"Re-Test and Analyze"(9.20.2011)

"Re-Test and Analyze"(9.20.2011)

Jenna hanging with the Vagabond mascot, Tucker.

*Reminder: Vagabond CrossFit will be holding its Olympic Lifting Class on Tuesday @ 6:35 pm. Please make these speciality classes a must, as they will help with your skills, but also translate over to better performances in the group classes!*

I. Eric Cressey’s First Myth on High Repetition Strength Modules compared to Low Repetition Strength Modules:
I have been checking out Eric Cressey’s website as of late, and it is loaded with numerous information ranging from strength advice to conditioning advice. This guy is one of the best in the country, and he is from our home state of Massachusetts. His website is free, and posts videos everyday, with tips and helpful guides to becoming a better athlete. Please take a look at his website, and get educated!
 Click Here for Eric’s Website.
I have attached a snippet of information about the benefits of high rep schemes within strength programming, and how Eric describes the benefits of mixing up your program with high repetition rep schemes:
You must avoid high reps (“traditional” hypertrophy prescriptions):
Conventional relative strength wisdom holds that if you want to avoid packing on size but still need to make neural improvements for the sake of strength increases, you should simply stick to high-intensity, low volume lifting parameters such as 3 x 3. If you go to 6-8 reps, you’ll likely turn into Jay Cutler overnight and your 40-time will skyrocket to eight seconds.
While I’m all for lifting heavy stuff to get stronger (rocket science at its finest), I must ask: what the heck does one do when an athlete is absolutely burned out after three weeks of circa-maximal loading? How do you address muscular imbalances that can only be corrected with extra volume on under-utilized movements? Are you really going to train prehab movements such as shoulder external rotation and hip abduction with 3RM loads? How do you teach an athlete new movements if he’s only “allowed” to do a few sets of 2-3 reps per session?
I’ll come right out and say it: all relative strength athletes should still utilize all rep brackets in their training — everything from 1 to 20 reps. The most important consideration is how much attention is devoted to each bracket. Broadly speaking, all relative strength athletes can be subdivided into two categories:
1. Athletes requiring little to no metabolic conditioning: This group includes powerlifters, Olympic lifters, volleyball players, baseball players, and track and field jumpers. They may need short sprinting and agility work, but these efforts aren’t enough to make dramatic energy expenditure a huge part of their training sessions and competitions.
2. Athletes requiring considerable metabolic conditioning: This group consists of the vast majority of athletes, pretty much everyone not included in the first group. These athletes move around a lot more than the first group. All this energy expenditure makes it more unlikely that they’ll “accidentally” pack on some non-functional size.
So, it becomes readily apparent that one needs to be more careful with the former group’s training and nutrition programs, as there’ll be a greater tendency toward “accidental” growth where it may not be optimal. In this group, there should be fewer sets in traditional hypertrophy ranges, and total dietary intake shouldn’t provide a surplus of calories. Nonetheless, these athletes still need a substantial amount of higher rep training for a variety of reasons:
1. To correct muscle imbalances created by sporting movements (e.g. repeated humeral internal rotation and scapular protraction in throwing a baseball must be evened out with plenty of external rotation and scapular retraction).
2. To provide sufficient volume to teach new movements and replace faulty movement patterns with proper motor programming.
3. To provide for connective tissue health via strengthening of the non-contractile elements of the muscles and tendons. (This is incredibly important. If you only train heavy all the time, you’re going to be hurting sooner than later.)
4. To allow for sufficient volume during periods when intensity must be reduced, but exercise technique practice must continue.
5. To allow for training of certain movements that can’t feasibly be trained with circa-maximal loading.

Nicole in the midst of her Wall Balls and First Place finish in the Fight Gone Bad Workout!