Strength Building 101: K.I.S.S.- Part 2

Repeat after me, "I am a novice lifter."

 Now that Dr. Evil stopped you from arguing this point I'll take a few moments to explain, and hopefully get you to see that being a "novice" ain't so bad after all.

What do I mean by novice?
While at first it might seem as though I am being a jerk and calling you names what I am actually doing is putting most of you into a classification that relates to how quickly you recover froma nad respond to a stimulus- right now referring to strength training.  A novice lifter will typically be able to go in and do a workout that has an appropriate stimulus then return to the next workout in 48-72 hrs and find that he/she has supercompensated (recovered and become stronger) so that he/she can lift more than the previous workout- being actually stronger.

So you might be tempted to say to me or yourself that you are past this point.  I argue that you are not.

Watch video again.

Why not?  Well, I can think of very few people on the department that I would lump into an intermediate classification and I would be extremely surprised to find an advanced or elite strength athlete in our midst- both of which would require a very detailed and varied program to progress their strength.
Again why aren't you an intermediate or greater?
A few questions for you to ask yourself:

• When was the last time I followed a strength based program that revolved around the big lifts (squat, bench, press, deadlift)?
• If you answered the above with an answer other than never or I don't know then how long did you follow it for and did you make steady progress?
• Have you followed a strength program that requires you to write down your progress and then use the log to ensure that additional weights and/or reps were completed?
• When looking at the following document do I have an idea of where I sit for each lift (possibly with the exception of the power clean)?

Basic Strength Standards (pdf, wfs)

Something to note is that if you lift the weights in the higher levels it doesn't mean that you are necessarily no longer a "novice".  These are more like lifting norms in the population (from my understanding), a novice lifter could reach an advanced level of strength because he/she was able to follow progression and recover between workouts up to that level.

So what does this mean for you?  I would recommend you start back at square 1 and stick to some simple key principles:

1. Have a plan and write down your progress.
2. Squat, push and pull 2-3x per week.
3. Follow a linear progression- start low and add weight incrementally EVERY WORKOUT for as long as you can (5lbs a workout 3x a week is 780lbs in a year.... no need to get greedy any time soon)
4. Eat like an adult- meat, veggies, nuts and seeds etc.  Want to gain weight?  Eat like 1.5 adults and don't be afraid of sweet potatoes.... maybe some moo?
5. 80/20 (or 80/10/10) 80% of the time you gotta just punch the clock.  Get in there and do your workout and build a routine.  10% of the time you might have a poor or non-existent workout, oh well- pick up and keep going the NEXT SCHEDULED WORKOUT DAY.  10% of the time rip the walls apart- sometimes you just gotta go for it when working out and break the program a bit..... use this zeal to test your mettle in a strength endurance feat if you can.

Simple, right?

Read this: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/most_lifters_are_still_beginners

And this: Who Wants to Be a Novice? You Do.

Now what?

1. Check out the program on the previous post: Strength Building 101: K.I.S.S.
2. Start low, even as low as just the bar if you want.
3. Follow the program and stick with it.
4. If you stall out- can't add wt to the bar- drop that lift by 10% and follow progression back up, maybe with less of a jump each workout this time.... and eat more.

Once you follow the progression say 3 or 4 times then you might be out of the novice area.  By this time you will have been following a structured program for about 3-6 months and have gained a bunch of strength and even lean muscle mass.

As firefighters we are required to be strong.  Think of the types of activites we do on routine calls:

• Lift heavy patients
• Carry heavy tools- MVCs
• Drag hoselines, and hold while having high nozzle reaction
• Carry and climb ladders

What about if we were to do a not so routine call:

• Drag victim while crawling
• Breach walls or floors with hand tools, possibly kneeling

What about the worst call:

• Ever practice dragging a downed firefighter up a set of stairs?  Bring your buddies and hopefully have some seriously strong backs and legs.

It is interesting to me that the main focus of most programs in the firehall seem to target body fat and VO2 but the thing that will get you out of a bind is strength expressed as strength endurance and power.