The Quick and the Dead
Page 9
At this point, retest your power; it is almost certainly time to move up in weight.
To reinforce the point about being gradual when picking up the downward acceleration, here is the formula of kinetic energy:
KE = (mv2) / 2
Kinetic energy carried by an object in motion is directly proportional to its mass multiplied by the square of its velocity. Double the mass of a bullet and you will double its destructive potential. Double its speed—and its lethal energy will quadruple.
Q&D, the Summary: Swings and Pushups
Q&D is an advanced, minimalist, self-contained GPP platform that develops a wide range of qualities, with the emphasis on power, while minimizing fatigue and soreness and leaving plenty of time and energy for other pursuits.
When to Train
Train two or three times a week.
Train fresh.
The best time of the day to train depends on your top priority.
For power, train Q&D in the early evening, but not close to bedtime.
For health and endurance, train Q&D fasted in the morning.
Training Session Organization
Do Q&D after a warm-up of choice.
Pulls and pushes must be performed with maximal power, a high cadence, and total compliance with the SFG and SFB technique standards.
Do not lose the float in swings or full lockouts in pushups!
After a warm-up of choice, alternate series of pulls and pushes. There are always 20 reps in a series, made up of either four sets of five reps (5/4) or two sets of 10 reps (10/2).
In one-arm swings, switch arms from set to set: 10L, 10R or 5L, 5R, 5L, 5R.
Rest actively between sets and series. Walk around, do “fast and loose” drills.
Within each series, you will be doing a set of five reps every 30 seconds or 10 reps on the minute. The rest between series is the time left until the start of the next minute, plus one minute: around 1:20 with 5/4 and about 1:45 with 10/2.
Do not compress the rest periods under any circumstances! If you think it is too easy, add power.
Training Session Load
Roll a die to determine the load parameters.
Step One: Session Volume
The number of series of one exercise is two to five (40–100 total reps). In one-arm swings, count the sum of both arms.
Do the same number of series in both drills, always starting with swings. Roll a die to determine the daily volume:
If you are having an off day, do not roll a die. Instead, do two series (40 reps) for each lift.
Step Two: Reps and Sets within Series
If you are having an off day, do not roll a die, but do 5/4 for both lifts.
Step Three: Swing Type
Step Four: Pushup Type (Optional)
Q&D, the Summary: Snatches
Q&D is an advanced, minimalist, self-contained GPP platform that develops a wide range of qualities, with the emphasis on power while minimizing fatigue and soreness and leaving plenty of time and energy for other pursuits.
When to Train
Train two or three times a week.
Train fresh.
The best time of the day depends on your top priority.
For power, train Q&D in the early evening, but not close to bedtime
For health and endurance, train Q&D fasted in the morning.
Training Session Organization
Do Q&D after a warm-up of choice.
Snatches must be performed with maximal power, a high cadence, and total compliance with the SFG technique standards. Do not smudge the lockout!
Left and right snatches are treated as separate events. In one series, do your 20 total reps with the left…in the next one, with the right.
After a warm-up of choice, alternate series done with your left and right arm. There are always 20 reps in a series, made up of either four sets of five reps (5/4) or two sets of 10 reps (10/2).
Use only one arm in each series:
Series One: 5L, 5L, 5L, 5L
Series Two: 5R, 5R, 5R, 5R
Or:
Series One: 10L, 10L
Series Two: 10R, 10R
Rest actively between sets and series. Walk around, do “fast and loose” drills. Do not insert other exercises into the rest periods.
Within each series, you will be doing a set of five reps every 30 seconds or 10 reps on the minute. The rest between series is the time left until the start of the next minute, plus two more minutes.
Do not compress the rest periods under any circumstances! If you think it is too easy, add power.
A single series with one arm (20 reps) plus the rest interval before the next series takes four minutes. Each session is made up of two to five such series, for a total of eight to 20 minutes.
Training Session Load
Roll a die to determine the load parameters.
Step One: Session Volume
Count the sum of both arms.
Note that on days with three and five series, you start and finish with your non-dominant side, thus giving it 20 extra reps.
If you are having an off day, do not roll a die, but do two series (40 reps).
Step Two: Reps and Sets within Series
If you are having an off day, do not roll a die, but do 5/4.
Each Chooses for Oneself
How long should you stay on Q&D before moving on to a compatible training method like A+A [8]?
Ideally, three months.
Within the first six weeks, mitochondrial and myofibrillar adaptations are most pronounced. Dedicate the second six weeks to owning your new power and conditioning.
