Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Strength Training is Like Juggling

Strength training is like juggling. What do I mean? See below...

I have to travel tomorrow so I worked out on back to back days with TT 2K3. I did my modified version, of course, which has more emphasis on one strength exercise at the start of the workout.

Warm-up
Barbell Squat with empty bar
Good Morning with empty bar
Lunges
1-Leg RDL
Chest Stretch
Hip Flexoer Stretch
Side Stretch

Overhead Squats - 45x5, 65x5, 95x5, 115x5

Squat Warmup Sets - 135x10, 185x10, 225x8, 275x3

Strength Sets
Squat - 315x5x5

Supersets

1A) BB Forward Lunge - 145x8
1B) Side Plank - 60s per side

2A) BB RDL - 225x2x10
2B) Plank - 60 seconds

Not bad. Still off from my best strength back in 2004 when I could do 315x12. I'm doing 5 sets of 5 now, because I'm practicing the skill of squatting.

Most people neglect to realize that strength training is like juggling. It is a skill. You learn to get better at it by improving your muscular control and the amount of force that your muscles can produce. A lot of it depends on your nervous system, not just your large muscles.

Because strength training is a skill, that's why women can get strong without getting "bulky". They are improving their "mind muscle connection" as old-school bodybuilders like to say.

More on that some other time,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Download your trial copy of Turbulence Training here  

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Awesome workout. Your not only very lean your very strong. I venture to say most guys THIS strong aren't as lean as you CB. I clearly have a lot of work to do. Thanks for the motivating post.