By
Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
I'll admit it— I think
way too much when I lift. Maybe not during the actual lift,
where I tend to focus on 1-2 primary movement cues, but between
sets. Here's what's been on my frontal cortex lately...
One: The Subtle Nuances Of Temperature
Regulation
Sometimes I feel a little like a cold-blooded
reptile during my workouts (how's that for an opening teaser?)
I'm simply referring to the ongoing
(and usually subconscious) effort to regulate temperature during
my training sessions. After all, your performance will suffer if
you're running too hot or too cold. Being too hot is fatiguing,
distracting, and may also result in excessive perspiration, which,
aside from being annoying, can actually be a safety hazard. And
obviously, if you allow yourself to cool off too much, your performance
suffers as your soft tissues lose their pliability. Here are a few
of the things I catch myself doing as I try to maintain a happy
thermic medium:
Toweling off (prevents cooling
due to sweat evaporation)
Not toweling off (accelerates cooling
due to sweat evaporation)
Drinking water (decreases core
temperature)
Not drinking water (maintains core
temperature)
Resting longer between sets (allows
cooling)
Shorter rests between sets (prevents
cooling)
Pacing between sets (prevents cooling)
Sitting between sets (accelerates
cooling)
Putting on more clothing (prevents
cooling)
Taking off clothing (accelerates
cooling)
Standing under A/C vent (accelerates
cooling)
Moving away from A/C vent (prevents
cooling)
As if I haven't over-analyzed this
sufficiently, one more important thought about temperature regulation:
if you're not already doing so, you should consider using some of
the truly great sweat-wicking fabrics that are available today (most
notably Under Armor, but also the fabrics used by Adidas, Nike,
and Russell, just to name a few). Cotton clothing, especially if
you sweat a lot and/or live in a hot/humid climate, is terrible
at wicking sweat which means you'll have a hard time maintaining
a consistently-ideal body temperature.
Two: The Load-Speed-Technique
Continuum
Recently I've been cranking out some
(for me) big snatches, and right in the middle of a heavy double
the other day, it occurred to me that for some time now, my head
has been so wrapped around technical issues that I've forgotten
about the value of speed, which is arguably one of the most critical
facets of successful lifting. After all, it doesn't matter if you're
squatting, benching, flipping a tire, or chinning yourself, moving
the load faster has an amazing way of ensuring success.
And technique, by the way, is velocity-specific:
just because you can execute a slow lift properly doesn't mean you
can execute a fast lift properly. As I work my way through my warm-up
sets, I'll typically perform the first rep slowly and the second
rep faster, trying to maintain technical consistency over both reps.
Then, as I hit my top sets, I'll try to maintain that technical
model with limit and near-limit weights.
Three: Technique VS Speed
You might be surprised to learn that
I think slow lifts are valuable. Note that I didn't way "purposefully
slow." I'm just referring to heavy lifts that are slow for
the simple reason that you can't move them any faster. I've been
thinking about this lately because I've been focusing more on heavier
squats and deadlifts, and after watching videos like this one from
last week
I'm amazed too see how fast
I'm actually moving weights that actually feel quite slow.
This is probably due to the fact that I spend most of my time
moving weights very quickly.
I'm better off (and you would
be too) using a variety of lifting speeds, ranging from accelerative
to grinding— this helps to fill out your sensory portfolio,
and you'll be less likely to miss a new PR opportunity when
85% feels like 100%, like my squat did in the video above!
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About The Author
His colleagues call him an iconoclast,
a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The
Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches
miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled
in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’
methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious
results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing
demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY
Show and The CBS Early Show.
Currently, Charles competes
in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit,
with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s
World Championships.
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