The Performance Menu Issue 58 - Nov. 2009

8/12/2019 The Performance Menu Issue 58 - Nov. 2009

1/24

PLANNING TRAININ

SANDUSKY WEIGHTLIFTING

SPEED TRAINING

GROUP OLYMPIC LIFT INSTRUCTION

OURNAL OF HEALTH & ATHLETIC EXCELLEN

PERFORMANCE MEN


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4Controlling the Tornado: Planning Your TrainingMatt Foreman

Part 1 of a series on planning your weightlifting training

8Teaching the Olympic Lifts in the CrossFit SettingGreg Everett

Developing an effective system for teaching the Olympic liftswithin the CrossFit group setting - The nal part

1213 & Under Training

Ryan KyleThe next program in the Sandusky Weightlifting system

15Speed Training for the Non-Track AthleteScott Kustes

Programming for sprint work

22Cooking with ScottyScotty Hagnas

Recipes for health, performance and longevity from certiedculinary stud Scotty Hagnas

Volume 5 .Issue 58 .November 2009


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The Performance Menuis published monthly in digital

format by Catalyst Athletics, LLC.

On the CoverJocelyn Forest

Layout & DesignGreg Everett

SubscriptionSubscribe online instantly at

www.cathletics.com

Back IssuesBackissues are available at

www.cathletics.com

All content copyright Catalyst Athletics,LLC and its respective authors. Unau-thorized reproduction or distribution is

prohibited by law.

Info Contributors

Greg Everettis the owner of Catalyst Athletics, publisher of The Performance Menuand author o

Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches.

Matt Foremanis the football and track & eld coach at Mountain View High School in Phoenix, AZ

A competitive weightliter for twenty years, Foreman is a four-time National Championship bronze

medalist, two-time American Open silver medalist, three-time American Open bronze medalisttwo-time National Collegiate Champion, 2004 US Olympic Trials competitor, 2000 World University

Championship Team USA competitor, and Arizona and Washington state record-holder. He was

also First Team All-Region high school football player, lettered in high school wrestling and track, ahigh school national powerlifting champion, and a Scottish Highland Games competitor. Foreman

has coached multiple regional, state, and national champions in track & eld, powerlifting, and

weightlifting, and was an assistant coach on 5A Arizona state runner-up football and track teams

Scott Hagnas is owner of CrossFit Portland. He is certied as a CrossFit level 2 trainer and Circula

Strength Training (clubbell) instructor. He has been riding BMX atland for 26 years and countingand has lmed/produced/edited several series of BMX videos, plus several training videos. He

formerly competed in bicycle trials, placing second in amateur in the World Championships in 1990

Cooking is one of his favorite pastimes.

Scott Kustesis USA Track and Field Level 1 certied and is a Masters Track and Field competitor inthe 100m, 200m, 400m, and Long Jump. He is co-owner of the Fitness Spotlight, focusing on healthtness, and nutrition from a Paleo/Primal perspective.

Ryan Kyleis the coach ofSandusky Weightlifting, which has produced both school-age Pan Amteam and junior world team members.
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4/24THE PERFORMANCE MENU ISSUE 58 NOVEMBER 2009 4

Weightlifting | Matt Foreman

Controlling the Tornado: Planning Your Training

This article will be focused on planning out your trainingprogram. And youre out of your mind if you think Imgoing to start with a slogan that youve already heard

a million times like Failing to plan is planning to fail.

This slogan is a proven truth, but it should be painfullyobvious. I shouldnt have to remind you that planningis important any more than I should have to remindyou not to eat yellow snow.

However, there is obviously a good reason why sloganslike this are used so often. Most people understandthat having a solid plan of attack before beginningany endeavor is going to put you in a much betterposition to be successful. When we listen to interviewswith people who have been highly accomplished intheir elds, whether the eld is athletics or business, oneof the most common aspects of their achievements

is precise planning. I cant remember ever readingan article about an Olympic gold medalist where theathlete said, For my workouts, I just kinda come to thegym and do whatever I feel like doing that day. BillGates never told the world, I just hired some peopleto help me make computers. I dont know how thehell my company grew so much. Nope, sorry. Elitepersonalities usually approach things from the oppositedirection.

Take Lance Armstrong, for example. This guy won sevenTour de France races while pedaling with only onetesticle. I once read that one of Armstrongs nicknamesis Mr. Millimeter. People started calling Lance by thisname because of his obsessive, fanatical attentionto proper preparation. In all aspects of his trainingand performance, Armstrong analyzes and renesevery single detail down to razor-sharp perfection. Ina sport like Olympic weightlifting, these personalitiesare just as prevalent. I once saw a documentary onthe Bulgarian weightlifting program of the 1980s wherecoach Ivan Abadjiev was in a shouting match withsuperheavyweight world champion Antonio Krastev.

Krastev wanted to snatch 200 kilos in a particularworkout, and Abadjievs training plan had dictatedthat Krastev would only be able to snatch 195 that dayThe lm showed Krastev taking multiple attempts a

200 and barking at Abadjiev, I can do 200! Abadjievwatched and continued to admonish Antonio withNo, you will not do a gram more than 195 today.Like Lance Armstrong, Abadjiev put amazing amountsof time and concentration into his training plans.

Because of all these examples and because of theimportance of this topic, this article will be the rst in

a three-part series. This month, we will examine theplanning of yearly training. Next month, we will focuson the preparation of individual training cycles withina given year. And then the series will conclude with athird article about the planning of individual workouts

within those training cycles. Sounds organized, huh?Hey, you get high quality here at the PerformanceMenu.

365 days. What to do?

Although these articles are obviously focused onOlympic Weightlifting, there are plenty of valuableconcepts to be discussed that are equally applicableto generalized Crosst training, ghting, cyclingbodybuilding, or any other discipline where progressis expected.When looking at a year of competition and trainingthe rst step on the road is goal analysis. Ask yourself

what you want to accomplish in 2010 or any otheryear youre approaching. Weightlifting is a very easysport to set goals in because the sport is centered onnumbers. If your best competition lifts are a 100 kilosnatch and 130 kilo clean and jerk, you might decidethat 10 kilos of progress in each lift during a full yearis reasonable. However, there are several variables to



factor into this phase of your goal setting. For example,lets say that your best competition lifts are 100/130, butyou are a 120 kilo man who only trained two monthsto achieve those lifts, your technique is improving, andyour base strength level is through the roof (legitimate500 pound squat, 550 deadlift, etc.) In this case, tenkilos of improvement on each lift in one year might betoo conservative. For this hypothetical athlete, I wouldnot hesitate to expect around 120/150 or more after a

full year of concentrated training.

Then, lets look at another example. In this situation,

the athlete has best competition lifts of 100/130 but thelifter is an elite female national champion in the 75 kiloclass who has been training full-time for ten years andholds all the American records. With this lifter, planningfor 110/140 in one year might be a bit of a stretch. Thepoint is that all of these details factor into the settingof goals. And to complicate things even more, it mustbe acknowledged that most people will have towork around several distraction factors when theyplan out their competition year. What are distraction

factors? Here are two of the biggest ones:Work: Do you have a job that will make training orcompeting difcult/impossible at certain times during

the year? Military, traveling salesman, etc. Theseprofessions can alter your competitive year. For apersonal example, Im a masters weightlifter andmy current totals are good enough to qualify for themasters world championships. However, Im also ahigh school football coach, and the masters worldchampionship is held right smack in the middle offootball season every year (October-November).Because of this, I cant plan to attend the masters

worlds unless Im willing to lose my job. This, my friends,is a distraction factor. Jobs are wonderful at throwingwrenches into your machinery.

