Strength training part 3 - Getting into the weeds, and is it all becoming a bit w**ky.

Excuse my French

#1: Getting strong Part 3 - Getting into the weeds.

This is the bit I LOVE, and it’s the part that I believe provides the most value.

In every programme, there need to be exercises that are hyper specific to that particular person, their needs, their injuries, their body type, or even their personality. Let's look at an example.

NEEDS

Example 1 – Let’s take a 40 year old man who wants to be fit and strong but also wants to run 10Ks twice a week. Let’s also say that he can't at the moment because he has knee pain, and we think the cause of that pain is multiple old football related hamstring injuries on the same leg. He is also very tall and gets bored easily.

So what does he need?

His injured hamstring needs to be put in a position where it is forced to work. (See example in the box below.)

His quad needs to be put in a position where it is forced to work. (See second example below.) When you have knee pain, your quad is often a little 'inhibited' due to your body’s protective mechanism against pain.

His calf and hip need to be strengthened without causing any pain to the knee.

He needs global strength (see previous newsletters) with a big focus on single leg work.

He needs strong tendons.

Before returning to running, he needs to be able to hop. I see hopping as a much more difficult version of running. If you can hop pain free, you should, in theory, be able to run pain free.

His exercises need to be adapted due to his height. Taller individuals have to work much harder to get into deeper positions due to increased range of motion, and their positioning will be different because of their limb length. A simple example is if you want someone very tall to squat deep, you may need to add a heel wedge and reduce the overall number of reps.

His exercises need to be changed more regularly than for someone who doesn’t get bored easily. This is so often overlooked. 'Optimal training' is pointless if someone is bored and doesn't get the work done.

What If He Only Wanted to Row?

If we use the same example but assume the guy only wants to row, how would this change the thought process?

Does he still need injury prevention work? Absolutely.

Does he need as much single leg work? Maybe not, but it would still be valuable.

Does he need to be able to hop? Probably not.

You start to see how much thought needs to go into designing the perfect programme.

How Can You Put This into Practice?

Once you have the primary and secondary lifts in your programme, you should consider:

Have I had any old injuries? If yes, how do I force those muscles to work? I would start with a 30 second isometric hold. There are loads of different isometrics (which I will cover in another newsletter), but this is a great starting point. (See examples below.)

Is my sport high impact? If so, do I need any jumping, hopping, or landing in my programme? Or do I not?

Do I just want to finish my session with a 'pump' or a 'blast' because it makes me feel good? Let’s be honest, a circuit or an arm pump never hurt anyone. If you do DO!

Am I happy to stick to the same programme for three months, or do I need more variety? If you are the latter, I would suggest tweaking exercises every couple of weeks while keeping the same goal in mind. For example, swap a bar for dumbbells but keep the movement pattern the same.

Hamstring isometric

Quad isometric

#2: What I have been thinking about this week

Firstly, I found myself in the gym at 8.45 on Thursday night doing a rowing session. In truth I was testing it for one of my clients, and I questioned what the f**k I was doing there. But here's the thing, life has gotten in the way a bit recently and although I have been lifting, I have been procrastinating about doing a hard cardio session. If I hadnt have done it then, another week would have passed without it. So moral of the story, just get it done.

The session was

500m row

90 secs rest

10 reps at <1.50 pace

It was hard.

Secondly, is it all becoming a bit... for want of a better word, wanky? I seem to be seeing a huge amount of podcasts and messaging about self reflection, being kind to yourself, being aware of your feelings, taking a break etc.

Now I am not saying that these things don't have their place, but are they getting in the way of actual ACTION!!

My point is that if you need a morning routine, or you need to journal every day to make yourself feel good, there is probably something fundamentally wrong that you need to solve, something that needs ACTION.

I do believe that journalling can be helpful by the way, but maybe every month as a goal setting and completion exercise, not every day.

Maybe it is much more individual than I think it is, and some people do need this self reflection, but for a lot of people, it is just NOISE.

I got home early last night and had a couple of hours to kill. The sun was out and I thought, maybe I will just take some time to sit for a bit, take some time for myself. I thought this would be helpful because I had heard it on a podcast.

But I had stuff to do.

Things I wanted to do.

Work things that needed to be done.

I did not need a break.

Sometimes I do need a break, but last night was not one of those times, so I didnt.

I suppose to sum up my point, if you actually need a break, you will know. Reflection is great, but it does not have to happen every day. And when you need to do these things, do them, but don't let someone else set the schedule, do what works for you or solve the actual problem.

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#3: Whats been happening at Razor Performance

Well the transfer to my new software is complete and it is a revelation. Programming, checking in and specialisation have been taken to a new level. We have a new addition to the team who is taking on hyrox in seven weeks, which is a little bit of a short turnaround but I love a challenge. Brighton marathon is fast approaching for one of my clients, and London for two others, and all is going to plan so far. We had a PB on a cycling route at the weekend in the lead up to the Majorca 312 and a 72 minute half marathon from our resident England seniors runner.

I have two clients travelling a lot this month so plenty of updates for hotel gyms and alternative sessions. I have also been enjoying the challenges of training clients around Ramadan. From a training perspective, I have reduced their time in the gym while trying to maintain a similar output using EMOMS, supersets and giant sets. For one of them, training at 3.30pm seems to work so they train just before they break their fast. For the other, it is much more fluid, as a 3.30 gym session is not an option.

And finally

I actually only have two spots left for coaching, so if you need help do not delay, as they will be gone within a week. If you want to discuss your training please click the link below, but only if you are serious about getting started now.

Next week I will either write about my slightly controversial views on fitness trackers and the Zoe app, or my more controversial view on 'the core'.

Hit reply or comment and let me know which one would be most interesting.

Andy / Razor

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