YPSI Athlete and Ju Jitsu World Champion Romy Korn gets put through a Squat Workout by YPSI Head Coach Wolfgang Unsöld

The Before’n’After Files – Romy Korn, World Jiu Jitsu Champion

The intent of the Before’n’After Files is to give more insight into the training, nutrition and supplementation of our clients Before’n’After successes

This time it’s Jiu Jitsu World Champion Romy Korn’s 10-week preparation for her win at the Jiu Jitsu World Championships in Paris in November 2014. She starts in the 70+ kg weight class.

Nutrition and Supplementation

7:30 Wake up
¼ Tsp. Himalayan Salt
Shot of Lime juice
Water

8:00 Meal 1 – Breakfast
6 Whole Eggs, fried in Irish Butter
Various vegetables
2 Tab Multi-vitamin/Mineral
2 Tabs Licorice
6 Tabs Chlorenergy

10:00 Meal 2 – Snack
A handful of Nuts or Seeds (Macadamia, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Brazil Nuts)

13:00 Meal 3 – Lunch
350g Ground Beef and various Vegetables, stir-fried
2 Tab Multi-vitamin/Mineral
6 Tabs Chlorenergy

16:00 Training

17:00 Meal 4 – Postworkout Shake
30g YPSI AminoElektolytKomplex
Water

20:00 Meal 5 – Diner
350g Poultry or Fish, grilled
Mixed Salad with Olive Oil
2 Tabs MultiVitaminMineral
6 Tabs Chlorenergy

22:00 Bedtime
2 Caps YPSI Magnesium Capsules
1 scoop YPSI Inositol plus Magnesium

Foods are rotated daily, ie. she would have smoked salmon instead of eggs for breakfast, salmon instead of beef for lunch and turkey, chicken or white fish for diner. The vegetables and salads also changed everyday, using broccoli, zucchini, lettuce, arugula, tomato, pepper, spring onion, avocado, olives, feta cheese and every vegetable and salad food she could think of.

Romy added 1 portions of carbs at diner per week. One portion is a bowl of basmati rice or 3-4 large potatoes or a tub of ice cream.

YPSI Athlete Romy Korn dropped her bodyfat from 17,1% to 11,7% and her bodyweight from 72,5 to 69,4kg in 8 weeks, doing 3 supinated, mid grip chin-ups with 5 kg added weight and back squats with 85kg

Training

This is Phase 2 of 5 in Romys 10-week Preparation for the Jiu Jitsu World Championships

Day 1 – Lower Body
A) BB BackSquat – 12 x 6 – 4010 – 120s
B) 45° Back extension, Db in front of the chest – 3 x 8-12 – 2012 – 120s

Day 2 – Upper Body
A1) Pull-up, close neutral grip – 5 x 2-4 – 50X0 – 90s
A2) 30° Incline DB Benchpress, neutral grip – 5 x 6-8 – 40×0 – 90s

B1) Seated Rope Row to neck, pronated- 3 x 6-8 – 3011 – 90s
B2) Standing Behind the neck Press- 3 x 6-8 – 4010 – 90s

C) Reverse EZ Bar Curl, standing, shoulderwidth grip – 3 x 6-8 – 4010 – 120s

She did weight training 3-4 days per week and Jiu Jitsu training 3-4 days per week.

Her weight training program leading up to the Jiu Jitsu World Championships changed every 4 workouts.

YPSI Athlete Romy Korn during a Lower Body Workout – 3 weeks out from the Ju Jitsu World Championships. After the first 6 weeks of weighttraining of her life…

Coach Wolfgang Unsöld is the Founder and Director of the Your Personal Strength Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, a Personal training facility with some of the best equipment in Europe. He has worked with over 100 athletes in many disciplines, including:

Romy Korn, Jiu Jitsu World Champion
Slavo Polugic, 2 time K1 World Champion
Victor Knoch, Shorttrack Speedskating 500m Jr World record holder
Martin Gratzer, 12 time National Austrian Champion in shotput
as well as multiple athletes in UFC, rugby and football.

13 of his clients competed at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sotchi.

Doing better on chin-ups translates well into better performance.

Whether it is in all grappling sports, canoeing or kayaking,  all sports where upper body pulling increases force to that given motor pattern will benefit from an increase in chin-up performance

Inevitably you will encounter a plateau in the number of chins, or the load you use for them. It uses the concept of post-tetanic facilitation : if you do a maximal isometric contraction, it activates more motor units that regular dynamic work. Those newly activated fibers can be used in the full range movement that follows. In this manner the A-1 exercise facilitates the A-2 exercise.

Here is a great routine to smash through that plateau.

A-1 Supinated Isometric Hold for 8 seconds. Six singles at a 20X8 tempo, rest 10 seconds before proceeded to A-2

Pull yourself to the 90 degree of elbow flexion, and stay there for 8 seconds applying maximal force. You need to pick the load properly so that at the 8 seconds mark you are looking like you overdosed on caffeine and crystal meth because you are shaking so much.

To apply overload properly, the best is to have a partner both index fingers in mid-air at the point where the contraction will be. Your goal, is to put your traps in contact with his fingers. It will give you a kinesthetic clue on how far you need to pull up. If your traps leave the fingers you have failed the rep
Do a single 8 seconds max isometric contraction. You will need to tie weight to you.

A-2 Narrow pronated pull-ups. Six sets of 4-6 at a 40X0 tempo, rest 3 minutes before proceeded to A-2

Use a pronated grip about 10-15 cm apart. Use the maximal activation state from the performance of A-1 to blast through loading plateaus.

Bonus Info

The best way to tie an additional load is tree climbing belt where you attach a loading pin. Now let’s talk about how to add additional load. Weighted vest can compress the nerves, so the best thing for the average gym member to use to add load is a dipping belt. But what I use in my facilities is a tree-climbing belt and a chain hooked to loading pin

Enjoy the gains in chin-up performance,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

A few months ago, I had the privilege to present my views on strength and conditioning to the coaches of the three Olympic wresting teams of the USA and to the USOTC strength & conditioning staff.

A well-experienced crowd who had many former Olympic and World Championship medalists was in attendance.

Here is a summary of the points I presented.

1. Wrestling practice will always prime importance. No amount of S & C will ever replace technical and tactical development. Moreover, exposure to various opponents is critical. If you live in Austria, you can train/compete internationally on a weekly basis. Countries are a few hours drive away. The US is at a disadvantage in this case. Hence, I have decided to financially support the Women’s program. Fighting overseas more, or bringing teams in, is key. Which leads to point two.

2. Training cycles cannot be longer than 6 weeks. In wrestling you need “optimal strength”, not maximal strength like in powerlifting or weightlifting. Since wrestling is most important, I sincerely that max 12 weeks a year can be focused on strength training. And it is certainly not 12 weeks in a row. I would advance no more than 6.

Is it 4 x 3, 3 x 4, 2 x 6. ? Yearly competitive schedule is the ultimate point of reference.
How much is optimal? Look at point five.

When you concentrate on strength, do you drop wrestling practice. Hell no! You use that opportunity to learn and master new technical skills. Avoiding the mat is a huge mistake. Cutting back yes.

3. All Strength Qualities and Contraction Forms Exist in Wrestling. You need absolute & relative strength, explosive strength and strength-endurance. Since you are not always winning (concentric), eccentric and isometric loading occurs. Strong is only good in wrestling IF you can repeat it fast and often!

4. Advantage of training wrestlers: there is no need for specificity; disadvantage of training wrestlers: there is no need for specificity. You are not training for a specific motor pattern like discus throwing, hence plateau busting is not so much of an issue like it is in training for throws. However, you need to prepare to giving AND receiving force from all angles. Therefore, you must prepare for all eventualities.

5. There is a need for goal standardization based on needs analysis. Many sports have jumped in quality of performance by doing a thorough analysis of the physical qualities needed, and then establishing normative data. For example, in bobsleigh the average power clean performed by Olympians in 1988, would not get you a job at sweeping the track. By 1998, Olympic medalist Pierre Lueders could to 160 kg.

What is good for wrestling? I have zero clue at the moment of writing. More is not better. Wrestlers need optimal strength, not maximal strength. With the help and support of the enthusiastic staff, we are working on it. Luckily, I have the chance to interact with wrestlers like Les Glutches and Steve Fraser. who were at the top of the World in their weight class. Next week, I am in Cuba with all 3 teams, so I will get more ideas on how to train better for wrestlers.

In closing, I am looking forward to working with all the coaching staff to achieve our common humble goal: World domination.

Best,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

February 28, 2014 (revised reprint, part 1)

This article, written by Olympic Wrestling Coach Steve Fraser, is oriented toward wresters, but there are practical applications for any type of athletes.

The one thing we wrestlers and coaches know is that it takes a lot of hard work to become a strong wrestler.

I don’t think many people would dispute this theory.

Wrestlers have the reputation of working harder than most any other athletes. The grueling wrestling practices, the running, the lifting, the calisthenics…all promote a great amount of physical, mental and emotional stress to one’s being which is essential to building a champion. However, to develop the ultimate toughness in a wrestler and to condition his mind and body which maximizes his “ideal competitive state” one must also consider the equally important issue of ‘recovery’.

Brad Vering, one of coach Fraser’s athlete, was a great example of hard work and smart recovery.

Powerful peaks of training stress require equally powerful valleys of training recovery. In other words, we must work hard but we must also recover equally as hard. Many wrestlers pay a lot of attention to the notion of training stress and working hard, no doubt. But sometimes we neglect the realization that we must give the same attention to training recovery.

What does recovery mean? At the most basic level recovery means doing anything that causes energy to be recaptured. Our body expresses its recovery needs through feelings and emotions such as telling us “I feel hungry or tired”. The fulfillment of these urges (eating or sleeping) is a form of recovery. Just like with stress, there are three areas where recovery occurs – mental, physical and emotional. Recovery is where the growth and healing occurs in these areas.