Family: No, Im not classifying your family as a

distraction. But if youre married and have children,there will be certain responsibilities that you have toaccount for. For example, they will probably want totake a vacation every year; and your vacation time willprobably not center around you nding a gym closeto Disneyland so you can train while your screamingkids get strapped into Space Mountain... alone... andyour spouse thumbs through the Holiday Inn yellowpages for a good divorce lawyer. If you want to takea family vacation in the summer and you also wantto compete in weightlifting meets, you will have tocoordinate these things in a way that will provide bothmaximum performance and big family fun.

Your life has its own challenges. The important ideahere is that you have to try to cover all the bases whenyou are planning out your training. Think of everything.All of the real-life obstacles that can potentially surface

have to be added into your plan. Do you live in anarea where there arent many weightlifting meets tocompete in during the year? If so, you will have totravel when you want to compete. Where will yournances allow you to travel to, and how often? These

elements all matter, and you have a much better shoat being successful if you have all of the land mineslocated before you start walking through the eld.

One more thing there might be some of you whohave no distraction factors in your life. Youre notmarried yet, you dont have a real job or youre stil

going to school, etc. If this is your situation and theonly thing you really have to think about in life is yourtraining, then more power to you. Youre living in thatshort window of life when you basically get to be a full-time athlete and nothing else matters. Thats a speciatime, believe me, and youd better enjoy it while it lastsBut his article is focused more on athletes and coacheswho have entered the real world stage of life andhave to juggle their training with mortgage paymentsdeadlines, day care, and every other speed bump

that gets thrown in the road.

Meets, meets, meets...

Most successful weightlifters have a fairly specic idea

of what their competition schedule will look like eachyear. There are three primary questions to answer whenplanning out a competitive year:

1) How many meets do you want to compete in duringthe year?2) How far apart are these meets and how much

training time will you have for each one?3) Which meets are most important to you?

Now, the considerations that go into each one:How many?Weightlifting is much different from sportslike track and eld, soccer, and baseball where the

athlete can compete every weekend or twice a weekThe average weightlifter will usually compete ve or

six times per year. If the athlete plans to competemore often than this, most of the competitions willikely be training meets. A training meet is wherethe athlete lifts in a competition but deliberately takesconservative attempts with weights that are roughlythe same as the athletes average workout. This allowsthe athlete to compete often without the physicademands of peaking for each contest. I would notadvise a competition schedule where the athlete isplanning to lift in eight meets per year and peak foeach one. The risk of injury is high with a schedule likethis. The exception would be young beginners whoare lifting weights that are well within their total bodystrength level and have lightning-fast recovery time



These athletes can, and should, compete often. Butas the athlete ages, the recovery time demands willgrow.

How far apart? More important meets will generallyrequire more preparation time, and training meetsrequire very little. If an athlete is planning to compete ina national championship, 10-12 weeks of uninterruptedtraining would probably provide a solid base that builds

up to a shark peak at the end. Some athletes prefermore time than this, and others can perform well withless. If an athlete is planning to compete in Jethros

Weightliftin Bonanza where the meet will be held in abarn and the awards are shots of Jager, 10-12 weeksof preparation probably wont be necessary.

Most important? This is based on your performancelevel. The top of your mountain might be thestate, national, or world championship. If you area national champion, the state championship willlikely be a training meet. If you have no realisticchance of qualifying for a national contest, the state

championship could be your big peak of the year.Regardless of your skill and competitive ranking, it isimperative that you decide which competition youwant to achieve your maximum results at. I have seenseveral athletes over the years who hit their biggestnumbers at the wrong time. For example, world teammembers should clearly register their biggest totals ofthe year at the world championship. If the athlete liftsfantastic weights at the national championship andthen goes on to perform a 10-15 kilo decrease at theworld championship three months later, somethingwas wrong with the athletes preparation plan (unlesshe/she was battling other setbacks such as injury or

illness).Here is a basic outline of what many of our top Calpianweightlifters did on a yearly basis during the 1990s inWashington:

- February- Oregon Cup Championship (trainingmeet)- April/May- Senior National Championship (peak

meet)- June- Oregon Classic (training meet)- August- The Bad Mother Open (training meet, and Ishould write an article about this one some day)- October- Washington Open (training meet)- December- American Open (peak meet)This was a common plan for our club lifters, but therewere obviously some variations. In the 90s, we usuallyhad two or three lifters in our gym who were world teammembers. They would often skip some of the trainingmeets, such as the Washington Open in October, toget more preparation time for the world championship.We also had lifters who competed in other national

meets such as the junior or collegiate nationals. Thesetypes of meets would obviously add another peakperformance into the competition year and probablyrequire the dropping of a training meet somewhereHowever, it is worth adding that our Calpian athletestrained at a very high level throughout the year. Mostof the lifters in our club were capable of lifting weightsthat were within a few kilos of their personal records ona regular basis, and this made peaking three or four

times a year much easier. We trained very hard andwe were ready to load up the bar at the drop of ahat.

DOWN time...

I can make this one quick and easy. Plan some lightrecovery time into your training year, preferablyimmediately after peak competitions. Your results wilbe much better and your body will last longer if youback off the heavy training for a while after majocontests. What is down time exactly?

Down time might involve staying away from the barbelfor a short time. Older lifters would be especially wiseto consider this. Training hard and peaking for a bigcontest when youre 30-40-50+ years old is extremelytaxing on the body. After a major contest, there isnothing wrong with a week of stretching, core workand some other non-barbell activity such as swimmingThat week can be followed by another week or twoof transition lifting, where you head back to thegym but you spend time doing variety exercises thatare different from your normal routine. Kettlebellsare excellent at this point. After this week, it will be

time to go back to the barbell and start working thecompetition movements again as you begin the newcycle for your next competition.

For you twenty-four year-olds, you dont get off as easy

Down time for a younger lifter after a major peakcompetition will usually be shorter (three or four days)and the return to the competition lifts will be quickalthough the percentages will obviously be lighter asthe athletes physiology recovers from the strain of thecontest. Some coaches choose to have their athletesdo nothing but pulls and squats for two weeks followinga major contest. This type of work keeps the athletefrom losing strength but also gives the joints (and thebrain) a rest from the heavy snatches and jerks.

And once youve taken a look at all of these elementsand also attempted to plan out every other aspecof your life, youre ready to put together sometraining cycles that will get you started on the journeytowards your rst big total of the year. Its nice to have

everything accounted for. Once the plan is in placethe only thing you have to do is nd a way to improvise



and adapt your plan when you encounter injuriesjob changes swine u unexpected pregnancies

gym closures vehicle breakdowns ash oodsearthquakes family dramas semester nalsThanksgiving and global terrorism. Maybe there aresome things we cant plan for. Maybe we have to thinkon our feet and nd quick ways to overcome disasters

sometimes. Aye, theres the rub.



Weightlifting | Greg Everett

Teaching the Olympic Lifts in the CrossFit Setting

Now that we got all that silliness out of the way, we canget back to talking shop. But rstthe last parts of thisarticle received some comments regarding the lifts

use within CrossFit conditioning workouts that warrant

response. A sentiment that seems to be shared by anumber of CrossFitters (presumably the majority) is thatthe snatch and clean & jerk are used by CrossFittersfor different reasons than by weightlifters (this much isobvious)namely, as a method of moving large loadslong distances in little time for the sake of increasingwork capacity across broad time and modal domains.This, its argued, means that technical prociency is

simply unnecessaryit doesnt matter how the weightgets from A to B as long as it does so quickly.

