Hi Guys,
I’ve never done any serious weight lifting before but after reading Chris T’s Modern Strength & Power Methods i’ve thought about starting the CAD training system discussed in the book. Is this a good idea? Is there anything i need to do in order to build up strength to cope with the olympic lifts? And is something like this absolutely necessary in order to be fast. Are there any alternatives to heavy lifting?
Thank You
ps. any help you could give me would be welcomed
Chris.
I don’t know the system you are refering to off hand but you don’t ABSOLUTLY need to do the Olympic lifts to be fast. While strength training is very important it is overhyped for speed development. If you have a good coach and can learn to do the lifts correctly they will help a great deal. If you learn them incorrectly (no double knee bend etc) according to Mike Stone (US Olympic Committee and one of the world’s leading experts on Olympic lifts) you will:
- Find it almost impossible to change your technique later on
- The transfer to the track will be minimal
- You will very likely get injured.
Bottom line. Yes strength training is good but keep the training within the limits of what you can do effectivly and safely.
If you want to learn the Olympic lifts and are in the UK or Europe personal message me for more information.
TC
The most important thing about lifting is technique. Get some coaching on this from a weightlifting coach. Why?
The snatch is all about technique.
The CAD systems is great, it is effective. You will have to cycle it in your programme. Off the top of my head you could do something like this
4 Weeks - Conditioning
4 Weeks - Hypertrophy
4 Weeks - CAD System
2 Weeks - Maintenance
I’m not saying that the above is great, it is meant to be an idea.
How many sessions are you planning on doing?
There are alternatives, but with everything in lift there is an opportunity cost. You effectively need to weigh up the pros and cons of each method to decide.
the CAd COULd be great, but if, like you says, you’ve never done any seriuos lifting before, you are better served using more traditional methods of strength training, starting with a base of medium lifting (hypertrophy), leading to a strength phase, using big compound exercises…The O-lifts could be great too, but you migth need a coach.If it is not an opportunity but still want to try them(NOT needed to run fast, but just because you like them)another option could be to buy the weightlifintg encyclpedia and the videos by arthur drechsler
Although I absolutely agree that lifting technique is very important, I do believe it can be (re-)learnt; start from zero and build up. It might take some more time, but it can be done.
We’re talking about track athletes and lifting as a supplementary means, right?