| Sign up to receive new articles as they are announced! |
| To use this article, use your mouse to highlight everything below the line. Hit Control-C to copy the text then hit Control-V to paste it onto your page or in your newsletter. Please keep all content, links and author credit area intact. |
|
Article
Length: 527 words
|
If you've come to this
page via direct link, click here
to return to the main Articles page.
Otherwise, just close the window at the top-right.
During a golf clinic I recently attended, the instructor told us: "If there's one thing I'd like you to come away with today it's that 'every ball counts.'"
That's very sound advice for any golfer looking to lower his score, and it also made me think of parallels to lifting. As a recreational golfer, I typically hit 60 balls during a practice session at the range. Sometimes I'll hit 90 or 120 balls. Over the course of a week I probably hit about 350 balls. Professional golfers take far more shots than this, and some reportedly hit 1000 balls a day.
Now as competitive lifters we can't take 1000 reps a day- not even close. And even if, over the course of an extremely high-volume workout, you managed 300 reps, across all exercises and including warm-up sets, the only reps that really "count" are those done on the competitive exercise(s) at 90% intensity or above.
With that in mind, if you're a powerlifter, and it's "squat day," how many total squat reps are you likely to take (that are 90% or more of your current 1RM) during that workout?
Three? Five? Eight?
Just to make the math easier, let's say you're a complete maniac and you get 10 meaningful reps per workout on whatever competitive exercise you happen to be doing.
Then consider the following question:
If "every ball counts" during a 1000 rep workout, how much more does "every rep count" during a 10-rep workout? Obviously, it's 100 times more relevant, just based on that simple comparison. Then add the fact that "bad" reps in the weightroom can also compromise your personal safety, and the importance is magnified even further.
So if we agree that every rep counts, it might be worth considering what we really mean by "counts." For example, if your best deadlift is 440-pounds, what criteria do you use to assess quality on all of your 396-pound and heavier pulls? In my mind, there are at least four possible ways to define "counts" on any given rep:
1) Completion: You complete the lift, irrespective of speed and/or technique
2) Technically Accurate Completion: You complete the lift using good technical skills, irrespective of speed.
3) Fast Technically Accurate Completion: You complete the lift using good speed and technical execution.
4) Competition-Specific, Fast Technically Accurate Completion: You complete the lift using good speed and technical execution. The distinction between this level and the previous category is that here, you do everything possible to mimic contest conditions. Possible ways to accomplish this might include wearing competitive apparel and gear, strictly abiding by competitive rules, carefully mimicking likely rest-intervals between lifts and attempts, lifting in front of spectators, and/or generating a competition-specific level of psychological intensity. This is the highest level of "counts."
As you consider which standard of quality you should use to define "counts," be sure to consider the challenges involved in accurately measuring the various components of each level. For example, it is possible to measure lifting speed, but it's much more difficult to quantify things like intensity and acceptable technique.
About The Author
Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.
Click here to visit Charles' site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with "Escalating Density Training," Charles' revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.