Extra workouts - what I do....

Following on from my last post which probably confused as much as it enlightened, I thought I’d post some of the extra stuff I do for GPP.

I’ll keep this brief:

I do two ‘main’ extra workouts, aimed at recovery, raising work capacity and maintaining a healthy heart, (not imperative for powerlifting but fairly imperative for life). These take place on 2 ‘off’ days, and I choose from the following:

1) walking outside – sometimes with a weighted back-pack, sometimes without. If weighted, 30 mins is adequate for this, if without I try and make a morning of it.
2) Sled dragging – I keep the sled light (30kg’s max) and do various drags for 15-30 mins
3) Gym circuit – I do 15-20 mins easy cardio (I like the rower) and then follow up with some light supersets using weights or resistance bands and high reps, (20-30 per set).

I always precede these sessions with some dynamic range of motion work, and follow them with some static stretching. The latter is not particularly in vogue right now with trainers, but I feel it helps get rid of weight-induced tightness.

On top of these, I have do some extra ‘mini’ workouts on the evening of my main sessions. Normally these consist of 10 mins or so work with the resistance bands. For lower body I do sets of good mornings and some normal sit ups, and for upper body I do band pull aparts and band pushdowns for high reps. These are also aimed at recovery and increasing work capacity.

If there are any take home points from this article, they are:

1) extra workouts should assist, and not detract from your main sessions
2) don’t go too intense – these workouts should not be things to dread
3) giving a nod to general health is no bad thing.


For further reading, check out Eric Cressey's 'Cardio confusion' article at www.t-nation.com and also Louis Simmons' 'Extra Workouts' articles at www.westside-barbell.com

TTFN GF