Im not going to liethis line of reasoning is thoroughlyexasperating. A weightlifters goal is to snatch and

clean & jerk as much weight as possible. To this end,he or she continues improving strength, speed andtechnical prociency. The more precise a lifterstechnique, the more he or she is able to snatch orclean & jerk, because the more effectively his or herstrength and speed is applied. This is not a confusingconceptlift technique is designed to allow the

athlete to apply maximal force to elevate the bar,get under it, and recover. A lifter can continue gettingstronger and faster, but these qualities will never beoptimally applicable without equivalently developedtechnique.

For the CrossFittereven one who desires only to

snatch and clean & jerk some astronomical number ofconsecutive repetitionstechnical prociency means

more weight lifted in less time, as well as a reductionin extraneous effort due to inconsistent positions andmovements among reps, or, for example, Sots pressinga failed snatch off the dome. This means more workcan be done in a given period of time, whether thatperiod is dened as the time to execute a single lift ora series of them, and consequently increased work

capacity across broad time and modal domains.

If it doesnt matter how the bar gets from A to B (this

is the same argument used to support the use of the

kipping pull-up, in case youre getting confusedsamestart and end points, meaning same vertical massdisplacement, meaning same approximate amounof work performed, but faster movement, meaningmore power), then why would there possibly be anyresistance to improving the method of elevating thatbar in a manner betting the stated goals?

Surely it cant be argued that there isnt enough timeto work on lift techniqueCrossFit workouts take lesstime than many bowel movements. Quit resistingimprovement, develop some perspective, and do a biof work. And if youre going to argue, at least have the

courtesy to come up with some legitimate rationale(actually dont waste your timeit doesnt exist).

Designing the System

Knowing what we now know, we need to create asystem of instructing and practicing the Olympic liftsthat addresses all of the complications discussed inthe rst part of the article. As has been mentioned anumber of times, the actual system will vary amonggyms, so instead of making a rigid prescription, Im

going to simply provide an example that can be used asa template and reshaped to t various applications.

This example takes into consideration the setup of ouown CrossFit programours is one that emphasizesstrength and technical prociency. I design a

moderate-term strength program (generally 6-8weeks) that involves 1-2 strength or Olympic lifts petraining day prior to conditioning workouts, whichare relatively brief and designed largely around thestrength program.



We bring in new clients through an On-Ramp program,which means we dont have any absolute beginnersto worry about when doing this strength and Olympiclift work. All clients by this point are able to front,back and overhead squat, deadlift, press and pushpress quite well, with some exception in cases ofextreme inexibility that has not yet been resolved, or

particularly poor motor skill. Not once have we hada client complain or ask why we do things the way

we do, as this is what we have accustomed them tofrom day one, and because they continue to makeexcellent progress.

The following system also takes into account the factthat our clients are adults and treated as such with theaccording responsibility. For example, our clients bringtheir own notebooks and record all of their workouts.This means that they know what theyve done on anygiven date, and we dont have to waste everyones

time trying to remember weights, reps, times or guessingwhen we shouldnt be.

Nuts & Bolts

The rst step is determining what drills and exercises we

want to use in the instruction and practice process.Anyone involved with CrossFit should be aware of atleast one teaching progressionCoach Burgeners.This can be used in the following system, but obviouslyIm going to use my own in this example. If theBurgener Warm-up is what youre accustomed to andcomfortable with, use it (but please do it correctly

and if you dont do it correctly, please dont postvideos of it all over YouTube). It should be fairly clear

how to substitute the BWU drills with mine.

Its important to continue with the long term perspectivewhen considering the following process. With thisapproach, clients wont be performing certain lifts for

a while into their training careers, but unless we expectthem to train for only a couple months, this shouldnt

be a concern. And if they do only train for a couplemonths, they probably dont deserve your time and

effort anyway.

Because by the time our clients are rst exposed to

the Olympic lifts they have already been taught andhave been practicing the back squat, front squatand overhead squat, our basic receiving positionwork has been accomplished, taking care of the rst

step in the snatch and clean progressions. They arealready familiar with the press as well, but this will beincluded in the jerk progression because its practicein proximity to other jerk related drills seems to improvethe performance of those drills. If your gym worksdifferently, this will have to be taken into account.

The program is intended to be used 2-3 days/weekHow this is actually implemented in each gym mayvary considerably. It should be possible to t this traininginto the rest of the schedule at least 2-3 out of every5-6 days CrossFit classes are being runmost likely on

days that contain somewhat briefer workouts.

Clients will go through the program individuallythais, each client will follow the workouts in order unti

completed. This means that on any given day, youclients may be doing several different drills. If these drillsare familiar to you, this shouldnt present a problem

Several clients can be monitored together, and clientswho have advanced farther will be able to help clientswho are just getting started.

For days on which an Olympic lift is prescribed, clientswho have not yet completed the progression can workthrough all of the related drills they have covered tothat point. In this way, theyre not feeling left out andare doing something productive with the time whilemore advanced clients work the lifts themselves.

Clearly trying to dictate multiple series of drills to agroup of clients at different stages of their progressionswould present a challenge. This problem can bemanaged fairly easily by ensuring your clients keeprecords of their trainingI suggest having them

note on a single easily found page of their trainingjournals (e.g. front or back page) the steps they havecompleted. This avoids wasted time ipping throughreams of marginally-legible post-metCon scribblingWhen lift practice is prescribed, each client can simplynd the workout thats next in the progression.

These are meant to be drills, not training liftsAccordingly, there shouldnt be any legitimate weight

on the bar, and most clients will be using light techniquebars for many of the drills. Obviously drills like snatchand clean deadlifts and certain press variations canbe done will more weight, but again, it should beonly enough weight to allow the drill to be performedaccuratelynot as strength work. Each day has abou50-60 total repsthis is a pretty good amount, so rest

intervals will need to be kept short to ensure the workdoesnt get dragged out unnecessarily. No more than30 seconds rest should be needed for even the hardedrills. However, your clients should be taking a breakbetween sets to ensure higher quality execution. At thispace, the work should be done in about 15 minutes.

The progression drills can be posted somewhere in thegym, or better, you can laminate several copies thatclients can grab to keep with them during the workoufor easy reference. The drills page in the article isdesigned for exactly this purposeprint a few copies

and laminate them.



What About Advanced Clients?

So now the question becomes, What are advancedclients doing during these practice periods? Thereare a number of options; which are used will dependlargely on how the gym operates. The most obviousis to prescribe more advanced Olympic lift techniquedrills and complexes to these clients, such as 2 and3-position lifts, snatch balances, power jerk + split jerks,

power clean/snatch + clean/snatch, etc. This is an easyway to keep your clients working as a group; it alsoimproves everyones training because clients are able

to watch and hear your corrections of other clients,which will often be applicable to their own lifting.

Another possibility is allowing your more advancedclients to use this time for the practice of skills theyrecurrently developing, whether related to weightliftingor not. Typically such clients are very self-directed andfor such matters are less in need of coaching thansimple experimentation and practice.

The Big Picture

Often its assumed that because of Catalyst Athletics

reputation as a weightlifting gym, our CrossFittersperform the Olympic lifts extremely frequently andhave impeccable technique. The fact is, our CrossFitprogram is completely independent of our weightliftingprogram, and while, since it is run by me, it does

have somewhat more of an emphasis on the lifts andstrength/power work than many CrossFit programs, itremains a program intended to develop a breadth otness capacities. This being the case, our clients areexposed to the Olympic lifts to an appropriate degreeand are by no means experts in their execution.

