Another HR & A+A thread

[Xcal]

take away for others:

if you learn the tempos of memorable songs they can help you

Bruce Willis, in Hudson Hawk, was a thief. he and his partners would synchronise their heists by singing a jazz song. They knew that that need e.g. 5 min and 32s, so they sang a number which lasted 5min and 32s. it was awesome! they would start the song together, go off in different directions, we'd see cutscenes of each member singing while doing his theivery part, then they're wind up together for the songs finale. sorry, so off-topic!

 

[Aziatik]

love using the hr monitor for all trainings. In A+A I don't care so much about where my heart rate ends up after the reps are done, I use it to inform when I'm ready to repeat. That's an ascending target as the workout progresses... This is a 26kg snatch workout, 5reps, towards the end I like to push a bit...

 

[Steve Freides]

@Christophe, thank you for that.

[BAND_GEEK]

@Adachi, my experience with marches is certainly limited compared to yours. I played French Horn in one local community band for a few years - playing on beats 2 and 4 for endless stretches was one of the things that drove me away. My more recent experience was as the double bass player for the NJ Wind Symphony, a pretty high-level amateur concert band. In the NJWS, I learned how to read those super-low notes tuba players have because, for marches, as often as not I'd have to play from a tuba part and read everything up an octave.

I actually learned about march tempo being nominally 120 from my piano tuner. When he was listening for beats between notes he'd use his ability to remember/recall 120 as a reference point.

[BAND_GEEK]

-S-

 

[Steve W.]

if you learn the tempos of memorable songs they can help you find heartrate BPMs with a useful amount of accuracy, and rather quickly.
You can probably make a short list of songs that correlate with a good range of tempos.

Example:
It's My Life, Bon Jovi ~120 bpm
Girls, Girls, Girls; Motely Crue ~140 bpm
She Loves You, Beatles ~150 bpm
Don't Stop Me Now, Queen ~160 bpm

Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees is 104 bpm. The American Heart Association recommends 100 compressions per minute for CPR, so Stayin' Alive is frequently recommended as a reference for the right tempo when performing CPR.

 

[BJJ Shawn]

View attachment 21629

2h swings x 5. Waited until HR was in Zone 2 before starting each net set.

Comments on this as A+A training? Considering getting used to this and doing it 2-3x/week as part of my powerlifting training.

Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions

-S-

After thinking about it, this is pretty much just like the email sent out last year about adding A+A swings to your weekly practice.

"The following protocol is perfect for strength athletes who hate endurance work, yet choose to be prepared, should life insist.

Speaks Fabio Zonin, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor:

“I perform heavy swings twice a week.”

“Heavy” is relative. When reading the following numbers keep in mind that Fabio deadlifts 600 pounds and adjust your kettlebell weights accordingly.

“Usually, 6-10 sets of 5 reps with 68-80kg for two-hand swings, or 6-10 sets (3-5 per side) of 5 reps with 48-56kg for one-hand swings.”

“Rest intervals between sets are around 2min, more if I feel that I need it. And even though I don’t do any kind of “high intensity interval training,” when it comes to challenging myself with a task that requires endurance, I see that I can still keep up very well with those who do it all the time.” "

 

[Steve Freides]

@BJJ Shawn, I remember that newsletter and have it here, but I wasn't sure where I'd read it. Thanks for that.

As I think I've mentioned here before, I'm roughly 60% as strong as Fabio, so I go with ~60% of his weights, which for me would be 40-48 kg for 2h swings and 28-32 kg for 1h swings. I think I'm going to try to work some 56 kg 2h swings in there and use 32 kg for 5's for 1h swings. Let's note for the record that I'm about 80% of his bodyweight.

-S-

 

[Steve Freides]

10 sets of five 2h swings, odd numbers.

-S-

 

[Steve Freides]

I continue to play with swings about twice a week.

SW: w/ HR monitor

00:00 - 32 kg x left x 7
01:00 - 32 kg x right x 7
02:00 - 32 kg x left x 7
03:00 - 32 kg x right x 7

04:00 - 32 kg x left x 7 - more explosive
05:15 - 32 kg x right x 7 - also, total 42 reps

06:30 - 32 kg x left x 8
08:00 - 32 kg x right x 8
09:30 - 32 kg x left x 8
11:00 - 32 kg x right x 8 - 42 + 32 = 74 reps

break to switch weights

13:00 - 48 kg x 2h x 8
14:45 - 48 kg x 2h x 8
16:45 - 48 kg x 2h x 8
18:45 - 48 kg x 2h x 10 - 74 + 34 = 108 reps

21:00 - HR back to Zone 2



-S-

 

[JPCross]

@Steve Freides - are you still planning on using this as a supplement or additional volume on top of your normal programming? That approach is peeking my interest a bit - instead of programming say 2-3 days a week of 15-25 rounds of swings as standalone strength sessions, adding in "mini-sessions" of 5-10 rounds of swings before/after other work but on a higher frequency.

