"BREW PUB POLITICS"

Objective: Endurance/Sport Specific Power Endurance

Warm up: 5 Rounds
20x Squats
5x Lunges each leg
10x Push ups

Training:

(1) 5 Rounds
10x Romanian Dead Lifts @ 115#
30m Tire Drag + 45# plate (15m forward, 15m backward)

(2) 5 Rounds
10x Back Squat @ 155#
10x Good morning @ 95#

(3) Run 75 minutes, 75-80% MHR

***** Hit the rock gym *****

(1) 10 Rounds, 3x pull ups ever 17 seconds

(2) 10 Rounds
40x hand movements on auto belay carrying 25# pack -
(20x movements up, 20x movements down climbing),
1:1 work/rest ratio

(3) 5 Rounds
40x hand movements on auto belay without pack -
(20x movements up, 20x movements down climbing),
1:1 work/rest ratio

Comments:

Our work with running technique, and sport-specific strength and conditioning in the rock gym continued Tuesday.

The last time I ran 75 minutes - perhaps 3 weeks ago - I hobbled back to the truck and could barely walk 10 minutes later because of stiff ankles and painful lower legs. I remember thinking to myself near the end of that run, that if I didn't change something, my running, and perhaps hiking days were over.

Since then I've implemented basic changes in running technique gleaned from Chi Running, Evolutionary running, POSE running - etc. Each of these approaches shares major components: 180 strides per minute, forward lean, full foot plant.

At the end of my run today I could walk fine, my lower legs were pain free, and I immediately started climbing in the rock gym.

The key difference is foot plant - I don't land heel first any more - and save myself the shock and braking effect of landing heel first and "rolling" over to push off on ball of the foot - like the magazines and shoe manufacturers tell us to.

Progress in the rock gym continues also. Today we did 600 hand movements - up from 400 two weeks ago. This was a sport specific power endurance workout.

Understand that our rock gym work is not technically focused - we don't drill footwork or choose harder and harder routes. Instead, we are after grip strength and endurance.

Within this realm, we have several components to manipulate: Total hand movements (volume), work to rest ratio, route difficulty, and loading. Today the goal was volume - 600 total hand movements, with the goal of finishing near forearm failure.

Equipment limits our work to rest ratio possibilities. The gym where we climb has just two auto belay's available, and I'll assign two athletes to each. While one climbs the other does some type of active rest like flaking rope. This results in about a 1:1 work to rest ratio.

It takes about 2 minutes to up and down climb, which means we rest 2 minutes before hitting it again. Two minutes is a pretty long time, so for the first 10 rounds (400 hand movements), we wore 25# packs. The last 5 rounds, (200 hand movements) we climbed without the packs.

Eric Horst calls climbing with added weight "hypergravity" work - and it can be a little dangerous as the extra weight further stresses the tendons and other connective tissue in the fingers and elbow. Mostly, we use big "jug" holds to minimize this risk, but I would have rather climbed without packs, and just decreased the rest interval to about half, or one minute, or even less.

Horst and the training guidance at Metolius.com both recommend training strength and power first, and enjoying endurance benefits from these two areas. Endurance training is not emphasized.

Our approach is different, with a 2:1 emphasis on endurance, with strength and power trained half as often. By definition strength and power efforts are relatively short term, but what I hear from my climbers is their hands "melt" off the rock at the 7th or 8th pitch. I do believe athletes need to "train long to go long" - especially on successive days.

Finally, University of Cincinati Strength Coach Paul Longo wrote for "Training and Conditioning" magazine this month about his training approach and he keyed in on several ideas I've come to believe.

First, Coach Longo likes olympic lifts - "75 to 80 percent of our weightroom work is done on a platform," he writes. He believes the olympic lifts get his athletes stronger, more powerful, and develops sport-specific muscle coordination.

He notes, however, that many of his freshmen have never done oly lifts before, "I always keep in mind that there's a big difference between impeccable technique and acceptable technique," Coach Longo writes. He adds that at most 20% of his athletes perform the lifts perfectly.

"I evaluate each player's lifting mechanics individually, and as long as they were activating the right muscle groups, not risking injury due to a mechanical flaw or compensation, and making adequate progress on a weekly and monthly basis, I didn't micromanage their lifting. Never forget that weightlifting is a means for athletes to increase their strength and explosiveness, not an end in itself."

Outside of the weightroom, Coach Longo favors strongman work - farmer's walks, tire flipping, sand bags, etc. He argues that strongman exercises increase work volume, strengthen the core, promote coordination, and provide a more dynamic stimulus than barbells and dumbbells.

Also, Coach Longo describes one of his goals being to build a "coat of armor" for his athletes by identifying and correcting strength imbalances and weaknesses. Work in the weightroom makes his athletes more durable, and less prone to injury.

- Rob Shaul

Stephen Koch's forearm pump after Tuesday's session.