Author Topic: Important Lessons  (Read 5183 times)

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RJ Nelsen

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Important Lessons
« on: June 08, 2009, 05:02:04 pm »
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Most of us have been at this whole "training" thing for a while now, so we've all picked up a bit of information along the way. In an effort to help prevent others from making the same mistakes we did, let's discuss the biggest, most important lessons we've learned.

Some of mine were...

Maintain strength. After you've worked hard to earn it, make sure you don't lose it all in the next block. Even if it's just a few sets of strength work a week, make sure you do it.

Pay attention to the front side of the body. Don't neglect the abs and the hip flexors in favor of the posterior chain. You need both to function optimally.

Get in shape. Even if your even only lasts 11 seconds, doing regular conditioning work will not only prolong your life, but make recover between sets and between workouts much easier. Conditioning doesn't have to be hard. It can be something as simple as walking uphill or climbing stairs.

100m200m

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2009, 05:27:08 pm »
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I get a lot of minor aches and pains that usually go away after awhile if I just ignore them.  However, a lot of times I've had more major injuries that I should have addressed and let heal.  In fact, I broke my right thumb once and unknowingly kept playing basketball for months even though I couldn't move it properly.  The main lesson I've learned would be that even though it's hard, I have to stop playing basketball or running when I get hurt and rest for a while in order to prevent chronic problems.

adarqui

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2009, 05:30:24 pm »
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1. Always stay in good shape. Becoming addicted to lifting and very brief explosive movements (ie plyos) will take its toll on the body if weekly conditioning work is not performed to increase blood flow, keep the fasciae loose, and keep the heart healthier.

2. Stretch! Not only dynamic stretching during a warmup/cooldown. Alot of my injuries have come from static stretching, because I had neglected stratic stretching. Here's how that makes sense: I would neglect static stretching in favor of dynamic stretching during warmup/cooldown, then later on (weeks/months down the road) I would get an itch to static stretch, and boom, something gets pulled. Now that I have stayed consistent with static stretching, my muscles/fasciae feel so much more pliable, and I don't get any more of those weird pulls.

 - static & pnf are my favorites here.. I think neglecting static following an intense session is a big mistake.. only takes a few static stretches for say hamstrings/adductors to really keep them more healthy.


3. Don't put all of your marbles into a deload.. If the training plan is 3 months long, and you're experiencing up and down gains, with more downs than ups, a deload usually isnt going to solve anything. Make sure at least once every two weeks you have a way of reducing fatigue and seeing where you are at... If every two weeks you're still the same or experiencing decreased performance, even after a small deload of ~2 days, then a deload 3 months from now will probably leave you pretty sad.


4. For athletes who have some crazy weird leverages, don't try and CRAM them into a certain form. Take advantage of their leverages and come up with modified exercises that allow them to push the intensity. The worst thing you can do with an athlete is try to cram them into a box where it's an every day struggle to make gains. Changing the rom or form, or using another variation could have them making crazy gains. Re: Eddie & Adarqui : above parallel squat.. + Eddie: 12" barbell stepup


5. If you're coaching people, and you sprint 2x/week.. tell them their numbers on every sprint. Don't hide the info. Some people, may at first, reactive negatively to this: "DAMN MAN IM RUNNING SO BAD TODAY", but you just have to keep instilling in them that they are acting like a pansy, just sprint, hard, whatever happens-happens. I think that "everything is going to be a gain/PR" mindset is retarded.. If an athlete of yours is having a bad day, let them know it, and make them overcome it. I've been around coaches who hide that info, and act like everything is fine & happy on a bad day.. I think thats a disservice.


6. Don't neglect core.. I still neglect it.. and im an idiot for doing so.



7. Post-workout nutrition is huge.. People that neglect it experience significantly less gains from my own experiences with training h.s. athletes in camps. The kids who take the PWO protein shakes post workout, and at least one more during the day, gain so much more muscle/power from the training.


8. Don't get too plyo happy. I've learned this one the hard way.. I don't think anyone on these forums will have that problem though.. 55 depth jumps from 24" in one session left me with debilitating knee tendonitis for 1+ months... ya, don't do stuff like that.


9. Don't neglect some form of submax box height plyo / reactive drill (hurdle jumps etc) year-round.. 18" depth jumps won't kill you.. they'll keep you always prepared for more intense plyos, maintain your force absorption ability (at least for that exercise), and train your plantar flexors quite well (which will enhance sprinting/jumping sessions).


10. Don't quit when things go bad, because they usually go pretty good soon afterwards if you stay committed.


peace

Alex V

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2009, 05:34:20 pm »
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"Slow cook it"
From Coach X's GPP Manual.

Or as Charlie Francis says: The rush to results often leads to uncertainty and stagnation in the future

Or as Jsy schroeder puts it "ISO EEEXXXTTTRRREEEMMMZZZ are all you need"

Here is the deal.  Pick from a smaller exercise pool and spend a LOT of time in the beginning mastering the movements.  

I'd rather train an athlete that can do perfect squats, lunges, RDL's, GHR's, Push ups and Pull ups than one that can half ass all of those and cleans and snatches and turkish get ups, and do spider lunges, and muscle ups, and dot drills, and clubbells, and kettlebells, and tae bo, and psx90, and the new weider confusion principle extreme growth hack squat, and...  well you get the picture

start slow, master the movements and you may take 2 steps back (cuz your homies will squat and bench more weight) but you will be preparing yourself for a long injury free lifting career.   You will take 2 steps back and then shoot 10 steps forward.

Matering movement is what jay means when he says train first to be an athlete.  learn to move well and you will be a better athlete.  All sports involve movement.

I'll elaborate a bit more:

If you can squat properly, then I can get you to land properly, which means you can do depth jumps properly.  Thus by mastering the squat your drops and jumps will be better, higher, and more effective.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2009, 05:42:59 pm by Alex V »

Alex V

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2009, 03:38:10 pm »
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no one has any valuable lessons they have learned?

adarqui

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2009, 03:39:33 pm »
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no one has any valuable lessons they have learned?

:/

dan1990

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2009, 06:23:49 pm »
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lessons i learned are...

to have good conditioning as this will help work capacity and is good on off days..
gett a full dynamic warm up 30-45min not a short 15min one..
to have strong core ..mobile hips and good glute activation.
relax at top speed when sprinting..
sprint 6 days a week ..3 speed 3 tempo i have learned works best for me ..dont neglect tempo ..sprinting needs practice
good arm drive when sprinting..not to try improve everything at once eg:strength speed jumping it works better to train in blocks eg: strength block explosive block.better results this way for me anyway..

Nizar

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #7 on: June 09, 2009, 06:25:15 pm »
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Electrical muscle stimulation is generally poorly understood with regards to how and when it should be applied and it's quite underrated too.

Joe

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #8 on: June 09, 2009, 06:25:53 pm »
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The most important lesson I've learned is to try and read as much as I can about any and everything related to training or otherwise.
"i threaten to kill myself whenever my parnets tell me to get a job" - bjpenn

adarqui

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Re: Important Lessons
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2009, 06:40:20 pm »
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Electrical muscle stimulation is generally poorly understood with regards to how and when it should be applied and it's quite underrated too.


didn't know you implemented EMS.. and that's one hell of an avitar!



dan - ya those 30-45 minute warmups are typical of sprinters.. try to get the average trainee to warmup dynamically for 5 minutes, hardly ever happens.. i have too much ADD to warmup for 30 minutes, but i do see their effectiveness.. i keep mine to <15min.. mostly around 8-10.

peace