 

[Steve Freides]

@Steve Freides - are you still planning on using this as a supplement or additional volume on top of your normal programming? That approach is peeking my interest a bit - instead of programming say 2-3 days a week of 15-25 rounds of swings as standalone strength sessions, adding in "mini-sessions" of 5-10 rounds of swings before/after other work but on a higher frequency.

@JPCross, a good question and one for which I don't have a firm answer but I'll try to explain briefly.

I did a meet last November 19, 2022, which is about 7 months ago, and at which I was pleased to break a long-standing mark in my deadlifting, surpassing 2.5 x bodyweight, and equally pleased - thanks to the almost complete lack of competition in my division/age/weight - to set an American record for the deadlift in a 3-lift meet. (I did only first attempts on SQ and BP then took 3 DLs and my last one did the trick.)

After the meet, I generally took it easy, training free-style with whatever I felt I wanted to work on.

A month or two ago, I signed up for the USPA/IPL North American Championships at the end of October, 2023. That meant I'd have a pretty serious powerlifting cycle from starting late July, and up until then, I'd ramp up towards being ready for a serious 3-month PL cycle. So that's what I've been doing. Swings fit in great for me now, will help me build my base as I also increase my training volume overall but still stay relatively far away from my most intense lifting. Probably come late July, I will cut back on the swings.

I don't do much in the way of highly structured training without an end date in sight. If I was a "normal" powerlifting competitor, I might make every years 3 months of off-season alternated with 3 months culminating in a competition but my life is busy and I do these things by feel. For now, it'll just about a year between meets, and I'll probably also make it another year until the next one but I can't say that for sure, either. I am not someone who will just stop lifting or otherwise let myself get out of shape just because I don't have an immediate goal because I always keep my long-term goals in sight and also well understand and value the right kind of same-but-different in my training.

That's what I can tell you. For now, it's going to be around 100 swings done 2-3 times per week. 10 sets is plenty for me, and I doubt my focus will ever be such that I'd do more than 10 sets on a regular basis. 5 sets of 5 heavy swings was/is the Andy Bolton recommendation and that also is fine for me.

-S-

 

[JPCross]

@JPCross, a good question and one for which I don't have a firm answer but I'll try to explain briefly.

I did a meet last November 19, 2022, which is about 7 months ago, and at which I was pleased to break a long-standing mark in my deadlifting, surpassing 2.5 x bodyweight, and equally pleased - thanks to the almost complete lack of competition in my division/age/weight - to set an American record for the deadlift in a 3-lift meet. (I did only first attempts on SQ and BP then took 3 DLs and my last one did the trick.)

After the meet, I generally took it easy, training free-style with whatever I felt I wanted to work on.

A month or two ago, I signed up for the USPA/IPL North American Championships at the end of October, 2023. That meant I'd have a pretty serious powerlifting cycle from starting late July, and up until then, I'd ramp up towards being ready for a serious 3-month PL cycle. So that's what I've been doing. Swings fit in great for me now, will help me build my base as I also increase my training volume overall but still stay relatively far away from my most intense lifting. Probably come late July, I will cut back on the swings.

I don't do much in the way of highly structured training without an end date in sight. If I was a "normal" powerlifting competitor, I might make every years 3 months of off-season alternated with 3 months culminating in a competition but my life is busy and I do these things by feel. For now, it'll just about a year between meets, and I'll probably also make it another year until the next one but I can't say that for sure, either. I am not someone who will just stop lifting or otherwise let myself get out of shape just because I don't have an immediate goal because I always keep my long-term goals in sight and also well understand and value the right kind of same-but-different in my training.

That's what I can tell you. For now, it's going to be around 100 swings done 2-3 times per week. 10 sets is plenty for me, and I doubt my focus will ever be such that I'd do more than 10 sets on a regular basis. 5 sets of 5 heavy swings was/is the Andy Bolton recommendation and that also is fine for me.

-S-

Thanks for the response and insight! 2.5x BW deadlift is no joke! I try to keep certain marks in mind as things I want to be minimally capable of at all times and both deadlifting and pullup numbers are part of that; as I am 38 and starting to see more and more people around my age suffering from the physical inability to do things I think should be relatively normal, it pushes me even more.

It seems like what you outlined is a pretty good approach when it comes to playing the long game and avoiding burn out - enjoyable, "maintenance" training to build the base of the pyramid, select a target, more specificity as the target gets closer, rinse and repeat.

With you mentioning the 5x5 as recommended by Andy Bolton, it seems like that would be something that could be added pretty frequently which raises the question (for me personally) - is hitting a 5 x 5 of swings with a higher frequency more beneficial than something like 10-15 x 5 at a lower frequency? Rhetorical question more or less; I'll experiment with both approaches for a few weeks each and see for myself what works.