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Developing a Frame of Reference
By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
http://www.staleytraining.com
I think it's intuitively obvious that before you can recognize improvement, you must have an innate sense of what is "normal." Once you understand your current capacity, it's easy to know when you're performing better than usual.
This is why we keep training journals. The journal becomes a recorded history of your training. And as the old saying goes, "those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it." So documentation is critical. That being said, it's also important to develop a day-to-day intuitive recognition of your functional capacity. For example, if you had to guess what your max squat is for today, and then actually perform a max squat, how close would those numbers be? For me, I'd never be more than 11 pounds (5 kilos) off in either direction, on any given day.
This is clearly a useful skill to possess. The question is, "how do you develop it?" That's the focus of this article.
The Body Thrives On Regularity
I'm going to suggest that you develop a personal training template- not in the sense of periodization, but rather, a systematic way that you approach and warm-up for each exercise that you regularly perform. In other words, I want you to ritualize your warm-ups. I'll give you an example from my own training- the barbell snatch. Just for perspective here, my all-time best snatch is 176 pounds, and currently, my "gym max" is between 165 and 169 pounds.
With this lift, my warm-ups always look like this:
44Lbs (empty bar) 5 minutes performing a combination of overhead squats, snatch pulls from knee level, power snatches, etc. I should also mention that I always make a mental note of how heavy the empty bar feels (compared to "usual") when I first pick it up.
Then…
44Lbs (2 sets of 3 reps)
66Lbs (2 sets of 3 reps)
88Lbs (2 sets of 3 reps)
110Lbs (2 sets of 3 reps)
132Lbs (2 sets of 3 reps)*
* Until very recently my habitual sets/reps for 132 was 2 sets of 2. However, as my capacity gradually increases, I've just recently bumped it up to 2 sets of 3.
Me with 70kg (154 Pounds)
Now from this point out, sets and reps will vary according to what I've got planned in terms of work sets, and also on my momentary current capacity. If I want to put in some hard "sets and reps," I might proceed to:
143Lbs x 2 reps
154 Lbs (4 sets of 2 reps)
Or, if I'm looking to do a contest simulation, it might look like this:
143Lbs x1
154Lbs x1
163Lbs x1
165Lbs x1
167Lbs x1
With Assistance Lifts (Snatch Pulls In This Case) Set/Rep Templates Are Less Critical
Keep in mind, on a contest simulation, there is a fair likelihood of missing
a rep or two, so in reality, the above example might look more like this:
143Lbs x1
154Lbs x1
163Lbs x1
165Lbs x0
165Lbs x1
167Lbs (2x0)
167Lbs x1
The key point I'm trying to get across is that in each and every session, the work I do up to and including 132 pounds is always the same- always.
And by doing this, I develop a frame of reference for myself. I have a very accurate and familiar understanding of what 110x3 feels like. And what 132x3 feels like. The utility of this becomes clear whenever I'm having a particularly good or bad session. If I'm having a bad day, I'll know it by the time I get to 110 pounds- the triple will feel harder than usual, and this will probably lead me to modify whatever work sets I had planned for that session.
On the other hand, if 132x3 feels more like 110x3 usually does, I'll know it's a good day to explore my limits.
You might also notice a few other peculiarities in my warm-up routine above. One is the fact that the weight selections and jumps are always the same. The selections are chosen out of simple convenience- I train with kilo plates, and the weights you see in the above examples correspond to 5kg, 10kg, 15kg, 20kg, and 25kg plates respectively. Much like how a typical gym lifter's jumps will be 45, 95, 135, 185, etc.
The other thing you'll notice is that I do every warm-up weight twice. Again, this is to instill a frame of reference: If I take 110 for 3, then 132 for 3, etc., each new set feels harder and worse than the one before it. However, if I take 132 for 3, make a mental notation of difficulty and comfort, and then take it again, I have the opportunity to compare the first set against the second set. If my warm-up is doing what it's supposed to do, the second set will be both easier and more comfortable than the first set. I know it's time to move on. If the second set doesn't feel better than the first, I may make the decision to do 3x3 with that weight before moving on. So as you can see, I do sometimes deviate from the format, but the point is, at least I have a format to deviate from.
The Competitive Advantage
For competitive athletes, another advantage of having a personal training template is that it enables you to bring familiarity into an unfamiliar and stressful environment. By focusing on the familiar, you're able to increase confidence and reduce stress by focusing on what you always do, day in and day out. At the meet, it's just the same old thing again… 88 for 2x3, 110 for 2x3, etc., etc. While less savvy athletes are stressing out over their competition, the spectators, the unfamiliar venue, you're just doing what you always do, every workout. Treat every practice like it's a meet, and every meet like it's a practice. It's all one and the same.
Personalize Your Template
It's important that you don't miss the overriding concept by focusing too much on the details. You might prefer to do higher reps during your warm-ups, and/or you might prefer smaller or large jumps between warm-up sets- that's fine. Make it your own.
And finally, the template is your servant, not the other way around. Once you've got something that seems to work for you, don't be afraid to modify it from time to time as your needs and circumstances change. Be systematic, yet flexible. Use your template as an anchor that provides stability to your overall training approach. From this stable base, you're able to work toward higher and higher peaks of athletic performance.