I want to try to add in one conditioning training session per week. How can I arrange this when I squat heavy on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday?
My first instinct would be to look for a conditioning exercise that is more upper body than lower body, but nearly all conditioning exercises that everyone advocates are sprints and the prowler. The C2 rower looks ideal but sadly I do not have access to one.
My priority in training is too increase strength, however I believe some conditioning work would be very beneficial to me as long as its effect on my strength training recovery can be minimized.
The generic response is anytime as long as it’s not the day before squats. After your workouts or Sunday would be best from a recovery standpoint.
[quote]jdub129 wrote:
My first instinct would be to look for a conditioning exercise that is more upper body than lower body…[/quote]
Swimming, sledgehammer, battle ropes, carries, and, upper body variations of sled drags.
If you do stick with a lower body movement, eccentric-less (sled drags) or low impact (cycling) activities will have the least detriment on strength and recovery.
I use the prowler as assistance and conditioning work after my squat and deadlift days. I have found that it actually seems to be helping to improve my squats. Normally when I include other types of conditioning work, I find my squats suffer from it.
I want to try to add in one conditioning training session per week. How can I arrange this when I squat heavy on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday?
My first instinct would be to look for a conditioning exercise that is more upper body than lower body, but nearly all conditioning exercises that everyone advocates are sprints and the prowler. The C2 rower looks ideal but sadly I do not have access to one.
My priority in training is too increase strength, however I believe some conditioning work would be very beneficial to me as long as its effect on my strength training recovery can be minimized.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me?[/quote]
The C2 was going to be my first suggestion.
I squat heavy (back squat) once a week, deadlift heavy once a week, and do a somewhat lighter secondary squat variation (front, overhead, etc.) once a week. For me, personally, going a little easier one day out of three for lower body allows me to throw in a strong conditioning day. My last conditioning day involved a ton of lower body - high rep sandbag front squats on top of plates (for deficit), box jumps, and lateral hurdles. So while training conditioning I was incorporated explosive power (vs. pure strength) with the lower body with the squat movement. I also did several 100 yard runs with the sandbag on my shoulders after and really felt it in my legs. I mean, a workout like that and it’s almost like a leg-day. Just saying you can lessen the weight, up the intensity, and get squat-conditioning day out of it. Follow me?
I think running and squatting three days a week is going to leave you frustrated and possibly injured. I couldn’t even do two squat days a week while running and even one squat day is frustration when I’m getting ready for a race. Cycle your training: emphasis running for awhile where you’re on a solid plan and have definite results and just try to squat what you can then after a few weeks of that (8-12) go on a good squat plan and just run two days a week and keep it short. I can still run fast but I keep it 30min and under including warm-up.
Do your conditioning in opposite time slots of your training. Conditioning in the AM lifting in the PM or vice versa.
I found sprint work outs can help my legs feel better for squats at night. However, I sprint with less volume and treat it more like a power work out rather than “run-till-you-die” tabata type of stuff.
I started sledgehammering a few weeks ago and am loving this. It really helps to loosen up your hips and solidfy the hinge pattern too if you use your lower body in the swing, though it mostly uses the upper body.
If you are not under a lot of physical and mental stress and you also sleep well enough just start doing the work…
With my squats on T / Th / Sat, I did my first conditioning workout of 8 hill sprints and a 2 mile walk and was still able to PR on squats the following Tuesday. I think this setup will work well for me.
If you are trying to improve your squat and really pushing the weight volume than there is no reason for conditioning to be anything other that recovery based. If you try to push your conditioning and weights at the same time you are just going to be spinning your wheels unless you are a teenager or have abnormal capacity for adaptation. Why not focus on squats for a month or two and do some easy conditioning for recovery and then focus on conditioning for a month while you maintain your strength? I guarantee you will hit your goals faster than trying to push both at the same time.
I have the same type of question… If I’m doing full body lifts 3x per week (Mon, Wed, Fri), what kind of training schedule would be the better setup?
Monday- AM 3 to 5 mile run and PM lift
Tuesday- Off
Wednesday- AM 3 to 5 mile run and PM lift
Thursday- Off
Friday- AM 3 to 5 mile run and PM lift
Saturday- 3 to 5 mile run
Sunday- 3 to 5 mile run
OR
Monday- Full Body Lift
Tuesday- 3 to 5 mile run
Wednesday- Full Body Lift
Thursday- 3 to 5 mile run
Friday- Full body lift
Saturday- 3 to 5 mile run or off
Sunday- 3 to 5 mile run or off
[quote]szappa wrote:
I have the same type of question… If I’m doing full body lifts 3x per week (Mon, Wed, Fri), what kind of training schedule would be the better setup?
[/quote]
[quote]szappa wrote:
I have the same type of question… If I’m doing full body lifts 3x per week (Mon, Wed, Fri), what kind of training schedule would be the better setup?
Monday- AM 3 to 5 mile run and PM lift
Tuesday- Off
Wednesday- AM 3 to 5 mile run and PM lift
Thursday- Off
Friday- AM 3 to 5 mile run and PM lift
Saturday- 3 to 5 mile run
Sunday- 3 to 5 mile run
OR
Monday- Full Body Lift
Tuesday- 3 to 5 mile run
Wednesday- Full Body Lift
Thursday- 3 to 5 mile run
Friday- Full body lift
Saturday- 3 to 5 mile run or off
Sunday- 3 to 5 mile run or off[/quote]
Neither option, you have to think in time given for recovery. It is best to do conditioning right after your weight session. Is it hard? very much so, but it will have no consequence on your recovery unless all of your sessions (weights and cardio) are high intensity. If you are looking for high intensity cardio that will also benefit your squat, look into short duration bike intervals.
Great for cardio purposes and increasing quad size. If you must run I would leave it at 2 low intensity longer runs 3-5 miles and one short higher intensity run. All done after weights. Google one name; Alex Viada.