"DIRTBAG HELL"

Objective: Strength

Warm up: 3 Rounds
10x Burpees
30m Farmer Carry @ 2x 32kg kettlebells

Training:

(1) Work up to 1RM Bench Press

(2) 5 Rounds
3x Bench Press @ 85% 1RM
30m Tire Drag

(3) 5 Rounds
6x Power Clean @ 75% 1RM
30m Sled Push

(4) 5 Rounds
3x Sandbag Getup each shoulder (Heavy)
5x Push Press @ 75%

Comments:

Several interesting study results published in the March 2008 "Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research":

STRENGTH TRAINING LEADS TO FASTER
ENDURANCE RUNNING IMPROVMENT
Researchers in Australia placed sixteen women, ages 18-27 into to groups and subjected them to a 10-week training program. One group did only endurance-type running training three times a week. The study group did this same endurance training, but on the two off days, also did heavy weight training including squats and bench presses. At the end of the training period, both groups were strength tested, and timed in a 3-km running time trial. Researchers found that the strength training group had greater strength gains, and had greater improvement in their their running times.

TRANSFERABILITY OF THE HANG POWER CLEAN QUESTIONED
We strength coaches strive to use exercises which have high transferability to athletics. Power Cleans and Hang Power Cleans are used by collegiate and professional strength coaches extensively to develop "explosive power." Australian researchers tested the 1RM hang power clean 29 semi-pro Australian Rules football players and then looked for a correlation between the hang power clean numbers and several other tests, including front squat strength, straight line sprinting, jumping, and a change of direction drill. The athletes with the higher hang power clean numbers performed statistically better in the front squat, sprint and jumping tests, but there was no correlation between 1RM Hang Power Clean and Change of Direction drill time. The researchers did find that there was a positive correlation between front squat strength and squat jump power and change of direction drill time.

This study makes me wonder about the transferability of the power clean and all clean versions to athletic activity outside the gym. Some coaches don't bother with cleans and snatches - they just do loaded squat jumps to train power.

I do know this - the clean in all its versions is a technical lift, which takes time to learn and perform well. Thus, it's possible that proficiency in the clean has as much to do with technical skill in this lift, as it does raw strength and power. In other words, making athletes do cleans could be only making them better at doing cleans - the lift doesn't really help them outside the gym. Interesting ....

WHO STRENGTH TRAINS?
Twenty-one percent of U.S. adults strength train at least 2 days a week according to a demographic study of 30,000 people by researchers in Massachusetts. The most like people to strength train are better educated, and perform other forms of aerobic exercise weekly. Strength training was lower among older adults and women. People with college degrees are twice as likely to strength train as those who did not complete high school.

ACCOMODATING RESISTANCE DOUBLES STRENGTH GAINS
Researchers in New York found that using bungie cords for accomodating resistance doubled strength gains in the bench press and doubled strength gains in the back squat. Forty-one collegiate athletes at Cornell were recruited for the study, and trained for seven weeks. The expirimental group used elastic bands for its bench press and back squat training, the control group just used free weights.

Accomodating resistance using bands or chains is used extensively by elite power lifters like those at Westside Barbell, and also by my mentor Dan John at Juan Diego High School in Salt Lake.

With regular free weights, once the athlete gets past the "sticking point" of the lift, he or she slows down the movement - because it simply gets easier. By attaching rubber bands or bungie cords to the barbell, however, the athlete has to continue to accelerate throughout the entire movement. Also, the bands work with gravity on the eccentric part of the lift, increasing the muscle tension of the athlete. But at the bottom of the lift, the elastic force of the band is gone, and so the barbell feels lighter just before the concentric movement. The researchers found that the group using bands experienced approximately 10% less resistance at the bottom of the movement and 10% more resistance near the top of the movement.

Note that this study only used bands, not chains. I've seen other coaches use accomodating resistance and always wondered about its effectiveness. Now I've got my answer - significantly stronger athletes!

- Rob Shaul

Simple. Hard. Work.

Dave drives the dreaded sled.

Patty nails a push press.