Similar to my research page, the Fitness & Training page will be a continuing page, updated as I come across new material or interesting ideas for health and sports performance. As a coach, I routinely come across sample program designs, programs that were actually used, or new and existing modalities that are being applied in a new manner. My hope is to post some of these items on this page in order to promote discussion and education of various training methods. For the most part, I'm hoping to be able to post one new item per week, but we shall see how that goes. Before you read any lower, try to keep three items in mind at all times when reading the Fitness &Training page of my blog:
First, just because it's posted on this page does not mean I support the use of the program, modality, or exercise choice. In fact, I will without a doubt post items that I do not agree with, solely for the purpose of promoting discussion. Knowing my personality, I'm sure I'll always discuss my view of the posted item but please do not take the absence of a negative review as an indication of support. Secondly, if you are going to attempt to implement any of the items posted on this page, please ensure you are healthy enough to embark on that task. I am not your doctor, your coach, or telling you to include these items in your workout program. If you choose to include an item from this page into your workout, you do so at your own risk...and I mean RISK! Finally, please take into consideration that the items posted on the page are often just program design templates, most of which are meant for program enhancements purposes of a particular athlete or sport. The templates or exercises posted on this page are not meant to be blindly applied to any population, sport, or team without careful consideration of the program variables and demands of that group. Rather, the items you'll find on this page are meant to aid in the design process of your own program. Always feel free to ask questions if you have some. Thanks and enjoy!
7/31/10 Bodyweight Conditioning Workouts
I have long been an advocate of the use of bodyweight conditioning workouts for both athletic and health purposes. From a performance enhancement standpoint, I believe the point of these workouts are often misunderstood or lost by most strength and conditioning coaches, especially those with a powerlifting background. While I would readily agree that most seasoned and highly-developed athletes will not see an increase in their maximum strength or power as a result of BWC, less developed athletes such as youth or high school athletes can, and often will, see those increases. However, I've most often used BWC as a means of achieving a desired metabolic effect or team building atmosphere that I find very hard to achieve in other activities, but especially in the weight room. Though the BWC appear easy on paper, the shear tenacity of these workouts provide a level of competition among athletes that is extremely hard to replicate. A further benefit for a coach with new athletes is that s/he will often be able to find out which of his/her athletes are the mentally tough ones, and which aren't, within one set! The ability of these workouts to drop athletes is amazing. Below is a link to an example three phase program. This program is similar to one I've used with high school and collegiate teams during their off-season, and even some of them, during in-season. At times, the BWC served as a substitute for true weight room work (one of the High Schools I coached at did not have a functional weight room) but most often they were meant to augment the weight room and serve the purposes discussed earlier.
From a health perspective, I believe BWC are a great modality to use. In fact, many people are paying hundreds of dollars to companies for products such as P90X or the Insanity Workout. While I certainly appreciate people making the steps to adopt a healthy lifestyle, all these programs are, as shown in their own DVD's and infomercials, are simple bodyweight exercises and calisthenics. There is no reason for people to pay hundreds of dollars to somebody when most all of us have access to Google, yahoo, or other search engines, not to mention the fact that everyone had years of physical education classes which primarily consisted of such exercises. I hope you enjoy the examples below and always feel free to ask questions.
Just an FYI: though I don't have exact times for the Phases 1 & 2, the fastest I've ever had an athlete complete Phase 3, Group B (which is the harder one btw), was ~53 seconds....just a little benchmark for everyone to reach for out there. :-D
