by Chris
I posted Mike's workout for Week 1 last week, but didn't offer any explanation. I'll do that now.
Mike's following a basic Westside template: two maximal effort days (one lower, one upper) and two speed-based days. The 'max effort' (noted as M/E) days are to help Mike with gross motor unit recruitment. That means nonspecific, general improvement of muscular recruitment. He's improving his ability to use the power of more muscle fibres all at once.
The speed days are a bit more interesting. These don't follow a typical Westside style, but incorporate more plyometrics and Olympic lifting (cleans.) Mike primed his CNS with the cleans, thanks to Tyler (our best olympic-lifting coach) then hammered the low box (11") and then busted it up on the low plyometric box. They did 5 sets of 5 with a fairly long recovery on the plyo box; it takes longer for your nervous system to recover than your muscles, in this instance. Then they did a bunch of stability work with the new slosh pipe (watch for a new article about THIS sucker on our site this week!)
Right now, my main concern is Mike's total force recruitment; next we'll worry about the generation of force through bigger joint angles. That's why you'll see some accomodating resistance work in Week 2 (bands, etc.) His M/E lower work will repeat, because he'll hit a higher squat number just from the effects of lift re-familiarization. Enjoy his posts!
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