I pretty much agree with everything you’ve said in terms of sports ‘science’ geeks being behind the times BUT… in terms of performing speed-strength lifts following limit lifts…Bulgarians and Greeks do it and who’s going to argue their results? I won’t! I believe that David W wrote once that performing limit lifts ‘turns off’ the inhibitory response of the golgi tendon apparatus. He also wrote that Olympic lifting has to do more with rate coding. Why wouldn’t you do Olympic lifting AFTER limit lifts??? Anyways, I’m not one to argue the obvious RESULTS of a program such as Olympic weightlifting in Bulgaria or Greece…or the results of Charlie’s programs!
Day 3
Strength Endurance
Unilateral Lifts, Assistance Lifts?
Day 4
Tempo
Day 5
Sprint
ME Upper, Lower
Day 6 and 7
Recover/Rest
Could That work?
Basically for ME exercises go to a heavy triple on day 5 and a heavy five on day 1. I think using the 5 on day 1 will use less CNS energy, and with two recovery days after day 5 it would be acceptable to use a heavier load.
Exercises would include bench variations(grip and kind), box squat, snatch grip deadlift, or good morning.
Every three weeks, itd have to be stepped down because of the heavy lifting.
Day 3 would contain running A’s for strength endurance and repetition work in the weight room for muscular balance and functional size(size is an advantage in football). Of course this could be considered another recovery day as it is a muscularly stressing one rather than a CNS stressing one.
This also sticks with the minimalist approach, very little CNS competition outside of the basic elements(development of limit strength and sprinting ability), which would seem like it would be very efficient, as more intensity can be used on the general elements.
I would be interested in hearing Bear’s thoughts on eliminating squats. Also his thoughts on the 3 consecutive days. Were the squats eliminated to avoid unwanted mass, or because of recovery/injury issues, or some other reasons?
When I’m off I’m off. Sometimes my head is up my ass. Accordingly, my post has been edited.
Having reviewed much training information from the former Easter Bloc, and trained for many years myself, I do not know why I stated what I did in regards to not performing reactives or speed strength lifts following limit lifts. I’m thinking that I was so spun up about the article that I just pulled something out of my ass to argue. I know better.
Charlie
what’s your opinion on the article by Barry Ross and specifically on the method described by this Russian guy Pavel something? any thoughts?
thanks!
Just a note that this is one of the most awesome things I’ve seen on the forums. NOBODY, especially people with a reputation as intelligent, experienced posters like James, seems ever able to admit that they are ever wrong. James, you get major kudos and credibility points in my book for doing so.
“I would be interested in hearing Bear’s thoughts on eliminating squats. Also his thoughts on the 3 consecutive days. Were the squats eliminated to avoid unwanted mass, or because of recovery/injury issues, or some other reasons?”
Just a follow up to an old post…
I emailed back and forth with Barry a few times. He was exceptionally willing to offer advice and program guidance along with explaining his methods without holding back. In his first email back to me, he said he was sorry for the short reply but he was feeling under the weather. He proceeded to detail a full 2 page explanation to my questions!
He recommended plyos immediately after each deadlift set if I was going to do them or to forget about it.
His reason for deadlifts over squats was bang for the buck and safety. He also said “the squat is much tougher on the stabilizing muscles, especially in the low back.”
In addition to that, he recommended dropping the weight at the top of the deadlift rep instead of bringing it back down and risking hyperextending the back.
Best wishes,
Erik Lukas
P.S. It’s too bad Barry didn’t have time to stick around and tell us a little more about his program. Very interesting.
[QUOTE=elukas
He recommended plyos immediately after each deadlift set if I was going to do them or to forget about it.
His reason for deadlifts over squats was bang for the buck and safety. He also said “the squat is much tougher on the stabilizing muscles, especially in the low back.”
In addition to that, he recommended dropping the weight at the top of the deadlift rep instead of bringing it back down and risking hyperextending the back.
[/QUOTE]
Bear’s program looks intriguing for a number of reasons… I advocate very low overall volume in the weightroom for swimmers (and I’m often left with no different choice when athletes come in the gym alreday trashed by volumes of lactate tolerance work in the water),and almost always had positive results out of them.
I guess here the sets mentioned are actually considered the main ones (>80% or similar…) .Any idea of the warm up sets?
I don’t think this article is really all that valid. You took an untrained (in the weightlifting sense) and weak individual and made them strong. It doesn’t take a genius to cause gains in the beginner. And I hate it when coaches say they shouldn’t train like powerlifters, but you test in the bench and deadlift. Just get strong without interfering with your sport training. I believe this program lacks the variation required to take the next step in strength levels. Also, bodyweight is completely a dietary factor and you’re training women, who aren’t gonna bulk up that much in the first place. There’s a lot of other tools out there that can be more effectively catered to the individual athlete than presented in this article.
We do not know really what all of the track work looks like (it hasn’t been posted here at least), so it is hard to see the whole picture. I would be pressed to find many, if any, teenage girls lifting nearly as much at their light weights and low levels of experience.
Then how do powerlifters stay in weight classes? Why do bodybuilders say not to change your weight training very much during cutting and bulking phases? Why is it that whenever someone needs to gain weight the people in the know say eat more food? Why is it that whenever someone asks about getting lean they are given nutritional information?
Myofibrillar is what athletes should be doing (if their not already). Heavy weights (85%+), little TUT, with low reps (1-5) and because of the high weight, longer rest periods (3-6min between sets) are needed. This is what I think Barry Ross is trying to advocate.
Sarcoplasm hypertrophy is basically muscle fluid or water that adds weight. If there is no sarcoplasm hypertrophy, the chance of gaining weight is minimal. Although diet is a very important part of the bodyweight/strength equation. The type of workout affects bodyweight also, as myofibrillar hypertrophy aids the athlete trying to balance both.-S
Precisely the extreme linearity and relative simplicity of design of this program make it very well suited to a general strength program for sport, as they make it easier to manage it daily in consideration of the specific sport skills and abilities to be moved forward as necessary primary targets.
Precisely the extreme linearity and relative simplicity of design of this program make it very well suited to a general strength program for sport, as they make it easier to manage it daily in consideration of the specific sport skills and abilities to be moved forward as necessary primary targets.
Agreed.
What these kids reading T-Mag are missing is the “on the field experience” with real athletes. They could probably write a better strength program than their high school/college coach, but what they lack is the capability to integrate it with a sport activity.
You can have a great strength program, you can have a great vertical jump program and still suck as an athlete also because of that very great program.