| Hi Friend!
Happy Thanksgiving Eve! This used to be one of my most favorite days of the year. Also known as the biggest party day of the year, when everyone went back home, (for me to the Lud as in Ludlow), and got together at someone's house in the basement for pre-game, and then met up somewhere else with a larger crew of people, at either the fish & game, the Lighthouse, the Unity Club, the Portuguese Club, etc...for the warm up, and then downtown (Springfield) for the main event. And sometimes there were after hours too.
Now...
Not so much. The idea of seeing all my old people is appealing, but the way we did it doesn't fit anymore and since I go to Ashland for Thanksgiving now, it makes less sense to go back to the Lud. Plus, there are only so many free passes I can get. I can either go out all night and be crushed the next day or I can go to bed normal time and get up early and get a great workout in with my old and new people.
I do miss the whole pre-game: getting dressed up, hanging with your boys, listening to music, playing pitch and catching up, but I'm all in on the new chapters of life.
Feel Weak, Train Strong! When life feels hard, when things feel heavy, when you feel like you're getting pushed around physically or metaphorically, when you feel like you don't have the stamina to get through tough tasks, when your mind feels soft, when you need to be tougher, TRAIN STRONG!
Lift weights, do fewer reps, use more weight, do more sets, take as much or as little rest as needed to repeat, run sprints on hills and do it all frequently, as in multiple times per week 2-6x/wk.
Do this and you'll finish feeling better about yourself. More confident. More can do. More optimistic. A little bit tougher. You'll have better energy and it'll last a couple of days. Repeat as often as you can until you foreshadow yourself getting a little slower. Then train fast until you feel recovered and then get back to training strong.
Feel Slow, Train Fast! When you feel like you're dragging your feet. When everything feels heavy and it takes too long. When your starts are strong, but your times are slow. When you find yourself walking, when you should be hustling. When your going through the motions. When your drive is less. When you don't really want to do it, but you know you must do it. When your body feels beat up. When you haven't recovered from the last workout fully. When your reflexes and reaction feel sluggish. When you're under slept and sometimes hungover. When your nervous system is compromised. When you've just arrived from travel. When you've been sitting too long. TRAIN FAST!
Lift light weights fast. Take short rest periods. Use short work to rest intervals like 15:45, 15:30, 15:15, 15:10 or 20:10, maybe even 30:10 or 30:15. Do 1-4 sets per exercise. Also keep the reps low (5-12). Since weights are lifted fast, reps are low, weights are light, then time under tension will also be short. Run short sprints, 5-25yd ladder drills, or 10-40yd sprints. Rest only as long as needed to repeat. Full recovery isn't necessary, unless you're actually training to get faster, then rest to full recovery. Don't do hill sprints, use heavy weights or have a long time under tension.
Do this and you'll finish feeling energized. You'll feel faster. Lighter. Sharper. You'll feel good. Repeat as often as necessary until you're where you want to be and be on the look out for a loss of strength and getting weaker. If you anticipate this, switch back to getting strong.
Phase 13! P13 is the last phase of our quarter. It's an endurance phase. More training fast. Life stress will be picking up, so training stress will be going down (DB Load = 20-40% BW). This is an example of alternating periodization because last phase was a strength phase in which we did fewer reps with a heavier load and worked up to 4+ sets of 6 reps with DB Loads ranging between 35-55%BW). You should be feeling stronger. If you got a bunch of PR's with us last week, you got stronger, faster and better. This coming phase will be different. Lighter loads, fewer sets, a little more reps, and a return to work to rest strength sets (40:20) vs. density sets (as many reps as possible in 5minutes). At some point you'll feel the super-compensation effect of training strength, where you actually feel strong and can do more. It could be the first week or the 2nd week of the coming phase. Either way, we're peaking you for Holiday Hotness and getting you Winter Sports Ready!
Happy Biggest Party Night of the Year!
Let me know how it goes.
Coach Mike
p.s. if you'd like to be a guest next week, please send back the attached waiver form.
p.p.s. tomorrow is our annual Thanksgiving Workout from 8-10 @ the Newton Boys & Girls Club. All that can do what we do are welcome. If you haven't filled out a waiver form this year and/or aren't a current member, please submit the attached waiver form tonight.
p.p.p.s. if you train tomorrow, bring a mat, towel & water bottle.
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