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| Do you do conditioning work as well as strength training and muscle building workouts? |
Hail to the Dinosaurs!
So here's a question.
When do you do your conditioning?
The reason I ask is because for most
trainees the answer would be either:
1. I don't do any.
a. Sometimes expressed as "What's
conditioning?"
or
2. I do it on my off days.
And if I then asked you what kind of
conditioning work you do, the answer
would be (from those who do it):
1. Sprints
2. Hill sprints
3. Running stadium steps
4. Weighted walks
5. High rep kettlebell work
6. Farmer's walks
7. Sandbag training
8. Bodyweight training
9. Sledge hammers
10. Tire flips
11. Prowler pushes
12. Sled drags
13. Weighted carries
14. Breathing squats
15. Pushing cars and trucks
16. Pulling cars and trucks
17. Club-bells and maces
18. Boxing, wrestling, grappling or other
martial arts training
19. Working the heavy bag
20. Some or all of the above
And make no mistake about it - "Some or all
of the above" is the most common answer to
this question.
So here's the next question.
WHEN do you do your "conditioning" work?
Because that conditioning work sounds a
heck of a lot like strength training.
And if you're doing "strength training" on
(for example) Mon, Wed and Fri - and then
doing "conditioning" work on your "off"
days - then you don't really have any
"off" days.
And that seems to be what a lot of trainees
are doing now.
Hard, heavy, high intensity strength training
workouts - followed by hard, heavy, high
intensity "conditioning" workouts on their
"off" days.
Which means the whole idea of off days for
recovery and recuperation has disappeared.
Instead, every day is a hard, heavy, demanding
workout - whether you call it "strength training"
or "conditioning."
Now, that may work okay for younger trainees
with tons of recovery ability - but for older
trainees, it's probably going to lead (and quite
quickly) to the "crash and burn thing" - which
isn't a very good place to go.
There are much better and more effective ways
of combining strength training and conditioning
work - and better ways to set up weekly training
schedules.
I cover them in Gray Hair and Black Iron -
if you have a copy, go back and review chapters
15, 16 and 20 right now. They'll give you tons
of ideas on how to combine strength training
and conditioning work safely, effectively and
productively.
They'll also give you some conditioning options
that are lots of fun - and make no mistake about
it, fun is a good thing.
If you don't have a copy, you can grab it right
here - it will save you lots of wasted time and
wasted workouts - and might very well end up
saving your joints into the bargain:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
