Summer Training - Bill Starr (1969)

 Strength & Health October 1969

Last evening while I was deeply engrossed in Valentine Michael Smith and his exploit’s in Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, the telephone interrupted my journey.  Christi Lou, my answering secretary, said “It’s Jack.”

Jack King and I get together about once a month via the phone to share gossip and to talk training. He had sustained a dandy of a leg injury last fall and through sheer determination and sensible weight training  had moved his lifts back up past their former best.

“How’s the program coming along”, begging his favorite subject.

“That’s why I called. I’m really stuck. Everything is going bad. No zip in the pulls, the squats are hard. Nothing seems to be responding.”

“When is your next meet?” I asked and sent Kimie for some Kool-Aid as I figured I was in for a long conversation.

“I’m not sure, probably some time in October.”

“How long have you been on this program?”

“Since December.”

Often the obvious is evident to everyone but the person involved. Jack was so obviously stale. He needed a change. I remember reading where Gary Cleveland changed his program every six weeks to avoid staleness. I suggested that he switch his program completely – in fact, radically. The following is a summation of our hour-long conversation. The readers can feel fortunate, they get the advice for 50 cents, Jack’s phone bill would keep me Bachtell’s best for month.

Summer training should be fun. During the lifting season the athlete has to be gearing his workouts towards an almost immediate, pressing goal of competing in a contest. When spring hits, the meets invariably stack up with state, district, National Y, Junior National, and Senior National contests all coming within two or three months of each other. Layoffs are impossible at this time. In fact, any let down on a serious training program for the Olympic lifts will have negative consequences at this point in the season.

After the spring flood there generally aren’t any major meets for some four or five months. This allows a time for the athlete to evaluate his schedule and to develop some of his weaker points. A casual visitor in the  York Gym is often confused in July to see the fellows doing chins, one-hand dumbbell snatches, lat machine push-downs, and other seemingly non-related exercises. While the off-season training program should be an enjoyable time, a time where there is virtually no pressure to a make a lift, it is a most essential time in relationship to the lifter’s total yearly plan.

The primary objective in a summer training routine should be conditioning. I should insert here that the same rules hold true for the powerlifters except that they lay back from the heavy poundages in the fall after their national competition. Likewise, those Olympic lifters who made international teams this summer and trained for high level performance right through the summer months will pull back in the fall and begin preparation for the next season.

The modern-day weightlifter actually needs to set up a yearly plan of training, leaving it flexible enough for alterations along the way. A year’s program could be broken down  into various segments, but the one I prefer is 1) conditioning cycle 2) power training 3) Olympic lift training. The summertime, for most, is the ideal time to work the conditioning cycle. It is the months when one can build a strong fitness base for the next nine months.

Again, the primary objective of the summer program is to condition the body, especially the cardiovascular system. The advice I conveyed to Jack is certainly not new, but so often the obvious is easily overlooked, In setting up an off season program, keep two objectives in mind: 1) work the weaker points and 2) strive towards physical fitness. The first can be accomplished with a little common sense. Let us assume that your press is the lagging lift. Then load up on shoulder work for 2-3 months. Include a wide variety of exercises and hammer the weaker muscle groups until they respond. In season this is impossible. Off-season it fits in perfectly. Experiment. Find out if bench presses can help your press. For some they do, while for others they are a waste of time. Work dips, behind-the-neck presses, dumbbell presses, rack presses, all sorts of include presses until you discover what works for your particular body. The same rule applies for the pulling muscles. If the snatch has been your nemesis, be creative and see what might influence a change. Try bent-over rows, flip snatches, one-hand snatches, snatch dead lifts until a formula clicks.

The other objective, to increase total fitness, can also be accomplished. I suggested to Jack that he increase the reps on all of his exercises, doing no less than five on any movement and ten on some. For conditioning, one can work out more often (twice a day if time permits) and move through the exercises more rapidly. One of the best total conditioning exercises is the squat performed in high reps and done as rapidly as possible. Here’s how it works. You will be doing five sets of 10, counting warm-ups, in as short a period of time as possible. Start light for a warm-up (135) and do 10. Now as soon as you can change weights step back in the rack and do the second set with an increased poundage (205). Reload and take a 20-30 second break and do the third set with around 255. Two more sets done as soon as you are able and your pulse rate will be close to 200 and your legs will scream for mercy. Record your time and your top poundage. Next time you do these attempt to increase the top poundage and decrease the time. Twice a week is plenty for this one. Tommy Suggs and I insanely did this one summer and before calling it quits we were up to 360 for 10 for our top weight in less than 7 minutes for 5 sets. We had no trouble keeping up with the York College soccer team that fall. The cardio vascular work is fantastic.

As I mentioned earlier, do some experimenting in the off-season. Try some exercises that may have carryover value that you have always wanted to do. Dr. John Gourgott had a lot of faith in wide-grip chins  with weight to help his pull. Few have used this, but the summer he was in York over half of the team  was draped from the chinning bar. How about one-hand snatches? Not much time for them with a meet a month away, but the summer is great for such things. No guarantee that they will add one pound to your snatch, but there are some European lifters that do quite a few.

It is important to make summer training enjoyable. Choose exercises that you do enjoy (without completely avoiding your weaker points) and train for fun. If you plan to lift for 8 or 10 years, you simply cannot pound your body with the heavy exercises for 12 months out of the year, year in and year out. Don’t pressure yourself for heavier and heavier poundages on any of the lifts you select. Take the gains as they come. Chances are they will come easier by taking the pressure off.

Train as rapidly as possible. Give the heart and lungs a thorough workout. You can get so much done in 45 minutes if you don’t make the training time a social hour. If one were to watch Rick Holbrook go through 4-5 complete exercises in 45 minutes he would certainly realize that Rick is building a superb physical state as well as becoming stronger. Get that pulse rate up over 120 (it’s easy enough to check) and keep it there until you finish.

Include at least one day of running in your off-season program. Two is preferable. One day of running and one day of participation in another sport is better yet. Don Reed and I go to the YMCA at least once a week to chase a paddleball or volleyball. Some like to swim once a week. All well and good. Regardless of your choice, the eye-hand, hand-foot coordination aspects of other sports has its carry over value to weightlifting.

“In summary” I related to my North Carolina water brother “the summer should be used to work the weaker points, to build a solid fitness base, a time of experimentation, and an enjoyable training season.”

Jack, agreeable as always, assured me that he would follow the advice. The theory behind the program is sound and when the big contests come flooding in next spring, the lifters that have taken the time to build a solid foundation in the Summer or Fall will be just a step ahead of their competitors. And I guess that’s really what it’s all about, being a step ahead.

My deed done for the evening I settled back to the adventures of Valentine Michael. Perhaps he would reveal how he put on muscle by just “thinking about it” and save me a heck of a lot of time in the gym this summer.