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SOVIET NOSTALGIA
Objective: Sport Specific Power Endurance
Warm up: 4x Barbell Complex
Training:
(1) 5 Rounds
2 min on system board, using ice axes
3x Sandbag getups each side @ 105# sandbag
(2) 5 Interval Rounds on Finger Board,
10 sec work, 10 sec
R1: 2-finger pocket
1 min rest
R2: Edge
1 min rest
R3: 3-finger pocket
1 min rest
R4: Slopers
1 min rest
R5: Jugs
1 min rest
(3) Work up to 1 RM Bench Press
(4) 5 Rounds
Max bench press @ 135#
15-ft rope climb
(5) 4 Rounds
25x Swings @ 24kg
1 minute rest
Comments:
I came upon a 2004 article "tactical periodization" written by Kettlebell advocate Pavel Tsatsouline in Military
Fitness Magazine.
Honestly, I'm not to sure what to think of Pavel. He is best known for his popularization of kettlebells in the states
- which has been pretty amazing. Last week the local Sports Authority here in Jackson started stocking kettlebells!
I own a couple of Pavel's books and sometimes visit his website and often his stuff is a little over the top. Training
with kettlebells has become its own specialization, and almost "sport" - and its advocates are sometimes a little
cult-like.
But Dan John really respects Pavel as a strength and conditioning coach, and even wrote the forward for Pavel's latest
book, "Enter the Kettlebell."
What I really found interesting about Pavel's article on "tactical programming" was his clear point that "programming"
for tactical athletes could not be as structured or controlled like that for competing athletes.
The nature of their work does not allow for a set "competition date" a long way down the road to plan programming
around.
Writes Pavel, "Focus on shaort rather than long term planning and respect the laws of adaptation, and you are in
the tactical periodization business."
Secondly, Pavel endorses a random, "chaotic" workout design similar to that recommended by Coach Greg Glassman
and CrossFit. "Therefore tactical periodization is short term PT planning that emphasizes variation of intensity and
volume .... sharp and near random variation of intensity and volume."
Pavel notes that this randomness "nearly guarantees occasional overtraining."
In terms of recovery, Pavel writes that allowing for full recovery between workouts could take an athlete, "only
so far," - and that hitting it hard, when not fully recovered, followed by a taper "leads to gains far superior
to those possible with total recovery training."
Into this occasional overtraining, Pavel mixes in a more controlled approach, "Training moderately hard to hard for
a few days in a row, letting fatigue build up, tand then taking a day or two off or having an easy day works well in a SOF
unit. Push, back off, push, back off... Understand the obvious risks of pushing too hard for too long."
Pavel also articulates an idea I've danced around in my own mind for months now - that we need to "train recovery"
also.
Often I'll have new athletes call or e-mail after a session with complaints of deep soreness, and ask if they should come
in again or wait until the soreness goes away.
My response goes something like this: If you were camped on the middle of a mountain, and sore from the first day of hard
climbing, would you wait, or would you buckle down, push through, and continue on to the summit?
Pavel relays an example of the Soviet special forces team he trained. The team trained hard, 5 days a week, with running,
long rucks, swimming and competition workouts. And once a week, it would do the PT test, which was the "easiest PT day
of the week."
All his guys would score really well on the test, but be sore the next day, "So, what I started doing is back-to-back
PT tests," writes Pavel. And on the second test, his guys would score lower, especially in the push up and sit up catagories.
Pavel reasoned that this wasn't a fitness issue, but rather a "recovery problem." He writes, "Training
the body to recover faster is important. Occasionally, push yourself to the maximum and do it again the next day. Record your
results, then continue your normal training program. Repeat the process once every month or couple of months and see if your
recovery rate is any better."
He continues, "...incomplete restoration training stimulates the recovery ability. Your body literally has to learn
how to recoup faster or else!"
So here's some take away points from Pavel:
- Random, chaotic training with sharp variation in intensity and volume works for athletes without the benefit of a planned,
set competition.
- Occassional overtraining followed by a taper can lead to gains.
- Training with incomplete recovery helps "train" the body's ability to recover faster.
- Don't be stupid. Day after day of hard training will eventually lead to injury or decreased performance. "Random"
includes hard, easy and moderate training days.
- Volume and intensity are random, and not dependent upon each other.
- Medium volume and medium intensity are the "bread and butter" of training.
- Rob Shaul
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| Ben works the system board, with an added 15# backpack. |
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