PushFaster Bobsleigh Training

Training Training Logs
1

I’ve been on T-Nation since I can remember, so instead of just coming in and reading I thought it was time to finally contribute.
I am a bobsleigh pushing athlete trying to make the Olympic team for Sochi 2014. Next to that I’m looking to compete in weightlifting again next year.

Right now we are in our off season training. Our program:
Monday: Weights (C&J/Snatch)
Tuesday: Sprinting technique
Wednesday: Weights (Lot of pressing movements)
Thursday: Hill sprints
Friday: Weights (Snatch focus)
Saturday: Resisted Sprints

Every weight training is whole body, but every time we focus on a different weightlifting aspect.

Sprints are my biggest problem, I played football (not soccer) since I was 14 and I never focused on anything longer than 40 yrd. So my top speed is really bad (compared to my team mates).

I started bobsleighing last winter, so this is my first off season really training for bobsleigh.

Most recent personal bests:
Squat (Olympic weightlifting style) 1 x 200 KG
Bench 3 x 132,5 kg
Power Clean 1 x 140 kg
Snatch 1 x 80 kg (In defense, we never get to max out on this)

Other stats:
Height 191 CM, 6’3
Weight 104Kg/230lbs
Bodyfat% - don’t know, I guess about 15%
Age: 27

I really noticed that going from WS4SB had me loose some max strength, but I am not in charge of my own program.

Next week we will be testing again, 30/60 mtrs, forward shotput throw, max vertical, 10 sec jump test.

Nutrition wise, I tried intermittent fasting, which really did not work for me (after 9 days I was so worn down from all the training, I had to start eating normal again). I tried to do my own nutrition, but I notice, the same a training. I do a lot better if someone else tells me what to do, so I contacted a local trainer who will be in charge of my diet soon.

2

So yesterday I got back from training weekend (friday - sunday) at the push track (we did 3 push training sessions, and a core training).

Did some recovery work, foamrolling and stretches. Today I am just relaxing untill I get to lift weights at 13:00.

I am going to be trying Alpa GPC for the first time, so really excited about that.

I’ll post the workout later today.

3

Today:

1A. Squat 4 x 4 @ 140 kg
1B. Squat 4 x 10 @ 90 kg
1C. Balance jumps forward 20 mtrs, Side hops 20 mtrs L/R, Balance jumps forward 20 mtrs (no arms), Balance Jumps forward (eyes closed) 20 mtrs.

  1. Power Cleans
    4 x 70 kg
    4 x 80 kg
    3 x 90 kg
    2 x 100 kg
    1 x 110 kg
    1 x 120 kg

3A. 2 x 1 x Snatch 5 x Overhead Squats @ 60/70 kg
3B. Chin Ups 2 x 10

4A. Core work on ball
4B. Push Up Roll Out with BB

Was little run down because of the push training weekend.

4

Did foamrolling last night.

While reading back, and I guess I forgot about the Alpa GPC, I did take it. Thing I noticed most, was that I was able to keep exploding on all reps with the squats, power cleans felt really good to, very explosive.

5

Did foamrolling last night.

While reading back, and I guess I forgot about the Alpa GPC, I did take it. Thing I noticed most, was that I was able to keep exploding on all reps with the squats, power cleans felt really good to, very explosive.

6

This log’s awesome man, keep it up! Bobsligh is an incredible sport. Before I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Leukemia I was lucky enough to train with a female Olympic Bobsleigher who actually competed in the 2006 olympics. She was a beast, power cleaning 110kg for a triple. Her technique was a work of art to say the least. The way that bar just flew up so tight against her body was incredible. If you blinked, you’d miss her lift. Her rate of force development was unreal. She got me started in O-Lifting but then unfortunately I was sidetracked like I said. I’ll be following this log for sure. I’m excited to see where this goes. 140kg power clean, that’s beast man! I’d love to hear more about your training as far as theory and methodology. Training is a passion of mine, especially in sports that involve technical and very specific periodization. This is a more serious log than most and I’d love to see you put a little more time in on it. Not many people get or have the opportunity to train for something great and truly meaningful like this. Tell us more about your periodization, coaching, your style of training, simple day to day things, nutrition etc. Even random things like funny stuff that happened at training or some good competition stories. Many people on here are from North America and Bobsleigh isn’t overly popular. People respect it because it’s no doubt incredible but many people arn’t very familiar and can’t relate, so any extra info would attract more followers. I’ll be spreading the word. Looking forward for updates. Cheers!

I have a log on here as well “Chemo, Radiation and a Stem Cell Transplant” My doctors have only advised BW training for now, after a long ass time in the hospital. Therefore the log doesn’t focus on training a whole lot. I give a quick recap of what I do but it’s really not that interesting so I have daily spills on numerous topics. I’d love for you to check it out.

7

Cool log. Remember reading about some Canadian Bobsledders and how freakishly strong and explosive they were. Before that it never would’ve occurred to me that they had that kind of physical ability. Good luck with everything.

8

Track workout yesterday:
We started off with usual running drills.

