[quote]56x11 wrote:
[quote]Adversary wrote:
Hey, long-time lurker, just registered so can’t comment on articles yet.
I like the focus on getting stronger over traditional steady-state conditioning, e.g. jogging. But I haven’t found it to work out quite like Rippetoe seems to promise. Like, after a period of heavy lifting with little conditioning, if I go out and do a sport like skiing, basketball, martial arts, I find that I am sucking wind pretty hard.
In terms of my strength levels I am a long way behind many here, so maybe I am just not strong enough. I wonder though if there aren’t some assumptions behind Rippetoe’s thinking that may not apply to the casual lifter/athlete.
Specifically, he seems to assume that in addition to strength training, you are doing a lot of pretty strenuous sports practice, like his athletes are. Maybe a better title would be, “Conditioning is a sham (if you are already practicing your sport 2-3 hours a day).”
So for those who aren’t, what’s the balance between gaining strength and cardiovascular fitness? [/quote]
As you discovered first hand, it’s myopic to believe that strength training alone will improve your cardiovascular fitness.
Yes, yes, yes, to all the Rippetoe sycophants: I understand his message that novices should focus on strength and place conditioning work on the back burner.
However, IF your sport or profession of choice requires a high-level of conditioning, I believe a certain amount of conditioning work must be done on a regular basis. The exact ratio of strength to conditioning work will vary with each individual.
The recent article by Rippetoe was amusing, to say the least. One example is the following statement:
“… VO2max, like the standing vertical jump, is one of those physical abilities that doesn’t improve much with training. Go ahead, look it up.”
While it is established that VO2 max does have a finite room for improvement, Rippetoe conveniently forgets to mention that LT, or lactate thresh hold, can be SIGNIFICANTLY improved with proper and consistent training. Improving your LT has tremendous ramifications for martial artists, rugby players, smoke jumpers, swimmers, cyclists, etc.
And how does one improve LT?
You get a gold star if your answer is conditioning work.
Now, I do agree with him in that intense conditioning work WILL hamper one’s progress in strength gains. Something has to give and you simply cannot go all-in with both endeavors and hope to accomplish anything meaningful. You’ll be lucky if you avoid injury.
So, for those whose primary goal is strength gains, do NOT be the myopic dumb fuck who completely stops doing any conditioning work. Simply do less of it at a moderate intensity. There is a thread in this forum where many debated the value of steady-state cardio. Take some time and read it; I think you will find some of the posts informative.
As for the argument that merely practicing one’s chosen sport is sufficient, I disagree. Yes, specificity is important. However, practicing other forms of conditioning work can positively help you against events such as burn out, repetitive stress injury, and so on. And what if your sport involves a hard/brief effort followed by a short rest period, etc? If you subscribe to the belief that steady state cardio is beneficial (which is my stance), how are you ever going to get this type of work in by ONLY practicing your sport?
As far as I’m concerned, Rippetoe had some innovative ideas but has regressed into a cranky old man who angrily and stubbornly spits on anything that challenges his paradigm.
And there is absolutely positively a conspiracy of silence among the published writers of T-Nation. In other words, even though there may be authors out there who disagree with Ripp’s view point, they dare not publicly challenge him. The reason, IMO, include professional courtesy, respect for his past work, or the fear that their own future articles will receive retaliatory condemnation.
Treat Ripp like the grumpy old man who still watches movies on vhs and listens to music on cassette.
If you believe that strength gains will help your goals, then fine, work on that. But if the sports you play also require a high degree of conditioning, I believe it’s important to continually strive for improvement in that as well.
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Good post man. I agree with what you say, to some degree (because I think this is a very complex subject that involves a lot of variables and that is also very case specific). But you have to take into account where Ripptoe is coming from: training 16 year old football player whose limiting factor in the field is almost invariably strength and not their aerobic capacity. For this and similar crowds, strength gain would be the surest way to improve overall performance and fitness.