Back to Simplicity
By
Chip Conrad
Can structure exist without rules? If you have a penchant for a more
Apollonian protocol, you would answer with a passionate “no.” In the iron
culture, structure takes shape in the form of principles and laws that are
vehemently applied to training, sometimes dogmatically, despite the fact that
such orthodoxy might actually limit progress or at least possibilities.
On the other hand, the Dionysian lifter might not even keep track of
workouts, eschewing a workout log as a structure in itself. The workouts may be
a bit random. In fact, goal setting in general may exist no further than the
concept of “someday I’ll get there,” with only a vague idea of where “there” is.
Nietzsche would probably say a balanced lifter is one who could embrace the
progressive nature of both sides, not the destructive dogma of either. As an ode
to balance, let’s create a relatively rule free structure, which I believe is
not only possible but also preferable to rigidity or chaos. An argument can be
made that only through simplicity can this be achieved.
Thanks to a vast array of “principles” from every iron guru—not to mention
all the programs from every book about the iron game and of course all 900 hours
of iron ideas and instruction on YouTube—there’s a small chance you’ll come away
a little confused. Is there really that much to learn? And after that, are there
still secrets that won’t be revealed to you unless you fork out your hard earned
ducats for every specialized certification you can get your hands on?
Back to simplicity! No matter how you slice it, analyze it, dress it up, or
complicate it, there is one basic fact that is actually as simple as can
be—exercise = force development.
That’s it. Exercise is simply force development. Whether your goals are
workload, power, speed, endurance, or whatever word you want to insert here,
they are all adaptations of force development.
VO2 max? Adaptation of force development. Metabolic pathways? Adaptations of
force development. Muscle fiber types? Adaptations of force development.
Hypertrophy? Speed? Agility? You get the idea. Heck, even the fancy formulas we
throw around in this industry all have force as a common denominator. From
Newton’s Laws to formulas for work and power, force is always a key player.
The definition of physical strength is always something similar to “the
muscle’s ability to generate force,” not maximum force or super force,
just force. So to define physical strength would be to use a spectrum of force
development because, according to the definition, all force development
is strength. That’s a big spectrum from long distance running to Olympic
weightlifting and everything in between. Sure, powerlifters will hate to hear
that a tri-athlete is actually quite strong, but on one part of this vast
spectrum of strength, it is true.
So here at Bodytribe we use the spectrum of strength (or spectrum of force
development if you prefer) as the basis of program design. We aren’t specialty
athletes. We are healthy athletes, and there is a big difference. We’ve
found that a great template for incorporating many portions of this spectrum of
strength into our training is using the methods from Westside Barbell Club
(WSB), which works on these basic methods (like this is going to be news to
anyone reading this):
· Max effort (ME)
· Dynamic effort (DE)
· Repetition method
· General physical preparedness (GPP)
These methods beautifully represent different levels of force development and
can add structure to a program without laying down despotic laws. This malleable
structure is deeply ingrained into the basic Bodytribe program design model. But
a Westside purist might watch one of our workouts and scratch his bald, beanied
head wondering how on earth anything we do could be compared to WSB. Remember,
it is all force development, but the tools and movements may differ despite a
similar template. That’s the beauty of rule free structure.
First, let’s simplify it a bit by combining ME and DE into the general
category of maximum force development (MFD). Here’s the basics….
Max force development: To describe it simply, either go really heavy
or really fast. There is benefit in separating speed and heavy days like
Westside does, but no matter what, we’re starting a day off by creating maximum
force development—training the body on the far end of the spectrum of strength.
Repetition method: Use non-maximal weight to failure (or close to it),
not unlike classic bodybuilding hypertrophy training. Most folks think that we
at Bodytribe eschew any of this and just work with either heavy weight or
strange combos. But there is a place for the repetition method—for recovery, to
assist max force development, and to train movement patterns that are
complimentary to our main lift of the day.
GPP: Do a bunch of stuff a bunch of different ways. The physics
formula for power could apply here (P=work/time) unlike the mechanical formula
for power (P=F x v), which is more about explosiveness (closer to the MFD side
of the spectrum).
