The misery of HICT

Recently my coach has been having me do some HICT.

That's High Intensity Continuous Training, courtesy of Joel Jamieson.

To quote Joel on HICT . . .

"Basically it's using very high resistance combined with low frequency of movement for extended periods of time to increase oxidative capacity of fast twitch fibers."

Simple as that, eh?

Essentially you use a high level of resistance - spin bike with the resistance cranked up, a versaclimber, high step ups to a box, etc - with relatively low speed (20-30 rpms for the bike, a step every 2-3 seconds or so) - for like 10 to 20 minutes of continuous action. The result? You need to use a lot of muscular strength to complete the action, but it's not so fast or so strenuous that you need to deplete your non-oxygen using energy stores. You use your aerobic systems to power your body. This helps those muscles increase their capacity to work for a long time at a higher level of strength.

For me, recently, this has been 20 minutes of high-box step-ups, with 10 minutes "off" doing other exercises such as an ab circuit, followed by 20 more minutes of high step-ups.

The beauty of this is that it works - my ability to generate power and muscular strength after working hard for an extended period has shot up. The downside is obvious - you're miserable after 10 minutes, never mind 20, of continuous action.

But it's an interesting take on cardio - not short, high intensity work nor long, low intensity work. It's long, grueling, not-quite-too-high-intensity work.

Fun, fun. Google Joel's name and HICT and you can find out a bit more.

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Children and Weight Training

The New York Times recently published an article discussion weight training and children.


The myth? It stunts their growth and it's "bad" for them.

The reality? It's good for them and it basically replaces the hard work rural children did in the past, before suburbs and video games.

The blog is right here.

None of this is a surprise to me personally. I've been training kids for a while now and been researching the subject for even longer. There isn't anything wrong with weight training, sports training, or strength and conditioning in general, for children.

What's fascinating to me is the "science" that the original conjecture was based on. Children doing labor in Japan were undersized, so therefore . . . weight training stunts growth. That's the connection; that's the basis. I'm not sure how exactly that was regarded as sufficient scientific proof for anything in the second half of the 20th century. But it was, and "weights are bad for kids" has been a persistently hard myth to break.

One can only hope this article helps erase that myth.

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Interview with Joel Jamieson

I'm late in pointing this out, but Bret Contreras did a nice interview with MMA strength and conditioning coach extraordinaire Joel Jamieson.

You can read the interview here.

I also picked up Joel's book and I'm waiting on his new DVD - I will do reviews of them once I've gotten through both.

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Thanksgiving Day

Today is a big day of eating, giving thanks with your family, eating, relaxing in front of the TV, and more eating.

If you've got goals that don't include gaining weight, this is a problem.

What to do?

Remember - it's just one day.

If you let it extend into the next day, and the next, and the next after that . . . and begin a month-plus long binge of eating that doesn't end until your New Year's Resolutions kick in . . . then it's a problem.

If not, it's just one day. It won't make or break your diet, your training, or your results. Enjoy the day. Enjoy the day, enjoy the company, and get back into your training on Friday. Consistent work and attention to diet day in and day out is what gets you results.

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I link to Jason Nunn's website in my blogs list, but still, you may have missed his recent post:

How to go on Vacation and Still Keep Making Progress With Your Goals

Go and read it. With the Thanksgiving break coming up, a lot of people will be traveling to see their families and bagging workouts, skipping out on cardio, and generally tossing the diet out of the window. But you don't need to let things slide too far. Jason suggests a few ways around the problem and a nice little circuit that requires very little resistance.

Don't let your family visits and school breaks derail your progress toward your goals.

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Hard work

"Intensity" is already a well-defined term in strength and conditioning. It's often used as a non technical term, just meaning hard work. But what is hard work?

Hard work is a more ill-defined concept. But it's still important.

To me, hard work is when you put in your all for a given set, rep, exercise, or workout. It doesn't mean doing 4 sets when 3 are called for, or 10 reps when you're supposed to do 8. It's doing those reps to the best of the ability you've got that day for that workout.

Hard work acts as a percentage multiplier on your workout. Take whatever your results could have been, and multiply them by your "hard work percentage." Work at 100% of your capacity for the day, putting in 100% of what you've got to give in terms of attention and endurance and strength and effort? You get 100% of your possible results.

Put in 20% - just go through the motions - and you get 20%.

The thing about hard work is that it's 100% controllable. You decide if you're going to concentrate or not. You decide if you want to glance at the TVs or talk to your buddies instead of focusing on the work. You decide if you're going to push for that last rep or just not bother because it's too hard.

Going nuts and pushing too hard isn't hard work, it's going nuts. But you can decide how much work you put in. You decide how much effort goes into your workout, and that decides the results you get out.

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Article Review: Dose and Duration

I'd like to call your attention to the article Dose and Duration by Kyle Newell, published over on Elite FTS.

I think this article makes a point about unnecessary complication better than I. And I've been trying and trying to get that point across to everyone I can - use the simplest exercise protocol you can, and do just enough to get it to help you improve. Do that until it doesn't work, and then modify it until it works again. Repeat repeatedly.

But I think Mr. Newell makes the point very well by comparing it to medicine:

If I was sick and my doctor prescribed 100 mg a day of such and such antibiotic for one week and it worked, why would I need to increase the dose or duration? Because more is better? I don’t think so. The only thing that would happen is that I would need more and more each subsequent time until it didn’t work at all anymore.

Yes, that. Exactly that.

He later poses three questions you should ask yourself before making any changes:

" * Is the current program still working?
* Have we had any unloading weeks?
* What is the simplest change I can make to the program to continue progress?
"

Again, exactly that. Don't change if it's working, try a light deload week to recover without losing any strength, and only then change it - with the simplest possible change to keep it rolling.

Great article. Highly recommended.

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