In my opinion, the generalist can and should emphasizetechnique development as much as the specialistthe

difference is the amount of time dedicated to eachelement. That is, while the weightlifter is continuouslyimproving snatch and clean & jerk technique, thegeneralist will be continuously improving lift techniquealong with an expansive collection of other skillsDeveloping an array of skills doesnt mean technicaexcellence is less important; it simply means that theprocess of technique development for each skill wiloccur over a much longer period of time, as it will becontinually interrupted by periods of other emphasis.

This is how we arrive at such a program. We intend toteach and coach the Olympic lifts to the greatest exten

allowed by the circumstances, expecting a longeprocess than we would in the type of circumstancessurrounding a competitive weightlifter.

Try the program as-is, or modify the template to bettersuit your application. Commit the time and energy toinstructing your clients in the lifts, and they will benetgreatly.


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CLEAN

Mid-hang Clean Deadlift - 5x5Mid-hang Clean Jump - 8x3Mid-hang Clean Jump + DL - 5x1

Mid-hang Clean DL - 3x5

Mid-hang Clean Jump - 3x3Mid-hang Clean Pull - 10x3

Mid-hang Clean Jump + pull - 4x2

Mid-hang Clean Pull - 6x3Rack Delivery - 5x5

Mid-hang Clean pull - 5x3Rack Delivery - 3x5Tall Muscle Clean - 5x4Foot Transition - 3x5

Mid-hang Clean pull - 3x3Rack Delivery - 3x3Tall Muscle Clean - 5x3Mid-hang Muscle Clean - 5x5

Mid-hang Clean Pull - 3x3Tall Muscle Clean - 3x3Mid-hang Muscle Clean - 4x3Foot Transition - 4x3

Scarecrow Clean - 6x3

Mid-hang Clean Pull - 3x3Mid-hang Muscle Clean - 3x3Scarecrow Clean - 3x3Tall Clean - 8x3Mid-hang Clean - 3x3

Mid-hang Clean pull - 3x3Rack Delivery - 3x3Mid-hang Muscle Clean - 3x3

Tall Clean - 3x3Mid-hang Clean - 7x3

Mid-hang Clean pull - 3x3Mid-hang Clean - 6x3Clean Deadlift - 3x3Clean - 6x3Power Clean - 4x3

JERK

Press bnk - 4x5Press - 4x5

Press - 3x5

Dip Squat - 4x5Push Press bnk - 4x5

Press - 2x5Dip Squat - 2x5Push Press bnk - 2x5Push Press - 4x5Push Press - 4x5Tall Power Jerk bnk - 6x3Tall Power Jerk - 6x3

Tall Power Jerk bnk - 2x3Tall Power Jerk - 3x3Push Press - 5x3Power Jerk bnk - 6x3

Tall Power Jerk - 3x3Push Press - 3x3Power Jerk - 6x3

Split Foot Transition - 5x5

Push Press - 3x3Power Jerk - 3x3Split Foot Transition - 3x5Jerk Balance - 5x3

Power Jerk - 3x3Split Foot Transition - 3x3Jerk Balance - 3x3

Split Jerk bnk - 4x3Split Jerk - 5x3

Power Jerk - 3x3Split Jerk bnk - 5x3Split Jerk - 8x3

SNATCH

Mid-hang Snatch Deadlift - 5x5Mid-hang Snatch Jump - 8x3Mid-hang Snatch Jump + DL - 5x1

Mid-hang Snatch Deadlift - 3x5

Mid-hang Snatch Jump - 3x3Mid-hang Snatch Pull - 10x3

Mid-hang Snatch Jump + Pull- 4x2Mid-hang Snatch Pull - 6x3Tall Muscle Snatch - 5x5

Mid-hang Snatch Pull - 5x3Tall Muscle Snatch - 5x4Mid-hang Muscle Snatch - 5x4Foot Transition - 3x5

Mid-hang Snatch Pull - 3x3Mid-hang Muscle Snatch - 5x5Foot Transition - 3x5Scarecrow Snatch - 6x3

Mid-hang Snatch Pull - 3x3Mid-hang Muscle Snatch - 3x3Scarecrow Snatch - 4x3Tall Snatch - 6x3

Mid-hang Snatch Pull - 3x3Mid-hang Muscle Snatch - 3x3Tall Snatch - 5x3Mid-hang Snatch - 5x3

Mid-hang Snatch - 3x3Snatch Deadlift - 5x3Snatch Deadlift + snatch - 6x3

Mid-hang Snatch - 3x3Snatch Deadlift + snatch - 3x3

Snatch - 6x3Power Snatch - 6x3

CATALYST ATHLETICS - WEIGHTLIFTING TECHNIQUE INSTRUCTION

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Weightlifting | Ryan Kyle

13 & Under Weightlifter Training

In last months article I outlined the Beginner Training

program used at Sandusky Weightlifting. This month Iwill present to you the transition we make in the secondyear of training where the training becomes much more

structured and from a coachs perspective, much moredetailed. Many coaches prefer to use physiologicalreasons to justify their trainingphilosophies; I prefer to usenumerical reasons in planningand justifying my methods oftraining, and hopefully thatwill become apparent in therest of this article.

A couple reminders beforecontinuing on: Remember inSandusky we call one year of

training one season of trainingbecause of our WeightliftingSeason we schedule everyspring. This program worksvery well in conjunction withWeightlifting Season whencontests are held approximately every two weeks. Also,the exercises you see listed here are the only exerciseswe do on the given program. There are no warm-upexercises or additional supplementary exercises doneat the end of the workouts including so-called corework. The lifts themselves provide all the core workneeded and therefore are the core of our training.

After one year/season ofweightlifting training using theBeginner program detailedin Octobers article, the nextprogression in the series ofworkouts is the 13&Undertraining program. Ideally thisprogram would be done fortwo yearsas a 12 and 13

year-old. This program is the rst to follow the same

pattern that the rest will follow, using four-week rotationswith weeks of 80%, 90%, 85% and Maximum. Also, thisis the rst program to use percentages in training and

to track the number of repetitions done per week. The13&U training also adds a fourth day of training to the

week increasing the overalvolume and also practicetime on the lifts.

Lets talk about the mathbehind the program beforewe get into the actual day-to-day program. As illustrated intable 1.1, weeks 1 and 3 arethe repetition heavy weekswith the intensity rather low

at 80% and 85%. These weeksare considered to be the skiltraining weeks and are theweeks that follow a contest inWeightlifting Season. Weeks 3and 4 are the higher intensity

weeks (90% and max) and are the weeks we use goinginto a contest, local or major. In fact we try to makesure our guys are lifting maximum the week of a majocontest (the entire week). We place much stock in theability to constantly lift heavy weights. Finally the tableshows the overall concept of the program with only31% of the training being done specically on snatchand clean and jerk the emphasis is still on developing

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Ttl/Avg % of Ttl Rps

Total Reps 183 145 167 121 632 100%

Classic Lifts Reps 60 40 52 40 196 31%

Assistance Reps 123 105 115 81 436 69%

Intensity 80% 90% 85% 100%

Table 1.1



weightlifting specic strength and specic skills. As thelifter matures a shift will begin to occur in the distribution

of the repetitions and intensity.To further illustrate the theory behind the training,

observe graph 1.1, which isa graphical representationof table 1.1. This graph takessome getting used to at rstbut it can be quite insightfulFirst it should be noted that have operationally dened

the volume lifted in each weekon the right y-axislight

being the lowest volume andheavy being the highesvolume. Also, the red Xs are

to be read as markers of thevolume and the blue trianglesare the markers of intensityfor the particular week. Withthis in mind it can then beobserved from the graph thain each week the intensityand volume indicators are

the inverse of each other. For example in week 1 theintensity is 80% (the lowest) and the volume Heavy

