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More on the Conjugate Method
I only get enough time for about 10 pages of Louie’s book 2-3 times per week, so these little reports are a little spread out. A few people gave me a hard time after my last post, but I am pretty sure that they didn’t read my blog. They simply saw that I was writing about Louie’s book, and decided to attack. I am cool with that nowadays, but it makes me sad for them.
If you read the book with an open-mind, there is no way that you can’t pick out some nuggets. Here’s the thing, I have read some books by some well-known and successful weightlifting coaches and come away scratching my head with zero knowledge obtained. Where is the outcry from those books? We all know what I am talking about.
However, when a guy that is famous from powerlifting tries to give his thoughts, we are ready to burn him at the stake. Like I said, I have read plenty of books from well known weightlifting coaches, and some of those books were boring, lacking in substance, and down right terrible. This elitist attitude is the reason that this sport was dying before CrossFit hit the scene. If we want to take the reigns and quit relying on CrossFit to grow our sport, there are some attitudes that have to change.
Ok I am off the soapbox, and now it’s on the some of the things in the book that you might find useful.
1. His information on plyometrics is right on. Yuri Verkhoshansky performed the original work on plyometrics. Depth Jumps was the only form of jump training that the Russians used. They focused on ground contact with the goal being .1-.2 seconds. For this to be successful, the athlete must first be taught proper jump mechanics, have above average relative strength, and some solid training in the absolute strength department.
In America we have twisted that all around. Simply performing different types of jumps doesn’t elicit the response that was talked about during 1970-1980 research performed by the Russian sport scientists. Verkhoshansky used different heights of boxes to create different responses. The box height for the depth jump and the ground contact were the two keys that made this type of training successful. The book details some pretty cool ideas on plyometrics that could easily be added to the toolbox of any athlete including weightlifters.
2. I love his thoughts on training max effort, dynamic effort, and hypertrophy all together all the time. Most coaches will drop the assistance work during the last several weeks of training before a competition. If those exercises got you strong, why drop them when you need to be the strongest.
Look at the Chinese, those guys are performing lateral raises in the training hall right before big competitions. The key is simply to lighten the load allowing the body to fully recover, but don’t just drop the exercises that got you to where you are. This is one of the big keys that I used during my powerlifting career that made me so successful. Like Louie says, I would focus my hypertrophy training on bringing up the weak areas of my body.
3. Performance on max effort day is directly related to the athlete’s general physical preparedness. If you come to our gym, you will see this first hand. Nathan Damron has been training for over seven years. He uses volume in his training that would kill most grizzly bears. You can count on him performing at a high level during every max out Friday session.
General physical preparedness is something that is often overlooked in a weightlifters training. It shouldn’t be. The more work capacity that one has will allow them to train harder and longer. Work going in will equal results coming out. That’s just a fact.
I hope these nuggets from Louie’s book help in some way to improve your training. Once again, I would encourage all of you to read information in a discerning and open-minded way. Yeah for sure don’t take what anyone says as the gospel. Read it, compare it to scientific facts, and then form your takeaways with those thoughts in mind.
Team Mash Elite is off and running. Our goal to improve the sport of Olympic weightlifting is having progress already. However we still need your help in making our dream a reality. We are also very excited to watch our ‘youth at risk’ program scatter throughout America and the world. Here is a full report of the progress: “Team Mash Elite Update”
Here are the ways that you can help with this dream:
1. Become an affiliate– Our first affiliate ever was Undisputed Strength and Conditioning in Minneapolis, MN. Vinh, Jason, and the team up there is an extension of our team in North Carolina. They coach with us at National meets, and their athletes are a part of our National Teams. We are one big family. For more details about becoming an affiliate email affiliates@mashelite.com
2. Become a Partner– for more information about that email me personally Travis.Mash@mashelite.com
3. Donate to the Team– thousands of you guys and gals read these article every day. If all of you donated $1-2 we would be in a much better situation. Click on the link below to donate:
4. Come to the 3-day Mash Camp July 8th thru the 10th click the link below to find out more:
5. Volunteer with fundraising, administration, or simply prayers. If you want to help, email us at:
info@mashelite.com
We have big goals. We get it. We will definitely need all the help that we can get. This thing is bigger than three coaches. We need a team. A massive team! We are going to either do this once and for all, or stop talking about why America is terrible on the international scene. This is a chance for all of us to have a part in this.
Please share this with all of your friends!
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