Thoughts on Kettlebells(Runningart2004??)

Can you 'critique'? That should say.

Harry Hood (the real Harry) wrote:

Can you 'critique'? That should say.

yes it's brilliant. dude, what is your deal, why do you need affirmation from Alan? You don't know a single other personal trainer? You don't know how to read a book or google? Aren't you going to a gym? Ask the guys there.

Runningart2004 wrote:

My marathon PR came at a time when I was doing some form of resistance training twice a week...2:32:45...though that was a couple years ago.

what year and what marathon

don't give it up...there are plenty of people who can benefit from the questions and answers...and that is some concrete input as I head out to run some miles on the cement and then hit McDonald's...

Quit being such a questioner, questioner

)O( wrote:

Quit being such a questioner, questioner

why not

give it up wrote:

Harry Hood (the real Harry) wrote:

Can you 'critique'? That should say.

yes it's brilliant. dude, what is your deal, why do you need affirmation from Alan? You don't know a single other personal trainer? You don't know how to read a book or google? Aren't you going to a gym? Ask the guys there.

1) I do know personally trainers. I do not know personal trainers who run or have competitively. 2) Google will turn up about 100,000 pages of garbage on this subject and maybe 2 reliable sites. I don't have the time to sift through all that. 3) Books are great and I have read a lot of them. They make books for runners where someone is telling me to crank out 20 reps of walking lunges(which does very little for strength). They make books for bodybuilders and obviously I am not looking for that.

Letsrun is a lot like google in that you will get an abundance of garbage information with a few gems mixed in. I have been reading Alan's post and he is a really good resource.....so forgive me if I ask him questions.

And therein lies the problem....most personal trainers, even those with a competitive sport background, are idiots who forgot what carried them to their success. They drink the kool-aid and think doing random crap on a bosu/kettlebell/vibration trainer or what have you is the way to go because they don't have confidence in their ability to keep their clients without doing random crap to keep the client entertained.

I am not here to entertain you. I am here to make you better.

I know 14:20 5k runners who are "personal trainers" but have no idea how to gain strength or lose bodyfat because they've never had to, never tried to, and don't research. They'll do 20 minutes of foam rolling and 40 mintues of random crap on a bosu ball then say "just eat less". Great idea!

I like your exercise selection but it looks like you're trying to meld two different routines...5x5 and 3x8.

If you value your running do less lifting volume. 1 warmup set of 5 reps about 75% of your "work weight". Then 1 workset at 100% of your "work weight". So if you're squating 100lbs you'll do 1 set at 75lbs, rest 90s then do 1 set of 100lbs. Then move on. So take what you're reading on bodybuilding sites (as I'm sure that's where you got the famed 5x5) and tailor to your overall training volume.

Lift on you hard running days, later in the day. I'd suggest Tuesday/Friday.

Para-workout nutrition will be of great importance on these days to limit muscle breakdown and overtraining and to improve recovery. High protein/high carb drink 60min before run then immediately after run. High protein/high carb drink immediately before lifting workout and immediately after.

To answer the question of my running:

My top marathon times (top 2 while I was doing resistance training twice a week):

Chicago 2006 2:32:45 (age 28)

Chicago 2005 2:33:52 (age 27)

Louisville 2002 2:33:58 (age 24)

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

Chicago 2006 2:32:45 (age 28)

Chicago 2005 2:33:52 (age 27)

Louisville 2002 2:33:58 (age 24)

Thanks for the response. That is very consistent.

Can you give an example of how you improved after increasing the weights after 2006.

Thanks again.

I hit the gym last night and that's kinda how it panned out anyways. 5x5, and I only did 1 set of true 5 rep max set. The other's were warm up sets. The 3x8's were more like 2 working sets. The whole workout took 40 minutes.

The gym actually has a rack of kettlebells. I added 10 minutes of swings as a cool down, so it worked out well. At some point perhaps I will incorporate a routine in somewhere but I'll see.

Runningart2004 wrote:

1. Jump Squats for height. Don't just do it for endurance, get down and power up!. After 10-15 you'll be spent.

*Alternative: Split Jumps on a 12-24in box.

2. Single Leg Squats ie: "pistols".

*Alternative: Single Leg Deadlift with foot on a step.

jump squats, then single-leg squats right afterwards?

Yep...but remember to rest a good 90-120s. Compound power exercises before unilateral exercises. Do one set of the jump squats, rest 90-120s, then one set of the single leg squats both sides, rest, repeat.

As far as my own experience. During those two Chicago marathoners I was able to maintain after 18-20 miles instead of my legs turning to stone. In marathon attempts after that I wasn't doing any resistance training and my legs would turn to stone...ie: weak.

I'm sure there were many other reasons I ran as well as I did...averaged 95 miles a week that year with highs in the 130s, but I think the resistance training helped.

Alan