Post by Joey Smith on Jun 9, 2008 14:51:17 GMT -5
Good Workouts, Bad Workouts
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by Keith W. Wassung
Ever have one of those workouts that exceed all expectations. On just about every exercise, you break your personal record for weights and reps used. The feeling is exhilarating and you leave the gym completely invigorated. On the flip side, you have those workouts where nothing seems to go right. Instead of gaining, you actually lose ground and you leave the gym, tired, sore and frustrated. If you do not have a long-range game plan, that frustration can lead to a search for new program, a new supplement etc, and the cycle repeats itself repeatedly.
Workouts are a lot like the kick-off return team in football. You line up for each kick, stay in your lanes, and block your assignments and the kick returner runs as hard as he can. In most cases, you end up around the 20-yard line. Occasionally you reach midfield and once in a great while everything falls into place and the return man finds the seam and runs 100 yards for a touchdown. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you end up on the 8 yard line or even fumble and lose the ball.
I believe that progress is often a matter of working hard and smart on a consistent basis long enough for most of the workouts to be productive (20 yard returns) have a few really good ones (30-50 yard returns) the even rarer outstanding ones (touchdowns) and realizing that the bad workouts (8 yard returns and fumbles) are all part of the game. It is important to always keep in mind that progress is almost never linear and or constant except perhaps in the first year or so of training after which gains often come in isolated batches and often at unexpected times. This reminds me of when I was a boy and had to split logs into firewood. I would place the steel wedge into a seam in the log and then begin pounding it with a sledgehammer. After approximately 14 hard blows, there was no visible evidence that the wedge had penetrated the log in any way. However, the 15th blow would result in the wedge cleanly splitting the log into two or more pieces. The first 14 strikes did not appear to do much, but they were slowly breaking down the resistance of the wood.
I have done some reading on biorhythms and athletic performance and though I am not sure of the validity of everything I have read, it would difficult to deny that there is a certain cyclic element which can affect strength and athletic performance. This is one of the problems with many of the 12-16 week programs, where each workout is calculated based on a set percentage of your starting maximum weight -you end up being locked into lifting what the paper says, rather than in following the natural strength fluctuations of your body. You have to be patient and work for long term results, rather than in judging performance on a workout to workout basis.
Generally, an occasional bad workout is nothing to be concerned about. Bad workouts have a way of making the good ones seem even better by comparison. Anthony Ditillo, a noted strength author, once said that a bad workout is a sign that your body is in the process of rebuilding and repairing and there may be some truth to this. The worse thing about a bad workout is that is can cause you to question and doubt your program. You must have confidence and certainty in your program or you are destined for a lot of frustration and stalled progress. If you have a string of consecutive bad workouts, or have just hit a sticking point in your training, then there are several steps you can take to get back on the track to progress.
The first step is to analyze your workout recovery. Have you been getting enough quality rest, enough quality food and water? Adding some high quality protein and fresh vegetables, an extra hour of sleep each night or even performing some extra flexibility work will often be enough to get you back on the right track to progress. Remember that not all recovery days are equal, meaning that just because three days have passed since your last workout does not necessarily mean you have recovered. Those days might have been filled with extra physical and mental stress such as sick children, which keep you up half the night, family matters, travel, eating on the run, final exams, all of which impede your recovery. Never be afraid to take some extra days of rest. Make the necessary adjustments as needed and when ready-attack the weights with renewed physical and mental energy.
The second step is to analyze and improve your exercise technique. I don't believe that the average person fully appreciates the skill and discipline that it takes to correctly perform most weight training exercises, particularly compound movements and especially when those exercises are pushed to the very limit. Swinging a golf club, tennis racquet or a baseball bat requires coordinated motor skills which take time and practice to develop. An Olympic weight lifter and a shot-putter require intense coaching and many years of practice in order to perfect their movements. Weight training exercises are no different. Some are more difficult to master then others, but all require some degree of skill to perform and this takes practice, time, discipline and attention to detail. I say this because often people make a decision to add an exercise to their program. The trainee performs the lift and it feels uncomfortable or even painful and as a result they either discard the movement or they adopt a very sloppy technique when exercising. In either case, there are virtually no benefits and if the movement is included and performed incorrectly, it often leads to injury. In my early years of training I made this error repeatedly, but I eventually learned from my mistakes.
