"NOSY WOMEN. LAZY MEN."

Objective: Power/Power Endurance

Warm up: Row 500m, then....

3 Rounds
10x Squat Clean (55#, 63#, 75#)
5x Strict Pull up

Training:

(1) Work up to 1RM Squat Clean

(2) 5 Rounds
2x Squat Clean @ 90% 1RM
30m Tire Pull

(3) 15-10-5
Row 500m
Curtis P (95#)
Box Jumps (24")
KTE

First Round looks like row 500m, 15x Curtis Ps, 15x box jumps, 15x KTE; 2nd Round = Row 500m, 10x Curtis Ps, 10x box jump, 10x KTE, etc.

Comments:

Many professional strength coaches, especially in collegiate and high school weight rooms, avoid doing 1-rep maxes with their athletes. They think it's dangerous, and can lead to situations where athlete's egos get in the way of safety and prudence.

Instead, they will use 3-rep maxes to estimate 1-rep max strength.

I disagree. My athletes and I test 1-rep max lifts weekly. I could try and fool you by pointing to the physical benefits, but I'd be posing.

Instead, we benefit most from the psychological effects of lifting as much as we can.

Most athletes fear doing max lifts. Some hate doing them. They are afraid of getting hurt. They are afraid of looking weak. And to quote my hero Vicktor Frankl, "Fear makes come true that which we are most afraid of."

As a high school junior I was a smallish scrub on an undefeated football team. Coach Sherill was a true bastard, who would regularly threaten, "I know you guys will never lose, because you know what I'll do to you if you do."

Coach Sherill had plenty of psychological tricks, including a daily, full team hitting drill called "bull in the ring."

We would all form into a circle, the players on the outside jogging in place. One player would go to the middle, he was the "bull." The coach would call out the name of a player in the ring, who would immediately sprint at the "bull." The two would collide, viciously.

Weakness or hesitancy were rewarded with the suspect player becoming the "bull" and the coach calling all of the biggest player's names to hit him.

As you can imaging, no one could be afraid of hitting for long. By the time the season started, we began to look forward to the drill. Instead of fearing "bull in the ring," we looked forward to it. It built confidence.

We hit so much in practice, and so hard, that we were never afraid of hitting someone in another uniform. Not surprisingly, no other team hit or tackled as hard as we did. They all feared us.

I use 1-rep max tests the same way. Doing them frequently makes them familiar, raises expectations, and attacks the fear. The ego thing? Not in my weight room. My athletes encourage each other, and marvel and celebrate strengths and gains.

There are multiple "methods" on how to conduct 1-rep max tests, but most involve specific percentage work ups and long weight periods between reps. I've found these strict standards hard to follow with multiple athletes and a looming workout to complete.

In general, I use the warm up to practice the movement prior to the test. The first set usually involves 5-10 reps at a light weight. We increase weight significantly, do another 5 rep set. Add weight, do three reps, then do a single 10-15 pounds below the previous max. Most the time, the second single is a new max weight.

Here are my weight & reps for the 1 RM squat clean test for "Nosy Women. Lazy men."

Warm weights:
3 sets, 10 reps each at 55#, 65# & 75#

Max Test weights/reps:

5 reps @ 95#
3 Reps @ 135#
1 Rep @ 165#
1 Rep @ 185#
1 Rep @ 190# (New Max)

I didn't time my rest between sets, but between adding weight and chalking up, it probably averaged 1-2 minutes.

The one downfall of doing 1 rep max tests is the tendancy to get greedy. Don't. Aim for a new PR, not a world record. It's better to stop earlier than later.

The third part of today's training is a killer power endurance effort. It's "killer" because of those damn Curtis P's.

1 Curtis P rep = Hanging squat clean, right leg lunge, left leg lung, push press.

I used 115# for this effort, and broke all of my Curtis P sets up severely. I think I got 3 reps the first round, and it was just two at a time for the remaining 27 reps in the workout. I was wiped, and finished in 21:42.

Try to enjoy it.

- Rob Shaul

Will hits a new squat clean max.

2 reps at a time, for 30 reps. Ouch.

Tire pull.

The row does its damage.

Neil Curtis Ps.