Friday, July 22, 2011

Training Weaknesses



It’s not just a cliché to say that in order to get better you must be willing to get worse when it comes to training. And though it’s easy to rationalize on paper it’s often hard to buy into a periodizationl strategy when you’re suffering and not seeing tangible improvement. This has been my July.

A month of PAP workouts, running drills, and short hard efforts on the bike are hopefully improving my power and top end speed but I’m is such a state of breakdown it’s impossible to gauge how it’s working. Re-tooling neuromuscular patterns wreaks havoc on the system and keeps me on edge. I don’t feel comfortable and find myself wondering if I’d have been better off overall to keep training my strengths in a way where I know I’d peak for my race in Sept. As I said at the start of the month it’s a gamble to try this on such short notice and I won’t know how it went until I begin integrating my training in August. At least this hay is in the barn and now I’m looking forward to unwinding with a recovery trip to France with some of Beachbody’s top coaches.



Where I can tell I’m getting stronger is in my PAP workouts. I’m leaping higher and have much better lateral stabilization. Last night I did Asylum Back To Core and Relief as a recovery day and it felt like one—itself an indication that something good is happening. But all this power gain comes with a loss in endurance and, hopefully, there’s time left to bring this back to competition level. Peaking for races is always tricky and it gets even harder when you also attempt to throw in a major body composition alteration.

This is why P3 tries to get as much time with athletes as far away from their season as possible. The longer time period you have to easier it is to make major changes. In these videos are the Utah Jazz’s Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward. Both showed promise as rookies but need improvement to become household names in the NBA. To get there they’ve been working at P3 on weaknesses since the season ended. In the two examples of PAP complexes you’ll see Hayward jumping off of one leg to try and offset a discrepancy in leg strength, while Favors’ targets lateral explosiveness. Very motivating for those days you aren’t in the mood to bring it--as well as a small preview of P90X2.

5 comments:

Equildottsin said...

WOW, very impressive. Just started the Asylum. Definitely can see benefits and gains in athleticism. Your PAP workouts are proof positive...it is definitely working for you. Can't wait for the P90X2. Good luck with your race.

James Garr said...

I'm also just starting Asylum and will be using it and a P90x/Asylum hybrid to get ready for P90x2 in preparation for martial arts classes next year.

Looking forward to seeing how your race goes, it's great to hear insights from a fitness expert on real world training problems and solutions.

Anonymous said...

Hey Steve, I'm 22 years old and currently on the 40-40-20 plan with p90x. I weigh 151 pounds and still have some body weight to shed but everytime I hit 2400 calories, I'm still starving and end up binging on protein shakes and bars at night to satisfy my hunger. I usually end up eating around 3000 calories so I am now currently on the 40-40-20 plan at 3000 calories. I know you need a calorie deficit to lose body fat but I don't want to starve myself. What should I do?

Josh said...

Anon,

You should have a martini with 1 cocktail onion and 1 olive. If you're feeling particularly famished, then use an olive stuffed with bleu cheese.

If you've had a truly challenging day, then you may want to mix up a pitcher.

You hunger will go away, and then you'll fall asleep. You'll wake up the next morning with a sense of self-control unlike anything you've ever known.

Matt Withers said...

Do you know if P3 is still offering their week long amateur training program? Tried to email them for information and it bounced. Wasn't sure if they've understandably decided to stick with a "pro" focus.