(the heaviest). This graph will become more importanduring later phases of training and will be used to track

Monday

Snatch - 80% x 3 x 3

Clean & Jerk - 80% x 3 x 3

Front Squat - 80% x 3 x 3

Tuesday

Power Snatch - 80% x 3 x 3

Power Clean - 80% x 3 x 3

Clean Pull - 100%+10kg x 3 x 3

Wednesday

Hang Snatch - 80% x 3 x 3

Hang Clean - 80% x 3 x 3

Jerk - 80% x 3 x 3

Thursday




Monday




Tuesday



Snatch Pull - 100%+10kg x 3 x 3

Wednesday



Jerk - 90% x 1 x 3

Thursday




Monday




Tuesday



Clean Pull - 100%+10kg x 3 x 3

Wednesday



Jerk - 85% x 2 x 3

Thursday




Monday

Snatch - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

CJ - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

FS - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

Tuesday

PS - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

PC - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

Snatch Pull - 100%+10kg x 3 x 3

Wednesday

Hg Sn - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

Hg Cln - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

Jerk - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

Thursday

Snatch - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

CJ - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1

FS - 90% x 1, 95% x 1, 100% x 1



the evolution of the programs.

I will not go into specic details explaining the setsand reps on the program, as it is pretty much self-explanatory, but I will give some of the reasons whythe training is planned this way. First off, the bank ofexercises has been reduced from twelve exercises totensnatch, clean and jerk, front squat, snatch/cleanabove knee, jerk from rack, power snatch/clean and

snatch/clean pulls. Notice the back squat is still missingfrom the workouts; we do not begin back squattinguntil the next program. We are taking one more steptoward the ultimate goal of training with practicallynothing but the lifts and squats.

Second, it should also be noted that we do not dopulls the conventional way. I think that doing pulls andnishing by brushing the bar on the thighs, standing talland shrugging is more or less a waste of time and agood way to teach inefcient lifting technique. I alsodo not like doing snatch/clean deadlifts in training

because this teaches a stop when the bar should

meet the legs and you more or less lose the naturalre-bending action of the knees. So when we do pullswe pull it just like a snatch or clean and the bar isbrushed along the thighs and then put back down sothat the knees still re-bend naturally and there is nostanding tall and shrugging and also no stop withouta brushing of the bar. Also, the pulls are rotated weekfrom week with the snatch pulls being done during themost intense weeks and the clean pulls done duringthe rep-heavy weeks.

Third, the percentages for the snatch/clean aboveknee are taken off of the maximums for the poweversions. We do not actually try to lift maximum in thehang versions even during the max week it is usuallyone or two sets a bit above 90% of the power. Fosimplicity it is listed as 95% and 100%. The hangs are stilused to help reinforce speed under the bar as well aslearning to push the knees under the bar.

Fourth, the sets and reps outlined (with the exceptionof the top weights) are merely an example of thejumps that may be taken. They are mostly used from acoaching standpoint to get an approximation of thenumber of reps being done per week. While most othe time the warm-up sets will reect what is shown inthe program we encourage larger jumps from time totime as a test of will power and skill.

Lastly, I cannot help but to emphasize the level ofimportance Weightlifting Season has in our trainingprograms. I believe without it I would have a nearimpossible time achieving the level of commitment

have from my lifters. A sanctioned contest, requiringproper attire, lifting in front of three judges and acrowd, on a competition regulation platform prepareseveryone better for major contests. Weightlifting canbecome a mind-numbing sport if all you do is showup to the same dusty gym day in and day out waitingthree months for the next contest. Keep the contestsfrequent and make focus and top performancepriority number onethere is no limit to the results thatcan be achieved.



Speed | Scott Kustes

Speed Training for the Non-Track Athlete

If you play sports (you do play sports, right?), you canprobably improve your game by being faster. In fact,I cant think of a single sport that doesnt benet from

increased straight-line speed. In baseball, its base-

running. Ball carriers in football want breakawayspeed, while linebackers need closing speed. Abasketball court may only be 92 long, but it involvesconstant acceleration out of quick cuts.You could argue that boxers and MMA ghters dont

need a great deal of acceleration and speed and Icouldnt argue back, so lets just let that one die. But

even marathon runners train for speed.As such, Ive been thinking about how to incorporate

additional speed training into the program of a non-track athletes GPP phase. Of course, you wont

become a competitive track and eld athlete withoutsome specialization, but that doesnt mean you wont

benet from throwing some real speed training intoyour workouts.

What Is Speed?To make it simple, speed is power. A fast athlete is apowerful athlete. Youll rarely nd someone thats fastin a straight line that cant also hold their own in otherathletic endeavors. Sport-specic skills aside, speed

has direct carry-over to most anything you could wantto do athletically.

When you look at a sprinter, whether its Tyson Gay or

a 40-year old Masters competitor, what youre seeingis mass-specic forcethe ability to produce force

relative to body masscombined with rate of forceproductionhow fast that force can be produced.

Those two things come together to produce stridelength, which is effectively how far youre launching

your body with each step. Multiply stride length bystride rate and the answer is how fast you can cover agiven distance.

How To Increase SpeedSo given what we know about speed, we can eitherincrease stride length or increase stride rate to coveground more quickly. So do you want to go farthewhich each step or take more steps? Ideally, bothbut if you had to pick one to focus on, which wouldit be? If you guessed that you should want to covermore distance per step, youre exactly right. If youguessed otherwise, sorry.Now, theyre actually interdependent variables, bu

considering that elite sprinters are turning over abou4.5-5 times per second and the rest of us are probablysomewhere around (just a guess) 4-ish, theres famore to be gained from increasing stride length. Ifwe look at the current sprinting god, Usain Bolt, andcompare him to other elite sprinters, we nd that hescovering 100m in about 40 strides. Its taking the othe

incredibly fast guys 44-48 strides. Bolt goes farther witheach stride, even though all of them are in the sameballpark regarding stride frequency.In fact, Id bet that my stride rate is fairly close to

Bolts. But I dont cover 2.5m per stride, and theresthe major difference. He might take an extra half-stride per second, but he probably covers an extra 3/4of a meter on each stride. Stride length is essentiallyyour power output per step, exactly what we want toimprove.

How Not To Increase SpeedOne thing you absolutely do not want to doin trying to



increase your stride length is to reach your foot furtherout in front of you trying to get that extra foot on yourstride. There are two big reasons for this. The rst oneis your hamstrings. They dont appreciate you alteringyour stride like that and you will be much more proneto injuries. If you want something that will really slowyou down quickly, pull a hammy.The second reason is that, while you may feel like

youre going faster, youre not. The farther in front ofyour body your foot lands, the more braking actionyou have. Youll also spend more time on the ground

and less time projecting your body through the air. Yourfoot should strike almost directly below your center ofmass, about 6-12 in front.

Increasing Strength OutputLets jump into the important stuff nowwhere tofocus your time to improve your power output. Sincepower is a combination of how much force you can

output and how quickly you can generate that force,additional strength is of obvious benet.Now, Im no expert on building strength. But I can tell

you one thing. You want to increase strength withoutincreasing mass. Remember that were looking for

mass-specic force.That means you want to use high weights and lowreps. You want to focus strength development throughthe posterior chain since the hamstrings and glutes arethe major drivers in sprinting. Beyond those two facts, Ireally dont care what you do to get there.

