Saturday, May 22, 2010

7 Rep Snatch Vo2 at an 8 rep pace.




It's amazing, the concept of progressive overload really works,lol. The equation to progress is very simple:

adaptation = overload + recovery.

The real problem in the equation is recovery. One can only make progress if one delivers some kind of overload to the system AND they can recover from it before the next training session. People can do ALL kinds of workloads.

Once.

The problem is repeating them again and again AND increasing the loads( both volume and intensity) over time. For each level of ability one must be able to do a specific amount of work( training) associated with it.

This is what made Louie Simmons's system at WSB so appealing to me. There was a formula. For example, if I wanted to squat 600 lbs I must be able to do 12 sets of 2 with 420 lbs in the box squat with only 45 seconds rest between sets. That's no joke. And not just survive them, but do with as 'speed work', with maximum ( in this case 600 lbs worth) of acceleration. I also needed to be able to use 600 lbs or more of loading in various special exercises to approximate that load on the specific muscles involved( power good morning, for example).

So weren't doing 12 sets of 2 with 420 lbs but 12 sets of 2 with 600 lbs worth of force! That was the key. Max effort even in the dynamic effort work.

But it one thing to do the work and quite another to recover and adapt to it and be able to up the ante the next time. This is where waving the loads comes into play. The nature of adaptation is NOT linear, but organic and hence:" the next step off a peak is always down, one can either step back or fall off."

The question one has to learn about themselves is can they progress for only 2 or 3 or 4 weeks before they must step back, without falling off? Ah, that's the real quest. To know your own body, your own adaptation abilities and STILL keep paying attention as they change as well.
Biofeedback indeed.

And for me, I know, I need real recovery. Weekends off, feet up , takin it easy recovery to make my best progress and that's how it's been lately. And my training progress is showing that.

Did my first snatch vo2 workout today in eons using all 7 rep sets and I am very happy about that. Backing off my Thursday workout helped a lot and I felt ready to train this am. I thought, very briefy, about 'warming ' up for 10 sets with just 6's but as soon as I did the first set I knew I would go straight to 7's. I was snatching, right from the first set, at an 8 rep per 15 second pace and that made me VERY VERY happy.

MY groove has sunk in and the stroke is powerful and short. Efficient. Efficiency does NOT mean easy or slow or less effort. It mean technically correct for whatever one is trying to accomplish. For me in my snatch that means max acceleration on each rep AND the shortest stroke possible.
Everyone is different.

Snatch Vo2
15:15
16kg
60 sets of 7 reps
420 reps
15,120 lbs

Nice! I could, however definitely feel an increase in cardiovascular stress which is a good thing. When I don't have to worry about whether my back is going to tweak on each rep it frees me up to concentrate on other things; like really training hard and pushing myself a bit. Thank you God. I love to train hard, what a gift, what a blessing to be able to change yourself just through your own effort. Just from your own vision, your own desire, your own will.

I have loved this and lived this idea since I was 14 years old and realized there were few things in my life I could control but I could control my body. Or at least learn to. My body became by art project, my own experiment in beauty and movement and science. Changing form just by thinking about it, then bringing it into existence. Nice.

Still works too, although nowadays things take a lot longer to manifest. No hurries, what else I got to do? Win lose or draw the next day is back to the gym.Training is the source. At least my source.

It also helped to be doing my thing as Tracy and Meg went through some SERIOUS max vo2 based training which involved serious high intensity work sets with almost no rest. Thank you no, this is quite enough for me.

They were killing it although I could tell it was challenging them as well. The fitter you get the harder you must train to get any fitter. That's the conundrum ; and, of course, the harder you train the more recovery you need. AND, the fitter you get the smaller the increments of progress you can get. That goes for EVERY athlete, in every sport. Diminishing returns is not just a theory, it's reality.

That's what separates the true athletes from the wannabe's. Which is just fine with me.

And all of this was possible because I changed one thing in my snatch mechanics; which changed everything. Little changes can make HUGE differences. Never be afraid to experiment, especially if things aren't going great.


Clubbell Shield casts

10 lbs x10/10 x 3 sets
15 ls x 8/8 x 4 sets

These went much better and I really spent some time working on my technique on my left side so as not to overload my elbow which doesn't like these arm cast movements lately. Studying Scott Sonnons video really helped and what I grokked about it from the mill I put into place with the shield cast. Worked well. Nice to handle the 15's again too :))

Stretching:

Strap hamstrings, straight and with crossver
Brettzell
overhead stick in 3 stances ( horse, and both side lunges)
foam roller
down dog
up dog
all around the dog( that's a joke, son)
behind back stick stretches


Datsit!~



2 comments:

Tracy Reifkind said...

my love.....

One of my favorite "Rif" phrases is....

"I may not out lift them, but I will out last them."

Sweetie, at the age of 53, after a highly competitive athletic career as a elite, "olympic" level, gymnast and high endurance althlete, not to mention strong as M-er F-er powerlifter.....you rock!

Keep it up and I only pray that I can follow.

thank you for your guidance and your standards.

Mark Reifkind said...

Honey,

You are my muse, my inspiration. You are what makes me and keeps me strong :))
It's only the beginning.

Thursday ruck

 Another decently strong one. Cool weather again and that helps.. Calves were tight, the only thing slowing me down 45 lb ruck 6 laps 3 mile...