MON: May Programming Prep

It’s programming prep day, boys and girls! Back with another slate that’s as clean as a newborn baby’s bottom. Let’s dive in and see what’s in store for you all month long.

Daily Focus:

Monday – Snatch
Tuesday – Varied
Wednesday – Back Squat
Thursday – Structure
Friday – Varied

It’s been a while since we’ve formally talked about structure on the blog, so here’s a highlight from the full article:

“In the range of 8-12 reps at below 60%, as well as strongman implements like rope pulls and sandbag squats, while we are developing gross motor patterning in the squat with a front loaded kettlebell (goblet squat), we are simultaneously building the structural muscle of the athlete, the flexibility in the joints, strength in the tendons, the core, and stability demands the athlete will need to take on more challenging tasks. We are quite literally building the body.

That is precisely what we mean we abstractly state to “build the foundation” when we talk about our Phase 1 programming. For example, a deadlift creates a high degree of torque on the lumbar vertebrae. A new athlete with no kinetic awareness, core stability, tendon strengthening, or hinge loading experience is going to jump the important development of the musculoskeletal system (Law #1 – #4) and go straight into nervous system training (#5: Train Complex Movements), a mistake that invariably overloads it prematurely and asks for injury in either the short or long term.

They have jumped into function without training structure.

This phase of higher volume training of lower intensity is known as the extensive method training, whereby we build the foundation for the greater demands to come during the heavier,intensive method training. Because connective tissue takes longer than muscle tissue to adapt, we must be careful that we don’t confuse a few sessions of structural building as fully complete. It can take several weeks (sometimes months) for the connective tissue to catch up with the muscle tissue, so slower structural development is always better, especially if someone is a total beginner to loading.”

May PPBs

Here’s what skills and energy systems we’re training in May Personal Progress Benchmarks.

  • Lactate Threshold 2: Small time domain, peak intensity with long rest periods. Training sustained output at your highest end.
  • Aerobic Power 4: Mid to long range aerobic sustainability. This one has more skill demands than other AP benchmarks, adding a cognitive element under fatigue that will be challenging.

LT 2 will be on Tuesday and AP 4 will be on Friday, weeks one and four.

Coach J’s Technique Tips

SNATCHES

  1. Focus on a wider grip that you are initially comfortable. A wide grip means less distance the bar has to travel.
  2. Toes turned out on every set up with the knees also flaring out. This will keep your bar path true on the descent.
  3. Pull hips back and bring the chest forward over the  bar. Think shoulders slightly in front of the bar/lats locking it in to the body.
  4. Speed through the middle. As the bar hits the bottom of the descent and it’s time to pull, push the hips forward finding triple extension, maintaining speed throughout.
  5. Elbows up.  More than cleans, people will swing the bar out away with straight arms. Do not chase more resistance at the expense of the pull. Enforce pulling the elbows as high as possible.
  6. Vertical catch – It’s easy to mistakenly dive forward under a snatch to catch, landing in your toes, and usually not leaving space to drop down into the squat with speed.Focus on receiving the bar overhead with a vertical torso.
  7. Reach.  An easy fix for elbows that mistakenly bend on the catch. Reach through the bar on the catch. This will enforce strong overhead positioning with lockout/and more stable joints

BACK SQUAT

  1. Both feet set up under the bar to unrack and walk out. Don’t lunge the bar out, it creates unnecessary stress on the lumber/hips/everything.
  2. Grip width adjusts individually for as close to neutral wrists as possible, and a tight upper back.
  3. Brace. Think of yourself as a beer can, closed with 360 degrees of pressure all around you.
  4. Drive the knees out on the eccentric screwing the feet into the floor/maintain 3 points of contact (pinky toe/big toe/heel).
  5. Create torque on the ascent, pulling down with the lats on the bar and pushing the back and chest up through the bar simultaneously.
  6. Use the quads to pull the hips under the bar through lockout.

A reminder that our tracking app is live and kicking ass. If you still have not yet gotten involved, check your email for the subject line, “Access the New P360 Tracking App.” Makes sense to actually pay attention to what you do in here every week, no?

-Dave

Monday, 4.30.18

First. For Strength
3 Hang Power Snatch + 3 OHS
8 Hollow Rocks
Every 4’ For 16’ (x4)
—
Then, For Conditioning,
3 Hell Trots
10 Sprinter Crunches
5 Cal AB
30” Rest
8 RKB Swings
8/s Lateral Hops
100m Run (80%)
30” Rest
(x16’)