You can use Starting Strength, Jim Wendlers 5/3/1,

one of the many avors of 5x5, or whatever otherprogram you nd focusing on the major compoundlifts: the squat and the deadlift. Just pick one and getstronger.How strong do you need to be? Being able to squat anddeadlift 1.5 times your bodyweight is probably a goodstarting goal. Additional strength will denitely help,but if you cant pull off these relatively low numbers,youre leaving a lot of potential on the table.

Dont forget to add in some complex upper body work

with the bench press, overhead press, pull-ups, anddips. Supplementary exercises that aid the posteriorchain can also be added like Romanian deadlifts andGood Mornings

Increasing Rate Of Force DevelopmentHaving more strength relative to your mass is important,

but its not that simple. If it were, powerlifters woulddominate on the track. But thats certainly not the

case. Mass-specic force is just a measure of strengthTo generate power, we need to convert that strengthquickly into propulsive force. But even more so thanstrength, the central nervous system is the limitingfactor for, well, pretty much everyone. Therefore, weneed to train the nervous system to re more muscleand to re it faster.

PlyometricsBelieve it or not, though you may run horizontally, whenyour leg touches down, you push off with a verticaground force, not horizontal. Given that, it makessense to train the body to re vertically, quickly andforcefully. Enter plyometrics. There are any number ogood plyometric programs out there and at least asmany bad ones.A program that Ive used successfully can be found

here. I like this program because it has a gradual build-

up from low to high intensity.A word of caution:Do notoverdo it on the plyometricsThese are incredibly ballistic exercises and will injureyou. I know you think youre prepared and are in greashape and can handle it. So did I before I damaged ahamstring tendon last year, leading to two months ofsub-par training. Start slow, do less than you think youcan do, and build up over a 4-6 week period.In fact, if you use the program I linked to above, starat the lowest intensity for three weeks, then move up alevel for another three weeks, and so forth. You might

laugh at the ease of these early workouts. They mightnot feel taxing. Do them anyway. Thats my caution. If

you damage yourself, dont blame me.Loading: You will be doing plyometrics no more thanonce per week. This one session will encompass 80-120high-qualityjumps per session. And thats it. Go home

and rest.Olympic liftsNo discussion of force development would be completewithout touching on the Olympic lifts: the clean andjerk and the snatch. I dont think that the snatch is

really necessary for a non-Olympic lifter. Heavy, low-rep clean and jerk, on the other hand, is a goodaddition to your workouts. You can probably even limiyourself to the hang power clean for maximum bangfor the buck.

A discussion of programming is beyond the scope ofthis article. Greg Everett would be the man to ask that
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question to and his Catalyst Athletics Workout of theDay seems as good as any for ideas on programmingthe lifts.

And Of Course, SprintingNo disrespect to Olympic lifters and powerlifters, butall theory aside, the best way to get good at runningfast in a straight line is by... running fast in a straight

line. The lifts are excellent, but they are supplementsto speed training. Specicity of training says that youllget more out of sprinting. Remember that the limitingfactor for most athletes is the rate at which the nervoussystem will re. By sprinting, youre teaching the body

to re those muscles quicker and optimizing fast-twitchexpression.Think of sprinting as the ultimate plyometric exercise. Asthe foot lands on the forefoot, the heel is presseddown, loading the Achilles tendon and calf musclesin just a few hundredths of a second. The quads areloaded during heel recovery and the hamstrings are

loaded during the forward leg swing. Once you getto top speed, it becomes a very efcient motion usingmuscle and connective tissue elasticity to maintainspeed. Effort is still required, but not the same amountas during acceleration.

A Couple Final Points Of Training Advice

Mind Your Ankles

I attended a USA Track and Field CoachingCertication back in June and came back with some

ideas for improving my own training. One of the bigones was ankle strength. As we know from the used-way-too-often, but very true, clich, A chain is only asstrong as its weakest link. The ankle is the smallest andweakest joint in the leg. When running properly, you aregenerating forces of about 4 times your bodyweight,all with one leg. Its a good idea to make sure all of

that force is going into the ground, not being lost tosloppy joints.Some of these college coaches had used anklestrengthening exercises with their athletes to improvetheir running and attributed at least part of theyear-over-year improvement to these exercises. Iincorporated some simple ankle strengthening as welland feel that it has helped. Here are a few ideas, but theInternet is full of ways to get your ankles stronger. Yes,there is a place for isolated training.

Walking in sandStanding on one footStanding on the toes of one foot

Unilateral Exercises

I have also come to the conclusion that since 100%of the time when youre running, you are doing so onone leg, there is a benet to doing single leg exercises

both loaded and unloaded. The list of choices is longto name a few:

Pistols

Split Squats

One-leg Deadlift/Romanian DeadliftStep-up

Everett and others in the lifting world probably havesome additional ideas.

The Key For The Generalist: Carry-OverSo why should you care if you can cut a 12.25-second100m or 56-second 400m? What is that really going to

do for you? Think about the guys and gals that pick

up a program like CrossFit after a long time training inthe powerlifts or Olympic lifts. After a short adaptationperiod, they typically have no problem blowingthrough workouts with high reps, but light weights, likeFran, Grace, and Diane. Why? Because the weightsare such a small percentage of their maxes.

Aerobic Capacity

Similarly, a 50-second 400m runner should be able tocut a 5:00 mile with only a little additional trainingYoure talking about sustaining 67% of his top speedCompare that to a 55-second 400m runner; hes

running at over 73% of top speed to pull that off. Aguy with a 60-second 400? Hes putting out nearly 80%

to pull off the same 5:00 mile (a pace that is probablyvirtually impossible).

That doesnt necessarily mean the faster short-distancerunner will be faster over the longer distance. But hehas a greater potential to do so because he has agreater speed reserve.

Take me for example. Two years ago, my best mile wasa 6:47 (a very painful mile, I recall) and if I remember

correctly, my 400m time then was around a 1:03This year, I nished the season with a 52.5 400m and

recently tested my mile at 5:50 simply by maintaining aset pace. Perhaps I could go a bit faster with someoneto push me around the last couple laps, but regardlessin the last two years, Ive brought my mile down nearlyone minute. How did I do that?

It wasnt by training for the mile, thats for sure. Ive

done absolutely no training for running a mile. In factin my training, I dont recall any days where I ran more



than 500m in a single run. But my general speed is highenough that a 5:50 is only 60% of my 400m pace, down

from 62% for that 6:47. You see, increasing my speedand glycolytic ability directly affects my aerobic ability,though Im actually maintaining a lower percentage

of my max than I was two years ago.

Adding just a little training for the mile could probablypush me to around 5:30. While its no record-setting

pace (and likely not even competitive in MastersTrack and Field), its a time few people that slog milesand miles can do, even with tons of training.Balance

In the past year, Ive also seen an improvement inbalance-related activities. For instance, I can nowbang out 10 straight pistols on each leg with noproblem. Until recently, I hadnt done pistols in probably

six months and had trouble getting more than 3 or4. My rst time attempting them a few weeks back, I

hit 10 with ease.

When I go trail riding, my control of the bike is vastlyimproved, though I just hit the trails for the rst time in ayear recently. I can control the bike around low speed,uphill turns much better and can power through partsof trails that used to have me walking the bike.Vertical Jump

Ive seen an improvement in my vertical jump of 1.5-2,up from 28 about 18 months ago. I can only attributethe improvement to my sprinting and long jumpingtraining since Ive done no focused jump training.

