Hey everyone,
I’m a 26 year old basketball player, well, someone who wants to play basketball in a few months. My vertical jump is at an all time high, but I’ve got a bad knee. I won’t even mention my overall conditioning…
I’m 6’2 230, and about 20-25 % fat. Losing close to 10% would give me some inches on vertical jump, and a better condition (not to mention better looks). The problem is, I train full body three times a week (squats, deads, etc.
I don’t want to give up my strength training, as my strength has always been a huge weakness. The only thing I can think of is to do some kind of barbell complexes on the off days (I got 85 lbs of weights at home), as I don’t have the time to go to the gym each day. Do you all have any suggestions? How do you feel about barbell complexes on off days?
If you’re doing full body 3x/week, i would recommend stuff like: jump rope, heavy bag, interval runs, etc, rather than barbell complexes… jump rope etc will help you lean out and won’t tap into your recovery much, in fact it’ll enhance it…
If you really want to move weight and just can’t stop yourself, do sled stuff on your off days; sled pulls, drags, pushes, presses, rows, etc… you can actually move some weight, enhance your recovery, and build your work capacity that way.
you say strength is your weakness, if you do 3x/full body, then barbell complexes, those complexes will really tap into your overall recovery…
peace
Check out these articles-
Lactic Acid Training for Fat Loss:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=724381
War-room Strategies to Maximize Fat Loss:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1499282
10x3 for Fat Loss:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1499282
I was doing a mix of 10x3 total body strength routines 3 days a week, with 2 lactic acid sessions. Its too much work and not enough calories, and it caught up to me this week, and I am pretty beat up. I’ve been using dumbbell/kettlebell/sandbag circuits in my apartment for the lactic acid routines.
That being said, I actually put on muscle doing it. I went from 166 about 20% bf to 163 in the am at closer to 15%. So it was pretty damn effective.
I’m switching down to two total body sessions a week, two lactic acid sessions, with maybe some short jump rope/stretch/foam rolling sessions on off days.
The lactic acid work will do wonders for your conditioning as well.
The lactic acid article has some example complexes as well, although you may need more weights to do Poliquin’s exact routines. Just try to get the work/rest timing down.
I dont see why your even considering changing your strength program if you like it so much. Get your diet in check, and youll be good to go, especially only dropping to 15%
I got 85 lbs of weights at home
You need more.
Take Adarqui’s advice. It’s dead on
thanks for the suggestions. I think I need to explain more clearly by what I meant with barbell complexes, as I realize I explained it totally wrong:
I grab about a 20 kg barbell, and do 2 exercises in one, for about a minute (front squat into push press for instance). I take about a minute or shorter rest (not fully rested), and then repeat. I do this 5 or 6 times,