Friday, July 25, 2008

Read it again...and again


It never fails, I always manage to get something new out of Pavel's books. The next time I read the same book, I learn more and so on. This week I found a copy of Power to the People sitting in an envelope by the door that I borrowed long ago. It has been sitting waiting for me to send back under a pile of mail. When I started purging the advertisements, and clearing the bills, it was there.

OOPS, sorry Dan, I can assure you it will arrive soon, I decided to purchase my own copy.

I thought I may as well read it one time more before I take it to the post office since it was in my hands; calling me like Tolkien's Ring of Power. 'Read ME.' So I did and I learned some new stuff. In fact I am amazed. This time when I read the book I noticed it talked about low volume. How low? 2 sets. That is very low. I could have swore it said 5 sets, my mistake. Perhaps I just didn't read the chapter on cycling and volume the last 5 times I read the book.

So LESS IS MORE! Keep reading, it doesn't say do 2 sets of light weight. What PTTP says is do a set that you can do 5RM. RM means that you do 5 reps barely but leave some in the tank. This is some real weight. I tend to think that if I struggle to get the 6th rep, I have a 5RM. PTTP also states that the second set should be 90% of the first set.

Today I applied my new lessons from PTTP. The second sets probably aren't right at 90% but I will adjust. I'm sure the weights are fairly close. I will actually do accurate math before I do the workout again next week.

Training:
Z
RifGA
DL: 135 x 5, - 275 x 5, 225 x 5
BP: 135 x 5, 185 x 5, 165 x 5 (185 was difficult)
Pull Up: #25 x 5, #25 x 5, BW x 5, BW x 5
Hang Leg Raise: 5x5

Couldn't resist some added sets of BW pull ups as I believe volume here is a good thing.
______________________________
.....Remedial PT update.....

Here is the update on the remedial guy that couldn't do any pull ups. In 3 weeks he has gone from 0 - 2 easy pullups. It will be another few weeks before he hits 3 but it will happen soon enough. The planks have helped. Here is how we've broken down his training for this event.

Planks 5 sets x 30 sec - 2 days per week

Pullup GTG with 1 pull up. When he couldn't do any, he jumped and held himself up as long as he could. When we do this at remedial, I let him take a 3-5 min break between sets. Going to all out failure is not allowed. He is doing pullups 6 days per week.

Today we started some pushups between sets. This will not be done the day before the PFT which the students take every Wednesday (by order of the CO). The frequency of this event has worked wonders.

On Friday AM we do Tabata sprints at the track. This is 20 sec run, 10 sec rest x 8 sets.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

No problem with the PTTP book Comrade. I am looking forward to getting it back though. I have a place on the side of the house that I plan to put some pull up bars. It is shady and the grass grows real well there. I don't want it too close to the house and it is time my boys have a place to do some real workouts to complement their swim, soccer, baseball, and now football seasons. Of course, the real reason is for me. I might not be able to do some things when its below 32 degrees, but there are just some exercises that I cannot do properly on my pull-up "machine".

Good reminders on the reading. I will keep that in mind and work on the new library. Before, it was the Commandant's reading list. Now, it is books by the likes of Pavel, Z Health, and maybe some that other RKCs have authored. I'd like to be an accomplished tri-athlete by 50, and I think this is a good "starting" point if I can unlock my knees and back. Its a goal. I look forward to the adventure of getting there.

Bob O. said...

Dan,
Below 32 degrees is ok, just keep moving. I hope Pavel doesn't read your comment about the temp especially after the level 1 RKC I attended. To paraphrase Pavel on one frozen morning, "weak Americans." Insert evil laugh here.

I think you owe the Party 100 burpees for your comment.HAHA.

Just remember, small achievable goals and you will become bullet proof and be injury free. It won't do you no good to do anything if you can't get out of bed the next day.

Franz Snideman said...

Keep up the training...looks great!

And yes, reading Pavel's book over and over again is a good thing!

Bob O. said...

thanks Franz!

Mike T Nelson said...

Rock on and thanks for the great updates here! Good stuff man!
Mike N