Some common signs of mental recovery are mental relief or calmness, an increased feeling of creativity, fantasy or imagination. Some common signs of physical recovery are reduced feelings of hunger, thirst, sleepiness or tension. Some emotional signs of recovery might include increased feelings of joy, humor or happiness and a decrease feeling of anger, fear or frustration.

According to James E. Loehr, author of The New Toughness Training for Sports there are five categories of how we can actually train the mechanism of recovery.

1.  Sleep/Nap
2. Diet
3. Active and passive rest.
4. Seizing recovery opportunities
5. Emotional catharsis

Sleep/Nap: Sleep is one of the most important recovery activities. Poor sleep habits can completely undermine the conditioning and toughening process. Both too much sleep (excessive recovery) and too little sleep (insufficient recovery) can cause problems. Some general recommendations are to get between 8-10 hours of sleep per night.

Go to bed and get up within 30 minutes of your normal sleep times. Attempt to be more of an early bird than a night owl. Learn to take short naps (10 – 15 minutes) and wake up feeling completely refreshed and energized. Keep a daily record of the quantity and quality of your sleep, especially during periods of high stress.

Diet: Consuming adequate amounts of water and nutritious food is another very important recovery activity. When nutrition and hydration needs are not met even the most fundamental recovery mechanism will tend to break down. This is an obvious issue for the wrestlers who tend to cut a lot of weight.

Some general rules are: Follow a consistent schedule of eating and drinking. This is a critical component of your overall training plan as an athlete. Always consume a nourishing breakfast. Eat more small meals (4-6); this will keep your blood sugar stable, giving you more energy over longer periods of time. Eat earlier rather than later in the evening. Eat a wide variety of foods, with a preference for natural, fresh foods (no preservatives, etc.).

Next issue I will conclude my “Hard Work Requires Hard Recovery” column by covering the other areas of recovery:

1. Active and passive rest
2. Seizing recovery opportunities
3. Emotional catharsis

Steve Fraser was the 1984 Olympic champion at 198 pounds in Los Angeles – which made him the first Greco-Roman gold medalist in American history. He served as national Olympic coach for USA Wrestling for over 18 years where, among many victories, his team made history by winning the 2007 World Team Title. You can visit www.uscamps.net and www.Themat.com for more wrestling news.

February 28, 2014 (revised reprint, part 2)

This article, written by Olympic Wrestling Coach Steve Fraser, is oriented toward wresters, but there are practical applications for any type of athletes.

Part 1 covered two of the 5 elements of recovery: sleep and diet. This second part will deal with the other three: active and passive rest, seizing recovery opportunities and emotional catharsis

Active and Passive Rest: Recovery from training stress can occur in both active and passive rest.  Active rest is where there is physical movement involved.  Passive rest is where there is no physical movement involved.  Active rest is light physical activity that breaks the routine of the normal physical training regimen. Activities such as going mall shopping, hiking, biking, golfing, tennis, basketball and swimming are all examples of active rest for a wrestler.  Some examples of passive rest would include such things as watching TV, going to a movie, laughing, getting a massage, taking a whirlpool, reading or going for a relaxing drive.

All of these activities, if done specifically to enhance the recovery process, are forms of recovery training.

Seizing Recovery Opportunities: All sports have recovery opportunities within the event itself.  Football players, for example, have the time in the huddle, time outs, half times and when sitting on the bench.  In wrestling we have recovery opportunities when we go out of bounds, when an official calls for passivity and in between periods.  An important aspect of recovery training is working to improve your ability to extract the maximum values from recovery opportunities that exist during competitive matches.  Training yourself  to refocus on strategies or relaxing during these moments is performance enhancing.

Planning good use of your down time between matches or practices plays an important role in your recovery tactics as well. How you spend your time and with whom can make a difference in how you manage periods of intense competitive stress.  Having your cassette player and favorite music tapes with you or learning to sleep on planes or buses can make important contributions to you during these periods of time when you need to perform to your optimum capabilities.

Seize recovery wherever and whenever the opportunity exists.  Good planning and preparation will only lead to enhanced performance and success.

Emotional Catharsis: The two most important ways of achieving emotional recovery after disappointments, failures or missed opportunities is to talk about it or write about it.  Holding it inside does not allow you to fully recover and promotes future emotional stress.  Here is where you need to listen to your true emotional needs.  During competition you may block these emotions, but during the non-competitive times you must address these emotional issues which, again, is an act of recovery.

To enhance your overall ”ideal competitive state” and success potential, include both training stress (hard work) and training recovery (hard rest) in your training plan.  Realize that recovery is as equally vital to your performance as is tough training activity.  Understand what recovery means (mentally, physically & emotionally) for you.  Look for ways to maximize recovery opportunities both during competition and outside of competition.  Remember… stress is the stimulus for growth.  Recovery is where you actually grow.

“EXPECT TO WIN”

Steve Fraser was the 1984 Olympic champion at 198 pounds in Los Angeles – which made him the first Greco-Roman gold medalist in American history. He served as national Olympic coach for USA Wrestling for over 18 years where, among many victories, his team made history by winning the 2007 World Team Title. You can visit www.uscamps.net and www.Themat.com for more wrestling news.

This article, written by Olympic Wrestling Coach Steve Fraser, is oriented toward wresters, but there are practical applications for any type of athletes.

Now that the NCAA’s and all the high school wrestling state championships are completed it is a good time to reflect on our seasons.

How did we end up? Were we the champion or did we place somewhere below?

Did our result meet our goals and expectations or did we fall short? Was our preparation effective and did we improve throughout the year or could we have prepared better and learned more?

For all the wrestlers that did not win the title you were after, DON’T BE DISCOURAGED! Now is your opportunity to spring forward!

At this year’s NCAA tournament I had the good fortune of sitting with John Peterson one session. John, like me, never won an NCAA championship title. However he went on to become an Olympic champion. John is a great example of someone who fought being discouraged and continued to look for answers while striving for excellence in the sport.

Our analysis and evaluation of our training throughout the past season is important in our quest to keep moving in the direction that we feel will continue our climb to the top, assuming that we want to climb to the top. Will we allow our results to motivate us to work even harder and smarter or will we go back to business as usual?

Look back on what our coach’s priorities were and how they tried to develop our technical skills, physical conditioning/strength, and mental toughness. How did we utilize their guidance while taking our career into our own hands at the same time? Did we take responsibility for our actions, attitude and training commitment while being fully accountable? Or are we relying totally on our coaches to insure our success?

We all rely on our coaches to train and teach us but remember one very important thing; “WE” are the most important factor in our success. It is “OUR” career that we are working on, not anyone else’s.

Is our wrestling career over or are we still on a path to greater heights? If you are graduating, are you going to college? Are you going into the international wrestling scene? Or do you still have more eligibility at your school?

Either way, are you planning to wrestle freestyle and Greco this spring and summer? You do realize that wrestling freestyle and Greco will make a huge impact on your next folk style season, right?

How many coaches and wrestlers will we try and learn from this off season? Remember, if it is “our” career, and if we accept full responsibility of it, and if we are in control of it, then we will search for knowledge from many people (not just one coach). We will study many champions and learn from many coaches.

I just recently watched the Foxcatcher movie again and it reminded me of how our beloved Olympic Champion, Dave Schultz was a master of the game of wrestling by learning from everyone. He had so many coaches and athletes that he learned from and studied to become so good.

Long ago I asked the legendary Dan Gable what was one of the main reasons he became such a success. His comment surprised me. He said that he always tried to be naive when learning and listening to coaches and athletes who were trying to help him improve. He even considered advice from much less accomplished people than himself. He would consider everything that was suggested, take what worked for him and then maybe disregard what didn’t make sense to him or his style.

Regardless of our folk style seasons final result; let’s move forward from this day with a renewed sense of life! Let’s be coachable and search beyond our immediate surroundings for new knowledge and inspiration that will continue our paths forward. We can achieve anything we really want if we believe it from deep in our hearts!

As always, “Expect to Win!”

Steve Fraser was the 1984 Olympic champion at 198 pounds in Los Angeles – which made him the first Greco-Roman gold medalist in American history. He served as national Olympic coach for USA Wrestling for over 18 years where, among many victories, his team made history by winning the 2007 World Team Title. You can visit www.uscamps.net and www.Themat.com for more wrestling news.

Guest blog by coach George Chiappa

In the sports training world, far too many coaches and parents are basing their choice of training and exercise strictly on the similarity or replication of the sport, mistakenly seen as sport specific training. Far too much emphasis is placed on direct power output such as hitting the ball, throwing the ball farther or harder.

As specialists, we should be placing more emphasis on the three fundamental abilities needed for sport (and daily function as well). These are maintaining a proper stance; horizontal movement (running forward, backward, laterally etc.) and vertical movement (jumping).

If we look at recent articles in the StrengthSensei blog, we can apply three principles (among others) to athletic development. Let us look at, for example, the world of rowing.

In my experience working with various rowers in the 14 to 19 age group, a common difficulty is maintaining proper postural stability with their techniques due to weaknesses, in particular the erector spinae. Proper strength of the erector spinae helps the rower in the drive phase of the pull.

If we consider the principles of the blog “When Should You Start Weight Training?” we can identify the optimal time to strengthen a developing female rower at the age of peak height velocity. The common technical error in rowing would see the rower mistakenly “straightening the legs“ first, driving the hips back, then pulling with a rounded  back, finishing the move  with their arms. This can be addressed using the deadlifting technique as explained in the blog “On the Spot Erector Spinae Training – Updated!”.

Another common technical mistake includes bringing the knees together during the drive phase. To remedy this, we can use the principles from “How to boost vastus medialis mass” to better strengthen the VMO.  This will not only provide more power during their technique, but also prevent muscle imbalances and potential knee injuries to the ACL.

As we can see, it isn’t necessarily about being a powerlifter or an Olympic lifter. However for young athletes these exercises are crucial in their development.