Lactic Buffering and Anaerobic Recovery

Going back to that trail riding, I notice that Im ableto sustain power output on longer, steeper hill climbswith relative ease. The acidosis build-up used to haveme stopping 2/3 of the way up some of these hills that

I can now push through. My legs still scream at me, butmy muscles dont give out. Similarly, I can recover from

repeated bouts of hill climbs very quickly.For people that think specialized training has no carry-over to activities outside of that specialization, theyreatly wrong. There are certain skills that transfer very

well to other domains:

The ability to control ones own body(gymnastics)The ability to control external objects (Olympiclifting, powerlifting, Strongman)

The ability to propel yourself quickly (sprintingand swimming)

You wont see a 1-to-1 carry-over, but improving you

power output in any of these realms will denitelyimprove your power output in other realms.

The Two Major Components Of Your SprintingNow its time to get into what you really care about

how do I get faster? When you get down to it, everytime you sprint, there are two broad componentsmaximum velocity and speed-endurance.

Maximum Velocity is just what it sounds like. What isthe highest speed that you can hit, even if only for amillisecond? Go back and reread all of my ramblingprior to this. Increasing maximum velocity (raw poweoutput) is what Ive been discussing.

Speed-Enduranceis also pretty much just what it soundslike. Its the ability to maintain a very high percentageof your maximum velocity. This is further sub-divided inthe Track and Field world into terms like Alactic ShorSpeed Endurance, Glycolytic Short Speed EnduranceSpecial Endurance 1, and Special Endurance 2. Butforget all of that... its not important for what weredoing.

Were basically dealing with energy systems hereprimarily the phosphagen and glycolytic systemswhen dealing with sprints, which is considered to beanything up to 400m. Realistically, however, even a

100m race has a speed-endurance component. Infact, once you get beyond about 40-50m, youre into

speed-endurance, a fact that will come into play inprogramming.

Three Sample Templates

I assume youre not aiming to become a Track and Field

competitor and as such your goal isnt to specialize inthe sprints or any other event. Therefore, the goal isto work speed training into your general conditioningprogram, maintaining a good base of general tnesswith a focus on speed.

Ive thought through some different theoretica

frameworks for incorporating a speed bias into yourtraining. Descriptions of these workouts are on thefollowing page.



You can plan longer cycles if youd like, but if youre not

actually competing, its probably just a lot of wasted

mental effort. For someone just wanting to add someproductive speed training to their workouts, the basicswill get you there without over-planning and too muchconcern about periodization and all that.My preference is for the 9- or 14-day cycles. More restmeans higher quality work. Higher quality work meansbetter gains. It also allows for sprinting days (speed andspeed-endurance) to follow rest days. Its really hardto sprint when youre sore from lifting and Ive tried tostructure the cycles based on my experience of whatworks well on following days. Your mileage may vary.The 14-day plan allows for working in more metConsif you really want to focus on that aspect while stilladding some speed work, along with additional maxeffort lifting days.

Warming UpYou wouldnt just rack up your max squat and jumpunder the bar without working up in a progression to thatweight. (Please tell me you wouldnt do that!) Similarly,its a bad idea to go straight into sprinting without a

proper warm-up. Recall that youre generating andabsorbing forces equivalent to about 4 times yourbodyweight. Thats a lot of stress on the muscles andconnective tissues.Along those lines, its a good idea to warm-up properlybefore you start hitting these speed workouts. I spendabout 15 minutes warming up with these drills before Iget into my workout:

A-skips (forward and backward) - Asafa Powelldemonstrates

B-skips - Asafa Powell demonstrates again

Ankle hops - bouncing using only the ankles

Straight leg runs - And Asafa Powell oncemoreLeg swings, forward and side - As seen hereand hereLight Bounding - lighter than this, but the sameconceptPower Cariocas - A simple crossover, but drivingthe front leg down powerfully.Deep lunge holds to stretch hip exors

I do each of these for about 30-40m, in no particular

order, with a jog back to the start, then do 6-8sprints. With the warm-up sprints, I start at about15m and work out to 60m, increasing intensity anddistance. Basically I do something like this: 15m @ 70%25m @ 80%, 30m @ 80%, 40m @ 80%, 50m @ 90%, 60m@ 95%. Then I rest 5 or so minutes to let my heart ratecome back down and get into the workout.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Workouts

Finally, here are some simple workouts I use that targetthe desired attributes of the day. The basics shouldwork for you if you havent been training speed, soresist the urge to over-complicate your workouts.

Naturally, you can create your own workouts, but keepthe principles of the workout type in mind. Make sureyou are actually working speed on speed days andnot putting speed and speed-endurance together.

To clarify one term, an on the y rep means to enter

the work zone after accelerating to speed with a 15m

8-day cycle (3-on, 1-off)

1 - Speed2 - Heavy lifting3 - Short Metcon4 - Rest5 - Plyometrics6 - Heavy lifting7 - Speed-Endurance

8 - Rest

9-day cycle (2-on, 1-off)

1 - Speed2 - Heavy lifting3 - Rest4 - Plyometrics5 - Short Metcon6 - Rest

7 - Speed-Endurance

8 - Heavy Lifting9 - Rest

14-day cycle

1 - Speed2 - Heavy lifting3 - Short Metcon4 - Rest5 - Plyometrics6 - Short Metcon

7 - Rest

8 - Speed-Endurance9 - Heavy Lifting10 - Short Metcon11 - Rest12 - Tempo13 - Heavy Lifting14 - Rest
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run-in. You do not time the acceleration zone. If onthe y is not signied, youre working from a deadstart.

Ive put together a spreadsheet that will help you gure

out your goal times on each of the speed-enduranceand tempo workouts that can be found here. Ivefocused all of the goal times for speed-enduranceand tempo runs on your 400m time as its easier to

maintain timing accuracy when self-timing and itsmore appropriate for the generalist.

Speed

Speed workouts are low volume, high-intensity,focusing on running full-out for short distances with fullrecovery between reps. This allows ATP/CP stores to

rell between efforts, keeping the intensity high, andreducing aerobic fatigue. I aim for no more than 10runs per workout and no more than 50m per run, often

far lower on each of these. Rest periods are about 1minute per 10m, so 4 minutes for a 40m sprint.

6 x 40m, on the y - A 40m sprint with a 15macceleration zone. Hit top speed at the 0m markand maintain for 40m.4 x 15m, 2 x 25m, 2 x 35m, 2 x 40m - Just as itsounds, from a 3-point start.8 x 30m hill sprints, alternating uphill and downhill- use a very low-grade hill (3-5%) such that yourstride is not altered.

Speed-Endurance

Speed-endurance workouts focus on hitting a desiredspeed and maintaining it. This is typically done at yourpace for a long sprint, such as a 200m or 400m. Restsvary from long but incomplete to very long for fullrecovery. Yes, you should really rest that long. Speed-endurance work is very taxing and will do wonders forimproving your anaerobic capacity.

2 x (4 x 200m), rest 4:00/8:00 - 2 sets of 4 x 200mwith 4:00 rest between reps, 8:00 rest betweensets. Use 100% of your 400m goal time.3 x 500m, rest 15:00 - Use 90% of your 400m PR.2 x 250m, on the y, rest 25:00 - Use 100% of your400m goal time.

These are ambitious volumes and intensities, sodial them back as you need in the beginning. Youdont have to be exact, but aim to be within a half-second either way. Do not try to blow each one outat 100%. You can run 200m faster than you can run400m; that doesnt mean you should aim to run a

100% effort 200m on that rst workout listed. Againkeep what you are training for the day in mind

Tempo

Tempo workouts focus on maintaining a set percentageof your best time, typically in the 75-90% range. Thisallows a build-up of lactate and acidosis, coupled withshort rest periods, forcing the body to improve lactate

turnover and hydrogen buffering. The other goal is toteach you to run relaxed and maintain form.

