Trog Log: Transforming a 170-pound weakling into a highland athlete.

[Geoff Withnell]

Well, my training program in the gym will be a bit different. I work out 2-3 times a week in the gym, and once with my trainer. With the trainer, she spends an hour, having me do various and assorted things, which in her professional judgement will build up my core strength, balance and flexibility. Some of the exercises look pretty silly, but I have been getting great results - when I started with her I couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time. Now I can, if the ground is reasonably level (grin). What I was doing in the gym is what I call resistance or weight cardio. It is designed to build up working muscle, both for weight loss, "farmer" strength, and to create muscle that assists my heart. I have chronic atrial fibulation, which means the top of my heart (the atria) doesn't pump. According to my cardiologist, having strong skeletal muscles makes life easier on my inefficient heart, so he is in favor of my working out. It goes like this: 15 - 20 minutes of elliptical machine, running, stair climbing, something to get my heart and lungs going. Then a variety of weight excercises, alternating pushes e.g.presses, pulls e.g. rows, squats, lunges, etc. Each exercise is done as 3 sets of 15 reps, at the max weight I can complete the 45 rep in good form. I start immediately after finishing the cardio, and each group of three is done to this pace: 1 minute for the the first set, 30 sec rest, 1 minute for the second set, 30 sec rest, 1 minute for the third set, 1 minute to move to the next exercise, the object being to never let my heart rate drop. If a weight gets too easy, next work out, I add move weight, and drop to 3X12 on that exercise, and work up to 3X15 again. I run through every major muscle and motion group when doing this work out, tho I vary the exercise I might use for each. I'm going to keep this workout one day a week, and go for the explosive motion weight workout at least once a week. The other work out will be actually throwing (when I can find the place and time) or something similar.

[LitTrog]

What I was doing in the gym is what I call resistance or weight cardio. It is designed to build up working muscle, both for weight loss, "farmer" strength, and to create muscle that assists my heart.

Nice! That sounds pretty similar to the P90X program (a series of videos and nutritional advice) I used last year. I like the results, but it's good that you're doing some other stuff, too--I was pretty fit, but my stregth took a nose-dive.

[Alan H]

Geoff has more on the table than working out to throw far. He wants to keep his heart strong and lose weight, while also gaining basic strength. It's pretty hard to fault those goals! I know some meatheads who incredibly...would.... but that's their problem if all they can comprehend is deadlifting another hundred pounds. I notice that most of them are about 27 years old and think they'll live forever. A mess of them have already had two or three joint surgeries but the notion that their body is not like a Toyota, where when a part wears out, you just order a new one and have it installed, hasn't occurred to them.

So Geoff, go do your elliptical intervals and more power to ya. Alternating pushing and pulling ?? two thumbs up for that. Do your 45 reps of each movement and get a healthy cardiovascular system. You'll get stronger. It's all good.

Do what works. Myles Wetzel told me this a long time ago and he's right. Find what works for you, and do it. The basics of working some presses, squats and deadlifts, well...you can't go too far wrong with that as long as you use your head and don't go nuts with the weight. Don't blow up your knees or lower back. But man, you have to keep doing this for a long time, so it better be something that makes you happy, somehow.

And throw. Just get some gear, and throw it.

[Geoff Withnell]

Nice! That sounds pretty similar to the P90X program (a series of videos and nutritional advice) I used last year. I like the results, but it's good that you're doing some other stuff, too--I was pretty fit, but my stregth took a nose-dive.

Well, yes and no. From what I understand, P90X doesn't get into a lot of weight. The key of weight cardio training is that you use the max weight you can complete the 45 reps with, going at the 1 minute/30seconds/1 minute/30seconds/one minute/ next exercise pace. If you're not struggling to get those last couple of reps, you need to add weight. I was doing 80 lbs on flat bench when I started. I'm up to 160 now. Remember it's about doing the reps with good form and control. My max press is running about 250 these days, and with moving more to free weight is rising again.

[LitTrog]

Well, yes and no. From what I understand, P90X doesn't get into a lot of weight. The key of weight cardio training is that you use the max weight you can complete the 45 reps with, going at the 1 minute/30seconds/1 minute/30seconds/one minute/ next exercise pace. If you're not struggling to get those last couple of reps, you need to add weight. I was doing 80 lbs on flat bench when I started. I'm up to 160 now. Remember it's about doing the reps with good form and control. My max press is running about 250 these days, and with moving more to free weight is rising again.

You're absolutely right, although it can be tweaked a little to modify it into heavier weight. It relies heavily on bodyweight push-pull for some of the sessions (which I personally believe are quite valuable for general fitness.) What you're doing sounds better. Moreover, it's geared toward your personal needs (cardiac and skeletal muscle strength). 80 to 160? That's a helluva jump--sounds like it's working well for you!

