11-23-04
Hello!
Well it is the 23rd of November and we just finished feasting on the 3rd annual gobble till you wobble turkey dinner put on by Adriane and Jackie. Once again the feast was awesome and the 34 people that stopped by to enjoy all truly in joyed the food to be had.
This has been an interesting week for me personally with a new record being set by the viewers of my web site! Awesome that is for certain the old record for a one day viewing was 192 hits going back into the early part of October. However, the new record totally eclipsed the old one with 382 hits! So to everyone that stopped by to checkout my site I really appreciate it that is for certain. If there is any thing that you are curious about, just drop me and email and I will try to get to in during one of my posts.
I have had a lot of responses to my last Journal entry regarding "what it takes" and I really appreciate the fact that some people were able to take what I had to say and use it to help motivate their athletes as well as themselves. However, it has been a week since I wrote and I have had time to deal with some rather confusing issues regarding the financial future of myself and the sport that I play. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t really want to turn this into a huge personal bashing site where I can stand on my soap box and yell at the powers that be, who have currently ruffled my feathers. The truth is that they more than likely will never read this site and the truth will never reach their ears. So instead I am going to thank the University of Ashland, Jud Logan, Bill Gallagher, Vice President Barnes and all of those people that are evolved with the developing Ashland Elite Program that I am fortunate enough to be a part of.
So quickly here is goes; The Elite program was the brain child of head track coach Bill Gallagher, who took the idea of a "club" and twist it the only way that he knows how. By getting free housing, food services, and medical services, the program was than brought before athletic director Bill Goldring and Vice President Barnes. Both of whom, put the power into the idea and allowed the system to fall into place. So far the system has worked fairly well with the girls {Adriane, Roberta, Jackie and Tara} moving into a house during the early part of October. We have all received the meal stipend and insurance, but the house for the "guys" is still in the works. I hope that things become settled soon, but with anything of this nature it often takes time to workout all the kinks and unseen difficulties. Jud has taken on the task of coaching a full load of college kids this year from 3:00-7:00pm and works with the post colligate groups from 11:00-2:00pm, a work load that would topple most considering that he commutes 60miles one way to get to and from work every day! So to Jud I take my hat off and "we" all appreciate your efforts to give us the same opportunities to be great.
TRAINING
This was the end of a three-week micro cycle of training that showed some marked improvements in practice from everyone in the post collegiate group. We normally train in a 3-week fashion, changing the exercises after each workout has been completed six times or twice weekly for a three-week period. This system ensures that the body is continuously developing and adjusting to new stimulus and stress. Another reason that this type of cycling is so efficient for athletes, is the fact that on a four to six-week training cycle the body if not worn out by the repetitive nature of the workouts can become dangerous in an unexpected sense. Curious? Let me explain, the body would love to train toward a four-week progression if it could where in which the athlete gets the opportunity to hammer out some big numbers, but there can be risk.
Example, if the athlete is training toward an ultimate goal of a double at 95% in the back squat he or she will work down in a descending fashion over the three preceding weeks in preparation of the lift. The workout if designed properly will have two workouts during week three in the 82-92% range and one workout during week four between 92-95%. So if it were I, during my "strong" years in college where the weight room was more important than the ring I would have been shooting for a 665 pound double which is 95% of 700 pounds. Now I am sure that I could have gotten the weight during the fourth week like most athletes are able to, but the stress that I have now compounded will have me walking "chin" ahead of toes for a week. Where as the three-week workout will have me on the same progression range, but I will be "governed" naturally by physiological progression. Or in other words, my body will only have enough time to get to the third week ranges of 82-92% which means that the most weight that I will have used during my phase would have been 644 pounds at the most and one less week of huge stress on the bones. Am I weaker for having trained this way? Absolutely not! In fact I would argue that I am stronger because I have been continuously adapting my system to new stresses, and ultimately I am able to maintain a higher throwing threshold, do to the lack of compounding joint and system fatigue. For example, during our last three-week cycle we emphasized our bench press and during a period of five training sessions my flat bench with a 16" grip(for some that would be bordering on close grip Ha!) I went from 350 pounds to 405 pounds. I know that isn’t earth shattering to some of our shot putters, but I only bench nine weeks a year. Would one more week make me bench 420? Maybe? Maybe not? The real question would be. " Did that one extra week of compounding stress and 15lbs really make the difference?" Hard to say I guess.
Now don’t get me wrong, this is how we do it for the most part or should I say 98% of the time that we train here in Ashland and it has been very effective. You need to tailor your workouts not only to your group, but also to your athletes. Charles Poliquin stated that in rare athletes or less than 1% of elite athletes they can adapt to a workout in a single session! Food for thought and 200 Olympic medals, should at least give you a reason to at least think about his statement.
Derek
