Endurance Training: Use these either between strength training days or four hours before or after a strength workout.

Option 1 (moderate intensity): Run 400 meters 6 times with 2 minutes of rest between intervals. Intensity of run should require 2 minute rest to recover. Can substitute 2 minutes of alternative cardio exercise for run.

Option 2 (high intensity): Run, bike or row 6 rounds of the following intervals: 30 seconds all out effort followed by 2 minutes of moderate pace. Complete all six rounds with no rest between intervals. Include a 2 minute warmup round at the beginning of the sets. (I like this workout, it burns a lot of calories and increases overall power production.)

Daily Workout January 11, 2010

Part I Strength:
Back Squat 3-5 reps, 5 rounds
Overhead press 3-5 reps, 5 rounds

Part II: Conditioning (optional)
Medicine ball wood chop, 20 reps each side
Medicine ball slam 20 reps
Medicine ball squat and jump press 10 reps
Medicine ball overhead lunge 20 steps

Coach’s notes:
Weightlifting team use behind the neck snatch grip press instead of overhead press for strength portion. You will be able to backsquat more weight than you can front squat or overhead squat. Make sure that you maintain your lumbar curve and keep your knees pushed out. Get your thighs at least to parallel and don’t let your torso collapse down such that it becomes a good morning rather than a squat.

For medicine ball squat and jump, hold medicine ball in front of you, squat down, touch the ball to the floor and then explosively jump and press the ball overhead as though shooting a basketball. Land, reset foot position, and repeat. Overhead lunge is holding the ball overhead in a press position while completing lunges.

Thoughts on squatting: If you are training for Olympic weightlifting, you may want to use the High bar position and keep the torso more upright while squatting whereas the field athlete and power lifter will benefit more from the low bar squat and its emphasis on glute development. However, this is only if the squat is a full range of motion below parallel squat. Once we get down below parallel, the difference between the squats is the vertical position of the torso and the placement of the hips: further back for the low bar back squat, between the heels for the high bar back squat. The high bar position is also trained for using the front squat, but you cannot lift as much weight. It is my personal position that training both the high bar and low bar back squat are useful to the Olympic weightlifter and the placement of these squats in the training program will depend on the athlete’s individual needs.

Mark Rippetoe on the Low Bar vs High Bar back squat.

Daily Workout January 12, 2010

8 rounds with 10 second rests.
Sprint 50 meters

Coach’s notes: This is a quick workout, but don’t let it be all that you do. This is a good day to work on skills that have been alluding you. Ie. A kipping pullup, a handstand, running form, plyometrics, or maybe practicing your Olympic lifts with an empty bar. Warm up, do some joint mobility drills, perform the workout and then spend a good 15-20 minutes working on some other skills.

Daily Workout January 13, 2010

Part I: Strength
Deadlift 3-5 reps, 5 rounds
Pullups (weighted pull-ups, or negative pull-ups) 3-5 reps, 5 rounds

Part II: Conditioning (optional)
3 rounds
Jump Rope 2 minutes
15 pushups
15 situps
rest 1 minute

Coach’s notes: The Pullups in this portion are done for strength. Therefore they are not to be performed with a kip. If you already have a pullup, try working with a weighted pullup by holding a dumbbell between your feet. If you don’t have a pullup, use negatives by jumping up into position and then lowering yourself down through a full range of motion. If you cannot perform a negative safely (ie, you drop too quickly), use a bodyrow.

Daily Workout January 14, 2010

Rest Day

Coach’s notes: X-box, updating your Facebook page, eating pizza and drinking beer, watching the game, these all count as rest day activities.

Daily Workout January 15, 2010

Part I: Strength
Perform as a 5 round circuit:
Front Squat, 10 reps
Power Jerk (Push Jerk) 5-10 reps
(use 1 RM of overhead press for both exercises)

Part II: Conditioning (optional)
10 burpees
10 kettlebell swings
5 rounds

Coach’s notes: The front squat is a squat where the bar is supported on the front of the deltoids, not held by the hands and supported by the wrists. This requires a great deal of flexibility. The tips of the fingers hold the bar in place. This exercise is a dynamic effort exercise and not meant for max effort.

Daily Workout January 16, 2010

To be announced. I will host this again at my house at 10 am weather permitting. (That means precipitation, not cold!)