It has been some time since I got back from the IPF raw world champs in Russia and I have been making some changes after consulting with some Russian coaches. I have been lifting for a while now, but everyone needs a tune-up every now and again. That involves taking a little time to assess things and evaluate how things are tracking.
A lesson that really hit home was the value the Russians place on athleticism. Much of what we know of Russian training methodologies has its origins in Olympic lifting, but also gymnastics and generally athletic training. All of this highlighted the importance of general overall conditioning, mobility and flexibility. Russian powerlifters are athletic and they dedicate significant time to developing a range of athletic attributes. They don’t just lift heavy weights.
For me I heeded their advice and I have increased work that develops my fitness and I have added in a lot more work to develop flexibility. I have also looked hard at technique and I am working on improving the technical aspect to all my lifts. It is very easy to lose sight of the significance of technique when you reach a certain level. However, it is an ongoing consideration and improvements nearly always result in better results.
Another idea they challenged was volume. When I first started training I believed that improvements happened when you recovered. There is a big emphasis on recovery these days from a lot of sources. I still see it as clearly important, however, the question must follow- how much recovery? You make the best progress through recovery- that is true. But recovery is a process that follows training. The fatigued state is a point from which you recover. The question then is what balance of fatigue/recovery will be optimal.
In my experience if you hammer yourself you adapt and recover, but you seem to make better progress when you don’t allow or wait for full recovery. If you stay fatigued you remain in a state of recovering.
I know there are limits to this and you will ultimately need full recovery to realise gains for competition- but it highlights the important factor of how much work you should do and how often. I am currently into 6 weeks of benching every single day. EVERY DAY- so NO rest days. That allows me to pack in a ton of volume. It also means I am pretty much always sore and tired. But interestingly I have noticed I am also moving forward.
I will keep you updated on this little experiment.