I was reading a list of dos and don't sent to me by my great friend, Allan Williams of Great Britain. Many were known and obvious but some jumped out at me. The biggest one was something to the effect of don't think you will get a different result with the same approach.
On one hand, I know what works and it always works. That said, there may be a faster path that can make me better. I've already committed to 8-12 minute cardio sessions four days a week, two each on the Gauntlet StairMaster (actual stairs, not that wimpy bounce up and down) and LifeCycle. I also have made a serious focus on stretching. So were is the change?
Forever I've been lifting sets of 8,6,4 and I realized that I don't progress my weights hardly at all with this approach. I used to do 8,6,4 one day and 6,4,2 on the 2nd weekly rotation. THAT allowed me to progress. I haven't done that in a long time because I didn't think I was in shape enough to.
Two weeks ago I decided to start doing ladders on bench and keep the 8,6,4 for the rest of the lifts. So 5,4,3,2,1,2,3,4,5 and BAM, my lifts started going up fast. Today I started the same thing on hack squat but only did the ladder down - 5,4,3,2,1. I really think this, and then forcing myself to increase the weight between the 8,6,4, will give me huge gains.
Suddenly I'm faster, on bigger poles, and I've put on a couple of pounds. Too early to tell but I think this jarred my ody into rogress. In any case I"ll keep it up. Have a great Thanksgiving and thanks for checking this out! Bubba
Sublime - 'What I Got" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc3ZrmhDN4
Mixed Signals!!
I decided I would have a dry run for a 4 left/8 step, meet simulation, to use December 5th at the meet at our training site. The first shock was not rolling a 12'4/160 from this run when the last session I rolled a 1365 from the same run.
Finally hit it and found my hand pressure ad made 10'6. At 11' I went to my smaller 12/4/165 and had a great jump. I left the bar and move up to the bigger 165 because I was going through too fast. I couldn't time this bigger one and it was frustrating.
I thought about moving down to my tiny poles, but that's what I'm going to do Saturday because have hard leg lifts tomorrow. So what does your typical pole vaulter do at this point if they aren't quite ready to stop? You grab a bigger pole of course.
I started over from 2 steps/1 left and went from a 12'4/165 to my 13'7/165, my first meet pole - a giant leap in stiffness. Shockingly, from 4 lefts/ steps I was able to get in the same depth in the pit with less effort on this pole, even though it was much bigger. I was even able to turn up twice from 5/10/53'. How is this possible?
Don was telling me that on my 12'4s from 4/8, that I'm not bending the pole and that my vault looks very fragmented. I figured out today that this is because I am too fast for that grip from 4/8, and because I jump up well, I was literally jumping over the sailpiece and therefore got no arc. This makes sense as those poles were never meant to be used past 3/6 but that's when I was 8 lbs. heavier.
The longer sailpiece and 3" higher grip pick me up at the take off, but also allow me to bend the pole. Considering I was hoping to be on this pole by Reno, 1/15/16, and I was on it today from 4/8/43' and 5/10/53' in practice, I must be making some real progress. Have a great Thanksgiving!!
Living Colour - "Middle Man" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqlVRsA8aFE
I haven't been writing much because there hasn't been much to say, other than I'm cranking along. Not so much writer's block as nothing new to report - I show up, grind out quality without regard to weight, take my time in stretch and cardio, etc.
All of this said, I am moving up poles, my lifts are starting to go up and I'm recovering enough that I don't feel broken down the next day. For example, hard and heavy leg lift Thursday, hard upper and bike Friday, but felt pretty good on my Saturday sleds.
It's taken me about six weeks to get here but now I'm at the point I have a real foundation to build from. My memory tells me that even as my lifts and intensity grows, at this point I still won't feel that zapped the next day. This is a very good sign for November 22.
I'm far from where I'm going, but the true hard part is past me as all of my training components are good and I can finally move some decent sized poles. I'll remember to remain cautiously aggressive. Have a great Sunday and thanks for checking in on me! Bubba
Rush - "Anthem" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6xhHRVoDqg
I took a bit of a leg phase break to see if I could get close to my meet poles today. I know that Saturday's meet is not the time, and I need to get back to real hard leg and cardio training tomorrow.
Today I started on my 1365/16.6 which is supposed to be the equivalent to my largest 12'4 pole, which I jumped on last time. The bar was up as a reference point at about 10'6/3.20m so I could have a consistent point of view rather than try to jump high.
I wanted to control the take off and clean up the jump a little. I had a few really good jumps on this pole from 4 lefts/8 steps/43', so that matches up with what I did on the last session on the shorter equivalent pole. NOTE - I was GUESSING it would be the equivalent, but didn't really know, so I as careful in this experiment.
I moved back to 5/10/53' and took two jumps on the 1370/15.8. IT is supposed to be the equivalent of my meet start pole, a 13'7/165. I quit while I was ahead.
So yes it seems like progress, but the video showed me coming out way early with no effort to go up the pole, even though I felt like I was. That was pretty alarming to me but pictures don't lie. I'll work on it. I think I'm just trying to make sure I'm in and missing the bottom a little. In any case, I'm pleased and not hurt, two months our from Reno and one pole away from my meet start pole. Have a great day! Bubba
Grand Funk Railroad - "Footstomping Music" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZj1uElADZw
The guys aren't in town to vault today so I go on to the gym with my arms and shoulders lift day. Instead of my main routine I just wandered through and did a bunch of random lifts for these areas. Saturdays the gym is a zoo so it's hard to get to what I want when I want, so this was my plan and it turned out to be quite fun. Have a great day! Bubba
Megadeth - "Trust-Live at Woodstock 199" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj0zXnzR6Sk
Pole vaulting, and training to vault is one of the funniest sports to understand. I train really hard so I can be fit enough to jump higher, then when I do, I tend to want to back off my training so I feel good enough to vault better the next time.
Because of the reversibility of aging, you can lose 40% of your fitness in 6 weeks. I just cant back off, or my fitness will slide, yet I feel like I can't improve unless I feel good when I jump. That said, I was just forced to take a week off, and easily had my best vaulting day when I came back.
My assumption is that I should continue my plan to train without regard to how I might feel when I jump, and then let business or travel situations and circumstances give me the natural breaks so I feel good when I come back. We will try that and see. Have a great day and thanks for checking in. Bubba
Hole - "Celebrity Skin" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3dWBLoU--E
A lot has happened since my last post. A company I co-founded with a physician partner, and invited several other big time executives in, has invited me to leave. Of course I keep my equity, but I'm out of the bureaucracy and no cash flow start up that has caused me great stress.
I was being micromanaged by corporate bureaucrats in an area where I'm the only one who has ever executed my two models for physician revenue for physical therapy. But the last straw was when I introduced a guy with 1,800 reps who wanted to sell our company's services, and my partners said no. NOW, HE is MY partner in a new company. All of this cost me a week of training, upped my immediate cash flow and put me greatly at ease.
All of this said, the week off finished healing my hamstring and calmed down my shoulder. Today I went through all six of my 12'4"/3.75m poles today and cleared 11'/3.35m several times from both 3 lefts/6 steps and 4/8. I finished only two poles away from my meet start, and the first one is the equivalent of the biggest 3.75, so I guess I'm one pole. HUGE and needed breakthrough. Have a great evening and bear with me. Bubba
My lifts went up today which I was happy with. Also got 41 floors on the Gauntlet StairMaster and used ankle weights for bars. Other than that, I'm happy I survived because I tried to talk myself out of it several times during the session.
Judas Priest - "Breaking the Law" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L397TWLwrUU