George Chiappa

By Coach Wolfgang Unsoeld

Regularly I get asked why I do recommend doing Back Squats with elevated heels….

Simple answer: Because this variation has its advantages….

3 advantages of Back Squats with elevated heels  

Increased recruitment of the vastus medialis – Elevating the heels allows for the knees to pass the toes to a greater extent. This increases vastus medialis recruitment. The strength of the Vastus Medialis is crucial for knee stability. That means, moving your knees over your toes to a greater extent does have a positive effect on your knee stability and is a natural movement that can be found in everyday activities e.g. taking the stairs.

Depth of the squat – Elevating the heels allows for knees to be further brought past your toes. Besides the increased recruitment of the Vastus Medialis, the elevation allows for an increased range of motion within the knee joint through greater dorsiflexion of the ankle, and thereby for a deeper squat – especially if the ankle mobility is restricted in early training phases.

Decreased compression of the lumbars – By elevating the heels, the torso will be in a more upright position. This decreases the compression of the lumbars and the recruitment of the Erector Spinae. This allows a higher training volume without overloading the lower back in athletes whose lumbar erectors aren’t conditioned yet – mainly in untrained athletes

YPSI Client/Student and Trainer Monika Kozak performs a Barbell Back Squat with 111 Kg @ 58,9 Kg bodyweight

Squats with elevated heels are an excellent solution to improve mobility and flexibility in the ankle and hip joint and to optimize knee stability – especially in the beginning with untrained clients.

Doing Back Squats with flat heels does offer certain advantages as well…

3 advantages of Back Squats with flat heels 

Increased posterior chain recruitment – Having your heels flat on the ground decreases the range of motion within your knee and thereby your quadriceps recruitment. This way you’ll recruit more fibers of the posterior chain – Erector Spinae, Gluteus and the Hamstrings- are recruited. This offers various advantages.

Heavier Loads – Through increasing posterior chain recruitment, squats with flat heels allow for heavier loads to be moved. This indirectly offers a positive effect on increasing power in any other exercise (radiation effect).

Increased carryover for sprinting and jumping-related sports 80% of an athlete’s Vertical Jump ability and short term Sprinting Speed are based on the power output of the Posterior Chain – consisting primarily of Erector Spinae, Gluteus and Hamstrings. Through increased posterior chain recruitment and a related increased training effect on the posterior chain, the squat with flat heels does provide the greater effect on Vertical Jump ability and short term Sprinting Speed – and thereby to the performance on the field or the ice.

Squats with flat heels are an excellent solution to increase Posterior Chain recruitment and Maximal Strength as well as the Power Output of the Posterior Chain which directly correlates to the Vertical Jump and short term Sprinting Speed.

We do recommend weightlifting shoes to every advanced athlete. Besides providing dorsiflexion  through the slightly elevated heel, the main benefit of weightlifting shoes is the increased stability. Weightlifting shoes do not replace elevating the heel through the use of small plates and a slant board.

YPSI client Karl Bilz proves his excellent flexibility at the last YPSI Squat day

Wolfgang Unsöld is the Founder and Director of the Your Personal Strength Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. He is known for producing outstanding Before’n’After Results and has worked with over 100 athletes in many disciplines, including:

• Romy Korn, Ju Jitsu World Champion
• Slavo Polugic, 2 time K1 World Champion
• Victor Knoch, Shorttrack Speedskating 500m Jr World record holder
• Patrycja Maliszewska, Shorttrack Speedskating 3000m European Champion as well as multiple athletes in UFC, rugby and football.
• 13 of his clients competed at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sotchi.

If you would like to learn more about different Squat Variations and getting bigger, stronger and leaner, sign up for the Poliquin/Klokov World Tour

Introduction

The concept of using thick-handled equipment is not new. Alan Calvert, one of the true pioneers of weight training
methodology, recommended this type of training in 1924 in his book Super Strength. The problem I had nearly 30 years ago
when I first heard about the benefits of using thick-handled equipment was that at the time such equipment was hard to find – for the simple reason that nobody wanted it. What I ended up doing (at considerable expense), was to have a medicine ball manufacturer increase the diameter of Olympic (regular diameter) dumbbells for me by using the same materials used in their medicine balls. These custom-made weights worked great, and in fact I could not believe how sore my hands and forearms got from using them.

In my own home gym, and at the Ultimate Performance in Marbella, we have the Watson thick dumbbells. Ours go up in small increments: 0.5kg at a time! This is far better than 2 to 2.5 kg jumps you see in almost every gym.

Bill Kazmaier -American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler.

One of the best compliments I had on my Arizona training facility came from strength legend Bill Kazmaier, who came to my facility to get a shoulder treatment. We have extra-thick dumbbell handles ranging from 10 pounds to 195 pounds and going up in 2.5-pound increments. He came early for his appointment, so he asked if he could get in a quick workout. Once he saw my thick-handled dumbbells, his eyes lit up like a four-year-old kid on Christmas morning. After his workout we had a quite an interesting chat on the value of thick handles in developing strength and mass. Now, in every facility I design, from Dublin to Sydney, I have the owner purchase calibrated, thick-handled dumbbells, with handles that revolve.

Whether you are a bodybuilder or are training to be a better athlete, focusing on thick-handle exercises will help you achieve your goals faster.

Why do Thick Bar Work?

Reason 1: Transfer to sports

If nothing else, using thick implements takes care of grip and forearm training, which is often neglected in many strength programs. In sport, upper back strength has to be applied through the grip, and if the grip is weak, then that strength cannot be utilized.

It’s also interesting to note that when asked what qualities he looked for to determine weightlifting talent, one Bulgarian coach said, “little men with big hands.” This was because if an athlete had a weak grip or small hands, it would be difficult for them to transfer the strength of their lower body to the barbell. Further, to accommodate the smaller hands and relatively weaker grip of women, the International Weightlifting Federation approved the use of a smaller-diameter women’s barbell.

In sports such as judo and wrestling, it has been shown that one of the best determinants of competitive performance is grip strength, especially since much of the grappling moves require gripping with an open hand. In fact, two graduate studies research theses have shown that they predict the outcome of both the judo and wresting world championships!

Think about it. In real life, when you push or pull against something, whatever you are gripping is sure to be thicker than the 1 1/4″-diameter dumbbell. For example, athletes from the grappling sports like jiu-jitsu will have to grab limbs that far exceed the diameter of standard barbells and dumbbells. In strongman competitions, more often than not, gripping strength is the limiting factor.

The point I am trying to make here is that grip strength is important for sport performance but is often neglected. If you
examine the workouts published by top strength coaches over the past three decades, seldom do you see any direct grip work. The common belief is “If you take care of the large muscle groups, the small muscle groups will take care of themselves.” Not quite. But rather than performing a few meek sets of wrist curls at the end of a workout, if anything at all, using thick implements takes care of this important aspect of training. Seriously, if you train on thick implements and someone asks you the secret of your tremendous forearm development and grip strength, you could answer, “Presses and rows!”

Reason 2: Faster Strength Gains

Using thick implements increases motor unit activation in the muscles, especially the faster-twitch muscle fibers – all of which
results in faster gains in strength. (In extremely simple terms, motor units are specific types of cells that stimulate the muscles to contract.) Although the exact mechanism responsible for the effects produced by using thick implements is unknown, one theory is that thick handles may prevent inhibitory reflexes that reduce the amount of strength that can be produced (just as applying the brakes while pressing the gas would reduce the speed of a car). Whatever the reason, trainees who practice thick-bar training report back to me that they can handle 10-12 percent more weight when they return to the regular-diameter handles. As for research in this area, I’ve read four peer reviewed papers that have shown that thick implements induce gains in both rate and magnitude.

Reason 3: Reducing the bi-lateral deficit

Finally, consider that thick-handled implements may help correct strength imbalances between limbs (or to use the scientific terminology, the bilateral deficit). One doctoral thesis I read showed that subjects using thick dumbbells versus standard dumbbells corrected the difference in strength between the nondominant and the dominant arm, and I believe this will be supported in future research into this area.

Which diameter is best?

If it is for upper body pulling, presses or curling motions, variation of diameter is another to provide new challenges to the nervous system. However, if you use a 2. 5 to 3 inch bar for pressing, I strongly recommend you do your pressing work in the power rack, with safety pins set a few millimeters off your chest, or to do them in a deadstop style with safety pins set at a predetermined height. In this case, you start from the bottom of the range, and you overcome inertia from a dead stop. Super plateau buster.

Who makes the best thick bar equipment?

By far, Watson Gym Equipment makes the best stuff. I helped them design quite a few pieces from the revolving handle dumbbells and kettlebells to a variety of specialty bars.

For example, they make a great thick EZ bar where the sleeves actually rotate, saving your wrists and elbows from undesired torque.

Here is where to buy them:

Can I do deadlifts with a thick bar?

Depends. If you are working at improving the strength and mass of your posterior chain: NO. Published research shows that a
thick bar lowers the load you can for regular grip deadlift by HALF. Hence, you won’t use enough to overload your glutes, quads, erector spinae, and hamstrings.

If you are working on your grip: YES

I would them for isometric holds of 8 seconds or so, at the end of your workout.

Can I do squats with a thick bar?

Yes, if you are certified moron, and severing your spine by dropping it is one of your goals in life.

Conclusion

Whether you are a bodybuilder, strength athlete, law enforcement officer or combative sport athlete, implementing thick-handle exercises will help you achieve your training goals faster.

Enjoy the journey,

Charles R Poliquin

Final spots remain for the UK/European leg of the Again Faster Equipment and Clean Health Fitness – Institute Poliquin & Klokov ‘Training For Strength Sports’ bootcamps remain in:

• Manchester, UK      5-7th June

• Stockholm, Sweden      19-21st June

I WANT TO REGISTER!

Guest post by Wolfgang Unsöld

The statement is simple – Endurance is the most overrated of all sports specific qualities.

