In-Season Weights

[tb2010]

@John

from the notes I took at a CF seminar

With higher level athletes be careful with testing maxes, for example a top level shot putter should never test 1RM as it is too high and potential for injury too great. Ben stopped progressing his squat poundages as the chance of injury was too great, he could squat 600lbs, did he really need to go higher? At some point the possibility of serious injury outweighs the need to keep adding weigh to the bar.

yes, ive read this before, but knowing ben did 4x600 and 2x550 has little meaning if i dont know how much effort or whatever was put into the lifts. say my max squat is 360, to do a comparable thing would i be doing 4x315, or is that like 4x285 for me, or even less? im still not sure

[John]

@tb2010

yes, ive read this before, but knowing ben did 4x600 and 2x550 has little meaning if i dont know how much effort or whatever was put into the lifts. say my max squat is 360, to do a comparable thing would i be doing 4x315, or is that like 4x285 for me, or even less? im still not sure

it would depend upon how you felt on the day, THAT is the whole point of weights being general.

The volume of each training session needs to be managed at the time. If there is an extraordinary speed session you may need to drop weights altogether as including the weight session may cause undue CNS stress thereby stalling, or even regressing progress. Progression is vital. If it is a high CNS day you adjust the volume as required to reach the appropriate CNS limit, conversely if the day is low CNS ensure it stays that way.

[tb2010]

@John

it would depend upon how you felt on the day, THAT is the whole point of weights being general.

The volume of each training session needs to be managed at the time. If there is an extraordinary speed session you may need to drop weights altogether as including the weight session may cause undue CNS stress thereby stalling, or even regressing progress. Progression is vital. If it is a high CNS day you adjust the volume as required to reach the appropriate CNS limit, conversely if the day is low CNS ensure it stays that way.

of course, but also as someone who’s only trained for a little over a year gaging stuff like that is very diffcult, so seeing where others’ lans have come from is always helpful (though copying bj is probably not a good idea for most people).

i assume that if bj never really trained his squat above 600, then the 4x600 would have been a fair amount of effort if he had been half squatting, but at a quarter squat who knows…

[star61]

@tb2010

any idea what % of his one rep max these were? or even what % of his 4 & 2 rep maxes?

I discussed this with CF on this board. From that exchange I came away believing these lifts were probably at least 90% if 1RM. Charlie suggested that Ben’s extremely high speed endurance was matched by a high level of strength endurance, hence he could do a higher than average number of reps at higher intensities. In other words, a percentage intensity that might be a 4RM for the average lifter might be a 6RM for Ben.

[tb2010]

@star61

I discussed this with CF on this board. From that exchange I came away believing these lifts were probably at least 90% if 1RM. Charlie suggested that Ben’s extremely high speed endurance was matched by a high level of strength endurance, hence he could do a higher than average number of reps at higher intensities. In other words, a percentage intensity that might be a 4RM for the average lifter might be a 6RM for Ben.

thanks, i do have vague memory of reading that in some thread wondering if he could squat 700. though he half squatted 600+, so the quarter squat at that weight wouldnt be quite as difficult i believe

[robin1]

@tb2010

any idea what % of his one rep max these were? or even what % of his 4 & 2 rep maxes?

Ben is reported to have squatted 600 lb to near parallel for 6 reps. However, you’re probably not going to get a similar stimulus working at the same percentage of your 1rm if yours is substantially lower than his.

[tb2010]

@robin1

Ben is reported to have squatted 600 lb to near parallel for 6 reps. However, you’re probably not going to get a similar stimulus working at the same percentage of your 1rm if yours is substantially lower than his.

thats true, but none of the things i do in training are likely even close to bj’s level so i doubt i can get the same stimulus really no matter what i do.

i know because of this i can afford higher volume,
but i was just curious so i could have a better understanding of whether the quarter squats were like null-weight for him, or if it was somewhat substantial work

[pavel]

I have a question with regard to starting max strength bloc with teens. Do you think is good to do like bench press, leg press, lat pulls… with weights about 5-6 reps? With a good technique…of course. Guys 16-18 yr? So far we have done 10-12 range… Thanx…

[James_Smith]

@pavel

I have a question with regard to starting max strength bloc with teens. Do you think is good to do like bench press, leg press, lat pulls… with weights about 5-6 reps? With a good technique…of course. Guys 16-18 yr? So far we have done 10-12 range… Thanx…

If you’ve determined that they’ve exhausted the benefits of more extensive weight training and you’re confident that they can execute higher intensity weight training with sound mechanical execution then they should be fine.

Just continue to be conservative with the overall tonnage.