-Recovery runs
-Micro stretching
-1 on 1 sprints @95%
8 x 5 meter (30 sec rest)
6 x 10 meter (40 sec rest)
4 x 20 meter (50 sec rest)
2 x 30 meter (60 sec rest)

These sprints are @95% but everybody is going all out. Felt like a really good session.

Came home and did soft tissue work with the Stick.

9

Workout today:
1A. front squat
1B. push press (squats first, keeping the bar on the shoulder and start push press)
1 x 5 - 5 @ 90 kg
2 x 5 - 3 @ 100 kg (with belt)

2A. front squat
2B. squat jerk
4 x 3 - 2 @ 110 kg

  1. Dumbell row (has to be lights, so I added fat grips, to at least work grip)
    3 x 10 @ 30 kg

  2. Bench press first time with fat grips
    2 x 130 kg
    3 x 130 kg (got really worked up for it, the mind is a beautiful thing)

5A. Horizontal pull ups
3 x 10
5B. Guillotine bench press (this is not in the program, but felt like doing more chest)
3 x 12 60KG/60KG/70KG

6A. Prowler Push (on astro turf)
3 x 15 meter @ +50 KG
6B. Sled Pull (on astro turf)
3 x 15 meter @ +50 KG

Was supposed to do chin ups + abs, but I work at a gym, so I’ll do it late tonight.

10

@whiteflash
thanks for the support!

@EF5127

Thanks for the post. About methodology/theory I don’t know anything. My weightlifting coach the team for the last olympics, and he is supposedly really good. What I know the guy is that he used to be a really good weightlifter himself.

Usually the first 2-3 exercises are really important, after that it is just stuff for injury prevention.

The sprint trainer is really good too, he is more of an ‘feeling’ coach. He only cares about improving every workout, so we sometimes do more or less depending on how everybody in the group is doing.

Bobsleigh women are pretty scary, haha! My girlfriend will probably compete in the worldcup this season and she is freakishly strong and fast too. I am really proud at her, she works a lot harder than everybody else in her group.

I will probably post some pictures later, because I need to get some for a sponsor (I kinda sorta have a deal with UA).

I gotta wrap it up, gotta work within half an hour.

11

This sounds like it may be interesting. I will be following.

Do you miss playing football?

tweet tweet

12

[quote]PushFaster wrote:
@whiteflash
thanks for the support!

@EF5127

Thanks for the post. About methodology/theory I don’t know anything. My weightlifting coach the team for the last olympics, and he is supposedly really good. What I know the guy is that he used to be a really good weightlifter himself.

Usually the first 2-3 exercises are really important, after that it is just stuff for injury prevention.

The sprint trainer is really good too, he is more of an ‘feeling’ coach. He only cares about improving every workout, so we sometimes do more or less depending on how everybody in the group is doing.

Bobsleigh women are pretty scary, haha! My girlfriend will probably compete in the worldcup this season and she is freakishly strong and fast too. I am really proud at her, she works a lot harder than everybody else in her group.

I will probably post some pictures later, because I need to get some for a sponsor (I kinda sorta have a deal with UA).

I gotta wrap it up, gotta work within half an hour.
[/quote]

Sounds good. Looking at your workouts, I like what I see for sure. I can’t say a lot about it as far as volume, intensity etc because it’d be totally unfair not knowing what your coaches goals are and what he has in mind. I sure do love the training of good athletes though. By looking at your training, I’m glad to see your well aware of the fact that you’re an athlete and have acknowledged that this means doing a lot more than simply lifting weights. I like your sprints, flexibility, mobility, soft tissue work etc. Regular people exercise, athletes train. Hitting the weights is only one piece of the puzzle. The focus on 2-3 main exercises and then injury prevention is nice to see. You say he’s a “feeling” coach? does this mean a non linear approach or more of a John Broz approach where he just has you work to your potential on that given day? Anyways, keep it up. Cheers!

13

[quote]theBird wrote:
This sounds like it may be interesting. I will be following.

Do you miss playing football?

tweet tweet[/quote]

Thanks! Yeah miss it for sure, what I miss most is carrying the ball and running over people… (used to play fullback). But I am really happy I changed sports, I tried college (US), and somehow I didn’t make the NFL (apparantly you have to be a extremely good football player). So this is an other way for me to compete on a high(est) level in sports.

14

[quote]EF5127 wrote:

Sounds good. Looking at your workouts, I like what I see for sure. I can’t say a lot about it as far as volume, intensity etc because it’d be totally unfair not knowing what your coaches goals are and what he has in mind. I sure do love the training of good athletes though. By looking at your training, I’m glad to see your well aware of the fact that you’re an athlete and have acknowledged that this means doing a lot more than simply lifting weights. I like your sprints, flexibility, mobility, soft tissue work etc. Regular people exercise, athletes train. Hitting the weights is only one piece of the puzzle. The focus on 2-3 main exercises and then injury prevention is nice to see. You say he’s a “feeling” coach? does this mean a non linear approach or more of a John Broz approach where he just has you work to your potential on that given day? Anyways, keep it up. Cheers![/quote]

Our Strength coach works with estimates of how much you (think you) can power clean (that day). So the program says -30kg instead of an exact weight.