Why?

Because endurance is neither necessary nor the limiting factor in most sports.

Conditioning is. Where is the difference?

Definition of Endurance and Conditioning as follows:

Endurance is the ability to maintain a certain effort with minimal fatigue – A classic example is a marathon. At a marathon it´s crucial to run 2+ h in one go with minimal fatigue.

Conditioning is the ability to repeat a certain effort with minimal fatigue – Classic examples are team sports like Soccer, American Football, Basketball and Ice hockey. In those sports it is crucial to keep fatigue between the first and the last sprint (and all the others in between) as minimal as possible.

Most Olympic, Team- and Combat Sports are cyclical, that means certain efforts must be repeated. A 100m sprinter has to repeat his performance in heats, semi-finals and finals. A thrower has 6 attempts per competition and an olympic weightlifter has 3 per discipline.  If the performance decreases too much from attempt to attempt then his conditioning is the limiting factor.

A more extensive example is soccer. Depending on the position of a player he runs about 8-12km per game. From which he runs 400-1200m above 85% of his top speed. The remaining 8-10km are walking, trotting and hardly relevant for the game.

These 400-1200m are crucial. The average sprinting distance is about 17m. Sprints over 30m, that´s the distance between mid- and penalty line, are very rare.

The critical distance is 0-5 m. That´s the famous “one step faster”. Based on player statistics of the English Premier League, players with the highest salary, regardless of their position have one thing in common, they are the fastest over 0-5m.

At an average sprinting distance of about 17m and a game-relevant total distance of 400-1200m those are about 24 to 70 sprints per game. Assuming a uniform load density, it is a load of 2-3 seconds followed by a 1:20-4:00 minute break. I sprints are repeated with minimal rest its more than 3 in a row before the ball is out of sight.

So what is critical for a game in this case in terms of physical qualities?

Endurance or Conditioning?

Critical are those 24 to 70 sprints in under 90 minutes game time and their repetition with minimal fatigue, not endurance. Endurance isn´t relevant in soccer because of the short bursts of sprints they do.

To run 10-60 minutes at once has very poor correlation with the ability to repeat 24 to 70 sprints in 90 minutes with minimal fatigue.

100m Sprinter and YPSI Athlete Sven Knipphals is the second fastest German this year and placed 4th in the 100m relay at the Track & Field World Championship in Beijing this year. He needs the conditioning to sustain his performance in a multi-race event and he needs speed-endurance to maintain his topspeed from 60m till the finish line…

2 forms of Endurance

Endurance at high intensity – that is the ability to maintain a stress of high intensity upright with minimal fatigue. A good example is a 100m sprinter. A sprinter reaches his top speed after 60-70m. From 60-70m the critical factor becomes maintaining the top speed as long as possible without getting tired. In this case we speak of speed endurance. Usain Bolt is a great example for this. His greatest advantage over his opponents, and the reason why he is even more dominant over 200m than over 100m, is his exceptional speed endurance, the ability to maintain his top speed with minimal fatigue and leave all his opponents behind after 60-70m.

Endurance at low intensity – that is the ability to maintain a stress of low intensity upright with minimal fatigue. A good example is the marathon. In a marathon it´s crucial to maintain a performance for 2+ h with minimal fatigue. In one go and without interruptions.

Intensity – definition: Intensity is the load of a performance in relation to the maximal performance. A performance at high intensity for example is a sprint over 50 meters at maximum speed or BB Back Squats for 3 reps with 90 % of 1RM. In contrast to this, a performance of low intensity is a run over 10000m at maximum speed or squats for 25 reps with 50 % of 1RM. That means intensity is not defined on the subjective level of effort but correlates performance with maximum power/effort.

Both forms of endurance, especially the last one, are not relevant in most Olympic-, Team- and Combat Sports because the duration of the load in those sports is far lower.

In most Olympic-, Team- and Combat sports conditioning is critical. The ability to repeat a performance with minimal fatigue.

UFC Fighter and YPSI Athlete Peter Sobotta in action. Especially in Combat Sports like MMA it´s crucial to differentiate between Endurance and Conditioning, because the duration of the effort is very short and the effort density is very high. Peter Sobotta is unbeaten for 8 fights and won his last 7 fights of which 6 where all TKO via Rear Naked Choke (Photo ©Tomasz Radzik)

2 forms of Conditioning

Conditioning at high volume – the ability to repeat a certain performance very often with minimal fatigue.  The best example is soccer, where depending on the position of the player the average sprinting distance has to be repeated up to 70 times per game with minimal fatigue.

Conditioning at low volume – the ability to repeat a certain performance a few times with minimal fatigue. Best example is Olympic Weightlifting. There you only have to repeat an attempt 3 times per discipline and competition – so 3 Reps of the Snatch and 3 Reps of the Clean & Jerk, thats it.

The lower the volume, the more critical becomes the performance during the attempt itself. It is not that crucial to repeat that performance often.

The higher the volume, the more critical is the ability to repeat it. Therefore in weightlifting the ability to repeat a performance is less important than the absolute performance, namely to move maximal weight. In comparison with weightlifting soccer players need lower maximal- and explosive strength level than weightlifters – but higher levels of conditioning. As the ability to repeat maximal Sprinting Speed for the 90 minute game is critical.

Training Endurance vs. Conditioning

The training for Endurance and Conditioning is obviously very different.

The Training of Endurance basically includes a higher volume of total work, a lower -if any – number and duration of breaks and lower average intensity of effort. While the training of conditioning basically comprises a lower total volume of work and an increased number and duration of breaks at higher average intensity of effort.

Shorttrack Speedskating European Champion 2015 and YPSI Athlete Patrycja Maliszewska training at the YPSI in Stuttgart. On this picture you can see her going through a combination of a Strength- and Conditioning Workout. Heels elevated Back Squats 10 sets of 6 reps.Last year she had the fastest first round on the planet. Her current standing broadjump is 2,70m.

Sample training program for Endurance in Shorttrack Speedskating

51 rounds divided into 3 blocks á (9 rounds, 3 minutes pause, 5 rounds, 3 minutes pause, 3 rounds) with 10 minute pauses between the blocks. The rounds have to be executed with minimal 85% of world record time.

That´s a solution for a 1500m short track speed skater whose limiting factor is endurance over 1500m. That means he fatigues too much in the last 3-5 rounds of the 1500m race which is 14,5 rounds.

This is a program written by the legendary short track speed skating Coach Yves Nadeau, whose athletes won 204 medals at World Championchips and the Olympic Games since 1983.

Sample training program for Conditioning in Soccer 

This is a modified strongman medley used to condition a soccer player

A1 Forward Sleddrag, 20m, 5s rest

A2 Prowler Push, High Handle, elbows extended, 20m, 5s rest

A3 Sprint, 20m, 120s rest

Repeat 4-10 times depending on the current Conditioning Level of the Athletes

This is a solution for a player or a team whose physically limiting factor is fatigue in the latter part of the game.

The ability to repeat multiple blocks of three 20m efforts with minimal rest has clearly a higher correlation to soccer-specific performance than 10-60min straight jogging. To train the sprinting power, speed and conditioning at the same time a combination of strength- and condititoning training in the weightroom can also be utilized. To see how it looks in detail, here is an example of a squat training program for conditioning in Ju Jitsu.

Sample training program for Conditioning in Ju Jitsu

 12 sets of 4 reps of BB Back Squats with a 30X0 tempo and 60s rest.

From workout to workout increase the average- and maximal weight used.

That´s a solution for a fighter whose physical limiting factor is fatiguing from effort to effort. The higher intensity and resistance on the squats allow for training conditioning and power of a single action at the same time.

This is the program I´ve used for preparation of YPSI Athlete Romy Korn for the Ju Jitsu World Championship 2014 in Paris where she became World Champion in the 70+ kg weightclass at a bodyweight of 71,2kg with all her opponents outweighing her by 15+kg.

Conclusion: For a coach it is crucial to identify whether endurance and/or conditioning are necessary for a certain sports and disciplines. And to assess which the limiting factor of the individual athlete is. So the training program can be specifically tailored to the needs of the individual sport and the limiting factor of the individual athlete. To maximise the efficiency of training and therefore increase pPerformance on the field, court, ice or mat.

Coach Wolfgang Unsöld is the Founder and Head Coach of the Your Personal Strength Institute in Stuttgart, Germany.

Over the last 8 years he got known for producing outstanding Before’n’After Results in recordtime and has worked with over 100 high level athletes in multiple disciplines, including:

•  Richard Adjei – Olympic Silver Medalist and World Champion in Bobsled
• Romy Korn – Ju Jitsu World Champion
• Ibrahim Karakoc – Three Time Kickboxing World Champion
• Slavo Polugic – Two Time K1 World Champion
• Swiss Bobsled Nationalteam
• Victor Knoch – Shorttrack Speedskating 500m Jr World Record holder
• Patrycja Maliszewska  – European Champion Shorttrack Speedskating 3000m
• Hungarian Shorttrack Speedskating National Team
• Peter Sobotta – UFC Fighter, currently unbeaten for 8 fights
• Sven Knipphals – 4x100m 4th Place Track & Field World Championship 2015
• Martin Gratzer  – 12time National Champion in Shotput
•  And multiple Athletes in UFC, Rugby and Football National Teamplayers from 6 different countries.

 He has coached 13 Athletes for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sotchi, Russia

Trainees tend to spend most their training what they can see in the mirror.

Hence, pecs and biceps get plenty of attention.

That works for a while, until shoulder pain sets in because of improper muscle balance between the agonist and antagonists.

Since I shot this video on face pulls, I have been asked to expand on it:

I became aware of this exercise in the late seventies, through the writings of John Parillo, who to the best of my knowledge, is the one who promoted it the most. I immediately incorporated it in the training of my athletes, from swimmers to football players, with obvious dividends in health and performance.

