I have decided to try T-mag’s Fat Fast Diet for the next week. I
would like to achieve two goals(in order of importance) during this
week:
Maximize fat loss, while minimizing muscle wasting;
Improve General Physical Preparedness for powerlifting/weightlifting.
What sort of training should be done during this period? Dave Tate and Louie
Simmons are big advocates of
sled pulling, while John Davies prefers non-weighted drills with
short rest intervals. Pavel Tsatsouline prescribes high intensity
interval training coupled with weighted isometrics. Has anyone had
any success with different methods for fat loss?
PS-- Coach Davies could you give the forum a sample of one of your GPP workouts?
with the fat fast diet, i personally use the “bowlful of jelly” workout with an added 10 - 20 minutes aerobics at the end. I also use Ian King’s painful ab routine during warm up. For me this combo works like a charm.
Riley - you’ve got a complex issue here. You are looking at weight loss and dieting. I will not discount your immediate concern of weight loss but I do need to tell you can’t go into GPP without energy. Make sure you are prehydrated. A good quality GPP performance for my athletes follows a wave pattern within the actual session. Work flows between “active rest” and a virtual hell. Please also note that this is only a single training session - the key to your overall success is the development of your work threshold and I utilize my own modelling of the workouts. Another point to make you will need to prepare yourself for this mentally. The first time you do this, it might be a bit of a “shock”. Lets try this before a Pulling or Squat session.
jumping jacks
shuffle splits
burpee
star jumps
-perform each drill PERFECTLY for 30 seconds, move from one exercise to the next continuously. Perform 4-5 sets, no stopping.
A few additional points - be perfectly disciplined with every movement. In the jacks, arms straight, touch at the top and the sides. Shuffle (like a boxer), moving from the hips. Burpee - I want a minimum of 12 in 30 seconds to start. Star jumps, touch your toes and jump as high as possible - again a minimum of 12
Get back to the old coach after you have a chance. If you have any other questions, just ask.
Irontank (still the best name) - you’re getting the old coach fired-up about training REAL athletes. Here’s a couple of my favorite warmup sessions, try these out asap & get back to me and we will progress to something more advanced.
All rope work consists of 3 minute rounds with 1 minute "active" breaks in which you perform the pre-set exercises. Skip with feet together (thus picking up rate of revolution).
program a
rounds 1,2 & 3 - perform 50 pushups
rounds 4,5,& 6 - perform 10 towel chins
program b
rounds 1,2 & 3 - perform 15 burpees
rounds 4,5 & 6 - perform 15 star jumps
These will take you precisely 24 minutes. Once you perform these and wish something more challenging - just ask.
lol, ur fired up? i don’t think u can understand how exicting it is to be getting personal information from one the top strength coaches around…anyway to be honest i haven’t jumped roped in years, and now that i think about it, my foot work hasn’t be to great, so i am goin to run out and buy a good one, hopefully i can try out the “warm-up” (which looks harder than my workout!) today before my leg day, it may be a few weeks before i am ready for a your more advanced routine (but i am looking forward to seeing it as well)… couple questions…how long do ur athletes workout after the “warm-up”? Do they “cool-down” as well, i was thinking about “cooling Down” by walking outside with a barbell across my back like was suggested in the functional strength thread…thanks coach
-your faithful disciple, irontank
Coach Davies, I did a workout similar to the jump rope workout you posted while I was on vacation. I did 2-3 minutes of jump rope followed by incline pushups for the first 3 sets. Then I did the jump rope followed by chin ups for three more sets. Great workout! I can’t believe that is just a warmup. As I was pretty tired after doing just that!
Everything you have posted so far has been great! And many people seem to be incorporating your techingues. But I do have a question. I know you are used to training athletes whose full-time job is training and their sport, but what about the rest of us who already work a full-time job and have other obligations (family, friends, relationships, chores, etc)?? Do you have any guidelines or recommendations?
Currently, I weight train three days a week following Staley's Convergent Phase Training. How can I incorporate your functional training with my current weight training and time availability? Obviously, I will never be as well conditioned as your athletes. But I still want as much functional carryover as possible.
So what are your recommendations for the average person who works a full-time job and has other commitments in life? In addition to weight training three days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri), what can I do to get in shape and have functional carryover? Should I be doing more stuff after weight training days? Or should I be doing functional training on all my off days? What should I do? Run? Sprint? Wheelbarrel runs? Dragging a sled? Non-weighted workouts (chins, jump rope, pushups, burpees, etc)?
Please help me out! I know there are many other T-men who work and have other commitments and may not have as much time to train as we would like. But I know we want as much carryover and functional conditioning as possible. I’m just not sure how to set things up.
If there is any specific information you need to know, please feel free to ask. Thank you again for your help!
My apologies for posting such a short message right now, but I’ve got to say this. - Irontank and other readers, you’ve humbled me again with your complements. You want to ask why I offer my advice - because you’re the real athletes. You work hard, brutally hard because for the simple love of it. Maybe now you realize why I would go to the wall for my athletes. - Well, I am going to train now & will get back to you tonight.
to Irontank-try the rope work. It can do so much for you - especially if you use it right. First of all there are a lot of errors about rope work. It is not simply a weight loss or even an premliminary agility work - it can teach a function of power and muscle recruitment. But lets go through a few points that I taught a player in the NFL just today. Most of learn to skip rope with our hands dropped without a lot of thought. Instead, pinch your shoulder blades and have your elbows into your sides with chest out. The elbow to wrist will be roughly parallel to the ground and the turning of the rope is done with the bicep. It is quite likely that if you havnt done as such in the past your biceps will cramp up pretty quickly. I don’t know if this interests you but if this happens you will also learn a little about the functional nature of boxer throwing serious of jab/hook combinations and therefore understand how to train them more appropriately. Also skip with feet together to start to increase rate of revolutions.
