Strenght Training that fits with vigourous physical activity

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Permalink Reply by Robert L. Read on December 31, 2011 at 2:34am

Wow, you ask a lot of questions!  I am starting a parkour class in a few weeks as well.  I'm not an expert, but I do have some thoughts.  I am 46, and definitely experience the "weaker the next day" or even 48 hours.  I think this is to do be expected after a heavy, strength-building workout.  It is something you have to work around.  Personally, I think you still need to do heavy workouts sometimes, and just expect to be affected the next few days.  This even affects endurance work---you want to have "fresh legs" if you are trying to set a PR in running, for example, so you don't run (or barely run) the few days before a race.

I believe in the "different training cycle" approach, but that is pretty advanced if you are working out less than 30 minutes a day now.  Also, although I am a fan of bodyweight training and particularly the functional lifts (I do the Olympic lifts), I don't think there is any reason to exclude weight training.  Weights and bodyweight training go together well.

For me, I just don't repeat the kind of activity I do two close together.  I rarely do an "upper body only" or "lower body only" or worse "back day" vs. "chest day".  Of course, I'm not really superfit---maybe a serious traceur will be able to answer.

Permalink Reply by micha on December 31, 2011 at 2:52am

hey Robert,

thanks for your answer. You said that weights and bodyweight training go well together. I thinks so too. I also believe in the different training cycle approach, but I guess there must be a way to train all muscles one day, do parkour and then do the same thing the next day. Now I have read the book Convict Conditioning and I will give a program called "Veterano" a I try. In this book the author describes 6 basic exercises and on that program you do only one exercise per day with one day rest per week. I will give it a try, but at first I thought only one time per week each exercise - how can that build strenght? I will see.