Saturday, March 10, 2007

A distillation.

Snatch workout went well today which makes what I am thinking even more strange but I think it is going in the right direction. Adding another day of swings into the mix has made me stronger than I expected to be. I thought it would wear me down more and it seems to be building me up. Even today, after Wednesdays light but fast session that made me so sore the warmup one arm swings were strong and the groove very easy and natural.

Yet during most of my snatch workout I am more worried about tweaking my shoulder than I am applying max force and pushing as hard as I can that day. I am not feeling that way about swings though and that's when I had the thought:

Since I am more concerned about work capacity, strength and total volume than I am about building my snatch for ssst or gs why dont I concentrate on the swings and let the snatch go. I know I tried this before but I think I might be ready for it this time.

Especially since it seems the overhead snatch holds are doing me more good than just the snatch itself.

I could alternate one arm swings and darcs and wave the loads : heavy, light, medium,heavy,light,etc.

So, a two week cycle:

Sat
one arm swings/heavy/24,28, 32 kg
Snatch holds /heavy
Halo


Mon
darcs /light 20-24 kg
Rack holds /medium
Vest walks /heavy

Wed
one arm swings /med 20/24 kg
Handstand
rack walks /med

Sat
darcs /heavy 24,28,32 kg
snatch holds /Light
Halo

Mon
one arm swings/ light 20,24 kg
rack holds /heavy
vest walks
/light

Wed
darcs/medium 24,28 kg
handstands
rack walks
/heavy

starts over with one arm swings/heavy. Workloads(volume) would be consistent with the weight used and waved as well.Light(er) weights would focus on CAT and speed or higher reps for endurance

The handstands will suffice instead of a two kb overhead hold.



have to give this more thought, it looks interesting.the fear of giving up the snatch, my last 'real' athletic ability is the only real reason NOT to make the swings the focus of my training. And by doing so, I will actually be able to train heavier as well as safer at the same time. Not to mention do more volume. The question is, can I do it? :))

8 comments:

Brett Jones said...

Rif,
I would create a bit more difference between Heavy, light and medium days - going down into the 16kg range for light and making sure to reduce volume on medium days - I think those are where you will run into the issues. Looks good though.
Fun ain't it! ;)

Mark Reifkind said...

I still have to make peace with the 16 kg and get my ego out of the way so I can use it. I figure normal variations in energy and recovery will moderate the volume with the varying weights.

I will have to try this and see what actually constitutes heavy and light in the long run.
But I also like the inclusion of snatch and rack holds as my tension moves. this might work!

Fireman Tom said...

Rif,

IMO, you should try and see how much you can lower your overall volume, while still performing well, staying strong, fit, flexible, etc.

Create a few benchmark tests to cover these areas. For example, pull up max test, 5 min ssst, stretching test, etc. Test yourself, then try different training loads and retest yourself in 4-6 weeks.

Your "curse" is that you LOVE to train, and you were in sports where lots of training produced results in the short term, BUT it really beats up the body in the long run. Gymnastics workouts are for the young. Ever see an older PLer who wasn't beat-up and worn out? Sure, they may squat a lot, but they'd die or scream from pain if they had to run up 10 flights of stairs.

You need to step back and look at yourself from anothers eyes. What if your clone walked into Girya and wanted to do some training for health, fitness and longevity? What would you tell him?

Mark Reifkind said...

thanks tom,

that is pretty much what I am doing(lowering volume to levels that allow me to function optimally). It may seem like a lot but it is much less than even a year ago.

I am getting it down to just the exercises that work me but dont break me down.

I won't test anymore as that is where I always have problems. I've competed enough in the past.I always turn it up more than I should when I compete. too many years of practice, lol.

These days making progress is maintaining the highest work capacity that I can without breaking down.

good to see you post here dude.

Chris said...

Can you do it?

I've been reading your wife's blog and the message from that is that you can.....but do you realy want to?

Chris

Mark Reifkind said...

chris,

lol, good point. the real answer is NO , I don't want to. what I want is to be able to do three lift power meets again but that's not going to happen.

for me it's not so much about wanting to, it's about choosing to. All one gets from the 'wanting' of something is just that, wanting it.You have to choose something to actually 'get ' it. a little obtuse and metaphysical perhaps but what I believe.

will I choose it? well some variation for sure. I am getting more comfortable with the idea of dropping the snatch and just focusing on swing work.Everytime I try ot focus on snatch goals I come against either:
1) high reps: too close to gs for me.

2) heavy weight. I know I cant do that.

SO, that leaves work capacity training and volume( strength endurance) and that is better suited to swings. we'll see. A lot of what I do on my blog is " think" outloud.Never really sure what will stick.

My training is alot like Geof Neupert decribed Z health

choose A, does the body answer yes or no? If yes ,proceed. If no, switch it up. Thats my life these days, lol.

Tommy Shook said...

Rif,

Good to see you thinking about things at least. I guess i have to echo Fireman Tom's words. What is the LEAST you can do and still make progress, I think that is the context he is discussing in terms of "testing yourself" Brett had a blog post about what is the least you can do and make progress a while back..I was kinda teasing him, (you know me *tounge-in-cheek* most of the time anyways)..anyhow I think there is validity to the concept at the very least. It is something I have had to learn and be reminded about over the years, because like you I love to train. I think you are on a good path my friend, and you're getting close to finding the "sweet spot" me thinks.

Mark Reifkind said...

Tom,

are you kidding man? "good to see you are thinking about things at least". lol, thats ALL I do is think about this stuff.

I am trying to get the minimum I can get to to make progress but I have to be able to define what progress is.since I am so used to using heavier loads to define progress and I can't do that anymore I have used volume as the substitute for progress.
volume that I can recover from seems to be the lynchpin.

I agree though it seems to be settling into a sweet spot.we'll see.

190 x 1 x 12,210 static hold, 225 static hold, bodyweight squats 3 x 15

 What a freaking great day! This is without a doubt the best group of heavy reps I have ever done! Every set was just about perfect. Plus I ...