The -training-session

The training session

Each training session needs to follow a plan. For the work to be most effective the order must follow this scheme:

·        Warm up

·        Skill work

·        Strength work

·        Bodybuilding

·        Local muscular endurance

·        Endurance

·        Mobility/flexibility

·        Cool down

A warm up makes everything ready. If we start at maximal exertion we fail earlier. This is why we warm up. The gases exchange more efficiently, the tissues are more pliable, and the focus is set for higher performance. Each training session involves preparation.

Snatches are skill work.

Skill work is the most technical part of training. It demands focus. It is the part of training in which we gain the most. It involves timing, positioning, alignment, understanding, and complete automaticity is the result. We train this first because it demands fresh neurological energy. If fatigue is present skill work has ended. Skill work in athletics is a full body coordinated effort. Each part of the body must be in concert with the rest. Systemic is the best description of these training sessions. If skill is to improve it involves body, mind, and soul. After years of practice skills are honed and very difficult to overcome. Switching from powerlifting to Olympic style weightlifting is an example of skill work. These sports are very different even though they are directly related. A powerlifter needs to practice the changes in direction within the lifts during skill work.

Squats work our strength.

Strength work requires skill. For a weightlifter skill work involves snatches, cleans, and jerks. Squats, pulls, and bench presses along with other “more simple” lifts are strength work. Weightlifters use theses lifts to amplify the competition lifts. Thus, they are not maxed out. The benefits of these movements support the main sport activity. If you “play” your sport on your feet squats are the best great strength movements. Use the Turkish get-up if you plan on getting knocked down (and you will be knocked down if you use these as a strength movement) weakling!

Bodybuilding is simply adding muscle to the systems. Skill and strength movements will breakdown when a muscle or group of muscles cannot keep up with the rest of the system. Good coaches look for this breakdown in form. Even a football coach is looking for the part of the system which lags behind during execution. Say a weightlifter is leaving the shoulders behind off the platform during the pull. If this timing cannot be improved with simple understanding that the lift needs to slow down until the bar is above the knees we will work the back extensors until they keep up with the hip and leg extensors. We watch each lift and make certain we know the culprit before we examine assistance work. Experience pays in huge

dividends when it comes to assistance work selection.

Sometimes local muscular endurance (part of the body) is all that is needed for a muscle group to be catch up. Small muscles will fatigue before larger muscles if the systems are not properly coordinated. If I bend my arms during a pull on cleans not only will I rob the lift of hip strength but may arms will be tired when they are needed on the jerk. The size principle applies to body parts as well. Originally the size principle states that we use larger motor unit complexes first and down regulate to smaller complexes as we perceive the exertions as less demanding. Complex body movements work similarly. We need to use the hips, legs, and back musculatures first. After this strength has been utilized we use the shoulders, lower legs, and arms to further coordinate our execution. If my arms are not strong enough to do their part on a bigger movement I train them, with higher repetitions, and they benefit from local endurance work. Local muscular endurance is quite different than general endurance.

Endurance is different for a marathon runner and a powerlifter. The marathon runner requires endurance for his sport activity. A powerlifter needs endurance for his recovery between reps, workouts, and training cycles. Endurance work of long sustained state can dismantle strength gains. All athletes need to train endurance work just as much as they need to train strength. The distribution of work changes from one sport to the next. Interval training was invented for strength athletes. Intervals make endurance athletes more powerful also.

Put two rubber bands on the counter. Take one and place it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Stretch the one on the counter, not frozen, maximally and measure the length. Now, take the one out of the freezer and repeat the test stretching it maximally measuring the length. Did the frozen band break at a shorter length? I bet it did. Your muscles work in a similar way. That is why a warm-up is suggested. If one needs more mobility the best time to gain is after the work has been completed in all other categories. Stretch after training to gain functional mobility.

I don’t know about you but all of my systems are elevated during a training session. Heart rate, respiration, tension, and everything else are elevated. If I stop cold and make no adjustments to return to normal life the recovery will be interrupted at best. We must actively slow the process down. A cool down just like stretching and warming up has no basis in science. There are no valid, reliable, studies indicating we need to do any of these things to perform at a higher level. There are counter examples for each claim. This makes statements false, logically. Do a cool down is my recommendation regardless. We cannot go into public after a powerlifting session and expect to act differently than the incredible hulk. Cool down freak.

Training sessions must follow a sequence to be effective. Stray from this structure and watch performances nose-dive. Warm up, skill work, strength, endurance, stretch, and cool down. These are components which should be addressed in a particular order.

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