It is beyond the scope of this article to describe specific exercise technique. You can learn that from books, videos, this web site, personal coaching and strength and conditioning seminars. You might be thinking that exercise technique is an individual matter and that there is too much disagreement on what constitutes proper technique. Although there is some difference of opinion on certain exercises and topics such as cadence and range of motion, for the most part, there is a consensus on correct technique. You may have to make minor modifications to suit your individual needs, but the general principles apply to just about everyone. Walk into any bookstore or library and select any ten weight training instruction books off the shelf and I would wager that 95% of the exercise techniques would be described in a very similar manner. The trouble is that very few people actually do the movements the way they are described. Visit most commercial gyms or health clubs and it's a safe bet that almost no one is lifting with correct form. You see partial movements, bouncing, severe body english, fast slamming movements, cheating movements and a total lack of concentration. It's no wonder that so many people are frustrated with their lack of progress. If you want to maximize your own strength and development, then it is important to develop near perfect technique in all of the exercises in your program.
Write down all of the exercises you use in your program and then create a list of "check-points" that are important for each lift. Develop a habit of mentally referring to those checkpoints on each and every repetition and eventually they will become second nature to you. Larry Bird used to do this when shooting free throws. He had a mental list of things to do when shooting and he would go through them over and over in his mind until he could make long strings of consecutive shots. There is a story that when Larry was playing still an NBA pro, he was hired to appear in some commercials for McDonalds. The first commercial called for him to shoot and miss a free throw in practice. The first 22 takes were failures because he was unable to miss the free throw. This is a good example of proper mental conditioning and discipline.
If your progress on a particular lift has stalled or reached a plateau, or if an exercise is causing some non-growth related discomfort, then consider analyzing and working to improve your form. Break down the lift into smaller parts and analyze any weaknesses or trouble spots and then work to improve them. This can be done via adjunct exercises, power rack training or simply fine-tuning the technique involved. You may have to experiment with variations of each movement in order to find what works best for you.
Even when you have developed extremely good form, it is very easy to fall into minor habits that cause form deterioration. A little bounce here, a slight heave there, you don't notice them at first because they are subtle and because you are adding weight to the bar, but eventually it catches up with you either in the form on injuries or halted progress. The wise lifter is constantly checking and re-checking their form.
You can make a tremendous amount of progress by routinely having your workouts videotaped and then reviewing them later, either alone, or with someone that has the experience to critique your performance. You will always spot things on the tape that you just don't see in the mirror during the actual performance. We can all learn from anyone with wisdom and experience, but I have always learned the most about exercise technique from individuals with whom I share a similar structure.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Keith W. Wassung
Ever have one of those workouts that exceed all expectations. On just about every exercise, you break your personal record for weights and reps used. The feeling is exhilarating and you leave the gym completely invigorated. On the flip side, you have those workouts where nothing seems to go right. Instead of gaining, you actually lose ground and you leave the gym, tired, sore and frustrated. If you do not have a long-range game plan, that frustration can lead to a search for new program, a new supplement etc, and the cycle repeats itself repeatedly.
Workouts are a lot like the kick-off return team in football. You line up for each kick, stay in your lanes, and block your assignments and the kick returner runs as hard as he can. In most cases, you end up around the 20-yard line. Occasionally you reach midfield and once in a great while everything falls into place and the return man finds the seam and runs 100 yards for a touchdown. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you end up on the 8 yard line or even fumble and lose the ball.
I believe that progress is often a matter of working hard and smart on a consistent basis long enough for most of the workouts to be productive (20 yard returns) have a few really good ones (30-50 yard returns) the even rarer outstanding ones (touchdowns) and realizing that the bad workouts (8 yard returns and fumbles) are all part of the game. It is important to always keep in mind that progress is almost never linear and or constant except perhaps in the first year or so of training after which gains often come in isolated batches and often at unexpected times. This reminds me of when I was a boy and had to split logs into firewood. I would place the steel wedge into a seam in the log and then begin pounding it with a sledgehammer. After approximately 14 hard blows, there was no visible evidence that the wedge had penetrated the log in any way. However, the 15th blow would result in the wedge cleanly splitting the log into two or more pieces. The first 14 strikes did not appear to do much, but they were slowly breaking down the resistance of the wood.
I have done some reading on biorhythms and athletic performance and though I am not sure of the validity of everything I have read, it would difficult to deny that there is a certain cyclic element which can affect strength and athletic performance. This is one of the problems with many of the 12-16 week programs, where each workout is calculated based on a set percentage of your starting maximum weight -you end up being locked into lifting what the paper says, rather than in following the natural strength fluctuations of your body. You have to be patient and work for long term results, rather than in judging performance on a workout to workout basis.