Can you stay on Q&D longer than 12 weeks?
Yes. We have had some athletes, including pros, Q&D successfully for many months. High-variability loads postpone plateaus, as discovered by Prof. Vorobyev.
But even with the Delta 20 Principle in your corner, eventually the rate of progress will diminish. Be content maintaining your performance at a high level with a minimal time and energy investment. Or keep gains coming by introducing additional types of variability into Q&D.
Vary the Training Days
One type of variability is to change the training days within a week. If you are not one of those hyper-organized types who goes insane at a hint of asymmetry—the vase must be exactly in the center of the table!—instead of the traditional Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, toss a coin or roll a die.
Early Soviet coaching was driven by Pavlov’s teaching that one adapts best “when certain stimuli are repeated in a strict order and with strict intervals between them.” In the 1960s, the Soviets still considered high regularity of training an asset. Then Prof. Vorobyev came along and concluded that while a Monday/Wednesday/Friday rhythm is nice for beginners, it is suboptimal for experienced athletes whose systems need more surprises, at least outside the competition period.
Take Saturdays or Sundays off. Toss a coin or roll a die every remaining day of the week.
You will end up with a long-term average of the same number of sessions a week. The cool thing —and maddening for some—is the bizarre way this average will be arrived at. For humor’s sake I flipped a coin for 12 weeks. Enjoy your variability.
That said, few people can afford the luxury of such randomness for professional, athletic, and social reasons. It is okay to stick with the boring old Monday/Wednesday/Friday.
Vary the Exercises
Make the exercise selection more variable. For instance, do swings plus pushups on some days and snatches on others. You could lean toward the former for one month:
…and toward the latter the next month:
If you know what you are doing, you could introduce more specialized variety. For example, replace swings with jump squats or side walking swings on some days.
Vary the Resistance
You might also introduce resistance variability.
Stay biased toward the weight or band tension that enables max power or one a bit heavier, but periodically go a fifth t
o a third heavier. This is simple with kettlebells, less so with bands, manageable with a backpack.
Half the reps per set, from 10 to four or six; from five to two or three. Cut enough repetitions to make sure your swings do not turn into what former Master SFG instructor Jeff O’Connor called “fast grinds”—not even on the last set of a max volume session of five series.
For instance, if your max power weight is 32kg and you have been doing 32kg x 5/4 and 32kg x 10/2, on heavy days lift 40kg x 2–3/4 or 40kg x 4–6/2. In other words, your loads with 32kg were four sets of five on some days and two sets of 10 on others. With 40kg, you will be doing four sets of doubles or triples or two sets of four to six reps.
You can vary the resistance from day to day or within a session.
Again, stay partial toward your max power weight. Let us call it “X.” You might decide to draw up a table similar to the one below that removes the guesswork from the weight selection on a given day:
Naturally, you can do the same for banded pushups, although you will have to do some guesswork with percentages.
An occasional detour into lighter resistance—less frequent than heavy work—would not hurt either. Speed training has a carryover to power.
Resistance as light as 15–20 percent of max resistance is used in Russia for training speed and frequency of unloaded movements. For the sake of simplicity, subtract the same 20–33 percent from your “X” max power ‘bell.
Up the reps per set by 50 percent: from 10 to 15; from five to seven or eight. For instance, if you have been doing 32kg x 5/4 and 32kg x 10/2 as your standard “X” load, when you go lighter, swing 24kg x 7/2, 8/2 and 24kg x 15/2.
Here is a sample table introducing speed loads into your Q&D regimen:
An advanced practitioner may choose to add a band to the two-arm swing for an overspeed eccentric extra kick. Use a light kettlebell. Take in moderation.
Up the Volume, Kill the Variability
For a couple of months, switch to the most streamlined version of Q&D, formerly “StrongFirst Experimental Plan 015.”
Do 10x10 in both exercises, each every three minutes. When the timer starts at 00:00, do a set of 10 swings with your left arm. At 01:30, do 10 pushups. At 03:00, 10 swings with your right. At 04:30, 10 pushups, etc. You may have recognized the protocol used by “Victor.”
Train at least three times a week. If you recover well, go up to four and even five.
Although this type of loading is less effective than 033 in some ways—less CP depletion and no variability whatsoever—it more than makes up for it in other ways.
You should put on some mass. The Soviet weightlifting national team head coach Robert Roman knew that, “Everything else being equal, an increase in the training volume facilitates a large increase in muscle mass.”