Let’s present some ideas that might be either eye-opening revelations or
blasphemy to the iron gods:
1) Your MFD lift doesn’t have to be a power lift variation or even a
barbell lift. Ever try a max effort Turkish get up? It’s quite possibly the most
arduous 1RM lift on the planet!
2) The repetition method could mean super sets, odd lifts, or sets that
are anywhere from 5–20 or more reps. It isn’t just the standard bodybuilding
protocol of a few sets of 6–10 reps.
3) GPP can be a broad and exciting creative category involving the
tweaking of any or all manipulatable factors of a workout—speed, time, duration,
distance, volume, and rest.
According to the simple idea that strength equals force development, there
really is no difference between “strength” and “conditioning” because any type
of “conditioning” is simply force development (perhaps along different parts of
the spectrum). If your workouts tend to be dominated by moving really heavy
stuff for low reps, then your body, although quite adept at MFD, is very limited
at anything else. Even for a specialty athlete, this can be a problem.
GPP (and the repetition method to a point) is an opportunity to incorporate
elements of circulation, mobility, and rotation that might be lacking from the
main lift of the day, ultimately aiding in recovery and injury prevention, not
just getting the heart and lungs to crank up a bit. If that was our goal, we
could just hop on a treadmill.
Toying with different points along the spectrum could turn GPP into an
unfamiliar workout even for folks who do GPP or “WODs,” “metcon,” or other
workload specific protocols regularly. In other words, just because we might be
busting out the stopwatches, don’t write this off as a high repetition “circuit
training” burnout fest. There seems to be a trend among workload protocols to
keep adding reps. Twenty repetition workouts have become 50 or even 100
repetition workouts. At that point, we may as well just hop on a treadmill
(yawn). What about the other options so that my A.D.D. is satisfied?
How about a medley that features a near max single or double that has to be
cycled back through several times during the duration of the medley? Ever pick
up a sandbag that weighs your body weight and carry it 200 feet? How about after
doing 10 burpees? And before the burpees, crank out a small handful of one-arm
snatches with a kettlebell or barbell that frightens you a bit. And then do it
all again. And again. That’s quite a buffet of force development options wrapped
up in one nifty GPP package. The Bodytribe website (www.bodytribe.com)
has a giant list of these combos that we’ve used over the years.
An entire workout might look like this:
ME Turkish get up: Follow a similar protocol that a WSB lifter might
with a more traditional lift. Perform many low repetition sets, leading up to
several sets of singles and working up to a Turkish get up max (both sides,
eh?).
Repetition method: Perform good mornings from pins, 3 sets X 6–8 reps.
Nothing too far out of the ordinary here.
GPP: Let’s go with what we were building above…perform the deadlift
for 2 reps at 80–90 percent of your max, do 10 burpees, a fairly heavy one-hand
barbell snatch (three per arm), and sandbag carries (body weight bag weight) for
100 feet. Repeat three times and time it!
This is an example of cramming all methods into one workout, but because
we’re trying to dwell in structured anarchy, this is simply a guideline, not an
obdurate canon. Separating MFD and GPP workouts is not uncommon.
Now, periodizing this template would take more words than you’d probably care
to read right now. To cliffnote it, we’ll start with a several week cycle
combining all these methods into each workout maybe with MFD on an “every other
workout” protocol. As cycles progress, you might find us backing off from the
GPP as the emphasis slowly switches more toward supporting the MFD. But anyone
who has played with various forms of periodization can take this where it needs
to go.
And, yes, we do use this template with both competitors and non-competitors.
Our weightlifters and powerlifters will customize this template depending on
where they are in relation to their next meet and what lifts need the most
emphasis, but all of our lifters work at competency along many points on the
spectrum at some point in their training.
With rule free structure and a little bit of good ol’ fashioned learning, we
can now build a balanced training program that is adaptable, progressive, and
dare I say it, downright fun.
Chip Conrad (who won’t list any letters after his name despite his
numerous certifications) owns Bodytribe Fitness in Sacramento, California. His
first book, Lift with Your Head, is available through the EliteFTS website, and
his upcoming DVD set should be out by March followed by his second book due out
this summer. His website—www.bodytribe.com—is
a growing hub of modern physical culture information and networking.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