6-10 x 150m, rest 3:00, 75-90%4-8 x 400m, rest 3:00, 75-90%2 x (500m, 400m, 300m), rest 3:00/6:00, 75-90%

Start at the lower end of the prescribed percentagesand reps. You can lengthen the rest periods to 4:00 ifnecessary. Increase intensity, then increase volume. Donot increase both at the same time.Focus on Quality

You hopefully noticed that there is a time component toall of the speed-endurance and tempo workouts. Thisisnt just go out and run hard. Its make sure you hit

your target times. Its keep the quality high and endthe workout if you cant make your targets. Its goal-

oriented. Obviously I cant stop you from sloggingthrough a string of sub-par workouts, but I can tell youthat it wont get you to where youre going.If I had a more sophisticated setup, there would be atime component to speed work too, but I dont, so base that on feel. If I dont feel like the intensity is there

and Im not getting up near top speed, the workout isover. Trying to train the nervous system to re powerfully

with sub-maximal work is a futile effort.

What Not To Do

Ive seen it quite a few times. Someone decides to addsprint training to their workouts and the workouts aresomething along the lines of 10x100m with 1 minute (operhaps 2-3 minutes) rest. Thats not a sprint trainingworkout. Thats a conditioning workout and may

have a place in your program, but its not going tomake you faster. There will be far too much fatigueto truly sprint. Remember that just because youremoving faster than your 5k pace doesnt mean youre

sprinting.Speed training uses a different mentality than youreprobably used to. More is not always better. Less restbetween reps is not always better. If you are actuallycommitted to improving your speed, proper restbetween reps and maintaining quality of work is the
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most important factor. Save the metcons for metcondays and treat speed training as you would a heavylifting day. Dont make your speed training into arunning-focused metcon.Rest means rest. Not jogging around, not doingpushups or pullups. It means walking, standing, sitting,or even laying and waiting. Literally, on my long restdays (like the 2 x 250 with 25:00 rest above), I sit/lay out

of the way on the track and watch other people dotheir thing. Then I get up and go again.

Make It Yours

This is all hypothetical and untested, but Id love toget some feedback if you give this a shot. My trainingis 100% Track and Field focused, so I dont work in

metCons and I cycle my lifting, speed, accelerationplyometrics, and speed-endurance work differentlydepending on where I am in the season. As suchnothing about this is set in stone, but is intended as a

starting point for someone that wants to emphasizespeed while still maintaining a level of general tness(though I could easily argue that Track and Field woulddo that).I kind of look at it like another iteration of the ME BlackBox by Coach Rutherford, only with a speed biasTweak it, play with it, give feedback.



Cooking with Scotty | Scotty Hagnas

Cabbage Stufng

Though I use a chicken in this recipe, it will work wellwith turkey, too!

Prep time: 20 minutesCooking time: 1 1/2 hours

1 whole, free range chicken 1/2 head of cabbage

1/2 pound turkey sage sausage (bulk) 1 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup slivered almonds 3 Tbsp vegetable or chicken broth 3 tbsp fresh sage

1 tsp olive oil

Add the olive oil to a skillet, bringing it to medium heat.Brown the sausage, then add the onion. Cook foraround 5 minutes, then add the broth, almonds, andsage. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, chop thecabbage nely. Add the cabbage to the skillet and

mix well, cooking for a few minutes more.

Stuff the chicken with the stufng mixture. Coat the

chicken lightly with bacon grease or olive oil, sprinklewith salt and pepper. Roast the chicken in a bakingpan for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. (cooking time willdepend on the size of your chicken or turkey) Servehot along with the chicken!

Zone info: (stufng only) 4 servings at 1 carb block, 1.5protein block, 8 fat blocks (10g carb, 12g protein, 12gfat)

Swedish (non)Meatballs

Over the years that Ive written recipes for the

Performance Menu, Ive presented many differentethnic foods made from Paleo ingredients. With theexception of the very rst column I wrote, Ive stayed

away from ethnic recipes from my own heritage. Bothof my parents are Swedish, but I had very little exposureto Swedish foods in my youth. (Hamburger Helper wasmore the norm. Thankfully, it was usually made withvenison)

One dish my mother would make occasionally wasSwedish Meatballs. I recall her always saying thatmaking the meatballs was a big project. I decided totry to update her recipe using Paleo ingredients, andcut the preparation time while preserving the avor. nixed the meatballs, instead making this in more of astroganoff style.

Time: 45 minutes

1 lb ground beef (grassfed if possible) 1 lb ground pork

2 eggs

1/3 cup coconut milk 1 1/2 cup nely diced acorn squash

1/2 cup diced onion 1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp nutmeg

dash cloves olive oil

Sauce: 2 Tbsp arrowroot powder



1/3 cup coconut milk 1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 cup water black pepper

Dice the onion. Halve and seed the squash, then dicethe squash nely.

Add 2 tsp of olive oil to a large skillet. Saute the onion

over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until it begins tosoften. Add the squash and a dash of water, coverand saute on low for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the beef and pork to a mixing bowl.Add the eggs, 1/3 cup of coconut milk, and the spices.Mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Addthe meat mixture to the skillet, increase the heat tomedium. Stir frequently until the meat has all browned.Remove the meat to a bowl.

Return the skillet to the stove with the pan juices. Add1/2 cup of water slowly, then scrape the bottom of the

pan while stirring well. Add 1/3 cup of coconut milk,parsley, and black pepper. Stir in the arrowroot slowly.The mixture should thicken gradually. After 3-4 minutes,return the meat to the skillet. Mix well, cover, thenreduce the heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes, then it isready to serve.

Zone info: 8 servings at .7 carb blocks, 3.3 protein

blocks, 9.5 fat blocks (6g carb, 24g protein, 20g fat)

Carrot AmbrosiaTime: 8 minutes

5 medium carrots

1/2 cup coconut milk 1/4 cup applesauce

1 oz raisins 1 oz golden raisins 2 tsp poppy seeds

2 tsp sunower seeds

Use a food processor to shred the carrots. Place the

carrots into a large bowl. Add all of the the remainingingredients to the bowl; mix well. Eat at once, or chill inthe refrigerator for later use.

Zone info: 4 servings at 2.25 carb blocks, 3.5 fat blocks(20g carb, 5.25g fat)

Roasted Beet Salad

Prep time: 7 minutesCooking time: 1 hour

3 medium beets (4 cups cubed)

2 tsp roasted hazelnut oil 1/2 tsp dried mint

2 Tbsp pine nuts

Cut the ends off of the beets. Place them in a coveredbaking dish; bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Removeand allow to cool.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, peethem by pushing the skin off with your ngers. Chopthe beets into small cubes, place in a medium bowlAdd the oil and mint, cover and toss well. Divide into 4serving bowls, top each with 2 tsp pine nuts.

Zone info: 4 servings at 2 carb blocks, 3 fat blocks (18gcarb, 4.5g fat)

Chard and Cashew Salad

Time: 10 minutes

1 large bunch chard 1/4 cup chopped cashews

1 Tbsp olive oil 2 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp wheat free Tamari sauce

1/4 tsp cumin dash of cayenne

Remove the stems from the chard. Use a food processoto shred the chard leaves. (You can also chop theleaves nely with a good knife) Add the shredded

chard and cashews to a medium salad bowl.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowlWhisk together, then pour over the chard. Toss well.

Zone info: 2 servings at 1.5 carb blocks, 9.3 fat blocks(13g carb, 14g fat)


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The Performance Menu Issue 58 - Nov. 2009

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Transcript of The Performance Menu Issue 58 - Nov. 2009