Generally, an occasional bad workout is nothing to be concerned about. Bad workouts have a way of making the good ones seem even better by comparison. Anthony Ditillo, a noted strength author, once said that a bad workout is a sign that your body is in the process of rebuilding and repairing and there may be some truth to this. The worse thing about a bad workout is that is can cause you to question and doubt your program. You must have confidence and certainty in your program or you are destined for a lot of frustration and stalled progress. If you have a string of consecutive bad workouts, or have just hit a sticking point in your training, then there are several steps you can take to get back on the track to progress.
The first step is to analyze your workout recovery. Have you been getting enough quality rest, enough quality food and water? Adding some high quality protein and fresh vegetables, an extra hour of sleep each night or even performing some extra flexibility work will often be enough to get you back on the right track to progress. Remember that not all recovery days are equal, meaning that just because three days have passed since your last workout does not necessarily mean you have recovered. Those days might have been filled with extra physical and mental stress such as sick children, which keep you up half the night, family matters, travel, eating on the run, final exams, all of which impede your recovery. Never be afraid to take some extra days of rest. Make the necessary adjustments as needed and when ready-attack the weights with renewed physical and mental energy.
The second step is to analyze and improve your exercise technique. I don't believe that the average person fully appreciates the skill and discipline that it takes to correctly perform most weight training exercises, particularly compound movements and especially when those exercises are pushed to the very limit. Swinging a golf club, tennis racquet or a baseball bat requires coordinated motor skills which take time and practice to develop. An Olympic weight lifter and a shot-putter require intense coaching and many years of practice in order to perfect their movements. Weight training exercises are no different. Some are more difficult to master then others, but all require some degree of skill to perform and this takes practice, time, discipline and attention to detail. I say this because often people make a decision to add an exercise to their program. The trainee performs the lift and it feels uncomfortable or even painful and as a result they either discard the movement or they adopt a very sloppy technique when exercising. In either case, there are virtually no benefits and if the movement is included and performed incorrectly, it often leads to injury. In my early years of training I made this error repeatedly, but I eventually learned from my mistakes.
It is beyond the scope of this article to describe specific exercise technique. You can learn that from books, videos, this web site, personal coaching and strength and conditioning seminars. You might be thinking that exercise technique is an individual matter and that there is too much disagreement on what constitutes proper technique. Although there is some difference of opinion on certain exercises and topics such as cadence and range of motion, for the most part, there is a consensus on correct technique. You may have to make minor modifications to suit your individual needs, but the general principles apply to just about everyone. Walk into any bookstore or library and select any ten weight training instruction books off the shelf and I would wager that 95% of the exercise techniques would be described in a very similar manner. The trouble is that very few people actually do the movements the way they are described. Visit most commercial gyms or health clubs and it's a safe bet that almost no one is lifting with correct form. You see partial movements, bouncing, severe body english, fast slamming movements, cheating movements and a total lack of concentration. It's no wonder that so many people are frustrated with their lack of progress. If you want to maximize your own strength and development, then it is important to develop near perfect technique in all of the exercises in your program.
Write down all of the exercises you use in your program and then create a list of "check-points" that are important for each lift. Develop a habit of mentally referring to those checkpoints on each and every repetition and eventually they will become second nature to you. Larry Bird used to do this when shooting free throws. He had a mental list of things to do when shooting and he would go through them over and over in his mind until he could make long strings of consecutive shots. There is a story that when Larry was playing still an NBA pro, he was hired to appear in some commercials for McDonalds. The first commercial called for him to shoot and miss a free throw in practice. The first 22 takes were failures because he was unable to miss the free throw. This is a good example of proper mental conditioning and discipline.
If your progress on a particular lift has stalled or reached a plateau, or if an exercise is causing some non-growth related discomfort, then consider analyzing and working to improve your form. Break down the lift into smaller parts and analyze any weaknesses or trouble spots and then work to improve them. This can be done via adjunct exercises, power rack training or simply fine-tuning the technique involved. You may have to experiment with variations of each movement in order to find what works best for you.
Even when you have developed extremely good form, it is very easy to fall into minor habits that cause form deterioration. A little bounce here, a slight heave there, you don't notice them at first because they are subtle and because you are adding weight to the bar, but eventually it catches up with you either in the form on injuries or halted progress. The wise lifter is constantly checking and re-checking their form.
You can make a tremendous amount of progress by routinely having your workouts videotaped and then reviewing them later, either alone, or with someone that has the experience to critique your performance. You will always spot things on the tape that you just don't see in the mirror during the actual performance. We can all learn from anyone with wisdom and experience, but I have always learned the most about exercise technique from individuals with whom I share a similar structure.