Sprinting is the same way, we get a certain test (it scans hart and brain activity) and the results tells us to do more or less work. A few times somebody in our group scored very low on the test, so he just did recovery work while we did the regular program.

I’ll make sure I’ll check your log this afternoon. Thanks for reading!

Today I got a track workout, motorcyle lessons and some more stretching/recovery work.

15

Hmm sounds like perceived 1rm…I like. Europe…the land of awesome/advanced training. Also scanning heart and brain activity? Damn this sounds awesome. I was just wondering your name? if you don’t mind sharing. By the talks of things you sound like a real legit athlete. Is there anything of you that I can creep? Vids, articles, etc?

16

Had to move yesterday’s hill sprint training to sunday because off bad weather… and as soon as I had to go motorcycle lesson the sun came out… When I got done it was already to late… shitty.

Today’s strength workout was ok, nothing special.

Drop snatch (bar behind the neck, drop into overhead squat)
1 x 3 - 50 kg
2 x 3 - 60 kg
2 x 3 - 70 kg

Power snatch (don’t drop all the way down to catch the bar)
1 x 3 - 60 kg
3 x 2 - 70 kg
3 x 1 - 80 kg

Squat
Warm Up:
10 x 100 kg
8 x 110 kg
6 x 120 kg

Work sets, these are Squat jumps (which means I get like 1 inch off the ground, haha!)
2 x 4 - 140 Kg
1 x 5 - 130 Kg
1 x 7 - 120 Kg

High Pull form blocks knee height
2 x 5 - 120 Kg

Circuit:

  1. Explosive Push Ups - 3 x 10
  2. Horizontal Pull Up - 3 x 10
  3. Prowler Pull (100 KG on Astro Turf) - 3 x 15 meter

Abs

17

[quote]EF5127 wrote:
Hmm sounds like perceived 1rm…I like. Europe…the land of awesome/advanced training. Also scanning heart and brain activity? Damn this sounds awesome. I was just wondering your name? if you don’t mind sharing. By the talks of things you sound like a real legit athlete. Is there anything of you that I can creep? Vids, articles, etc?[/quote]

I tried shooting some video’s of my training yesterday, but my telephone didn’t save them.

I’ll rather keep my name to myself, don’t want people to find me on here through google.

The team I am with is really legit, but that doesn’t mean I am, haha! Just working hard, so I can make the team this year.

Anyway… Yesterday’s workout:

-Warming up drills
-Resited sprint sprint Sled + 10KG
3 x 5, 2,5 minutes rests between sprint, full recovery between sets
-Medicine ball work, almost killed the score board and a lamp, so ended up doing score instead.

Today’s workout is canceled, we got two testing days coming up… tomorrow power clean & squat max, and tuesday 30/60m sprint, forward shotput toss, max jump and 10 sec jump test.

18

“I’ll rather keep my name to myself, don’t want people to find me on here through google.” haha damn this makes me want to know even more!

If your at that level though, good call. Looking forward to your testing results.

19

Well, everybody else got to max out on clean % squat. I didn’t.

Since I am going to be competing in weightlifting again next year, the trainer wanted to work on my technique. So ended up doing:

Snatch
Worked up to 5 x 2 @ 70 kg

Clean & split jerk
Worked up to 5 x 2 @ 110 kg

Standing on toes, bar at eye height, and drop into split jerk
3 x 5 @ 50 kg

Front squat, make the bar explode of chest
1 x 4 @ 100 kg
1 x 4 @ 110 kg
1 x 4 @ 120 kg (looked to slow)
1 x 4 @ 110 kg

Squat jump
2 x 4 @ 140 kg
2 x 2 @ 150 kg

Circuit:

  1. Bobsleigh press (push up on bar, and then roll out with bar)
    2 x 10
  2. Horizontal pull up
    2 x 10
  3. Back extension on box
    2 x 10
  4. Chin up
    2 x 10
  5. Abs

Ended training with jumps on high box and soft landing
2 x 5

So a lot of volume yesterday… Tonight I do get to test on the sprints etc.
Till then I am just going to be relaxing.

20

Just got done with the tests.

Wasn’t feeling 100% (because of insane workout yesterday), but I never heard anybody claim they are 100% on testing days.

Weight: 106 kg
30 meter (standing start electric time) - 3,98 sec (last time 4,02)
60 meter (standing start electric time) - 7,24 (last time 7,40)

Vert. jump - 74,5 cm ( last time 74,9, I gained 4-5 kg’s since last time, so not bad)
10 sec jump (alatic power) - 5,00 (last time 5,24, I had one miss jump so coordination was the problem, not the height)

Broad jump - 3,10 m

Forward shot toss - 13,9 m (last time 15,1 I didn’t practice this test at all…)

So I did get faster, a lot faster on my 60 -0,16 is a lot. But I felt like I really f’ed up on the other tests…
Good thing is that there is an other test in september, so I’m gonna make sure I am gonna be better on all test then.