It highly benefits the scapulae retractors, which in turn keep the shoulder in proper alignment. Not training the scapulae retractors effectively leads to plethora of shoulder issues from cartilage degeneration, labrum tears, osteoarthritis to name a few.

Tips on how to make them more effective:

Have a partner stick the fingers of one hand in the center of your spine, so that you don’t succumb to using your posterior chain to hoist more weight.

As you retract the scapulae , aim a squeezing your partner’s fingertips.)

Make sure to pull the center of the rope slightly up towards the face.

Concentrate pulling the ends of the rope apart, not simply pulling back.

As you near your face, bring your hands upwards so that the knuckles face the ceiling..

Hold for up to  6 seconds if you are a beginner, and/or your scapuale retractors are weaky weak in the shortened position.  Lower the weight under control.

Stretch your pec minor muscles statically between sets, that will increase the load you can use on facepulls.

So here is a video on making sure the range is respected.

Note the use of the fingertips  between the shoulder blades to make sure that the form is good, as mentionned in tip # 1 and 2.

You can also use a neutral grip where the index fingers make contact with the wooden stoppers, this allows for greater external rotation of the humerus. From experience, most people need 3 weeks of the pronated version before they can move on to this one.

Do face pulls and keep your shoulder girdle balanced and healthy

Stay strong,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

by Moritz Klatten, Champ Performance, Hamburg, Germany

When it comes to improving kicking power, many football coaches today are missing the mark by focusing just on improving technique. Certainly, kicking technique is essential to optimal performance, but it will only take you so far.

Power is an equally important factor in kicking ability. The definition of power isforce x distance/time, and force is another word for strength. This equation explains why athletes such as weightlifters are able to run faster and jump higher as they become stronger, even if they do not run or jump as part of their training.

While getting stronger and improving technique are both essential in developing a powerful kick, there are other areas requiring your attention. Here are seven tips that can make a difference:

Train for structural balance. While the best way to improve kicking power is to work the specific muscles used in the sport, achieving structural balance is also important. For one thing, structural imbalances can lead to injuries that prevent players from competing and even practicing.

A paper published in 1983 in the International Journal of Sports Medicine examined how football injuries could be avoided. The study followed 180 male footballers for one year. The researchers concluded that 42 percent of the injuries that occurred were due to factors such as joint instability, muscle tightness, inadequate rehabilitation, and lack of training. Such factors can often be easily assessed with a structural balance assessment. Let’s look at a structural balance test for knee stability, as this athletic quality can affect kicking biomechanics.

The purpose of the Klatt test, designed by Lois Klatt, PhD, is to determine weakness in the muscles that support the knee. Strength coach Charles Poliquin expanded the test to assess weaknesses in many other muscles, including the glutes, hamstrings, adductors and abductors of the thigh, and quadratus lumborum. The test involves hopping forward off a low platform (starting about 3-4 inches high), and observing how the athlete lands. For example, if an athlete’s knee buckles inward upon landing, this suggests a weakness in the vastus medialis oblique (an inner thigh muscle), a condition that increases the risk of knee injury. With such information, a strength coach can prescribe the appropriate corrective exercises to achieve muscular balance and thus increase knee stability

Perform explosive work. Plyometric training shows promise as a way to increase kicking power. A study on female football players published in 2011 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Researchfound that the subjects whose training included plyometrics “had significantly greater kicking distance after 14 weeks.” Because Olympic lifting movements also have plyometric components, these lifts can also be considered valuable to footballers. I strongly recommend that athletes be taught these lifts by a qualified weightlifting coach.

Strengthen the abdominals. Trunk stability plays a major role in producing force. Any shift in balance due to weakness in these core muscles can affect the ability to generate force. Further, an imbalance in abdominal development can affect the ability to generate force.

Although from an anatomical standpoint there is no such thing as the “lower abdominals,” overdevelopment of the section of the rectus abdominis above the bellybutton (supraumbilical) with partial-range movements such as crunches can contribute to excessive forward rotation of the pelvis. This posture causes the section of the rectus abdominus below the bellybutton (subumbilical) to become stretched, which diminishes the ability of this muscle group to produce force and contribute to trunk stability. There is evidence that imbalanced development of the abdominals could be a factor in the increasing rise of sports hernias among today’s athletes.

Developing these core muscles with a variety of exercises is essential to kicking power. Because the lower back muscles are also considered core muscles for this purpose, they should be trained along with the abdominals.

Train the hamstrings. In their efforts to improve kicking power, strength coaches often concentrate on the large quadriceps muscles and neglect the hamstrings. This is a mistake, as the hamstrings are essential for improving control of the kick.

Hamstring training requires more than leg curls, which work knee flexion. The hamstring muscles also contribute to hip extension, so exercises such as back extensions and deadlifts are valuable. Glute-ham raises give even more bang for the buck because they work hip extension at the start of the movement and knee flexion at the finish.

Warm up properly before kicking. Athletes are often anxious to get right into playing or practicing their sport, but neglecting the warm-up can lead to injury. For example, researchers in the 1983 study advised that footballers should avoid shooting at a goal before a warm-up, as this practice was associated with quadriceps strain.

Lift in-season. Although footballers necessarily cut back on weightroom work during the season, cutting back too much will make players weaker and unable to produce as much power. For example, in a study conducted on the Norwegian national soccer team during a 12-week season, the group of players who trained once a week were able to maintain strength and sprint speed gains achieved during the preseason, but players who trained every other week lost leg strength and sprint speed (study published in 2011 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research).

Don’t overdo aerobic training. Because aerobic training can compromise strength and therefore kicking power, this type of training should be performed conservatively. The aerobic energy system only contributes, at most, 20 percent of the type of energy needed for football, according to Interval Training: Conditioning for Sports and General Fitness, an athletic training textbook by Edward L. Fox and Donald K. Mathews. For goalkeepers, players who are often required to make especially long and accurate kicks, the contribution is zero.

As a coach, you’ll be contributing your expertise to help footballers reach the highest levels of performance. While they need to work constantly on developing great technique, they also need direction in developing strength and control. Help make that happen by using these seven tips to add more power to their kicks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Coach Moritz Klatten’s knowledge and experience as a football strength coach has enabled him to attract an international clientele that includes numerous national team players. Among his success stories are Zlatko Junuzovic, Werder Bremen; Tolgay Arslan, Besiktas; Piotr Trochowsk, Augsburg; Levin Ötztunali, Leverkusen; Assani Lukimya, Werder Bremen; Patrick Owomoyela, BVB; Oliver Hüsing, Werder Bremen; Tomás Rincón, FC Genua; , Raphael Wolf, Werder Bremen; Robert Tesche, Nottingham Forest; Izet Hajrovic, Werder Bremen; Mattia Maggio, HSV; and Michael Gregoritsch, HSV. Coach Klatten is also an accomplished strength coach for boxing. In that sport he has trained four professional world champions, including Juan Carlos Gomez, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Jack Culcay, and three Olympic champions.

www.champperformance.de

This is one of my favorite exercises for the last weeks of preparation in grappling sports such as wrestling

This one is demonstrated by Victoria “Mangoose Ninja” Anthony, winner of a few international wrestling tournaments such as the Klippan Cup

Basically, you pull up to 30 degrees or so, paused there for 2 seconds to increase intra-muscular tension, then concentrate on finishing the movement explosively. Teach the combatant to keep the intent of explosiveness after encountering resistance during the upper body motion of a take down.

Works best using at least 6 sets of 1 to 3 reps.

Enjoy the results,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

There are many legends in the sport of boxing, and the ones who get the most attention are usually the big hitters: Tyson, Foreman, Marciano, Hearns, Durán, and most recently Golovkin. Some sports writers and coaches would say that devastating punching power is a gift. Yes, talent does prevail, but the fact is that punching power can be developed, much more than you might believe.

Surprisingly few boxing coaches and trainers know the most effective ways to develop this power beyond hitting a heavy bag. Lifting weights is an obvious solution, but often the strength developed from heavy bench pressing doesn’t translate into knockout power.

One reason for disappointing results with strength training to improve punching power is a lack of understanding of the concept of sport specificity. Using bands in simulated punching movements is a terrible idea, invented/promoted by people who have no clue on how to train.

Bands provide the most tension at the end of a movement, and as such they will affect coordination patterns. More precisely, the bands decelerate the arms towards the end of a movement rather than the biceps; when the fighter goes back to trying to punch without the bands, often they decelerate too late or too early. Decelerating too late cause harmful hyperextension of the elbow, and decelerating too early reduces punching power, and give the opportunity to the opponent to serve you a McGregor special.

Another type of sport specific issue is shadow boxing with 1-to- 2-kilo dumbbells. Yes, I realize Mayweather does this, but my opinion is he has become a champion despite using these weights rather than because of it. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people who will back up this statement. Let me explain.

In the 1970s, walking and running with dumbbells was a fitness fad. Due to a physics principle commonly referred to as Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the dumbbells increase the momentum of the arms and therefore force the joints beyond their range of motion. The fad faded away as people discovered that the ballistic exercise caused overuse injuries in their shoulders and elbows. So this exercise makes no sense for a boxer; using dumbbells in this manner increases the stress on the upper body (and on the lumbar spine as well, from the excessive torque such training causes) and adversely affects the fine-movement patterns of a boxer’s punches.

    Use with moderation (the punching bag that is).

  What about spending extra time on the heavy bag to develop “Hands of Stone” like Durán? Yes the heavy bag does improve punching power, but it has to be used intelligently. First, a fighter shouldn’t use the heavy bag every day, as it places extremely high levels of stress on the shoulders. Here is scientific support from a review of research studies on boxing injuries published in the sports medicine textbook Epidemiology of Sports Injuries (Human Kinetics, 1996): “The second most common site of upper extremity injuries [the first being the hand and wrist] involves the shoulders. As expected, the repetitive and forceful delivery of punches is responsible for the relatively high frequency of extremity injury.”

