="] I re-jigged one of his phrases, after what I was doing wrong for my lower body:[/FONT][/FONT]
[h=2]THRIVING SURVIVING RETIRING[/h][FONT="]I was barely surviving doing modified traditional lower body lifting, having arthritis in both knees. So I have started doing medley conditioning with implements on our indoor track, over a distance of 30 meters, simply using three or four movements and selecting (where possible) those that allow for the maintenance of a negative shin angle, for 20-30 minutes, catching breath at the end of each lap and trying to do as many laps as possible in that time frame. So today was Prowler® push high handles, sled walking, and sled bear crawling. The next workout will be the tire flip device, five muscle snatches, and overhead and farmer’s walks. Not only was there no knee pain during or after the training session, but a few extra bonuses as well: the work had me breathing like an asthmatic warthog and the lactate burn through the quads and glutes was a masochistic enlightenment. Rather than having to retire the lower body, it is now a case of thriving.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Call it what you wish—MetCon, EPOC training, BHW, anaerobic weight training, strongman circuits—the results will be the same. When you lift appropriate loads with a minimum of recovery you will produce an overload that will affect your metabolic conditioning levels and allow for specific conditioning to handle high levels of lactate and also the repeat efforts that are the hallmark of successful athletes in combat sports.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Below is a program I wrote some time ago, but is as relevant now as it was then. It is slanted to the Olympic lifts; if you are training with a partner then I would use an I-Go-You-Go session where you finish your set and I start mine with a minimum of rest between each, or just start each set with a one minute only break and attempt to bring this down to 30 seconds over time.[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT="]So the complete program if you are ready for it looks like this:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Your exercise selection will depend on your background, training levels, and equipment variation availability. Of course you can select any of the variations for the Olympic versions, either the power version of each or the starting position.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Something to take note of: BHW, is an acronym taken from a lecture by Steve Nance, former Wallaby strength & conditioning coach, and stands for Bloody Hard Work.[/FONT]
[FONT="]In keeping with the theme of the title of this article, I was asked recently to do a six-month size and strength block for a young man. Each program is a three-week loading cycle with the fourth week being a download and just two full body workout performed at 60 to 70 percent of estimated training max for four sets of six to eight reps. I include it here to show what works over time.[/FONT]
[FONT="]By the way, the young man gained a solid 10 kilograms over this time. BHW works.[/FONT]
[h=2]6-Month Size & Strength Program[/h][h=2]Program 1[/h][FONT="][FONT="]Sets/Reps
[/FONT][/FONT]
- [FONT="]First Exercise[/FONT] – 4 x 6
- [FONT="]Second Exercise[/FONT] – 3 x 8
- [FONT="]Third Exercise[/FONT] – 2 x 12
- Bradford Press
- DB Seated Shoulder Press
- DB Standing Lateral Raise
- Cambered Bar Box Squat or Front Squat
- Safety Bar Squat or Back Squat
- Leg Extension or Bulgarian Sprinter`s Squat
- Chins
- Bent Over Row
- Pulldown to Chest
- Incline Bench Press
- DB Bench Press
- Dips