[LitTrog]

This morning:

Rapid-fire bi-tri work:

Preacher curls to skull crushers. Repeatx3

Squat- Moderately fast 205lbs 4x12

Wide-grip pull ups 3 sets

Seated "machine" rows 3 sets

For anyone following along who wonders about how much time it takes to work out, I never like to spend more than 50 minutes lifting. Today's took about 45, yesterday's with all the presses took about 1.5 hours. Yuck.

[Alan H]

Nice!

Yeah my weightroom workouts, including the walk over to the gym and back are about an hour and 45. 20 minutes to walk over there. 20 minutes to walk back. Five minutes to flirt with Donna or Wendy. 60 minutes to do work. No more than that.

[Alan H]

Well, yes and no. From what I understand, P90X doesn't get into a lot of weight. The key of weight cardio training is that you use the max weight you can complete the 45 reps with, going at the 1 minute/30seconds/1 minute/30seconds/one minute/ next exercise pace. If you're not struggling to get those last couple of reps, you need to add weight. I was doing 80 lbs on flat bench when I started. I'm up to 160 now. Remember it's about doing the reps with good form and control. My max press is running about 250 these days, and with moving more to free weight is rising again.

You're flat-benching 45 reps with 160 pounds?????? .... and max bench is 250? Geoff, you're about as upper-body strong as I am! This, and you do kettlebell swings with a 50 pound kettlebell and you beat a big tire with a flippin' sledgehammer.

You are 64 years old and you do this. Damn.. Geoff, you are PLENTY strong enough to start throwing. PLENTY. By miles....

[Alan H]

Doing Olympic lifts without bumper plates is a bit of a challenge. We don't have bumper plates in my gym at the Big U, and no platform, either. So *real* Olympic lifting ain't happening.

So I do a LOT of hang cleans. I lack the flexibility to really get my elbows out there (I bet you are fine at this) at the catch, so I do what I can. Sometimes I just do high pulls from the hang position, and don't even catch the weight at the collarbones, just let it drop under control and catch it at waist height. I sometimes clean and snatch off the floor, but I can't push the weight on those because no can drop 'em. So I have to KNOW that I can finish the lift under control.

I also do a fair number of dumbell snatches, because Dan John says that asymmetrical lifts are good for throwers and Dan seems to know his business, to put it mildly. Y'all don't need bumper plates for those.

As for doing what I do....nah. You do what works for YOU. All my rambling here is just to explain how I go about it, so you have sort of a point of reference. Go look at o1d_dude's workouts, too.

Matt Vincent, the current world champion, has written an e-book on his training regime. Now, Matt is a total monster, and he's pretty young, so you have to take this with a grain of salt. But still, it's a good read, and it'll make you think.

This is Matts training log on his web site:

http://www.mattvincent.net/training-log/

and this is the link to the e-book...

http://www.mattvincent.net/store-3/training-lab-2/

Matt strongly advocates throwing year-round. He splits the calendar year up into sections and there are different amounts of lifting/throwing during different times, but at no point does he stop throwing. Me? I throw track and field implements in the winter...the Masters 50-59 shotput is 6kg/13.2 pounds so it's lighter than the open stone. I throw discus, too, but I do that just because I love to do it. However, it's easy for me to internalize a couple of the basic throwing principles when I throw discus, because I've done it for so long. So in fact, it's probably good for me. Also, it's a mental thing. I worked with US Silver Medalist, John Powell for a few weeks, many years ago. John said something that really resonated with me. He said that discus throwing is simple. His example was that he sometimes had developmentally disabled kids out to the track. He'd show them how to throw it a couple of times and tell them that they couldn't step outside the circle and hand them a discus. And they threw it. Throwing the discus is a simple thing. However "simple" and "easy" are NOT the same things. For me, discus is a simple thing. I just get in the ring and don't worry about stuff. I just throw the discus. It's hard to explain but it works for me.

You find what works for you, and do it. Just remember......

A.) the goal is to exert 80% of your max potential, with good form, for three seconds.

B.) all throwers power comes from contact with the ground. You can't throw anything while you're spinning in the air. Legs and especially hips and abs/lower back are the muscle groups that translate ground contact to implement distance. When you do a hard throwing workout and what's tired is your hips, you're well on the way to doing it right.

More lifting/workout information...
Also, Ryan Vierra's video will help you a lot... get it from Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Highland-Games...highland+games

[LitTrog]

My wonderful wifey let slip that she had done some research and bought that video for me for my birthday. She said it had a companion video which detailed the lifting movements and workouts that would be most valuable. Have you seen it? If so, is it worth getting?