  I prefer to focus on heavy bag training in the early stages of training, in what strength coaches would refer to as the preparatory phase. As a fighter’s competition approaches, I prefer that they focus more on double-end bags (which are attached to both the ceiling and the floor with tight coils). This type of bag snaps back rapidly when punched, simulating the action of an opponent and thus enabling the fighter to practice counterstriking and defensive movement skills. It also has less impact on the shoulder. In contrast, standing bags – although convenient because they don’t take up much space and can be moved – are generally heavy and stiff and convey too much impact to the shoulder. I must also mention that the week before the fight I like to stop all heavy bag work so that the athlete is fresh for the fight.

  Another mistaken practice is trying to develop punching power by training like a bodybuilder. Bodybuilders often perform their exercises with 12-15 reps, which not only gives them a “pump” in their muscles but also prolongs the time the muscles are under tension, which is critical to muscle growth. Research shows, however, that this increase in muscle bulk does not transfer well to boxing.

Support for this phenomenon can be found in a study by Dr. Andrew Fry published in Sports Medicine in August 2004, which looked at the muscle fiber types of bodybuilders, powerlifters, and Olympic-style weightlifters. Powerlifters in the study performed the bench press, squat, and deadlift in competition; weightlifters performed the snatch and clean and jerk. Dr. Fry found that the predominant muscle fiber type in bodybuilders is the slower and weaker Type 1, whereas the more powerful Type II fibers are predominant in the powerlifters and weightlifters. How do weightlifters and powerlifters train? Heavy weights and lower reps – in fact, weightlifters (the group that had the highest percentage of fast-twitch fibers) seldom performed more than three reps per set!

In terms of what types of weight training exercises a boxer should perform…

… I believe squats are a great exercise, but full squats tend to add too much bodyweight and could move a boxer up a weight class. So what types of leg exercises are best for a boxer?

  For training the legs, I prefer to do split squats and lunges, as they better recreate the movement patterns that are used in a fight. I also like Romanian rhythm squats to develop explosiveness. With this exercise you alternate between 10 reps of the regular quarter squat and 10 reps in a quarter squat where you come up on the balls of your feet – you continue in this manner until you have performed a total of 50 reps.

  As for Olympic lifting movements, power cleans and jerks are great exercises for developing the muscle fibers used in boxing. However, these exercises are complex and should be taught by someone experienced in coaching these lifts; when beginners learn these exercises incorrectly, it is difficult to correct these errors as they get older.

  Although bands are not a good idea to use for simulating punching, they can be used with good results in many weight training exercises for boxers; likewise chains. For example, one of the best upper body exercises to increase punching power is the incline bench press. I would use chains on this exercise in the preparatory phase, and then switch to bands as a competition neared because their effect on the barbell in increasing eccentric (lowering) load is more sport specific to boxing.

  I would also combine incline presses with medicine ball work, a training method called contrast training, which is based upon the neurological phenomenon called post-tetanic facilitation (PTF). PTF refers to the training concept that a more powerful muscular contraction can be achieved if that contraction is preceded by a strong muscular contraction. For example, a boxer might perform a heavy set of three reps in the incline bench press with bands, followed immediately by about a dozen medicine ball chest passes. I find that although medicine ball training is overrated as a single training method, it becomes much more effective when preceded by heavy weight training exercises. I learned this from Charles R. Poliquin back in 2002 and applied it with excellent results since then.

  Another valuable exercise for boxers is the chin-up. Just as it’s important to train the primary muscle groups used in punching, such as by performing incline presses and dips to strengthen the pectorals, anterior deltoids, and triceps, it’s equally important to train the opposing (antagonist) muscles. I do several variations of chin-ups, but the key is to make the exercise progressively more difficult by performing them with additional resistance. Take, for example, Yuriorkis Gamboa, the 2004 flyweight Olympic champion and WBA super featherweight champion, with a professional record of 23-1 that included 16 knockouts. I got his upper body strength to the level where he was able to perform chin-ups with 55 kilos (121 pounds) attached to his waist!

  It’s best to outfit your gym with thick-grip barbells and dumbbells rather than conventional weight training equipment. You can’t punch hard with injured wrists and hands, and working with thick-grip equipment is one of the best ways to strengthen these areas.

  Finally, it’s important for fighters to avoid long duration steady state aerobic work because this type of training will cause fast-twitch muscle fibers to behave like slow-twitch fibers. Energy system training is important, but the type of endurance a fighter needs is best developed with interval training, not steady-state aerobics.

A powerful punch is essential in boxing. By using the ideas in this article you will ensure that your training programs help fighters achieve the highest levels of physical superiority in the ring.

As a strength coach for boxing, Moritz Klatten has trained three Olympic champions, four amateur world champions, and five professional world champions, including Yuriorikis Gamboa, Juan Carlos Gómezs, Herbie Hide, and Jack Culcay.

Among the boxing coaches he has worked with are Ismael Salas, Orlando Cuellar, Fritz Sdunek, Michael Timm, Freddie Roach, Joey Gamache  and Jimmy Montoya.

Coach Klatten is also an accomplished strength coach for football (soccer), and has attracted an international clientele that includes Zlatko Junuzović, Werder Bremen; Tolgay Arslan, Beşiktaş; and Piotr Trochowski, Augsburg.

Coach Klatten works primarily out of Champ Performance, his own gym in Hamburg, Germany, where he offers strength coaching internships and operates a satellite training service to work with athletes worldwide.His book about strength and conditioning for fighters, The Klatten Power Boxing System, will be available in April at amazon.co.uk. He can be reached at klatten@champperformance.de

Boxing may just be the last frontier in strength and conditioning. You could describe what passes for training in this sport by the children’s game Follow the Leader. Whatever the current champions are doing, especially the popular heavyweights, the contenders are sure to copy.

The problem with that approach is that some boxing champions are champions not because of their unique training methods but in spite of them. Mike Tyson at his best didn’t lift weights, but he had tremendous muscle mass that gave him devastating punching power. As such, we still see boxers running long distance, exercising in sauna suits, and using Spartan training methods to the point of overtraining. As for nutrition . . . well, many fighters see no problem preparing for their training and bouts by consuming a Snickers bar and a can of Red Bull.

It’s impossible for me in one article to clarify all the myths about training boxers, but I can give you an overall perspective based upon my extensive work with professional and amateur boxers. Let’s get started with these 10 common mistakes made in the training of boxers:

1. Overemphasis on easy work. Jumping rope and jogging can certainly be used as a warm-up to prepare a boxer for intense training, but too much of it increases the risk of injury and makes fighters slower. On this first point, a study on American boxers published in 1990 concluded that an association could be made between lower body overuse injuries and the jogging and rope jumping the boxers did to prepare for boxing. On the second point, if you combine too much slow training with fast training, the body will not understand what it is supposed to adapt to, and this can affect speed and power.

2. Focusing on quantity vs. quality. The body can only recover from so much training. Boxing bouts seldom last more than an hour, so workouts (after warm-up) should not take more than an hour if you expect an athlete to perform quality work. Further, workout sessions that are too long can cause a fighter to enter a state of overtraining.

3. Overworking sport specific work. Although the most sport specific activity for boxing is boxing, there are many exercises that are valuable for boxers – but it’s easy to overdo it. One example is hitting large tires with sledge hammers to train the oblique abdominal muscles. These dynamic exercises are hard on the shoulders, so they should not be used too frequently in training. Why should you be concerned about the shoulders? In four research studies that looked at boxing injuries, 313 total upper body injuries were reported. Of this total, 100 of these injuries involved the shoulder, a number second only to injuries to the wrists and hands.

4. Shadow boxing with dumbbells. I see many fighters shadow box with 1-to- 2-kilo dumbbells – even Mayweather does this. This type of exercise ruins fine-movement patterns and places harmful stress on the shoulders and even the lumbar spine. I heard that one of my former boxers started doing this type of exercise and eventually suffered serious shoulder injuries. To strengthen the arms and shoulders for punching, a general exercise such as the incline bench press is a wiser – and safer – choice.

5. Avoiding the weightroom. Many boxers and their coaches still believe weight training will slow you down and make you less powerful. Power is defined as force x distance ÷ by time, and to achieve high levels of power you have to have strength. Mike Tyson was 5-foot-10 and weighed as much as 230 pounds, and most of that mass was muscle. Tyson’s exceptional genetics endowed him with a powerful punch, so he wasn’t compelled to lift weights until his later years, Nevertheless, to develop muscles the fastest and most effective way is weight training.

If lifting slowed down athletes, then we wouldn’t see the most powerful track athletes, shot putters, and discus throwers lifting weights. I should add, however, that to stay fresh it’s not wise to lift heavy shortly before competitions, and that when athletes train they always need to lift with the “intent” of moving fast. Even if the weights they are using force them to move slowly, as long as they have the intent of moving quickly, they will activate the fast-twitch muscle fibers that contribute the most to boxing performance.

6. Lack of grip work. The most commonly injured body parts in boxing are the wrists and hands, and this has been confirmed in many research studies. Knowing that these are vulnerable areas, it makes sense that you should find methods to strengthen the forearms and the grip. For this reason, my gym is outfitted with thick-grip barbells and dumbbells that develop a strong grip and add muscle to the forearms. To reduce the stress on the elbows, this equipment must have revolving sleeves. However, be aware that athletes who use thick-grip apparatus can quickly reach a state of overtraining with additional exercises.

7. Too much nonspecific ab work. Ab training is overrated for boxing, and I’ve found that the ab training most boxers perform is never balanced. Performing 1,000 crunches may be hard, but this results in structural imbalances in the abs – what I like to call “short abs.” Further, although many coaches consider core training to be simply ab work, I’ve found that to create balance in the trunk – a muscular corset, if you will – boxers also need to perform exercises for the lower back muscles. You should consider that multijoint exercises such as deadlifts and squats work the “bracing” function of the abs. Also, I found overhead squats are great ab exercises for balancing out the development of these muscles.