- Good Morning
- Romanian Dead Lift
- Back Extension
[/FONT][/FONT]
- [FONT="]First Exercise[/FONT] – 4 x 6
- [FONT="]Second Exercise[/FONT] – 3 x 8
- [FONT="]Third Exercise[/FONT] – 2 x 12
- Bradford Press
- DB Seated Shoulder Press
- DB Standing Lateral Raise
- Cambered Bar Box Squat
- Safety Bar Squat
- Bulgarian Sprinter’s Squat
- Chins
- Bent Over Row
- Pulldown to Chest
- Incline Bench Press
- DB Bench Press
- Dips
- Good Morning
- Romanian Dead Lift
- Reverse Hyper
- Front Squat
- Back Squat
- Bulgarian Sprinters Squat
- Military Press
- Seated Press Behind Neck
- DB Front Raise
- Incline DB Press
- Close Grip Bench Press
- Low Incline DB Flyes
- DB One Arm Row
- Close Grip Pulldown
- DB Pullover
- Dead Lift
- Reverse Hyper
- Single Leg Back Extension
- First Exercise – 3 x 3
- Second Exercise – 4 x 4
- Third Exercise – 5 x 5
- Push Press
- Military Press
- Trap Bar Shoulder Press
- Overhead Squat
- Front Squat
- Back Squat
- Bent Over Row
- Weighted Chins
- Seated Row
- Bench Press
- Incline Bench Press
- Barbell Floor Press
- Power Snatch
- Power Clean
- Clean Pulls
- First Exercise – 3 x 3
- Second Exercise – 4 x 4
- Third Exercise – 5 x 5
- Push Press
- Military Press
- Trap Bar Shoulder Press
- Overhead Squat
- Front Squat
- Back Squat
- Bent Over Row
- Weighted Chins
- Seated Row
- Bench Press
- Incline Bench Press
- Barbell Floor Press
- Power Snatch
- Power Clean
- Clean Pulls
- First Exercise – 4 x 6
- Second Exercise – 3 x 8
- Third Exercise – 2 x 12
- Bradford Press
- DB Seated Shoulder Press
- DB Standing Lateral Raise
- Cambered Bar Box Squat
- Safety Bar Squat
- Leg Extension
- Chins
- Bent Over Row
- Pulldown to Chest
- Incline Bench Press
- DB Bench Press
- Dips
- Good Morning
- Romanian Dead Lift
- Back Extension
- 3 x 3 Push Press
- 4 x 4 Cambered Bar Press
- 5 x 5 Trap Bar Press
- 4 x 6 Bradford Press
- 3 x 8 DB Shoulder Press
- 2 x 12 DB Lateral Raise
- 3 x 3 Overhead Squat or Band Box Squat
- 4 x 4 Front Squat
- 5 x 5 Back Squat
- 4 x 6 Cambered Bar Box Squat
- 3 x 8 Safety Bar Squat
- 2 x 12 Bulgarian Single Leg Sprinter`s Squat
- 3 x 3 Wide Chins
- 4 x 4 Bent Over Row
- 5 x 5 Seated Row
- 4 x 6 Weighted Chins (supinated grip)
- 3 x 8 One Arm DB Row
- 2 x 12 Pulldowns to Chest
- 3 x 3 Band Bench Press
- 4 x 4 Incline Bench
- 5 x 5 Close Grip Bench Press
- 4 x 6 Incline DB Press
- 3 x 8 Flat DB Bench Press
- 2 x 12 Dips
- 3 x 3 Power Snatch
- 4 x 4 Power Clean
- 5 x 5 Deadlift
- 4 x 6 Good Morning
- 3 x 8 Romanian Deadlift
- 2 x 12 Back Extension
- 3 x 3 Front Squat superset Standing Military Press
- 4 x 4 Back Squat superset Seated Press Behind Neck
- 4 x 6 Cambered Bar Box Squat superset Seated DB Shoulder Press
- 3 x 8 Leg Extension superset DB Lateral Raises
- 4 x 6 Incline DB Bench Press superset Hammer Low Row
- 3 x 8 Flat DB Bench Press superset Hammer High Row
- 3 x 3 Barbell Bench Press superset Bent Over Row
- 4 x 4 Incline Bench Press superset Weighted Chins
- 3 x 3 Power Snatch
- 4 x 4 Power Clean
- 5 x 5 Deadlift
- Loaded Ab work – Suitcase Deadlift, Shovel Lift, Turkish Get Up, Zercher lift
- 3 x 3 Front Squat superset Standing Military Press
- 4 x 4 Back Squat superset Seated Press Behind Neck
- 4 x 6 Cambered Bar Box Squat superset Seated DB Shoulder Press
- 3 x 8 Leg Extension superset DB Lateral Raises
- 4 x 6 Incline DB Bench Press superset Hammer Low Row
- 3 x 8 Flat DB Bench Press superset Hammer High Row
- 3 x 3 Barbell Bench Press superset Bent Over Row
- 4 x 4 Incline Bench Press superset Weighted Chins
- 4 x 6 Good Morning
- 3 x 8 Romanian Deadlifts
- 2 x 12 Glute Ham Raise
- 3 x 25 Rollouts (or unloaded ab work or your choice)