The authoritative Russian military Encyclopedia of Physical Training teaches us that both hypertrophy and aerobic training demand less variability than power and strength training. In other words, we can get away with flat-lining the load for awhile.
I witnessed the muscle-building effects of 100 daily power reps when I met a former coach of the Bulgarian national gymnastics team. Old enough to have adult sons, Ivan Ivanov had the physique most 20-year-olds would not even dream to achieve. And still does a decade later.
The choices are yours to make. Per Russian poet Yuri Levitansky:
Each chooses for himself
His woman, his faith, and his road.
To serve the Savior or the devil,
Each chooses for himself.
Each chooses for himself
The words to love and pray.
The blades to fight
Each chooses for himself.
Each chooses for himself
His shield and armor, staff and rags.
The measure of the final penance
Each chooses for himself.
Each chooses for himself.
I choose the best I can.
I have no claims to anyone,
Each chooses for himself.
Epilogue: Animal Supreme
It is fitting to close this book with a big cat quote. In novelist Robert Sheckley’s inimitable style:
He yawned, revealing incisors like Turkish scimitars. He stretched, showing a smooth ripple of muscle down either flank like sluggish octopi grappling beneath a thin sheet of plastic...His tail stood out stiff and straight and high, like the indicator of a dial calibrated for trouble.
Happy hunting!
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following colleagues for their valuable feedback and suggestions:
Jon Engum, Dr. Steve Freides, John Heinz, Brett Jones, Pavel Macek, Dr. Craig Marker, Peter Park, Mark Reifkind, Phil Scarito, Alexey Senart—and especially Fabio Zonin.
Photo credits:
Leopard (cover and throughout the book): Stuart G Porter/Shutterstock.com
Peter Park and JJ Muno: Courtesy of Peter Park
Barracuda: Rich Carey/Shutterstock.com
Leopard relaxing: Volodymyr Burdiak/Shutterstock.com
Dan Austin and Hideaki Inaba: Courtesy of Powerlifting USA
Jaguar fighting caiman: nwdph/Shutterstock.com
Cheetah hunting: Elana Erasmus/Shutterstock.com
Derek Toshner: Lydia Toshner
Roxanne Myers: Courtesy of Roxanne Myers
Fabio Zonin at Plan Strong™ seminar: Craig Marker
Other credits:
Peak power readings chart: Dr. Craig Marker
“Ferocity of life”: Quote from a novel by Roger Zelazny
“Animal supreme”: Quote from a song by Iron Maiden
.
References and Notes
Most of the Russian references below are not available in English.
PART I: FAST FIRST
Fast First
High-level Soviet athletes from different sports were subjected to a battery of tests of different qualities. In strength, sprinters came close to weightlifters and gymnasts, while endurance athletes showed low results. Weightlifters and gymnasts performed poorly in endurance tests and sprinters performed well. (Yakovlev, 1983)
Quote. (Yakovlev, 1974)
The myosin and maximal tissue respiration rate, percent improvement from the untrained levels under the influence of different types of training, tables. (Yakovlev, 1974, 1983)
Maximal power is displayed at around a third to a half of maximal strength in a given movement. (Kotz, 1998)
The greater the speed, the lower the recruitment threshold force for a given motor unit (Gourfinkel et al., 1970; Gidikov, 1975). For a given MU, the recruitment threshold force is lower in ballistic contractions than in ramp or isometric contractions. (Desmedt & Godaux, 1978; Yoneda et al., 1986)
In healthy weight-trained men, there was a 15.1 percent increase in serum testosterone after 10 sets of five reps of jump squats with 70 percent of the system mass and two-minute rests. (Volek et al., 1985)
Quote. (Fry & Lohnes, 2010)
In aging, the dynamic component of strength (jumps, throws, quick lifts) declines first, while static strength declines slower. (Yakovlev, 1983)
In aging, there is a preferential loss of type II fibers; a sedentary 80-year-old man has lost half the fast fibers he had as a 30-year-old. Quote. (Zatsiorsky & Kraemer, 2006)
At rest and per pound, 70-year-olds consume 40 percent less oxygen than 20-and 30-year-olds. (Yakovlev, 1983)
To stimulate both the plastic and the energetic processes in children, teenagers, and the elderly, accelerations are recommended. (Yakovlev, 1983)
Although speed training improves aerobic oxidation of carbs but not of fats (Yakovlev, 1983), “When training at high speeds, there is a greater decrease in fatty tissue as compared to training at low speeds.” (Platonov et al., 2004)