8. Imbalanced neck training methods. Neck training in boxing is life insurance. Although boxers and boxing coaches often perform neck training, they usually don’t use a wide variety of exercises. One of the most popular is using a harness attached to the head while the user performs neck extensions. This is fine, but the exercise involves only one plane of motion of the neck – you also need to work the forward and lateral flexion of the neck, horizontal rotation, upward and downward diagonal rotation, and downward diagonal rotation. Further, exercises for the trapezius muscles will help support the neck, and these can be trained with power cleans, shoulder shrugs, and even deadlifts.

As a bonus, research shows that training the neck can significantly reduce the risk of concussions – a major concern in the boxing community – and facilitates the growth of all the muscles in the upper extremities. Research in such prestigious journals as Neurosurgery shows that increasing the strength and size of the neck muscles may decrease the frequency and severity of concussions. In fact, one college football team reported 50 percent fewer concussions in just one year after focusing on neck training in their workouts.

Because the neck is capable of moving in so many different directions and angles, you need to use a variety of exercises, methods, tempos, and ranges of motion when developing the neck muscles.

9. Insufficient stretching. Boxers, especially heavyweight boxers, are often tight. Such structural imbalances increase the risk of injury and performance. Boxers often are not shown how to stretch, and even then they typically spend only a few minutes a day on mobility work. I have my boxers perform dynamic stretching before a workout as a warm-up; after the workout they do static stretching or a specific type of partner stretching called proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF).

10. Misguided nutrition. Nutrition is unfortunately a neglected part of the training of many boxers. A common belief is that a fighter needs sugar before training or competing – I actually witnessed one boxing coach give his fighter a piece of cake shortly before he stepped into the ring for a bout that determined the intercontinental title at state! Even though this fighter won the title, he didn’t perform well due to lack of energy. Fighters whom I’ve worked with on their nutrition, including recommending pre-workout brain supplements such as Alpha-GPC, have told me they can really feel the difference that optimal nutrition makes in their performance.

Rather than blindly following the training trends of leading boxers, it’s better to look at the requirements of your sport and design your training programs appropriately. To use a popular expression, “Train the way you are going to fight!”

As a strength coach for boxing, Moritz Klatten has trained three Olympic champions, four amateur world champions, and five professional world champions, including Yuriorikis Gamboa, Juan Carlos Gómezs, Herbie Hide, and Jack Culcay.

Among the boxing coaches he has worked with are Ismael Salas, Orlando Cuellar, Fritz Sdunek, Michael Timm, Freddie Roach, Joey Gamache  and Jimmy Montoya.

Coach Klatten is also an accomplished strength coach for football (soccer), and has attracted an international clientele that includes Zlatko Junuzović, Werder Bremen; Tolgay Arslan, Beşiktaş; and Piotr Trochowski, Augsburg.

Coach Klatten works primarily out of Champ Performance, his own gym in Hamburg, Germany, where he offers strength coaching internships and operates a satellite training service to work with athletes worldwide.His book about strength and conditioning for fighters, The Klatten Power Boxing System, will be available in April at amazon.co.uk. He can be reached at klatten@champperformance.de

February 28, 2014 (revised reprint, part 1)

This article, written by Olympic Wrestling Coach Steve Fraser, is oriented toward wresters, but there are practical applications for any type of athletes.

The one thing we wrestlers and coaches know is that it takes a lot of hard work to become a strong wrestler.

I don’t think many people would dispute this theory.

Wrestlers have the reputation of working harder than most any other athletes. The grueling wrestling practices, the running, the lifting, the calisthenics…all promote a great amount of physical, mental and emotional stress to one’s being which is essential to building a champion. However, to develop the ultimate toughness in a wrestler and to condition his mind and body which maximizes his “ideal competitive state” one must also consider the equally important issue of ‘recovery’.

Brad Vering, one of coach Fraser’s athlete, was a great example of hard work and smart recovery.

Powerful peaks of training stress require equally powerful valleys of training recovery. In other words, we must work hard but we must also recover equally as hard. Many wrestlers pay a lot of attention to the notion of training stress and working hard, no doubt. But sometimes we neglect the realization that we must give the same attention to training recovery.

What does recovery mean? At the most basic level recovery means doing anything that causes energy to be recaptured. Our body expresses its recovery needs through feelings and emotions such as telling us “I feel hungry or tired”. The fulfillment of these urges (eating or sleeping) is a form of recovery. Just like with stress, there are three areas where recovery occurs – mental, physical and emotional. Recovery is where the growth and healing occurs in these areas.

Some common signs of mental recovery are mental relief or calmness, an increased feeling of creativity, fantasy or imagination. Some common signs of physical recovery are reduced feelings of hunger, thirst, sleepiness or tension. Some emotional signs of recovery might include increased feelings of joy, humor or happiness and a decrease feeling of anger, fear or frustration.

According to James E. Loehr, author of The New Toughness Training for Sports there are five categories of how we can actually train the mechanism of recovery.

1.  Sleep/Nap
2. Diet
3. Active and passive rest.
4. Seizing recovery opportunities
5. Emotional catharsis

Sleep/Nap: Sleep is one of the most important recovery activities. Poor sleep habits can completely undermine the conditioning and toughening process. Both too much sleep (excessive recovery) and too little sleep (insufficient recovery) can cause problems. Some general recommendations are to get between 8-10 hours of sleep per night.

Go to bed and get up within 30 minutes of your normal sleep times. Attempt to be more of an early bird than a night owl. Learn to take short naps (10 – 15 minutes) and wake up feeling completely refreshed and energized. Keep a daily record of the quantity and quality of your sleep, especially during periods of high stress.

Diet: Consuming adequate amounts of water and nutritious food is another very important recovery activity. When nutrition and hydration needs are not met even the most fundamental recovery mechanism will tend to break down. This is an obvious issue for the wrestlers who tend to cut a lot of weight.

Some general rules are: Follow a consistent schedule of eating and drinking. This is a critical component of your overall training plan as an athlete. Always consume a nourishing breakfast. Eat more small meals (4-6); this will keep your blood sugar stable, giving you more energy over longer periods of time. Eat earlier rather than later in the evening. Eat a wide variety of foods, with a preference for natural, fresh foods (no preservatives, etc.).

Next issue I will conclude my “Hard Work Requires Hard Recovery” column by covering the other areas of recovery:

1. Active and passive rest
2. Seizing recovery opportunities
3. Emotional catharsis

Steve Fraser was the 1984 Olympic champion at 198 pounds in Los Angeles – which made him the first Greco-Roman gold medalist in American history. He served as national Olympic coach for USA Wrestling for over 18 years where, among many victories, his team made history by winning the 2007 World Team Title. You can visit www.uscamps.net and www.Themat.com for more wrestling news.

February 28, 2014 (revised reprint, part 2)

This article, written by Olympic Wrestling Coach Steve Fraser, is oriented toward wresters, but there are practical applications for any type of athletes.

Part 1 covered two of the 5 elements of recovery: sleep and diet. This second part will deal with the other three: active and passive rest, seizing recovery opportunities and emotional catharsis

Active and Passive Rest: Recovery from training stress can occur in both active and passive rest.  Active rest is where there is physical movement involved.  Passive rest is where there is no physical movement involved.  Active rest is light physical activity that breaks the routine of the normal physical training regimen. Activities such as going mall shopping, hiking, biking, golfing, tennis, basketball and swimming are all examples of active rest for a wrestler.  Some examples of passive rest would include such things as watching TV, going to a movie, laughing, getting a massage, taking a whirlpool, reading or going for a relaxing drive.

All of these activities, if done specifically to enhance the recovery process, are forms of recovery training.

Seizing Recovery Opportunities: All sports have recovery opportunities within the event itself.  Football players, for example, have the time in the huddle, time outs, half times and when sitting on the bench.  In wrestling we have recovery opportunities when we go out of bounds, when an official calls for passivity and in between periods.  An important aspect of recovery training is working to improve your ability to extract the maximum values from recovery opportunities that exist during competitive matches.  Training yourself  to refocus on strategies or relaxing during these moments is performance enhancing.

Planning good use of your down time between matches or practices plays an important role in your recovery tactics as well. How you spend your time and with whom can make a difference in how you manage periods of intense competitive stress.  Having your cassette player and favorite music tapes with you or learning to sleep on planes or buses can make important contributions to you during these periods of time when you need to perform to your optimum capabilities.

Seize recovery wherever and whenever the opportunity exists.  Good planning and preparation will only lead to enhanced performance and success.

Emotional Catharsis: The two most important ways of achieving emotional recovery after disappointments, failures or missed opportunities is to talk about it or write about it.  Holding it inside does not allow you to fully recover and promotes future emotional stress.  Here is where you need to listen to your true emotional needs.  During competition you may block these emotions, but during the non-competitive times you must address these emotional issues which, again, is an act of recovery.

To enhance your overall ”ideal competitive state” and success potential, include both training stress (hard work) and training recovery (hard rest) in your training plan.  Realize that recovery is as equally vital to your performance as is tough training activity.  Understand what recovery means (mentally, physically & emotionally) for you.  Look for ways to maximize recovery opportunities both during competition and outside of competition.  Remember… stress is the stimulus for growth.  Recovery is where you actually grow.

“EXPECT TO WIN”

Steve Fraser was the 1984 Olympic champion at 198 pounds in Los Angeles – which made him the first Greco-Roman gold medalist in American history. He served as national Olympic coach for USA Wrestling for over 18 years where, among many victories, his team made history by winning the 2007 World Team Title. You can visit www.uscamps.net and www.Themat.com for more wrestling news.

by Moritz Klatten
Champ Performance, Hamburg, Germany

When coaches design a strength training program for boxers, they usually start by addressing the muscles most specific to punching power, especially the arms, chest, and shoulders.

Neck training is commonly overlooked, particularly if the coach believes practicing the sport is enough to develop these muscles. The truth is that neck training needs to be a priority in any strength program for boxers. The reason: concussion.