Cool-downs - the walks are down earlier in a session, when we are still in that “down & dirty nasty phase”. Cool downs for my athletes involve a lot of cerebral methods of concentration that all athletes can make use of. Visualization of achievements of goals is a cornerstone of the final moments of successful training session. Hope it helps.
to Nate Dogg - some good points that I think you will find interesting. One of the interesting points you find with my training programs is the “fire alarm pace”. Our workouts are performed at a brutally fast pace with no chance for recovery. For an athlete that breeds a mental approach that is an unbelievable advantage because they understand the ability to deal within the “chaos of conflict”. From your perspective, the pace of the workout will accomplish all of your physical goals and give you more pratical time. In truth too much time is wasted in training - the term “form and function” is a very intense training principal. I guess I just said you can probably use the “form and function” approach, get the results you want and actually have more time. Now you want more specifics - ask
Coach, this workout reminds me a lot of the drills, particularly the conditioning ones, we had to do when I did martial arts (thai boxing/jeet kune do). Everything was based on rounds, for obvious reasons, and we often times did do various excercises is a super set/circuit kind of fashion. We definitely were taught to jump rope in the manner you dictated above as well. This kind of training was great for conditioning. To paraphrase Dan Inosanto, the head of Jeet Kune Do, Conditioning is the most important aspect of a fighter, or athlete. Because when you’re tired stength goes out the window, form and technique go out the window. Essentially you can’t do anything unless you have the stamina to do it. That is why I think that the kind of training you outlined here, Coach, is so great because it will really help build up that endurance which is so critical to success as an athlete. I know these kinds of programs work and even though I have been far more focused on bodybuilding these days. Reading the stuff that you have written has inspired me to work on gaining more functional strength again, which used to be my only priority when I was competing. I did not want a single ounce of muscle that wasn’t useful. I think I might even start doing some conditioning drills again just for the hell of it since I really don’t have a reason to train like that anymore again. Coach I’m just glad that you have been around lately to share your knowledge, and more importantly to inspire us Weekend Warriors to train harder and smarter. Thanks. -Steve
Coach, I know what you mean about the fire alarm pace. My weight workout is like that now that I’m doing Staley’s program. I love it! I can still lift heavy weights for lower reps and have adequate rest in between exercises while at the same time moving in a circuit fashion through six exercises. The workout moves very quickly and leaves me gasping for air and sweating profusely. And I also get my workout done in under an hour!
If I follow the "form and function" concept, what should I do to set up a training program? I'm not training for a specific sport, but I have varied interests (in-line skating, mountain biking, volleyball, frisbee, swimming, sprinting). So I would like to do something that would help with those activities.
Let’s say I weight train Mon, Wed, Fri. Should I do GPP and bodyweight exercises on Tues, Thurs, Sat? If so, how should I set it up? Should I do the jump rope and bodyweight exercises one day? Then some sort of sprinting another day? And then sled pulling or wheelbarrow walking on the third day? I’ve copied all your ideas on a sheet of paper, but I’m not sure how to set up a training plan. Any suggestions? Thanks again.
The “warm-up” program was very interesting. I consider myself in good shape from both a background in colliegate basketball and my high activity level. That routine kicked my ass! It reminded me of the suicides from practice. I barely could make it through the 3 set and that was pushing it. Thanks alot!!! I have one question though. What exactly are the star jumps? Are they similar to the split jump that cheerleaders do?
Thanks,
Riley King
Star Jumps - start in low squat position, hands at feet/heels, jump up spreading arms and legs as wide as possible. Fall right back into start position and repeat. Sets last 30 seconds with 10 - 12 star jumps usually performed.
As a matter of fact, I did something like that today. I did Coach Davies jump rope program. But I did sets of two minutes of jump rope instead of three. I did the first three active rest sets with pushups (50 reps) and the next three active rep sets with chin ups (8,7,6). Then I did four sets of complexes doing jumping jacks, star jumps and burpees. I was dying! Then I went outside and did sprints interspaced with walking. My entire workout took just under an hour and left me gasping the whole time. But it felt great!
After my weight training workout tomorrow, I'm going to finish with a few sets of farmer's walks with some heavy dumbbells. That should do me up real nice like! I'm waiting to get some more workout ideas from Coach Davies to set something up that I can do each week. Hopefully, he'll give me some good workout plans that I'll be able to handle!
Steve - brilliant, you are way ahead of the game. But you have probably understated the element of total body control / psychological awareness & confidence. Good to hear you returning to the warrior atitude as well. Nate Dogg - you mentioned you are enjoying the workouts, dont you also feel the adrenaline pumping further invigorating your session. As far as pursuits, you have told me you are an athlete. Therefore your program is consistantly well-rounded with elements of flexibility, agility and functional strength in every workout. Now we’ve got a couple of articles coming up that should spell things out. If you, Nate Dogg or anyone wants to look at something sooner, I will be happy to suggest a session for Monday.