Vanessa Smith has posted big improvements on her 400metre and 800metre testing this past weekend. She ran only one interval attempt at each distance, following a warmup and before her workout proper.
Since Nov 9 (her last date of testing), with no "practice" at running intervals and with a solid strength program with no running emphasis she has PBed* by 7 seconds in the 400 and by 11 seconds in the 800.
Most of her running since December has been treadmill based (mostly hill repeats) with limited outdoor training. She has been strength training 3 times weekly on a program of compound lifts, generally with 3 work sets of 5. I believe that developing Vanessa's general athleticism has helped her, along with her never quit work ethic!
Nice work Vanessa.
I just made myself a hub pinching tool from a hockey puck, eyebolt, 2 ft. length of chain and a carabiner. For it's pinch grip companion I utilized a softball instead of a hockey puck.
The seams on the ball can definitely feel a bit nasty. Position your hand accordingly.
If you train at a more conventional gym then you might get some funny looks but maybe you'll make friends. I had a guy approach me the other night and tell me that he has been having trouble with weak hands. We had a little chat and I left him with some new avenues to explore.
I have been doing a lot of grip work so far this year. In fact I 've made grip strength into my own personal challenge as I don't have the time nor energy available to participate in a "sport" and I hardly ever get to roll in jujutsu.
Little did I know a few months back that there is a whole subculture of grip strength (including competitions) within the larger strength training milieu.
I found instructions for the hockey puck tool here.
The softball tool instructions can be found in an article by Rick Walker, Grip Strength Training for the Poor Man at the Diesel Crew site.
I just purchased Joe Hashey's new e-book Bull Strength and he includes at least 12 pages of innovative grip training methods. An awesome resource too if you want a pile of both classic and unconventional exercises to draw upon.
In April I will begin the first of a series of personalized outdoor training programs. These program will be one month long and limited to groups of 6 or smaller. By keeping the groups small the training can be customized to the unique nature of the group.
Training will take place in East Vancouver.
We will have alot of fun. Sprints, strongman-style training, conditioning drills from boxing and wrestling, good old bodyweight calisthenics: anything is game.
Anyone who has a small group of trainees in mind, whether it be a group of friends, teammates, workmates, or whatever, please feel free to contact me at terminalcitytraining@gmail.com There is more information on the program here.
Joe Hashey at Synergy Athletics brought this video to my attention:
I'm going to have to give this one a try really soon.
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