A concussion is a traumatic brain injury. Most concussions occur when there is a sudden change in direction in the head, such as when a boxer receives a hit to the head without being braced to respond to the punch. Concussions can prematurely end a boxer’s career and also can cause serious, permanent brain damage.

Of particular concern are repeat concussions, due to a condition known as second impact syndrome. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “A repeat concussion that occurs before the brain recovers from the first – usually within a short period (hours, days, or weeks) – can slow recovery or increase the likelihood of having long-term problems.”

One reason for the push to ban headgear in amateur boxing is they affect one’s field of vision, making the boxer more susceptible to certain punches. Ringside doctor Dr. Charles Butler collected data on 15,000 rounds of boxing and found the rate of concussion among boxers wearing headgear was .38 percent for 7.352 rounds, but only .17 percent for 7.545 rounds without headgear. I believe boxers should use helmets while sparring and they should use a type of helmet that does not significantly restrict vision.

Good coaching also plays an important role in helping to prevent concussions. Boxers and other fighters need instruction on protecting themselves from devastating punches. In the early days of MMA, many martial artists suffered devastating knockouts because their training does not involve taking the type of hits that boxers do. In this sense, having sparring partners “take it easy” on their opponents may do them a disservice by not preparing them for the level of contact that occurs in a bout. Technique aside, one of the best insurance policies for reducing the risk of concussions is strength training.

A strong neck is essential for boxers because it helps transfer much of the force received from a blow to the head to the torso. A study published in 2007 in the journal Neurosurgery looked at the impact forces sustained by test dummies using headgear. The researchers concluded that neck strength can influence head velocity after impact.

Due to the high risk of concussion involved in American football, football strength coaches have been experimenting with specialized neck training programs to see if these can reduce the incidence of concussion. Coaches at the University of Memphis during the 2010 and 2011 seasons were rewarded with a 50 percent reduction in concussions after implementing a neck strength program.

Before designing a neck-strengthening program, it’s important to understand the functions of the neck muscles. There are four basic functions of the neck and two secondary functions. The major functions are flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation. The secondary functions are upward diagonal rotation and downward diagonal rotation, but these two motions are adequately trained by performing exercises that strengthen the primary muscles.

Flexion is the ability to tilt the head down (towards the sternum), extension is tilting the chin up (away from the sternum), and lateral flexion is tilting the head to the side (moving the ear towards the shoulder). The best way to train these three functions is with a seated neck machine because you can precisely and gradually increase the resistance of each exercise.

These three exercises should be performed using a slow, smooth tempo. For each repetition hold the peak-contracted position for up to 4 seconds. Let’s take the seated neck extension as an example. From the start position with the chin on the chest, take 3 seconds to extend the neck, hold at the top for 4 seconds, lower slowly for 3 seconds, and then hold the stretched position for 2 seconds. Repeat in this manner for one minute, or about 5 reps.

The primary muscles that perform rotation are the splenius capitis, sternocleidomastoid, levator scapulae, and suboccipitals. These muscles cannot produce much force, and it is extremely easy to strain them. As such, the best way to train them is by having the athlete perform manual resistance on themselves. For example, from a sitting position, the athlete would turn their head to one side. With the opposite hand, the athlete would apply gentle pressure to their chin and slowly turn their neck in the other direction, trying to look over their shoulder. After one minute, perform the same exercise in the other direction.

For these four exercises, don’t train to complete failure, as it’s easy to strain these muscles. Keep an extra rep or two “in the tank.”

Neck bridges are exercises that wrestlers often use to strengthen the neck, but I don’t use them when training boxers. Although neck bridging is a skill specific to wrestling, the exercise places unnecessary stress on the ligaments; in any case, the strength training effect on the muscles is secondary.

One exercise I like for boxers is performed using a Swiss ball. The exercise begins with the athlete positioned faceup on a large Swiss ball with the head in line with the spine. Begin the exercise by shifting the body forward (while maintaining head and spine alignment), hold for about 4 seconds, and then shift back. That equals one repetition. Repeat the exercise in this manner for about 1 minute. To make the exercise more difficult, use a smaller ball or hold a dumbbell (start very light!) on your chest. From here, you can perform variations in which you hold a dumbbell in one hand and do various types of movements, such as a one-arm pullover movement and a flye, to develop smaller muscles that support the neck.

Another important muscle group to consider in a neck training program is the trapezius, a muscle that fans out from the middle of the back to the base of the neck. Olympic lifting pulling movements, such as power cleans, work these muscles effectively. Shoulder shrugs, especially with a hex bar that places the hands at the athlete’s sides (rather than in front as with a straight bar), effectively work this muscle. One-arm barbell shoulder shrugs, performed in a power rack, are also effective for shrugs because the bar slides up the thighs more easily than when using a dumbbell. Shrugs can be performed in a more dynamic fashion compared to isolation neck exercises, but because the range of motion is relatively small, use higher reps (12-15 reps)

Neck training is a form of insurance that helps boxers protect their careers. Regularly performing a sound neck strengthening program decreases their risk of injury, especially chronic injury to the brain. Training the showier muscles of the arms, chest, and shoulders may be more enjoyable, but boxers will never regret the time they invest in developing a strong neck.

As a strength coach for boxing, Moritz Klatten has trained three Olympic champions, four amateur world champions, and five professional world champions, including Yuriorikis Gamboa, Juan Carlos Gómezs, Herbie Hide, and Jack Culcay.

Among the boxing coaches he has worked with are Ismael Salas, Orlando Cuellar, Fritz Sdunek, Michael Timm, Freddie Roach, Joey Gamache  and Jimmy Montoya.

Coach Klatten is also an accomplished strength coach for football (soccer), and has attracted an international clientele that includes Zlatko Junuzović, Werder Bremen; Tolgay Arslan, Beşiktaş; and Piotr Trochowski, Augsburg.

Coach Klatten works primarily out of Champ Performance, his own gym in Hamburg, Germany, where he offers strength coaching internships and operates a satellite training service to work with athletes worldwide.His book about strength and conditioning for fighters, The Klatten Power Boxing System, will be available in April at amazon.co.uk. He can be reached at klatten@champperformance.de

February 28, 2014 (revised reprint, part 1)

This article, written by Olympic Wrestling Coach Steve Fraser, is oriented toward wrestlers, but there are practical applications for any type of athletes.

The one thing we wrestlers and coaches know is that it takes a lot of hard work to become a strong wrestler.

I don’t think many people would dispute this theory.

Wrestlers have the reputation of working harder than most any other athletes. The grueling wrestling practices, the running, the lifting, the calisthenics…all promote a great amount of physical, mental and emotional stress to one’s being which is essential to building a champion. However, to develop the ultimate toughness in a wrestler and to condition his mind and body which maximizes his “ideal competitive state” one must also consider the equally important issue of ‘recovery’.

Brad Vering, one of coach Fraser’s athlete, was a great example of hard work and smart recovery.

Powerful peaks of training stress require equally powerful valleys of training recovery. In other words, we must work hard but we must also recover equally as hard. Many wrestlers pay a lot of attention to the notion of training stress and working hard, no doubt. But sometimes we neglect the realization that we must give the same attention to training recovery.

What does recovery mean? At the most basic level recovery means doing anything that causes energy to be recaptured. Our body expresses its recovery needs through feelings and emotions such as telling us “I feel hungry or tired”. The fulfillment of these urges (eating or sleeping) is a form of recovery. Just like with stress, there are three areas where recovery occurs – mental, physical and emotional. Recovery is where the growth and healing occurs in these areas.

Some common signs of mental recovery are mental relief or calmness, an increased feeling of creativity, fantasy or imagination. Some common signs of physical recovery are reduced feelings of hunger, thirst, sleepiness or tension. Some emotional signs of recovery might include increased feelings of joy, humor or happiness and a decrease feeling of anger, fear or frustration.

According to James E. Loehr, author of The New Toughness Training for Sports there are five categories of how we can actually train the mechanism of recovery.

1. Sleep/Nap
2. Diet
3. Active and passive rest.
4. Seizing recovery opportunities
5. Emotional catharsis

Sleep/Nap: Sleep is one of the most important recovery activities. Poor sleep habits can completely undermine the conditioning and toughening process. Both too much sleep (excessive recovery) and too little sleep (insufficient recovery) can cause problems. Some general recommendations are to get between 8-10 hours of sleep per night.

Go to bed and get up within 30 minutes of your normal sleep times. Attempt to be more of an early bird than a night owl. Learn to take short naps (10 – 15 minutes) and wake up feeling completely refreshed and energized. Keep a daily record of the quantity and quality of your sleep, especially during periods of high stress.

Diet: Consuming adequate amounts of water and nutritious food is another very important recovery activity. When nutrition and hydration needs are not met even the most fundamental recovery mechanism will tend to break down. This is an obvious issue for the wrestlers who tend to cut a lot of weight.

Some general rules are: Follow a consistent schedule of eating and drinking. This is a critical component of your overall training plan as an athlete. Always consume a nourishing breakfast. Eat more small meals (4-6); this will keep your blood sugar stable, giving you more energy over longer periods of time. Eat earlier rather than later in the evening. Eat a wide variety of foods, with a preference for natural, fresh foods (no preservatives, etc.).

Next issue I will conclude my “Hard Work Requires Hard Recovery” column by covering the other areas of recovery:

1. Active and passive rest
2. Seizing recovery opportunities
3. Emotional catharsis

Steve Fraser was the 1984 Olympic champion at 198 pounds in Los Angeles – which made him the first Greco-Roman gold medalist in American history. He served as national Olympic coach for USA Wrestling for over 18 years where, among many victories, his team made history by winning the 2007 World Team Title. You can visit www.uscamps.net and www.Themat.com for more wrestling news.

The post Hard Work Requires Hard Recovery – Part 1 appeared first on STRENGTH SENSEI.