Energy System Training

I attended a strength coach’s clinic last weekend with two local football coaches and friends. I attend these clinics for two reasons. One, to learn, and two, to get ceu’s for my certifications. Before I attend a clinic or conference, I look to see who is speaking and do a little back ground on them if I don’t know them. My main goal for attending is to learn. Even if I don’t agree with their philosophy or I think their coaching technique is wrong, I can still learn something from them. I listened to four speakers at this clinic, two were good and two were not so good. One speaker was set in his ways, kept talking about how to incorporate all types of training, but continued to slam everyone’s training philosophy except his. Another speaker was just a blow hard. He talked about himself, told jokes and was just full of crap. Another speaker was very organized, spoke and communicated well and did a good job. I learned something positive from him. There was one thing I disagreed with and I am going to email him about that. The speaker that intrigued me to write this article was young, motivated, passionate about training and a very dynamic speaker. What he was saying was right on target. My concern was that he didn’t know why his training was working; he just knew that is was. I am going to email him as well and discuss this matter. Now, what does all this jabber have to do with energy system training? A few months back I wrote an article discussing what athletes are super fit and look the best. They are track sprinters. Why? Energy system training. If you read any fitness publications these days, you are hearing interval training, interval training, interval training. This is for a good reason; it works for increasing your fitness level, plus decreases body fat. So why are so many so called fitness professionals prescribing workouts that don’t incorporate interval training? Good questions; I’ll reframe from answering that question until a time I want to rant. It’s an article in itself. OK; If you want to build the most muscle and burn the most fat in the least amount of time, interval training is the answer. What is interval training? In short, you train for a prescribed amount of time and rest for a prescribed amount of time. The amount of work time versus rest time determines which energy system you are tapping into, thus determines how your body responds. Enough scientific stuff. Here is an interval workout my group and I performed last Friday.

Our workout was 32 minutes. We worked for 30 seconds and rested for 30 seconds. I set up a timer that buzzed every 30 seconds. We cranked up the tunes and off we went. This is what we did.

1. Double kettlebell cleans
2. Bosu push-ups
3. Seated bag push (we sit on kick boxing bags and push them on a turf floor)
4. Pull-ups
5. Tire flips
6. Walking lunge pass thru
7. Mountain climbers
8. Get up sit-ups

We had 8 people in our group, thus 8 exercises. To make this workout effective, you must push yourself during your work time. Work hard, rest hard! Your rep range will vary per exercise and they will also decrease as the workout progresses. Concentrate on good form. This is a very effective fat burning and muscle building workout. The ladies in this group used 25 lb. kettlebells on the cleans and on the walking lunge pass thru’s. It was a little light. Some used assistance on the later rounds for pull-ups. Their tire weighted 80 lbs. The men used kettlebells ranging from 50-70 lbs. Their tire weighted 200 lbs. So there you have it. It was a fun and effective workout. NO EXCUSES! JUST RESULTS! Train hard and smart and God Bless!

Scott Hines Sr. EdM, .C.S.C.S. RKC
Pro Performance Inc.
314 East 1st Ave. Rome, GA 30161
www.pro-performance.net
www.bodybyproperformance.com
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