Craig Marker over at StrongFirst recently wrote a great article about training for their certifications, SFG1 and SFG2. This group is very well researched and has had lots of success training individuals. I listen to them and experiment. As you may know, I enjoy Paval Tsatsouline’s work and StrongFirst has been his most recent project. Anyway, the article describes cardio training methods for passing the snatch test for their certifications (100 snatches in 5 minutes with a certain bell) and a kettlebell pressing program which will allow you to press bigger bells. It is based off of Russian training protocols that allowed strength to be gained and maintained for a long, long time.
This article is written with an eye towards kettlebell training but it can be used for any modality. I have recently pursued strength training through the barbell after achieving 1/2 bodyweight kettlebell press on each side. In January I am moving to a mixed training modality of kettlebells, barbell, running, and cycling. I love simplicity and minimalism. I prefer to minimize equipment use.Ie…I like the idea of a weight, you, the gound and effort. If you want to press something overhead, get it from the ground and put it overhead. Therefore I am going to be training the kb getup, overhead press with the kettlebell, the floor press with a barbell, the zercher squat (barbell), and of course the barbell deadlift.
Now to the point. I have been using training cycles for beginners as described by Marty Gallagher, Pavel Tsatsouline, and Mark Rippetoe. After running into this Craig Marker program I have decided to use it over the next year to improve my lifts further while not burning myself out. In order to simplify the training I decided to create an excel spreadsheet so that I could simply add in my current max and the program would quickly calculate the percentages throughout the program.
Excel – Strongfirst Strength Template 45lb bar- Wave.xlsx
Excel – Strongfirst cardio.xlsx
Note that the cardio is suggested upwards of 30 minutes in the article, I kept it at six weeks so that the two programs would be of similar length.
I am thinking about adding two weeks prior to this cycle. They would be for speed work. I would increase from 40 percent to 60 percent over the two weeks period. This would also allow you to run this program 6 times a year with 4 weeks off for recovery, vacation or life in general.
What are your thoughts on this?
These templates are based upon a 45 pound standard bar. My wife and I are going to be training together. Due to this I will be creating spreadsheets for barbells of other weights.
I hope you all find StrongFirst, check them out, and enjoy these templates.
The Natural Advantage's Blog 