Note from Peary Rader (1972):
There is a great deal of talk about the value of massage to lifters and considerable comment about the use of massage by the Russian lifters. We will consider this more in due time but now wish to have you consider the experiments of Mr. Miller with hot and cold baths. Can this have a similar effect to massage but from a little different direction, so to speak?
HOT AND COLD SHOWERS
At the Canadian Academy where I taught, we did an experiment with
alternating hot and cold showers after a workout.
Fourteen boys were divided up into two groups of seven at random. These boys had never weight trained. The groups were put through a harder-than-normal first workout with the purpose of making sure of soreness.
One group took a one-minute hot shower followed by a 15-second shower which was cold. This was done after the workout and repeated five times in succession.
The other group took no shower but did apply a deodorant.
This was repeated over three workouts. Each workout was increased to insure soreness. When these workouts were over two weeks of normal workouts followed and then the original process was repeated again.
In every workout the group which went through the alternating hot and cold showers experienced less soreness and stiffness the following day. This was measured by the say-so of the subjects themselves and also by flexibility tests.
After six more weeks of training the same fourteen boys were then again randomly grouped and were tested for maximum exertion two workouts in a row. Maximums were tested both workouts.
One group went through the hot and cold shower and the other didn't. The boys who went through the alternating hot and cold shower did significantly better than the boys who did not take the shower. The average difference was 7%. It wasn't that the boys who took the showers did better on their second subsequent maximum day, it was that they recovered faster. In many cases boys of both groups could not duplicate maximums the second day.
This study supports the theory that lactic acid builds up in the cells after a workout and will cause stiffness and soreness until gotten rid of. The alternating of hot and cold showers shows this lactic acid is milked out of the cells. The hot shower allows more fluid to come into the cell and the cold shower expels the fluid along with the diluted lactic acids.
This practical application holds possibilities for lifters who want to handle heavier work load in their workouts. Recovery could be quicker.
MEASURE THOSE LIFTS
Note from Peary Rader:
This is a rewrite of an article published some years ago which Carl Miller considers so important that he has asked us to repeat it again.
The editor well remembers his lifting days when we considered it so important to measure our lifts. We worked and worked on form and style until we were in the correct position according to these measurements and no one worked on heavy weights until he could attain these measured positions. It is still tremendously important.
Tommy Kono has an article about using a suspended stick to measure pull height:
How many times have you pulled training weights higher than need be when you know you only wanted to pull them to the height needed to clean or snatch such contest weights?
How many times have you wanted to jerk a weight only as high as you needed to jerk big poundages but found you did not know if you were jerking the weight too high?
How many times didn't you know if you were jerking the weight straight up or not?
The answers to the above questions are probably "many times," and "I don't know."
These needn't be the answers.
With a few pieces of wood, a piece of string, a nail and rubber bands you can know if you are pulling the weight to the needed height, jerking the weight a certain height, jerking the weight straight up, etc.
To make the equipment to help you, nail a thin piece of wood at a right angle to a thicker longer piece of wood which in turn has been nailed to a flat piece of wood for support.
To see if the jerk is going straight, or the pull is being pulled straight, hang a piece of string from the horizontal thin piece of wood. To stabilize the string, tie a nail to the end of it. Place this near the lifter and put the string in line with the path the bar will take. It is then easy to see if the bar is jerked straight or pulled straight.
To see if you are pulling, jerking, etc., the bar to the needed height, obtain the height that the lifter needs, and then put this mark on the long, vertical piece of wood. At this mark attach a string of rubber bands (made by tying together a package of them). Your training partner then stretches this string of bands out to the front and side of you. If the bar is pulled, jerked, etc. beyond this point, it hits the rubber bands and stretches them upward. Now you know exactly if the bar reached the height you wanted or went beyond it.
This apparatus can also measure your high pulls.
Many times a lifter will want to pull the bar to just above the belt for a clean-pull or to some height higher for a snatch-pull. He will make his high pull with a certain weight to the desired height and then fail with that weight in a contest. Why? This could be because when he was practicing his high pull in training he was bending his legs and what appeared to be a high pull to the desired height was really a lower pull. With this apparatus you can bend your legs but know exactly if you pulled the bar to the needed height for a clean or snatch.
This apparatus can really help you.
Remember to use rubber bands and not rope or string because the rubber bands will stretch and not break or bother the lifter, whereas a rope or string might break of get in your way.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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