The exception to the exception is an exception...

Reading Matt's post sparked me to write a post to address some of his questions, but also because of a conversation I had with a friend studying at the University of Texas. My friend is an S&C Coach Intern at Texas and we often bounce ideas of one another. While he takes a very athlete-first approach, I take the more general public approach which is why I try to base my training on a balance of both. We were discussing the importance of conditioning and the role it should play in overall training. The conclusion, conditioning should be done when you can. If it's a priority for you're training then make it so, if you're looking for more strength/hypertrophy then conditioning can take a back seat (but don't neglect it all together).

Now to Matt's post. Firstly, everyone is an expert in training, clearly. The guy at the gym doing "metabolic circuits" is an expert, the guy doing deadlifts @ 405 lbs for 3 reps is an expert, the guy doing cleans + snatches is an expert and the guy doing 4 sets of 12 is an expert. It goes without saying (and Matt you clearly have a handle on this) you need to know where you want to be in order to know how to get there. The guy lifting for strength is going to tell the guy doing circuits that his training is better because that's his goal, to get stronger. Conversely, the going doing circuits will say his training is better because he's working on conditioning. My point is simply this, you have to know what you want from your training. Personally, I'm striving for a balance of both strength and conditioning. Most of my workouts will have a focus of either of those. I'm not entering a strong man competition anytime soon and I don't expect to get a call from Dana White saying I'm on the next UFC card. I want to achieve a balance albeit while going back to my basic strength training roots of low reps (3-5) for 3-6 sets and as for conditioning doing dreaded bodyweight circuits for time or some old fashioned sprints/suicides. To address Matt's questions, your goals of increasing explosiveness and speed are achievable through training for strength and power. Doing 3 sets of 12 won't get you there. You'll also need to incorporate some plyometrics in your training as well. All of this needs to be well planned out as to not over train and to avoid injury (a lot of the time guys want to increase their "hops" and end up getting jumpers knee or patellar tendon inflammation). What I would recommend is starting your session with a dynamic workout, once warm work into some plyos (box jumps, hurdles or whatever) if you don't do plyos do an Olympic lift (Cleans or snatches). Get into your lifts using the strength training parameters I mentioned and finish off with some light conditioning if you're not too gassed. If you're doing some strength training now, I'd say stick with it for the next few weeks and see what happens. I just started a new program last week and things are feeling (and looking) good.

To recap where this all started, you need to know your training goals. Going into the gym and watching other guys workout and copying them isn't going to get you anywhere. You need to do the research yourself (checking out this blog or commenting with your questions is a good start) and clearly define your goals. Saying "I want to get ripped" is not a goal nor should anyone really be training strictly for aesthetics. A good physique is secondary if you're really serious about training. Personally, I train so I can still beat up my friends and to show the kids I teach gym to where hard work can take you. (Unofficially, I train to keep my brother's progress at bay but that gets harder and harder every year. More on that another time.) I know my body type and while I still have a ways to go in terms of a lean look, I'd much rather by a strong and conditioned individual than be mistaken for someone from Jersey Shore. TRAINSMART and EATSMART. That's all it takes.

Quan, OUT.

An open letter to the world of OutFit...

As I continue to work out I try and pick the brains of everyone around me for tips and techniques they use and find effective. I've heard changing your workout routine every 3 weeks is a must for anyone interested in TRAININGSMART. I've heard you should eat your weight in grams of protein while working out. I've heard alternating hands on dead lifts is better and I've heard that keeping them the same way is better. What I've come to realize is that everyone knows their own body. Although there are general health guidelines that more or less work for the masses, everyone knows what works for them through trial and error (although hopefully not too much error).

So I come to OutFit nation with a few questions...

I am looking to increase my initial speed, or explosiveness. While playing hockey I beat almost anyone to a puck 200 feet down the ice but i consistently lost the short battles. Now I am looking to gain explosiveness for hockey and for basketball (to increase my vertical). I assume training my Fast twitch muscle fibers (more specifically my Type IIB) is the way to go. Am I way off track? Do you have any exercise suggestions?

Strength training is also an interest of mine right now but I am hearing conflicting methods. Before this year when I would work out I would do 3 sets of 10-12 of increasing weight. This was fine but I have recently been trying starting with a heavier weight and consistently getting 8 reps per set. I have only been doing this for about a week so I have not seen any different results I just want to see if I'm on the right track.

As always, consider yourself a student of the game. You will only get better if you are willing to learn.